must have.....HOT new mod. for the PFC Commander !!
 

Alright guys, this is breaking news :cool: I have a source who is offering a Hot New mod. for the Power FC Commander. This modification for the Commander screen, upgrades the original monochrome/backlit color scheme to a dual colored scheme of blue and white (blue screen w/white lettering). This makes it Much easier to see at night and is a very nice color combo. It's comparable to the LCD screen of the Super-AFC. The price will be set within the week and it will be in the neihborhood of $100-$120. This mod. can be done to your existing Power FC commander as well as to one purchased brand new. Brand New ones with the mod. will be available. Please contact me if you think you might be interested in this. I will post pics. of one already modified in a day or two. Contact me via PM or onebadd7@cs.com Rotor On guys !!

nice to hear. Bring on the pix!

If he can do it in blue, can he do it in an Amber/Red color to match the stock gauges? Probably wouldn't be as easy to see as the blue... but my girlfriend hates the non-matching color. At least an amber color would shut her up...

Post some pics man!

Rob

Interested... keep us posted!!:D

[QUOTE]Originally posted by saxyman990
If he can do it in blue, can he do it in an Amber/Red color to match the stock gauges? Probably wouldn't be as easy to see as the blue... but my girlfriend hates the non-matching color. At least an amber color would shut her up...

Post some pics man!

Rob [/QUOTE

in so I can keep track of this thread :)

:scratch:I can't believe I went on this forum. Hopefully, this new mod works, because I'll definitely purchase one.

Bring on the pictures!!! Also interested in the amber one if at all possible.
You know what I think would be neat?
If you made a screen in a custom mount that went into screen pod type thing in the middle dash speaker thing.
I saw a FD with a Motec digital gauge setup in that spot the other day on the speed channel and I creamed myself. :D

well i emailed you...but i must say...$120 is alot to change the color of my pfc commander.

Anyone know a way to connect it to a indash LCD screen. That would be something I would buy.

that would be cool for an indash touch screen...........

Daytime Readability is the Real Problem!
 

I'm looking for a modification that will improve the readability/resolution of the Commander during the daytime, not at night. I find that any type of daytime reflected glare makes the Commander unreadable. I've adjusted the resolution and it simply doesn't solve the problem. I've never had a nighttime readability problem!

Maybe I'm confused though about what you are trying to do. Is it solve a problem with the Commander or increase the cool factor?

If this product is still in development, please focus on improving daytime readability and get your costs down. I'm sorry but $100-$120 is simply too steep!

That would be cool, but the Power FC doesn't support that, so it's not going to happen. Maybe a hardware/software hack (like datalogit) could do something like that, but it would probably be more trouble then it's worth.

Re: Daytime Readability is the Real Problem!
 

Get really dark tinted windows, problem solved! :) Have you tried one of those screen protector things? Like they sell for palms and pocket pc's? Some of them might help cut down on the glare, when it boils down to it, it's just a poor design and there isn't a whole heck of a lot you can do with out some major modifications.

Re: Daytime Readability is the Real Problem!
 

Jonesboro, this modification will do exactly that ! Think about it. Have you ever seen an old gameboy screen.....hard as hell to see in the day. Well, compare a colored screen gameboy to that. The screen itself is blue with white lettering so daytime readability is improved without a doubt ! I hope to have pics. up tonight. I'll keep you all posted.

Re: Re: Daytime Readability is the Real Problem!
 

Does this mean we can use a gameboy as the commander instead? :confused:
That would be tits!
Thank you.

This sounds interesting. I'd like to see some pics of the modification, before I consider buying.:)

Well, for the touch screen thing, whether the PFC supports or not shouldn't matter. So long as it gets the same signal as pushing a button it should work.

I was just thinking about this too. All you really need to do is replace the light. Probably a 5V light. You could probably put in a surface mount LED that's bright enough and get it done. That way you wouldn't have to find and replace the display.

I'd love to see pics too, but I fear that these are easy to photochop, so I'd want to see them first hand.

Re: Re: Re: Daytime Readability is the Real Problem!
 

Glass, Yes you can switch back and forth from your PFC readings to Super Donkey Kong as you please. :)

Sure you could rig it that way, but what would be the point without the proper interface? It would be for a bling factor more then anything and wouldn't add any functionality to the PFC or commander. Now if there was a nice candy coated interface with touch inputs that could graph and change parameters and added to ease of use and functionality that would be something else all together. I just don't see spending several hundred dollars on something that won't really add to the experience or improve the product.

Interested but I would like to know how you are doing this and why it costs so damn much??

Re: Re: Daytime Readability is the Real Problem!
 

Okay, I'm listening.

It will also help me if you create "a level of comfort" by explaining what the mod actually does, the testing you have conducted, and the qualifications/experience of the folks developing the mod. What I mean is, you are tinkering with the electrical system, so I would like some discussion in electrical terms so I know this is well engineered and compatible with the overall system.

I admire what you are doing, go for it!

Anyone know how the commander communicates with the PFC electrically (i.e. RS-232, RS-422, etc.)?

I'm sure it's a proprietary protocol, but should be simple to decode...

JohnChabin, I'm awaiting answer from a friend of mine in Japan that works with computer code all the time and happens to be an FD driver with a PFC. As soon as I find out I'll let you guys know. He is wanting to access his PFC from his in dash screen head unit. If he makes any progress I'll be sure to post how he did it. Laterz.

Zach

It's possible that it's just 232 comm between them. I'll have to dig into it a bit. (I HATE serial comm, but I work with it a lot....so here goes nothing)

Sounds great....I would do it except there are a few more priority items that need to be done first.

Shit... I still need to INSTALL my damn power fc before I try playing with it!!!

Sounds pretty cool though.

Integrated into a 5" LCD would be cool.. Well, useful anyway

I have a small c-programmable touchscreen with built in 232 and 422 ports. It also has some digital I/O...

It would fit nicely in place of the radio.

That sounds real nice johnchabin! I think that it would be a sweet idea. Plus the screen would probably be lighter than a radio anyway. Plus, who needs a radio when you have more than 400rwhp. :)

Zach

My AVC-R screen seems to be a VFD, with a black background and blue foreground. I would think the S-AFC display would be similar.

Touchscreen wouldn't be very useful without some new software, since there is nothing to "touch" on the normal display screens. Having the little buttons mounted somewhere and using the existing software seems like a much more economical choice.

The Datalogit guys obviously decoded the communications between the Commander and the PowerFC.

But I expect that the Commander has some software (and hardware to run it on) built-in to the Commander unit. So I don't think decoding the communications signals between the Commander and the PowerFC would lead to new display options unless you also created a hardware/software package to drive the display and communicate with the PowerFC. I don't think the Commander is a simple terminal that displays screens from software running on the PowerFC.

-Max

Agreed. But I already have this screen left over from a work project... it's not a 'dumb terminal', so can be programmed to display whatever is desired.
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...postid=2160684
I suppose the question is how does the datalogit connect to the PFC? Plugs directly into the serial port on the PC, or is there a 'box' on the cable between the devices?

is it possible that the datalogit guys can make the datalogit work on another screen (aftermarket car mobile video). it does not have to be touch screen but uses a remote. does anyone have there email or know how to contact them with this idea. if this works alpine monitor here i come.

luigi
94 rx7 no longer for sale and awaiting mods

It's an interface between the PFC and your laptop. I'd imagine it translates the data into something the software can understand. That for sure is RS-232. Between that and the PFC though is the question. Those who have one and are good with electronics can probably crack one open and reverse engineer it. If you can crack the ROM in it, then you can get the code and do with it what you will.

I hate it when somebody makes a post about something really cool and doesn't deliver. I don't know how many times someone was going to make a sleek headlight kit for cheap, works great, no cutting and makes your car faster. Please keep us posted, and give us a pic. Thanks

On the brighter side, I love the whole monitor thing. You guys work it out and I'll buy.

So are confirming there is a device on the cable between the PC (datalogit) and the PFC? Or is it just a simple serial cable?

Yes. There is a box that sits between the PFC and the laptop. It connects to the PFC where the commander normally goes and the commander then hooks to the datalogit along with a DB9 serial port to the laptop.


Here

Very much interested if you guys work this out.

I've toyed around with this off and on for awhile. The datalogit comm protocol was posted by Goblin over on the Power FC forum about a year ago. I and others have written software for a laptop to communicate with the PFC, but it still requires the datalogit (basically just a new Datalogit interface). You could always just run a video out from a laptop with custom software to a lcd screen, but that would require the laptop semi-permanantely mounted in the car.

The one thing I can tell you is that the protocol from the datalogit box to the pc is definitely RS-232: 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, at baud rate of 57600. Goblin surmised that the datalogit box was simply a pass-through, and that the protocol he deciphered was Apexi's. I tried (with my admittedly limited knowledge of serial communications) to trap messages sent from the commander to the pfc and got nothing but garbage using a variety of comm settings (but never diverting from RS-232).

If you crack open the datalogit box, you can trace the etchings and see what goes where. You'll also see that they've dremeled off the serial numbers on their chips (I though I read somehwere that they're PIC chips). At one time I thought I had most of it mapped out, i.e. which pins were power, ground, input, output, but that was months ago. It'd be fun to pick it back up if some of you guys are serial gurus.

Scott

Bottom line is that by connecting the PFC to the datalogit and taking the DB9 serial communications to a laptop (I currently use an old Fujitsu 100 AMD touch screen Point 510) you can have almost any kind of display colors you want and have total control of ALL the functions of the ecu.

The problem is finding a 5 inch DIN mountable touchscreen computer. . . . or at least a 5 in DIN mountable touchscreen that accepts Monitor OUT signals from a laptop that could be mounted permanently in a bin or under the Passenger seat).

We have all discussed this in the past and maybe there will be a way in the future. (wireless lan etc).

Well, let's look at PDAs and IR or bluetooth combos. How hard would that be? So long as you have line of sight for IR (shich could be easily done behind the dash and IR components would be relatively small).

For example...take a PDA screen which it already a touch screen. 320X240 is plenty for this type of information. Mount the screen seperately from the rest of the unit (which will be the IR transceiver).....wait....scrap that.

The unit (datalogit) already has a serial interface. You can convert that to a USB cable. If someone can port the software to run on CE or PPC 2K3 then that's your solution. Don't need to do anything fancy. Just get en el cheapo PDA with a color screen and there you go. If you want to do extensive logging, split the interface (or A/B switch) and hook up a real laptop.

THIS CAN WORK!

Can we get the delete feature to work!??

(Read: double post)

I have one...

One what?

Major problem is that the datalogit software cannot be ported to CE. Therefore the sole solution is to make the CE a remote client for the laptop server and have the communications be via wireless lan.

But why can't it be ported? Has someone tried? What about PPC? I don't know the details about anyone trying, so don't think that I'm trying to come off as a smartass 'cause I have no idea what's been tried to this point. :D

Hell, someone made Super Mario Bros. for PPC, so this can't be too hard. :p:

Why not rewite the VB code for the Pocket PC? I've seen the screen shots, and there just isn't much to it...

my brother and i were actually talking about this the other night. a quick internet search yielded this:
http://www.littlepc.com/products_p4littlepc.htm

granted, this is not very easy on the wallet, we were kind of day dreaming ;)

we got to talking about the pros and cons of having an onboard computer, and we couldn't really come up with any cons, except for the overall price a project like this would be. i mean, with something like this, you could do so much stuff. a couple small webcams, recording to the hard disk. a monitor to make it all worthwhile. you could run your stereo off this (mp3s), wireless networking for loading maps, tunes, whatever. dvd playback, even though it's not really needed. the possibilities are pretty much endless.

Didn't take it as being a smart-ass.

The strip.ocx that FCEdit relies on cannot be ported to CE for some reason. I am not a programmer but the guys from Datalogit discussed this problem a long time ago and so there has been no further attempt to port FC Edit to PPC (CE 3.x) or any plain vanilla CE.
While admittedly rewriting the entire programming code for CE could be done, it may not offer sufficient bang for the buck.

I have been singularly unimpressed by software that interfaces with Palms anyway (TE has a logger for v 1.0-1.5 and 2.0 that works to a palm, as does FJO), I just don't see the advantage of yet another teeny tiny screen.

I ran into a couple of threads a while back about PowerFC mounting and came a across a couple of people that had separated the screen from the touchpad part using 12 pin(?) ribbon cable. Pretty slick.

I wonder if this guy is trying to do something similar except using a better screen than Apexi did.

This thread's scope definitely took on a mind of its own :)

lol yea i think that was the original idea of this whole thread

WHY HASN'T THIS THREAD BEEN MOVED TO THE PFC FORUM WHERE IT SHOULD BE???????????????????