Arduino + Motorcycle

[micah]

I'm dying up here in Canada waiting for the real spring to start so I can get my motorcycle out.

So in the meantime I've been dreaming about the cool arduino things I could do to my bike (although I'm way to busy to ever get around to it).

I know it's not MySensors related, but I found two really cool arduino + motorcycle projects and I though you guys might enjoy checking them out.

Arduino Shift Light + Tachometer from Chippernut
Link to site
Youtube Link

Motorcycle Blind-Spot Detection System
YouTube Link

[dakipro]

I like the ideas. Not sure I need them, well I do need the second one but I live in rainy area, and ultrasound sensor would not last more then few days with all the mud and dirt. As a commuter I am on the bike daily. But maybe some alternatives can be found.

I was actually thinking on using arduino to notify my wife that I forgot the phone, and another one maybe that I forgot the key in the ignition (with the main lights on, but maybe buzzer can do this as well ).

With mysensors I could have motorcycle "online" when it is in the garage, and once it becomes offline, domoticz will check if my phone is still at home and notify my wife. If she is with me on motorcycle, then I can go back for phone, or if she is at home she can maybe contact someone that I am visiting or something (i need to figure this out a bit more :)).
I could also add bluetooth module that detects if the phone is in range when bike is running, but I often forget to turn on bluetooth on mobile (I can use tasker probably to turn on bluetooth when on bike, but would rather not to think about bluetooth status).

Maybe there is something else in home automation that can be useful for motorcycles?

[micah]

@dakipro said:

I was actually thinking on using arduino to notify my wife that I forgot the phone, and another one maybe that I forgot the key in the ignition (with the main lights on, but maybe buzzer can do this as well ).

I think I've figured out the perfect solution to your forgotten phone and keys problem... it comes with several benefits including:

• Cheap
• Easily replacable
• Unobtrusive
• Can be colour coded for different purposes
• Only takes 1 minute to build
• Very power/energy efficient

...

...

...

lol... sorry, I couldn't resist a bit of humor this morning . In actual fact your forgotten phone solution does sound interesting

[micah]

@dakipro said:

With mysensors I could have motorcycle "online" when it is in the garage, and once it becomes offline, domoticz will check if my phone is still at home and notify my wife. If she is with me on motorcycle, then I can go back for phone, or if she is at home she can maybe contact someone that I am visiting or something (i need to figure this out a bit more :)).

When I was re-reading this part I actually had a different idea.

I park my bike in the backyard, since I'm terribly unfortunate and do not have a garage. I only have a Suzuki GS500F, so I'm not really worried about anyone stealing it, but....

Your solution could easily be turned into a "theft warning" system that communicates to your phone, since your bike shouldn't be leaving your house without you on it.

[dakipro]

Hehe, I like simple solution
theft warning is one of the benefits, it is basically some sort of "motorcycle online presence" sensor that will report when motorcycle is near house/system. It could use arduino 3.3v with sleep so that it doesn't drain much battery. Then based on that and some other factors you can setup your home automation system to react on it.
It can get more complex, but knowing me, anything complex will distract me especially when testing, and I do not want to be distracted while on the bike.

[micah]

@dakipro said:

...and I do not want to be distracted while on the bike.

I completely agree. When I first got my bike 3 years ago I was shocked by how little information the dash provided, there wasn't even a clock!!!

But now I love that fact, I love riding around having no idea of the time, since when I'm on my bike I'm never in a rush and the journey is the reward

[micah]

I just thought of another great motorcycle project.

Some sort of GPS tracking + tilt sensor + logging

[TheoL]

@micah As much as I love the Arduino and MySensors, the raspberry Pi might be more suitable for your plans. There are tons of Pi projects for automobiles that are using the OBD2 bus. I don't know anything about motorcycles, but maybe a motorcycle has a bus similar to a car's OBD2.

Would makes things way easier. And you can use a touch screen Which might not be save when using it while driving.

[micah]

@TheoL you are probably completely correct.

I don't actually plan on building it.... it was just an interesting thought exercise.