OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

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WizardKing
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OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by WizardKing »

Sorry for such a long post but I wish to explain my investigations, thus far.

Initially, Laptimer (and it's video recordings) displayed speed readings almost identical to those shown on my headunit's display (Kenwood DNX7240BT, with Garmin sat-nav.) Despite slight lags, during acceleration, my iPhone 4 and, later on 4S,
matched with my sat-nav's speedo. So, the built-in GPS is acceptable until I purchase an XGPS150E.

As recommended, by your good self, I obtained and fitted a GoPoint BT1, last year.
Immediately after uploading several clips to YouTube, following a trackday, friends commented that they liked the added OBDII data but asked what had happened to the iPhone's speedo. It looked to be clearly under-reading, throughout the clips. I then took my first look at the clips and agreed.

Since fitting the BT1, the problem has continued, even with my iPhone 5. [Yes, Harry, your excellent app. has been the main reason behind upgrading my phone twice in the last 12 months :shock: At least I now have an iPhone 5 with 64GB :D ]

I've tried changing between mph and Kmh in Laptimer and, via it's supplied app., in the BT1 itself.I have also tried changing between calculated and measured speeds in Laptimer. All to no avail, the speed displays too low a reading in either setting.

As my car is an Evo Wagon, every single one was made strictly for sale in the Japanese market only. Upon import to the UK, an adapter/converter was fitted to the gearbox, changing the car's speedometer to read in mph instead of Kmh. I believe this convertor to be the same type as almost every JDM Mitsubishi received upon arrival.

Is it possible to make a change in my settings so that Laptimer modifies the received OBD data to compensate for the artificially reduced signal/pulse ? If so, please advise.

If not, is it possible to retain OBD data but exclude its given data, regarding speed, in favour of obtaining such from GPS instead ?


Cheers,

Andy
" It's better to burn out than fade away . . . " The Kurgen, Highlander

My vids, many using HLT ; http://www.youtube.com/user/WizardKing6
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Harry
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Harry »

As soon as OBD data is available, wheel speed delivered by OBD is used instead of GPS throughout the app. The reason is, this data source reacts faster to real world changes (acceleration etc). The only exception is the GPS view - which shows GPS speed all the time.

Please note while GPS speed lags more and misses short time min and max values, it can be considered far more accurate than OBD at higher speeds and constant speed.

Back to your problem, LapTimer comes with a solution out of the box: check LapTimer - Settings - Expert Settings - OBD Tweaks - Soeed Multiplier. Setting it to for example 1.1 will increase speed values delivered through OBD by 10% and so on,

To calibrate, record a short straight on the highway at higher speed. Export to CSV and compare GPS and OBD speed side by side. Derive a multiplier for OBD speed that let's OBD fit the GPS speed best.

Please note this multiplier will be applied for new recordings only.

Hope that helps ;-)

Harry
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by WizardKing »

Thank you kindly, sir.
I was pretty sure there was something already there, just needed your expertise.
I shall post back my results asap.
" It's better to burn out than fade away . . . " The Kurgen, Highlander

My vids, many using HLT ; http://www.youtube.com/user/WizardKing6
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by WizardKing »

I exported the.csv, as suggested and compared speeds.
Although I calculated ratios from 1.4_ up to 1.9_ , I believe this was due to not having enough road to hold a steady speed for more than a brief time. Averaging a number of results, I obtained a figure of 1.6.

This was very close to the figure anticipated, 1.609 . You will probably recognise this as the number used when performing calculations to transform mph > kph and vice-versa (i.e. from miles to Kilometres, multiply by 1.609)

I have now input this OBD multiplier in my settings (although HLT has rounded it up to 1.61) and videos appear to be spot-on again.

Thanks, Harry.
" It's better to burn out than fade away . . . " The Kurgen, Highlander

My vids, many using HLT ; http://www.youtube.com/user/WizardKing6
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Harry »

Thanks for coming back. Good to know this multiplier is useful :-)
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Frank997
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Frank997 »

Hi,

I am using the petrolhead version and have received yesterday my GoPoint BT1 and suffer similar problems. But there is no constant factor which would solve the issue.
At the beginning of the overlay video the speed seems far to low (eg. 13km/h where I went at least at 60 km/h) and towards the end it the video shows more than 150km/h in a curve where you can barely go with more than 70 km/h.

Revolutions are also showing far (eg. starting with 31 rpm!!!).

During my ride i also noticed that it did not recognize the 4th gear. It went always directly from 3 to 5 or vice-versa, not showing ever 4.

As I am new to this I have not changed/adjusted anything so far.
The car i used the stuff with is a BMW 525xd automatic, current version (1/2012). I drove the car changing gears manually.

I had connected the Dual XGPS150A via BT as well.
I expressively bought it because I had heard that it is more accurate than the iPhone internalGPS signal. And now I am learning that the OBD data overwrites the GPS speed anyway?

Any help and advice is very welcome.

Thanks a lot

Frank

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Harry
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Harry »

You need to configure the gear ratios for your BMW to get reasonable gear displays.

I'd assume there is a problem with the BT1 connection that generates these speed effects. I have seen quite some problems with BMWs - see some recent threads here on the forum, maybe you do not get a constant stream of OBD data at all? Can you please check the OBD update rate and let me know? They are visible in the Sensor List.

Btw, LapTimer keeps both GPS and OBD speeds, but it displays OBD in the video if available.

In case OBD data is too bad for a recording, you can turn off OBD in the dialog presented to you when starting the overlay.

- Harry
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Frank997
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Frank997 »

Hi Harry,
thank you so far.
When i entered some data of my car ithe autocompleted the gear ratios itself (ehich i was thnkful about).

Regarding the speed:
During the ride it showed the right speed, it's only the video overlay which shows stupid speeds and motor revolutions... So if the OBD sent the right data during the ride it's unlikely that the data range is wrong, is it?

Thanks for thinking about alternative reasons.

Another issue: Since i successfully connected GPS and OBD with my iphone 5 the BT connection between it and my car (built-in hands-free) does not work anymore. Both devices (iphone and car) shows the other devicd in the display but does not see each other ehen trying to pair them.

Regards
Frank
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Harry »

Well, BT1 + XGPS150 + hands free is probably a little too complex (although it should work). Not sure someone can comment on issues here as there are probably make / device specific incompatibilities. On the speed issue: in case the data has been fine in real time, video and data recording are most probably not aligned correctly. Usually this is done automatically, but once you start moving / re-assigning videos, it may get out of sync. To check the sync, please navigate to the lap you overlaid and revert to the original video first (Revert button in English, "Original" in German). Press Edit (important) to get the lap into edit mode. Select the video. You will be presented with a Video Synchronization screen. Make sure the frame you see is exactly the END for the lap's recording, Set and overlay again. http://www.gps-laptimer.com/LapTimerDoc ... hapter.pdf has the full story on video alignment.

- Harry
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Frank997
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Re: OBD data corrupting GPS speedo ?

Post by Frank997 »

Hi,
the problem is not really to connect all at the same time but even when trying to connect the iphone again with the BMW's integrated handsfree AFTER finishing Laptimer and without comnectimg GPS and OBD.
Regarding speed and reolutions it's unlikely that the problem is caused by wron synchronisation as the revoutions (31 rpm) do not make any sense at any time.
I will do some further testing over the weekend.
Frank
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