Android gauges

wjb

Nitrous
Joined
Dec 16, 2019
Messages
1,285
Location
California No Longer!
Ride
2008 Rocket III Touring 2002 Bonneville America
My one gripe about my R3 Touring is that it doesn't have a tachometer. I like tachometers. I have grown, over the years, to rely on tachometers. I have a tachometer on every car I own. I have gone so far as to declare my home a "sanctuary garage" for tachometers. Heck, even my weed wacker has a tachometer. (ok, it doesn't. I always go one step too far).

Anywho, I would like to monitor engine operations including RPM and other information with an android device and a bluetooth OBD2 scanner.
I have ordered a new android phone that will be here soon and would like to use my old phone as a dash display. I'd appreciate advice and experiences from those of you that have done this like, what plug in did you get and are you happy with it. Can just any android device be set up to display the information from the scanner? Junk like that.
 
Did you bother to search ?

A number of us have installed the Koso tachometer on the Touring.

Others have done as you suggest, use their phone for a display -- though, as @DEcosse points out -- lag.
 
Yes, I did "bother" to search ahead of posting. I've never had much luck finding what I'm looking for using the search function of any forum. I have been through several threads about adding a separate tachometer gauge but wanted the simplicity of a bluetooth connection over a wired unit, plus the option of selecting other engine parameters as well. Things you can't get by adding a stand alone tach.
 
I just don't see the bluetooth tach of being of much practical use with the lag :
Picture the scenario- you're accelerating hard & watching the tach to shift- you will clearly hit the limiter before your tach reaches that indication - so what's the point?

I dont have a rocket but can try to find some time on my bike to compare wired connection against bluetooth to see if it's any faster
(Anyone who has a TuneECU LonElec cable can try this)
 
I also love tachs, mine is blue and can change colors. The display has a voltmeter and keeps an eye on my charging system by displaying volts, and has a shift light and helps me not tap the limiter. Decosse helped me with this and mine has been flawless. I know it's not what you asked about -- just a little tach **** I thought you'd like; it's obvious you're addicted.


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I did not know about the lag time when using the bluetooth option. That kind of ruins the effectiveness of a tach if it's not showing real time data. It would appear that a traditional wired tach is my best option.
Thanks everyone.
 
Just a quick update on testing:
The only app I could get to work with cable was TuneECU - this still showed a lag similar to Bluetooth, no difference really.

I tested Torq Lite and OBD Mary - these would only connect with the Bluetooth, no capability to work directly off cable
Performance similar to TuneECU, significant lag on the RPM

Per the Torque wiki the Torque Pro version will work with USB adapter but I wasn't inclined to purchase just to see a comparison (OK it's only $5 - but still! :D)

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Even though the wiki specifically states Torque Pro (and there was no setting OBD Settings menu in the light version for USB), what was at odds with above procedure is that with app closed, and connecting the USB adapter it did not open the request pop-up window asking which app to use.
I could not use it with my phone as the USB adapter is different config from my Tablet

p.s. I should also add that my bike uses an older ECU by Sagem (as opposed to Keihin on the R3's) - this itself might contribute to some of the lag with cable on TuneECU, however I'm still reasonably confident that the Bluetooth even on the R3 would be laggy (similar to the video shown); however that is not to say that a wired USB option might not be better?
 
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