P38A tapping into BECM signals with an arduino

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
T

TallPaulB

Active Member
Posts
146
Location
Manchester, UK
Hi All,

I have a couple of projects I want to integrate into my 2001 P38, but doing so requires picking up some signals from the BECM. First off, I want to get access to the 'engine running' (C1279 pin 9) and lock / unlock (C1283 pin 8, 18) signals.

I'll be using standard 3.3v GPIO on arduino shields or arduino compatible boards to read these.

Has anyone done this sort of thing before? Just want to establish if it's doable, or if I'm doomed to failure / frying my BECM before I start.

The outputs *I think* pull to ground when they trigger, so as long as I have a common ground between the arduino and the car I *should* be able to just watch for my inputs going low to detect a trigger. I'm not an expert on the electronic side of things though, so any advice on this would be appreciated!


pinout information: https://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetails/becm/index.html
 
To start with I want to trigger something (a powerfold mirror) when the door is locked / unlocked but only when the motor isn't running.

Longer term I might build a web based dashboard showing engine status, road speed (this is available on one of the pins from the becm), alarm status etc. All this data is available as outputs from the becm, it's just a case of working out how to tap into those outputs.
 
Sounds like he is following down the same path Blackbox solutions went down in creating the Nanocom, although not sure you'd want all your car details (including secuirty codes) displayed over the web.

You could just buy a Nanocom if you want to see the input/outputs. Or look at the Nanocom documentation but given how much work went into working it all out I doubt BBS will be particularly forthcoming. Given the age of the vehicle I expect there is little if any encryption. The BECM chips can be read straight off the chip with an appropriate reader. EPROM is it called? @martyuk knows how to do it. Rick-the-pick almost certainly knows. MrSporty might have had a play. Wouldn't surprise me if @pwood999 has had a play too.

An Arduino can only handle 1 thread at a time? Each module is a separate unit so you'd need multiple threading to monitor all inputs at once. Crack that and put it on Android and you might have something people would pay a fiver for.
 
Grrrrrr said:
Sounds like he is following down the same path Blackbox solutions went down in creating the Nanocom, although not sure you'd want all your car details (including secuirty codes) displayed over the web.

You could just buy a Nanocom if you want to see the input/outputs. Or look at the Nanocom documentation but given how much work went into working it all out I doubt BBS will be particularly forthcoming. Given the age of the vehicle I expect there is little if any encryption. The BECM chips can be read straight off the chip with an appropriate reader. EPROM is it called? @martyuk knows how to do it. Rick-the-pick almost certainly knows. MrSporty might have had a play. Wouldn't surprise me if @pwood999 has had a play too.

An Arduino can only handle 1 thread at a time? Each module is a separate unit so you'd need multiple threading to monitor all inputs at once. Crack that and put it on Android and you might have something people would pay a fiver for.
Click to expand...

God no, I'm not going to do any reading of fault codes or anything, I just want to live monitor some of the signals coming out of the becm. The ones I'm interested in all appear to be 'pull to ground' type things, which are reasonably easy to monitor.

Once I have the powerfold mirrors sorted, I'm going to start looking at things like sending me an email when the doors are unlocked. Ring my phone if I lock the car and the lights are still on (because I do this annoyingly often).

It's more about stuff I can do for the sake of it, not things that are actually useful :D

Grrrrrr said:
Wouldn't a relay fed off the switched live for accessories be a better idea
Click to expand...

probably, but then I wouldn't be able to show off by folding my mirrors in as I walk away from the car.
 
TallPaulB said:
Hi All,

I have a couple of projects I want to integrate into my 2001 P38, but doing so requires picking up some signals from the BECM. First off, I want to get access to the 'engine running' (C1279 pin 9) and lock / unlock (C1283 pin 8, 18) signals.

I'll be using standard 3.3v GPIO on arduino shields or arduino compatible boards to read these.

Has anyone done this sort of thing before? Just want to establish if it's doable, or if I'm doomed to failure / frying my BECM before I start.

The outputs *I think* pull to ground when they trigger, so as long as I have a common ground between the arduino and the car I *should* be able to just watch for my inputs going low to detect a trigger. I'm not an expert on the electronic side of things though, so any advice on this would be appreciated!


pinout information: https://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetails/becm/index.html
Click to expand...
If you have no electronics expertise, you would be well advised to stay away from the P38 electronics.
 
TallPaulB said:
God no, I'm not going to do any reading of fault codes or anything, I just want to live monitor some of the signals coming out of the becm. The ones I'm interested in all appear to be 'pull to ground' type things, which are reasonably easy to monitor.

Once I have the powerfold mirrors sorted, I'm going to start looking at things like sending me an email when the doors are unlocked. Ring my phone if I lock the car and the lights are still on (because I do this annoyingly often).

It's more about stuff I can do for the sake of it, not things that are actually useful :D



probably, but then I wouldn't be able to show off by folding my mirrors in as I walk away from the car.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you are playing with fire don't get your fingers burned.
 
TallPaulB said:
Ha, I have a spare unlocked Becm sat on my desk so I should be okay if I manage to kill my current one. Pun intended :D
Click to expand...

As for the automatic phone call if you leave your lights on. Do you often walk away from the car with your eyes shut? Do you have a BBS MSV2 or a Nanocom to input the fob code with on your unlocked BECM. Anyhow fiddle away it's your car. ;):D:D
 
OK, I'll try and provide something more than discouragement....

Arduinos are great for all kinds of things - the only thing to look out for between P38 and Arduino is that the P38 logic levels for most things go from between VBatt (12V ish) and ground. Arduinos usually use 5V logic (the one's i'm playing with for other things will do 5V on an analog or digital pin) and generally can only sink about 20mA MAX on an input pin.

So if you are wanting to tap off a feed into the BECM, then I would recommend doing it through a voltage divider with resistors and making sure that the current into the arduino pin is limited to 20mA max.

You should then be able to read the signals on a digital pin on the arduino as a digital 0 or 1 depending on whether it's high or low.

Shouldn't damage the BECM at all, as it's got input protection on most of the inputs anyway - and you're more likely to damage the BECM by trying to feed something into it, than tap off an input line to read the status of it.

Hope this helps,
Marty
 
tomcat59alan said:
I for one dont know what the feck your talking about and Why? :D
Click to expand...

martyuk said:
OK, I'll try and provide something more than discouragement....

Arduinos are great for all kinds of things - the only thing to look out for between P38 and Arduino is that the P38 logic levels for most things go from between VBatt (12V ish) and ground. Arduinos usually use 5V logic (the one's i'm playing with for other things will do 5V on an analog or digital pin) and generally can only sink about 20mA MAX on an input pin.

So if you are wanting to tap off a feed into the BECM, then I would recommend doing it through a voltage divider with resistors and making sure that the current into the arduino pin is limited to 20mA max.

You should then be able to read the signals on a digital pin on the arduino as a digital 0 or 1 depending on whether it's high or low.

Shouldn't damage the BECM at all, as it's got input protection on most of the inputs anyway - and you're more likely to damage the BECM by trying to feed something into it, than tap off an input line to read the status of it.

Hope this helps,
Marty
Click to expand...
Now there's two of them at it!!!:eek::p
 
Cheers @martyuk!

I do have a bit of electronics experience, built a few microcontroller things in my time so not really worried about the mysteries of the becm (famous last words before frying it)

Like you say, I'm much more likely to fry my arduino type things, but they're cheap as chips these days so not a massive problem.
 
Indeed - I've got various arduinos from different projects - been recently playing with one and a pressure transducer to be able to give a digital readout of air pressure. Thoughts have been had on using it on the RR, but at the moment, I'm looking at making it into a valve block test rig, so once I've refurbed one with new O-rings, I can pressurise it all and see if there are any leakdowns for various places.

The BECM is pretty robust - unless you do something crazy like short things out or get the polarity wrong on the power feeds... :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
P38 Left hand indicators not working - BECM input/output - 1999 2.5 DSE
Replies
8
Views
3K
stuu
stuu
Back
Top