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Cheap easy data logger for vehicle?

crispins

crispins

FJB
Joined
May 21, 2020
Member Number
846
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1,640
Loc
Pigeon Forge, TN
I have looked around and have not seen what I am looking for.

I want something easy to install that basically just monitors RPM, or better yet monitors when a set RPM is exceeded?

My only manual transmission rental unit came back yesterday with some horrible top end noises.

I do not know if it was just coincidence or if the car was money shifted.

This car was beat on all year and I only had to deal with this problem on the very last day of season.

I have 2 spare motors for it but if I could have a quick and easy method of showing the customer that the car was over-reved and they did the damage then I would be able to charge them for it.

Be great if it was something I could easily remove from the car and attach to my computer to see if the RPM was exceeded.

Any ideas?
 
cheap and easy don't often go in the same sentence.

Here's cheap and arduino based.
https://freematics.com/products/freematics-one/
It could be setup one time and then just log things to the SD card.
$35.

it may be worth investigating. They also have pre built libraries to upload telematics directly to a server realtime, with location and acceleration data.

It's basically made for an application like yours, you want telematics and data logging in a small fleet of vehicles and don't want to spend ten grand on big boy fleet monitoring shit.
 
87manche said:
cheap and easy don't often go in the same sentence.

Here's cheap and arduino based.
https://freematics.com/products/freematics-one/
It could be setup one time and then just log things to the SD card.
$35.

it may be worth investigating. They also have pre built libraries to upload telematics directly to a server realtime, with location and acceleration data.

It's basically made for an application like yours, you want telematics and data logging in a small fleet of vehicles and don't want to spend ten grand on big boy fleet monitoring shit.
Click to expand...

That would work well except this is a pre OBD-II setup

Also I only have one vehicle I need to set it up on, the rest have autos with all gears below "D" blocked off, so fool proof pretty much
 
While I understand wanting to know the how/why, is it something you can set up a rev-limiter on easily to keep it in a safe range? Won't stop a money shift but it'll at least help with intentional beatings.
 
TrikeKid said:
While I understand wanting to know the how/why, is it something you can set up a rev-limiter on easily to keep it in a safe range? Won't stop a money shift but it'll at least help with intentional beatings.
Click to expand...


This.


Pick up an MSD or similar rev limiter box and the appropriate RPM chip.
 
You shouldn't need to see data to know a rental doesn't have any dust on the rev limiter.
 
Ebs said:
You shouldn't need to see data to know a rental doesn't have any dust on the rev limiter.
Click to expand...

yes, but the rev limiter does it's job.

it's when you exceed the rev limiter with a money shift that you have problems.
 
What engine management is in the car now? Stock something I assume?

I would want something you can't easily take out of the car, just plug a usb cord in to brain-dump it. Easier for you to take out is easier for me to take out before a valve-floating donut session.... ;)
 
Projectjunkie said:
This?

https://www.intellitronix.com/product-page/tachometer-recall-kit
Click to expand...

I found something self contained that does the same but it does not show the when, i could have someone make the case that the person before them must have over reved it not them.

https://tinytach.com/tinytach

I would love something that had a date and time stamp, not sure if something cheap and simple will do that.


2big bronco said:
Mad rev limiter set decently enough to have fun but not kill the thing.
Click to expand...

It is not over reving due to too much gas pedal, it is from bad down shift, like a 5th to 2nd shift

The factory ECU cuts fuel at 7,200 RPM
 
Now I get it..... :homer:

Is putting in an automatic transmission an option? It would save you a bunch of headaches and court battles in the long run.
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
Now I get it..... :homer:

Is putting in an automatic transmission an option? It would save you a bunch of headaches and court battles in the long run.
Click to expand...

I have 2 automatics already.

Next year I am going to raise the rate on this manual one.

I do not see getting into any court battles over this.

I am stockpiling engines, currently have 3 of them.

This isn't a huge thing, if there is something simple I can do to be able to charge them some $$ to offset my expenses then i will do it.

Luckily with these cars I can drop a replacement engine in within a few hours.

Now if next year the motor gets destroyed a few times, well then I would likely invest in some real data logging and have the renters sign something agreeing to $XXX amount of charges for exceeding 6k RPM or something like that

I was just wondering if anyone here knew of an under $100 solution to some simple data logging, the one Manche posted would be perfect, except for the ODB2 port issue.
 
6851_c_39.jpg
 

Maybe this along with a sticker somewhere in the vehicle that says "Engine damage due to excessive engine RPM is customer's responsibility"

Even if its bullsh!t, it might keep people honest.
 
crispins said:
I found something self contained that does the same but it does not show the when, i could have someone make the case that the person before them must have over reved it not them.

https://tinytach.com/tinytach

I would love something that had a date and time stamp, not sure if something cheap and simple will do that.




It is not over reving due to too much gas pedal, it is from bad down shift, like a 5th to 2nd shift

The factory ECU cuts fuel at 7,200 RPM
Click to expand...

Able to tune fuel cut off down to 6,XXX rpm?
 
What? said:
Able to tune fuel cut off down to 6,XXX rpm?
Click to expand...

you are missing that this motor is not damaged by over accelerating as that cannot be done.

It get damaged by the "Money Shift", which is down shifting it into too low of a gear (ie 5th to 2nd), the motor is then mechanically over driven, no amount of fuel or spark cut stops that from happening.
 
On an exocet, right? Big tach, rpm chip shift light at 7k (or whatever) for that "racecar" look, and a dashcam on the rollbar that catches the shifter and the tach at the bottom of the frame. Sell the video the same way the amusement parks sell pics of you on the roller coaster, and have the video for your own cya in multiple directions.

Could do two shift lights, one yellow for "shift" and one red for "pay up sucka" and set the red one to come on 200rpm past fuel/spark cut so the only way to get to it is botch a shift. Don't know if it'll work if the ecu goes to spark cut (does it?) though.

I know, I'm over your target budget, but there's an upsell and an insurance angle both here, make sure you get a dashcam with gps and timestamp, and if somebody wads it up or clips a motorcycle acting a fool, you have the proof that it was them and not your car that caused it.
 
Last edited:
ScottRS said:
On an exocet, right? Big tach, rpm chip shift light at 7k (or whatever) for that "racecar" look, and a dashcam on the rollbar that catches the shifter and the tach at the bottom of the frame. Sell the video the same way the amusement parks sell pics of you on the roller coaster, and have the video for your own cya in multiple directions.

Could do two shift lights, one yellow for "shift" and one red for "pay up sucka" and set the red one to come on 200rpm past fuel/spark cut so the only way to get to it is botch a shift. Don't know if it'll work if the ecu goes to spark cut (does it?) though.

I know, I'm over your target budget, but there's an upsell and an insurance angle both here, make sure you get a dashcam with gps and timestamp, and if somebody wads it up or clips a motorcycle acting a fool, you have the proof that it was them and not your car that caused it.
Click to expand...

this is an excellent idea.

but the roundy round one I linked only keeps the info for 30 minutes, so there's no way they could claim it wasn't them.

You'd just have to get to it within thirty minutes of shutdown.

this could probably be done with an arduino if you really want bulletproof data logging.
Have to figure out how to get the tach input into the arduino. I'm assuming it has an actual factory tach, so that output should just be pulses at a TTL level.
the rest of it isn't so hard. Just have it log the RPM every second to a text file on an SD card.
 
87manche said:
this is an excellent idea.

but the roundy round one I linked only keeps the info for 30 minutes, so there's no way they could claim it wasn't them.

You'd just have to get to it within thirty minutes of shutdown.

this could probably be done with an arduino if you really want bulletproof data logging.
Have to figure out how to get the tach input into the arduino. I'm assuming it has an actual factory tach, so that output should just be pulses at a TTL level.
the rest of it isn't so hard. Just have it log the RPM every second to a text file on an SD card.
Click to expand...

These cars are turned on and off many times while they are during a rent, so that type of system would not work at all.

The car has a factory tach and has an easy to tap signal wire under the hood.

"this could probably be done with an arduino if you really want bulletproof data logging.
Have to figure out how to get the tach input into the arduino. I'm assuming it has an actual factory tach, so that output should just be pulses at a TTL level.
the rest of it isn't so hard. Just have it log the RPM every second to a text file on an SD card."

^^^ this part, not so easy for me, would be pretty much impossible for me to do that.
 
What if you put a large official looking sign in the rental office.

"All Vehicles Monitored BY (pick the company)"

And then leave brochures on the counter in an official manner as kinda of a sales bit.

On top of that hang a large monitor on the wall below the sign playing a loop.





I have a buddy that works for Safe Lite.



Whatever monitor system they are using is legit, It even knows when the guys bank too hard.
 
Does anyone have the answer to this question?

On an OBD2 port, the RPM's come from the canbus signal, there is no pulsed signal for RPM, correct?
 
crispins said:
Does anyone have the answer to this question?

On an OBD2 port, the RPM's come from the canbus signal, there is no pulsed signal for RPM, correct?
Click to expand...

OBD2 and CAN are not necessarily related. Yes, you can get some can data over OBD2, but you can have an OBD2 vehicle with CAN. I doubt tach is coming over CAN as it relates to OBD2 monitoring. If anything, OBD is probably feeding the tach signal to CAN for other functions.
 
Lil said:
What if you put a large official looking sign in the rental office.

"All Vehicles Monitored BY (pick the company)"

And then leave brochures on the counter in an official manner as kinda of a sales bit.

On top of that hang a large monitor on the wall below the sign playing a loop.





I have a buddy that works for Safe Lite.



Whatever monitor system they are using is legit, It even knows when the guys bank too hard.
Click to expand...

Schneider monitored all kinds of telemetry in their trucks when I drove for them. Crazy how much they knew.
 
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