Pi Digital Car Dashboard (OBD2 over WiFi)

This project reads OBD2 values from a WiFi ELM327 adapter and shows them on a custom dashboard.

• The Raspberry Pi screen shows a fullscreen dashboard automatically at boot.
• The same data is available on your smartphone from the Pi web server.
• Works on Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit) with Python.

How it works

1. Pi connects to OBD adapter WiFi (wlan0).
2. Python backend polls OBD2 PIDs over TCP (app/telemetry.py).
3. Backend serves live state via HTTP API (/api/state).
4. Dashboard web UI (local kiosk + phone browser) polls API and renders stats.

Recommended network topology

Use two WiFi interfaces:

• wlan0: OBD adapter connection.
• wlan1 (USB dongle): hotspot for your phone.

See docs/network_setup.md for full setup.

Project structure

app/
  config.py
  telemetry.py
  server.py
static/
  index.html
  styles.css
  app.js
scripts/
  start-kiosk.sh
systemd/
  pidash.service
  pidash-kiosk.service
docs/
  network_setup.md
run.py

Install on Raspberry Pi

One-command installer

cd /home/pi/tacho
bash install.sh

This installs packages, creates .venv, installs Python deps, installs/enables systemd services, and starts the dashboard.

You still need to verify .env (especially OBD_HOST and OBD_PORT).

1. Install packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y git python3-venv python3-pip curl xserver-xorg xinit openbox chromium || sudo apt install -y git python3-venv python3-pip curl xserver-xorg xinit openbox chromium-browser

2. Create virtual env and install Python deps:

cd /home/pi/tacho
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env

3. Edit .env values:

OBD_HOST=192.168.0.10
OBD_PORT=35000
POLL_INTERVAL=0.40
RECONNECT_DELAY=3.0
HTTP_HOST=0.0.0.0
HTTP_PORT=8080
SIMULATE=false

4. Make kiosk script executable:

chmod +x /home/pi/tacho/scripts/start-kiosk.sh

5. Install systemd services:

sudo cp /home/pi/tacho/systemd/pidash.service /etc/systemd/system/pidash.service
sudo cp /home/pi/tacho/systemd/pidash-kiosk.service /etc/systemd/system/pidash-kiosk.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable pidash pidash-kiosk
sudo systemctl start pidash pidash-kiosk

6. Check service status:

systemctl status pidash --no-pager
systemctl status pidash-kiosk --no-pager

Boot behavior in car

When the car powers the Pi:

1. Pi boots.
2. pidash backend service starts.
3. pidash-kiosk starts Chromium fullscreen on HDMI.
4. Dashboard appears automatically.

Smartphone access

• Same network: http://<PI-IP>:8080
• Pi hotspot setup: http://192.168.50.1:8080

Testing without real car data

Set in .env:

SIMULATE=true

Restart services:

sudo systemctl restart pidash pidash-kiosk

Logs

journalctl -u pidash -f
journalctl -u pidash-kiosk -f

Safety note

Use this as an auxiliary display only. Mount hardware securely and avoid interacting with the dashboard while driving.