So this may not be the most appropriate forum for this, but I wasn't really sure where else it could go, and the concept is technically right.
I recently purchased a new car, or at least new to me, and have been going all out about modernizing it as far as HID and LED head and signal lights, I've already got an android powered car stereo which is a constant project and a couple other projects in mind. One of them being what this post is about.
So I'm all about DIY gadgets and whatnot, and I've been theorizing for the last couple days about a DIY remote car control system powered by a raspberry pi and a couple other components. Basically what I ask is what you guys think, and if you see any potential roadblocks that I may run into.
Here's the plan:
My car has keyless entry as well as an aftermarket remote start system installed. I feel as though it would be probably impossible as far as getting a RF adapter for the pi and getting it to interface directly and whatnot with all of the security measures in place. I also don't want to have to interface directly with any of the vehicles ECUs as that would also probably be a pain in the ass, and I would rather not have to include a system like this for resale, or have to tear it back out. So, I have 2 key fobs for both the keyless entry as well as the remote start system. I will probably purchase another directly for the vehicle and have it programmed so that I don't have to sacrifice one, but I'm completely fine doing it for the remote start. To interface between the car and the Pi, I plan on tearing down the fobs, and just 'simulating' a button press on each using a relay, and the gpio pins of the raspberry pi. The keyless entry fob is one of the typical silicon contact pad type that I plan on soldering onto like so. It has lock, unlock, trunk, and panic functionality.
The remote starter is just one button, and it seems to be clickier, so I'm assuming it's a push button type, which will actually make it a little bit easier.
So I should be using at least 5 total gpio pins on the raspberry pi going to the relays, which I've found an 8 relay board available, which will leave room for expansion.
For power, I've used these 12 -> 5v DC steppers in the past directed towards car DIY projects and they seem to work pretty well. I'll just need to find a constant supply from the battery as I will need it to always be powered. Hopefully it won't cause too much drain as to run the battery dead, but I think the Pi is pretty low power consuming.
For connectivity, I already have a Hauwei 3G dongle with T-Mobile 1 GB service that I use for the radio that is said to work fine with the Pi. I like the T-mobile service because they have 'Music Freedom' which allows you to stream unlimited amounts of music from the supported service list, which is basically all that I use it for, so my data usage has been really low. I'll move the 3G dongle over to the raspberry pi, then share the connection over the unused ethernet port to a small access point, or directly back to the radio via a usb ethernet adapter which it supposedly supports. That way I don't have to bother with waiting for the dongle to obtain connectivity which has been a problem so far, it will already be always on and connected.
I planned on using my phone to interface with the Pi, I'll probably have it run apache with some pretty high level authentication, then just access a web page with all of the functions available. I've used WebIOPi in the past to easily interface with the GPIO pins, so it should work the same way. Since it will be on a mobile network and subject to frequent IP changes, I'll probably have it running inadyn to update a domain name every time it detects a change. Hopefully that won't cause any caching issues client side on my phone or computer and whatnot.
Well so far, I think that's about it, that's what I've had my mind set on the last few days, now I'll just need to get parts and such which I'll include a list of what I've found below. Let me know what you think about what could be done to make it any better, or what might come as an issue so that I can deal with it before running into it.
Parts List:
- Raspberry Pi
- Extra Key Fob
- 8 Channel Relay Board (Maybe overkill but I'll look for something more minimalist in the meantime)
- DC 12 - 5V Stepper
- Possible Enclosure (or something else to protect against the elements)
- Dupont Header Cables (from PI to relays)
- SD Card for PI which I can find locally
- Some DIY mounting stuff from hardware store likely
That's about it, there's obviously going to have to be some work done software side, but I should be able to handle that. Otherwise, what do you think?
EDIT:
Here's a mach-up of what I plan on the control page or interface looking like.
EDIT 2:
Friend of mine had the brilliant suggestion of having the Pi constantly connected to a VPN which I already have in place to also help against the potential contact and IP issues.