TODO Create an .img that be used to create SD Card with the RaspberryPi Imager.

A declining economy coupled with the soaring energy prices of the 1970s, American Motor Corporation (AMC) struggled in 1980. Their vehicle lineup wasn't able to keep pace with General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. And Japanese imports were now being produced domestically in highly efficient assembly plants.

Not able to secure loans from traditional sources, Renault provided funding to keep AMC going and eventually acquired more than 50% of the company by 1982. The company turned focus to its Jeep brand with down-sized versions of other models; the Wagoneer and Cherokee -- launched in 1983 -- created an entirely new sports utility vehicle class of cars.

Initially, these vehicles had a 2.5L inline-4 AMC engine or a GM-made 2.8L V6, both naturally aspirated with a carburetor. In 1987, Jeep and Renault designed an inline, 6-cylinder engine. Drawing from another Renault joint venture with aerospace company Bendix, they outfitted both the 2.5L and 4L engine with an electronic fuel injection system. Renault-Bendix was shortened to Renix.

When Chysler acquired Jeep in 1991, they replaced the engine management system with their own ECU. However, during just those four years of production, Jeep sold a combined 1.1 million Wagoneers, Cherokees (XJ) and Comanches (MJ) with the Renix system.

While the On Board Diagnostic (OBD) protocol was established by SAE in 1979, it wasn't until 1994, when California emissions regulations mandated it be included on all vehicles, that it became the industry standard now known as OBD-II.

Between 1979 and 1994, most companies used some portion of the OBD standard. Renix did not, charting their own path with a proprietary format.

While some commercially available diagnostic tools were made for mechanics, the protocol was never published. In 2012, a video by Phil Andrews of the RenixPower forum demonstrated his hard work in decoding the protocol.

Following that, Nick Grisley of NickInTimeDesign started developing the Renix Engine Monitor in 2016 and has been generous to share the source code as an open source project. There are several videos on his website that show the extensive sleuthing that was needed to arrive in his latest iteration. I've purchased one and I've been very impressed, it works great!

This project is an extension of both Phil and Nick's tremendous efforts and would not have been possible without them.

• Automotive History Preservation Society
• Renix Wikipedia
• OBD Wikipedia
• Origins by NickInTimeDesign

The ECU serial data connection is a fairly standard interface (open-collector to ground) which isn't dependent on the voltage of the connected electronics. Parts that are needed

• raspberry pi ~$35
• display (minimum 480x320 resolution) ~$20
• transistor (eg 2N2309) < $1
• resistors (eg 4 x 1K ohm) < $1
• power supply (see notes) ~$4
• diagnostic connector ~$5
• wire

The diagnostic connector in the vehicle is a standard 15-pin Molex connector; receptacle with female 0.093" pins. To connect, you'll need the plug (top right) with male pins (bottom left).

The RaspberryPi requires a 5V supply but its input pins are limited to 3.3V so the UART connection needs this lower Vdd pull-up voltage.

Option 1 Use Vdd from the power pins of the Raspberry Pi and level shift the UART using a zener diode (1N4619) and a 100 ohm resistor.

Option 2 Amazon or Ebay (among others) have dc-to-dc step down converters based on the LM2596 and cost about $12 for a pack of 6. One should be adjusted to 5V and the other to 3.3V.

Option 3 The RaspberryPi can be powered by a USB charging port (5V) from a cigarette lighter adapter supplying at least 2A. While the 3.3V regulator on the RaspberryPi isn't easily accessible through the GPIO header, it might be possible to get the right voltage by configuring an output pin and setting it to '1'. The max current is only 17 mA but, in theory, that should be enough to activate the 2N2309 transistor.

Assumes that you are using a RaspberryPI Desktop OS image that already has git and python3 installed. From either a terminal window or command prompt via ssh:

1. clone RenixPi
2. install ansible with pip3 install ansible
3. cd RenixPi/config and run ansible-playbook renix.yml which will clone RenixMonitor and RenixDisplay along with installing their dependencies.
4. cd RenixMonitor
5. python3 main.py --baudrate 62500 --interface /dev/ttyAMA1 &
6. cd ../RenixDisplay
7. npm run prod (or npm run build followed by npm run launch)

Note: on the RaspberryPi 4, there are more than two uarts so you may need to adjust the interface depending on your configuration.

Decodes serial data stream from Renix ECU. Python. Supports both python3 and micropython.

https://github.com/RenixPi/RenixMonitor

Electron app built with React, Redux and RxJS. Javascript. Displays information coming from RenixMonitor and any other MQTT source.

https://github.com/RenixPi/RenixDisplay

No configuration necessary.

In the base directory of the SD card, rename wpa_supplicant.txt to wpa_supplicant.conf and change the SSID and wifi password.

TODO

ssh [email protected]

• size
• orientation

TODO

Currently, only 4L M/T is supported.

Like to see this implemented? Request with a github issue!

TODO

TODO

TODO

TODO

>>> # create virtual serial port
>>> socat -d -d pty,raw,echo=0 pty,raw,echo=0

>>> # run ansible to set up user and ssh config
>>> ansible-playbook -i hosts raspi.yml

>>> # run ansible to set up renix dependencies
>>> ansible-playbook -i hosts renix.yml

>>> # run electron app on raspberry pi
>>> export DISPLAY=:0
>>> npm run prod

>> # rotate screen
>> DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --rotate left

>> # turn on display that's sleeping
>> DISPLAY=:0 xset s on s 60
>> DISPLAY=:0 xset s activate

references: https://reelyactive.github.io/diy/pi-kiosk/

The UART-based serial protocol used by the Renix

Like to see this implemented? Request with a github issue!

Like to see this implemented? Request with a github issue!