DeLorean Control iOS App - App and Bluetooth relay system
Howdy. I am developing an iOS app which works in conjunction with a strip of Bluetooth activated relays to unlock/lock/open the doors, start the vehicle, and provide auto up/down for the windows. At the moment it is being developed for iPhone, but it will also be available for iPad (especially useful for in-dash iPad Mini installations). The hardware will be compatible with Android devices, but I don't have the expertise to write that app (maybe someone in this forum does).
Currently, I am able to unlock/lock #11633 and power up the accessory and main relays by remote. Starter will be next.
My question of the day, since I just got the 12V->5V converter I was waiting for, is: Where should I safely grab 12V (always on) and ground from within the relay/fuse compartment? This little unit uses very very little power, so I am planning to make it always on, with a switch to disable it for longterm storage.
Pretty much all the brown wires are always "hot". Some are fused and others not fused. You can wire an added fuse to power your low current device to one of those brown wires.
...but you can also control the vehicle via your phone from outside the car.
It also has made it possible to put the entire relay system in the relay compartment where it belongs, with no running of wires up to the dash. At the moment, I'm tapping into wires, but in the next version, NO wiring work will be necessary. It will be literally plug and play, if you can believe it... No crimping, no soldering, no modification to the car's wiring whatsoever. It will be something that can be installed in about a minute and removed just as quickly, returning the car back to its original state 100%.
Are these Bluetooth relays something you're building, or are they available as pre-built modules? I've been meaning to do something like this myself (mostly with Arduinos acting as the Bluetooth interface to the relay, and using an iPad app to provide an internet connection). Have to finish the other work no my car first, though.
They are very well built, affordable, reliable, and they ship very quickly. There are wifi and other versions available, as well as one with temp sensor, which might be useful for climate control or even to show engine temp (although I haven't verified that the sensors can handle high temperatures).
The wiring harness I am creating for this plugs into the relay sockets, and then the existing relays for the vehicle plug into the harness. This way no wires need to be cut, tapped, soldered, etc. It is 100% plug and play.
The iOS interface is just a row of buttons right now, but my background is information architecture and interface design, so I will not only put a lot of effort into the interface, I plan to allow the user to add their own skins. Communicating with the Bluetooth interface is so simple, though, that anybody with some coding knowledge will likely be able to create their own app if they don't like mine.
Those relays look pretty interesting. The other part of my project involves getting data out of the car (monitoring various lines with an Arduino) to get them back to the phone/computer/etc, so I was going to have the Arduinos do the switching as well, but since these relays can be controlled via any Bluetooth source they might still prove useful. Mostly I had no idea that this kind of thing existed already. Nice.
Alas, for my project I'll likely have to cut some wires, but I already have some reasonably extensive modifications planned anyway, so keeping things stock has already gone out the window for me.
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Dave M vin 03572
