The original dash looked like this:
I removed the radio on the left, which left an ugly hole. I removed the generator, which left an ugly hole where the generator control panel used to be. I always leave the key in the ignition, so that was a pointless lump in the dash. The rocker switch panel to the right was nearly empty because I yanked out some other useless stuff. One in particular was because I rebuilt the battery to be a 24v 13Kwh pack and thus there is no switch to connect the house and chassis batteries. Not shown above, I had a tablet mounted to the right of the steering wheel to provide a map and GPS.
In addition, the panel to the left of the driver had the mirror buttons inline, so it was not obvious which controlled the left or right. The jacks panel was oriented facing right, so it was not intuitive when dealing with the corners of the RV. There was only 1 cup holder and the storage pocket was a goofy shape that was nothing but a crumb catcher. The air brake release switch was stiff enough that the trim it was attached to had been yanked from the panel (garbage quality from Gulfstream).
I decided to rebuild it, and in the process I discovered that the gauges were digital. I then researched and found the Bluefire product that will let you create a computer/tablet based dashboard. I tried that out and found that it did not have the air pressure information or fuel gauge info, but worse was that it had like a two second lag. If I stabbed the go pedal, the RPM gauge will stay unchanged for like two seconds, then it would jump. I contacted Bluefire and they seemed to suggest that a faster computer would help. This is total nonsense because the data coming from the bus is 9600 baud. There is no computer you can buy today that cannot parse at that speed and draw a gauge. Bluefire must have a bad implementation somewhere.
I did a little more research and found a wiring diagram for the Freightliner that I own, and discovered that there was a RS-485 bus from the VDC (Vehicle Data Computer - in the back near the engine) to the instruments. I got a cheap USB RS-485 reader and wired that into the wires going to the dash.
After a bit of programming to parse the data I had all but fuel, turn signals, the warning buzzers, and a few idiot lights. To solve the fuel, I got a cheap USB A2D converter and threw in a resistor voltage divider, did some programming and I had fuel level. I also made a competing fuel level by summing the fuel used, which is available on the data bus. I used the A2D to to detect the turn signals. The idiot lights were solved by parsing the normal J1708 with another USB RS-485 reader. Any code that I have not seen before is recorded and a light on the dash is lit. I can then read what that code is.
When I rebuilt the roof part of the front to get rid of the tube-TV-view-blocker, I also removed the hanging black and white backup camera. I refused to buy a backup camera for $$ and instead mounted a $40 security camera on the back of the RV. With the new computer I was able to catch that video on the WIFI network in the RV and detecting the gear change to R, I automatically pop up a rear view display on the monitor to the right.
The WIFI in the RV is provided by a pepwave router that has GPS info that is put onto the local network. I made the dash computer receive that info so now microsoft maps displays my real time location.
The plastic trim that made the junction between the window and dash and walls was all faded and cracked. Below, you can see the new layout with rebuilt upper cabinets and no TV-blocking-view, no ugly fans, no drop down backup video, and no useless visors flopping around. You can see the vegan leather spread over all the surfaces. Many vegan naugabeasts were slaughtered to get their skin.
Below you can see the properly oriented jack panel. The mirror switches are mounted left/right to match the real mirrors. There are 2 cup holders. The air brake is firmly affixed. There is a built in garbage can and built in kleenex holder. The dash has some cubbies to hold glasses and park passes and has a place to set my phone on a wireless charger.
I was determined not to have only flat surfaces, so I laminated some plywood into a curve to make the hood. I did a similar technique to make the curved windshield to dash panels to replace the old cracked plastic ones.
The computer logs in with my finger print. There are two touch screen monitors, both on the same computer. The one on the right is no longer a flexy mounted tablet, but firmly mounted and as you can see, properly integrated with the dash. The speed is a big digital number. The dash now shows the cruise set speed. The gauges light up if the values are out of whack. It shows average fuel guzzle factor and instant. The "N" and "NC" are displaying the set gear and the achieved gear. The voltage is a number, not some useless pointer.
In short, I now have more useful information, and the data is shown and emphasized appropriately for the information it provides.
I mounted two small speakers below the dash and put a USB amp to drive them from the computer. So spotify, or youtube or whatever is the radio now.
Linear Mode
