RaceCapture Dashboard Tablet Automation

Guide to Automating your RaceCapture Dashboard Tablets (and phones)

For Android devices only currently. Verified on Nvidia Shield K1 and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 tablets, but theoretically possibly any on Android tablets as long as rooting of the device is possible.

Written by John Freund (https://www.facebook.com/john.freund.209

PICTURE OF MY DASH

What's this about?

Many RaceCapture owners use phones and tablets as display devices in their vehicles. I use them in my own race car. As displays they're great, but there are definitely some challenges:

• Have to turn on the screen every time I want to start using them which can be as simple as a home button press but often an unlock process.
• Have to make sure Bluetooth or Wifi is enabled AND has connected successfully to the RaceCapture device
• Have to open the RaceCapture App
• Have to manage the power of the devices, to make sure there's enough power and that they don't run out between sessions/races or even during one.
• Have to do all this AFTER the vehicle is running so the RaceCapture device is powered
• Often we're scrambling to prep other things like getting our safety gear on, steering wheels into place, etc.
• Touch screens aren't so easy to operate with safety gear on like racing gloves

We typically have to deal with the above every time we go out on track, and with every single device. Arguably manageable with one, but what if you have multiple? Time is critical moments before going out and saving every little bit gives you time to focus on the race ahead.

This page is for outlining tips and tricks for automating as much as possible use of tablet/phone devices for use as Dashboards.

What do I get after doing everything here?

Glad you asked! Here's the end result of following this guide:

* Start your car and your dashboards start working automatically. When the vehicle power is enabled your devices will within a few seconds automatically turn on their displays, start RaceCapture, and display their configured dashboards (i.e. you're ready to go!)

* You won't really have to worry about how much charge your devices have. Devices should be charged at least a little (say 10%) before the start of the day, but otherwise you will not have to worry about power during the day as the devices will either be charging while driving or massively conserving power when not. Fully charged devices should be able to sit without charging for up to 30 days (this is how long my Nvidia Shield K1 lasts with the tweaks below).

Automation Guide

Hardwiring Power Lines

The automation in this guide assumes there is a switched USB power source for each device in the vehicle. This is used as a signal to the devices for all automation actions. While it's not critical that you provide hardwired power for your devices to use them as dashboards (you'll really need to the monitor their power levels), you'll have to manually trigger different behaviors like coming out of sleep, disabling airplane mode, and other things, and this guide will not cover such scenarios and you'll need to be a bit creative.

In order to minimize how much we have to worry about the charge in your devices it's a great idea to add some hardwired power lines in your car. This provides charging power while operating your vehicle which all but guarantees they won't die on you mid-session, but also means you likely won't have to take your devices out of your vehicle and charge them between sessions. Also it covers a worst case scenario where your devices aren't charged for an event as you can just turn on your vehicle's ACC and charge your devices for a short time before going out.

Most, if not all, tablets and phones take some for of USB input. These are DC devices but the operating voltage varies (5V for most, but USB-C can be as high as 20V). As such you need some sort of electrical converter to take your vehicle's operating voltage and step it to the voltage required by your device.

Good news! Ebay has tons of options for such converters. My devices are all Micro-USB devices and take 5V inputs. My car has an operating voltage from around 12-14.5V (typically referred to as a 12V system, as that's the minimum operating voltage for the electronics). I went to ebay and searched with these keywords: "DC Converter 12V to 5V Micro USB" and this pulled up many great options. I opted for one like the below picture with a 90-degree connector so that the micro-usb cable routed more nicely with my dashboards.

PICTURE HERE

Now I am going to assume if you have a RaceCapture, you don't really need much guidance as far as wiring devices into your vehicle. Keep in mind though to make sure wherever you draw your power for the converter that it is:

• Fused appropriately (suggest the maximum current rating of your converter)
• Is connected to a switched source (so you're not draining your vehicle's battery if you forget one of your devices in your vehicle).

Setting up your Android Device

1. Rooting your device This is probably the hardest part and absolutely required as subsequent software is dependent on this. The processes vary between most devices, and can be fairly easy to tricky. Don't be scared though! Once you get past this it's smooth sailing!

With that said I then must add this guide can't really walk you through specifically how to root your device (unless you have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 as I documented it while creating this page), since the procedures do vary. However, very intelligent and giving folks out there have figured out how to root just about every single Android device and documented how somewhere on the web. So you need to find a guide for doing this. Here are some tips:

* Search the web for the words "root", your phone model, and "xda-developers". You can find your phone's model number under Settings->About. The last key word is a forum where lots of rooting discussion takes place and is a great place to look for clear guides (though be warned, not all are perfect so make sure if you find a thread on rooting your phone you read the ENTIRE thread before starting!). However if you don't find what you're looking for there, remove that keyword and expand your search as that can uncover other pages.

* Enable Developer Mode and then the "OEM Unlock" option. Pretty much every root procedure requires this to start, even though some guides can forget to mention it. To enable Developer Mode, in your device go Settings->About, and then tap "Build number" repeatedly until you see a message on your screen that tells you Developer Mode is enabled. Now a new menu Settings->Developer Mode will appear, and within there is an option for "OEM Unlock" which you will need to enable.

* Disable Factory Reset Protection.