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Thread: Adding a brake display object to video

  1. #1
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    Adding a brake display object to video

    Hello All,
    I am trying to add a brake display object. What field can I use?
    for Throttle, I see the field (Throttle). But for Brake I don't see the field (Brake)

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    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    In TrackAddict (and its resulting data), there's often not a direct way because SAE standard OBD-II parameters don't have any brake channel defined.

    So, the common way to visualize this is to use RaceRender, and base it off of the accelerometer values. In particular, whenever the Accel X data exceeds about 0.15 or 0.20, you can be reasonably certain that you're actively braking (with some exceptions). If you go to Add a new display object, choose Enhanced, and then the Brake Light option, that's how its setup... it illuminates when Accel X >= 0.20. Some other data systems I've used implement their calculated brake on/off in a similar manner, when they don't have any direct brake wire input. It tends to work well, but could a false trigger if you simply lift-throttle when going up a hill, off course, etc. And of course it wouldn't activate when you are braking very lightly or not moving.

    Edit: In future updates, we'll include a "Brake (calculated)" field based on this logic in all new data recordings... That should make things a bit simpler, and if you want to change the threshold, you'll still have the option to set it up in RaceRender as described above.

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    Thank you.
    I will try that

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    To set up he X accel meter, you'll need to use the dashboard (in more options.) Correct?

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    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by guitarZ View Post
    To set up he X accel meter, you'll need to use the dashboard (in more options.) Correct?
    The Dashboard configuration you see in the More Options screen is for the displays that are shown live while recording a session. All of the video overlay options are presented on the setup screen that appears before playing or rendering your video from within the app. The brake visualization based on Accel X ranges (or the upcoming "Brake (calculated)" data channel) that we've been talking about in this thread is something that would be done in our RaceRender software.

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    It will be great to simply have a "Brake" bar option rather us guess that Accel X can be used as brake indicators. We are just not that smart. :-)

    I have noticed that on my test runs the Accel X bar is like a toggle, on/off.

    Would you you be able to calculate a progression bar like the Throttle?

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    For braking, I think you'd want a negative warning value to flash the bar, because a positive would mean forward acceleration.

    I think. It could be the other way around.

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    I tried setting up both A & B channels, and the boxes with the data were very thin. I don't know if it was supposed to be that way, but if you had only 1 channel, the box (and font size) was larger.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Forgive my ignorance of the product, but is there by chance a digital auxiliary input which could be leveraged to "wire in" a brake light wire in order to tell TrackAddict that the brake pedal was being used?
    2007 Z06 (E38 ECM), stock LS7 short block, .030" milled/ported heads, PLX SM-AFR, MPVI Pro

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    The only sources of inputs tp TA are the accelerometers and the OBD system.

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    Fair enough, but is there not some input reported via OBD which could be "hijacked" for this purpose? I've read about folks without the MPVI Pro re-purposing an input (forget which one) to log 0-5v for the wideband on their standard MPVI; why couldn't one do the same but with the brake lamp (instead of a WB) for TA? You may need a circuit to "change" the 12v "signal" into a 5v one, but that aside it seems like a potential solution.
    2007 Z06 (E38 ECM), stock LS7 short block, .030" milled/ported heads, PLX SM-AFR, MPVI Pro

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    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rhyary View Post
    I have noticed that on my test runs the Accel X bar is like a toggle, on/off.

    Would you you be able to calculate a progression bar like the Throttle?
    If the accelerometer data visualization is acting as sort of an "all or nothing", that would probably be due to the display having a short Range setting. Normally, for accelerations, we'd use a range of -1.5 to 1.5 (or perhaps +/- 1.25 or 2.0, etc). But for the braking calculation previously described here, it is intentionally short so that it will act as an on/off. If you wanted it to show more of a progression, you could expand the upper range a bit. The accelerometers are measuring the whole performance picture here, so we wont be able to link that reading directly back to brake pedal position... It's instead showing your vehicle's actual rate of deceleration in G's (1 G = 9.8 m/s^2).

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    Quote Originally Posted by sillycon View Post
    Forgive my ignorance of the product, but is there by chance a digital auxiliary input which could be leveraged to "wire in" a brake light wire in order to tell TrackAddict that the brake pedal was being used?
    Quote Originally Posted by sillycon View Post
    Fair enough, but is there not some input reported via OBD which could be "hijacked" for this purpose? I've read about folks without the MPVI Pro re-purposing an input (forget which one) to log 0-5v for the wideband on their standard MPVI; why couldn't one do the same but with the brake lamp (instead of a WB) for TA? You may need a circuit to "change" the 12v "signal" into a 5v one, but that aside it seems like a potential solution.
    Unfortunately, we can't really use the headphone port as an input, being that it would interfere with the audio of video recordings (and I don't want to be blamed for people connecting to too much voltage and frying their phones ). As you described, it could be possible to repurpose one of the cars non-essential sensors that is reported via OBD-II and then have the app read that data. You would most likely need to shift the voltage down to 5 volts in that case, and you'd need to choose a sensor that doesn't impact the vehicle operation, so this approach is a bit limited. I am hopeful that there will be some better and easier options for this in the future...