Miscellaneous mod catch-all thread

[InterBlog]

Avanti just showed us how easy it is to merge threads (with the toilet duo), so if this post would be better placed somewhere else, just merge it there, please (I tend not to hatch threads on this forum because I don't know the historical structure well enough to know where stuff should be posted).

Anyway, small one-off mods could use their own repository, the ones that don't warrant standalone threads.

Here's an example for those of you who have rigs built on T1N Sprinters. You know that useless little hole in the center of your dash? What is that, anyway? Someone on another forum asked if it was put there to hold a pack of cigarettes. Given the German origin of this van, it would not surprise me (have you been to Germany?! A lot of people smoke!).

It makes a handy receiver if you desire to mount an iPad on your dash. My husband chopped down a block of wood to fit snugly in that hole, and we added a Ram mount to that. I lost engine compression twice for unrelated reasons, and an alternator once, all within the past eleven months. I need data staring me in the face at all times. This is my working solution. Given that it's just a friction / gravity fit, I can snatch the mount out of that hole and stash the iPad out of sight when I run into a store, so as to not leave thief bait on full display.

[rvsprinterguy]

Cool tablet mount! What is the monitoring application shown running on your iPad? How does it interface with the ODBII system?

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by rvsprinterguy

Cool tablet mount! What is the monitoring application shown running on your iPad? How does it interface with the ODBII system?

Husband says it's Carista, which was probably the only Apple-compatible Bluetooth model out at the time when we bought it. Van is not here with me - I'll post back if in fact that's not the model.

I told him I wanted a 100% dedicated OBD device - I don't want to be fumbling with tools every time I have an engine issue.

We've had that plugged into our OBD port for years, but until a few weeks ago, I was running the OBD software on my iPhone. But I'm trying to eliminate -- no, eradicate -- every need for on-road scrolling of any kind. I do too much driving solo, and I cannot scroll. Therefore we took this 8-year-old iPad 4, and largely dedicated it to this application (it's obsolete for many other purposes, but I also use it with the Duet app as a second PC monitor while I'm on the road... plus I read Instagram on it).

The OBD software is neat because it allows extensive customization. That is my current customized display that is showing. I don't need racecar-like parameters to be cluttering up my screen. I just need basic engine parameters to show me if anything is beginning to go wrong.

Floating the iPad above the dash is very convenient because it can remain plugged into the 12V socket that is located underneath it. Some other folks have strapped iPads to their sun visors and whatnot, but then, how do you power it for long trips? Messy.