Just recieved my Innovate OT-1 today.

The OT-1 is Innovate Motorsports OBDII interface. It plugs directly into the factory OBDII connector and allows monitoring and logging of up to 16 Channels of data from the factory ECU as well as reading and clearing of DTC codes.


I have to say I'm impressed with the quality of the product, it was quick and easy to install, very much a plug and play device. I did a small test to ensure the device was working and communicating with my computer and will be using the next few days to get more familliar with how the hardware/software work and what data I can monitor and log. As I get results and learn to use it I will update the thread with information and findings.


I do want to give a plug for Lloyd at www.tunertools.com where I got the unit. I called and spoke to him before making the decision to purchase and found him to be friendly and informative. Shipping was quick as I recieved the unit 2-days after processing my order, very quick considering they are in CT.

As a side note, people may be thinking I'm nuts for having a computer in my MINI... well maybe but it's a very small Sony VAIO UX hand-held with a 4.5" display I have a mount coming next week from RAM and will post pics after things are installed correctly.

 

sounds neat! Do post updates!!!

 

that's wicked

 

Soooo how do you set this up, what equipment do you need besides Innovate OT-1, like a screen, what type of computer? What information can be displayed on this. Would this eliminate all need for extra gauges?

 

I just got my RAM mount in, I should be installing it this week so I'll get to play with it some more after I get it in.

I don't have a complete list of what can or can't be monitored yet as I have not had much time to do any testing however I was able to quickly setup a test session monitoring the following.

RPM
Speed
MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure)
Engine Load
Timing Advance

There's a whole lot more available but I didn't have too much time to play with it.

This is just the start as I plan on adding a couple more Innovate devices, the LMA-3 and the LC-1. The LC-1 will give me Wideband O2 for AFR/EGT, and the Aux Box for a vaccum tube fed Boost as well as Fore/Aft and Lateral G's all of the devices work together using a proprietary data stream and are logged and analyzed in thier LogWorks software.

Innovate offers a variety of devices that can be used without a PC in the car, instead hooking up to guages, some have the ability to log data to a SD card to be transferred to a PC and others have thier own programmer/display unit. It's really a versatile system that can be adapted and tailored to suit your needs. That being said the OT-1 does require a PC to use, and the required specs are pretty low by todays standard.

The PC I'm mounting in the car is pictured below.

Intel Core Solo 1.4
1GB RAM
40GB Hard drive
USB 2.0
4.5" Touchscreen
WiFi A/B/G
WWan via Cingular
Bluetooth
2 Cameras
Fingerprint securiety
Win XP Pro




and here is a screengrab of the software. (from another user)

 

cool stuff.

 

after all this is set up...whats your guess of how much youve spent

 

Oil Temp is not in the MINI ODBII

I'm curious how fast the OT-1 is because the OBDII gives 5 values every second, so not so fast. I curently have a ScanGauge and it's nice to see some values but they are not fast enough to monitor closely (like MAP, ignition advance). Water temperature and intake air temperature are nice to see because they do'nt require fast updating.

I have an Innovate setup with the Aux Box and two XD-16 gauges for MAP and EGT. I assume it is possible to put the OT-1 in a daisy chain with those.



ScanGauge

 

nice gauge install!!! you cut a hole and wire the wires through the headline? what exactly does the scan gauge II tell you/why is that information important. (just a n00b asking)

Thanks

 

The OT-1 was 149.99
RAM mount was 40.00 shipped
VAIO I got on sale under 1000.00

Part of the reason I chose to go this route was the versatility of having a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) with me in the car. It's a full blown computer with the ability to do anything you need a PC to do. So while I may be using the PC as a means to log and analyze data it is not the only purpose.


2BeeMINI2: The screengrab as noted above is from another users setup, I don't have any of my own yet to post but I will when I have some. Also I noticed you have an 03 R53, I belive the ECU in the R56 is a bit quicker but cannot confirm that as a quick search yeilded no results on the CAN interface specifications of the new car. But I too will be looking to add the LMA-3 Aux Box and LC-1 to get more real-time information for what I consider critical information such as boost, egt. Also the OT-1 is fully MTS compliant and has the MTS Serial In/Out to be added into the MTS chain How do you like your Aux-Box?

 

Yes, it's my setup
Also the scangauge.

I like the Aux-Box but especially the fact that I can swap the gauges to other values just by reprogramming the XD-16 and swap the gauge face. The Innovate setup is not cheap but I spent lots of money on gauges I wasn't satisfied with and the Innovate setup is the first one that fits all my needs (including auto-dim). If I decide to add the LM-1 it's easy to reprogram the XD-16 to show the A/F ratio and to use the LM-1 as a logging system.

Hope to see pictures of your setup soon and read about your experiences with the OT-1.

 

This is the screengrab I was referencing as I figured you were saying that Oil Temp is not availible on the MINI via OBD2 and it shows Oil Temp.

Some of the really nice features of the Log Works 3 software (still beta but soon to be released) is that the guages are pretty customizable. You can choose background, bezel, needle, bar, round, or digital, set warnings, etc...

 

I know the Oil Temp it is not available on the first generation.
It could well be that it is available on the 2nd gen.

The screengrab you posted looks a little big for your Sony, I guess you won't be able to put that many gauges on the screen?

 

Depending on how I configure the guages I'm estimating that 6 would be about the max for in-car use. When I dock the Sony at home I have a 19" monitor that I use so for analysis I could display more. Fortunately the gauges are customizable in size and style so it may take some playing around but I'm hoping to have a nice "dash board" readout.

 

 

Mounted!

 

tech and tuner worlds just collided...

 

It's looking impressive, very nice. Can you change colors to the MINI/BMW amber?

How is the readability and updating speed?
Can you hold max values and show/recall them?
Does the Vaio take long to startup or is it readily available like a PDA?

Not that I want to be negative but I think I would have invested in a few XD-16 gauges to hook up to the OT. For the money that the Vaio costs you also could have bought about six fully programmable XD-16 gauges (bit too many in the cockpit, I know). Can't monitor six gauges in a second anyway, one is hard enough.

 

I think there's a bit of a mis-conception in the "Vaio" I did not purchase it to just be a guage. It's a full blown PC running Windows XP Pro. I have Office, a couple games, and other bits loaded on there, MP3s, movies etc. The form factor for this purpose fits nicely.

It takes about a minute to boot, I have not slimmed down the OS install from the factory so there is a lot of "bloatware" and overhead right now.

Readability is great, the version on the vaio right now is the LogWorks2 software, LogWorks 3 is in beta and it brings much more customization to the guages, background, min-max holds etc so I am eagerly awaiting that release.

As far as the update speed I am currently logging 6 Channels and the resolution is great, much faster than the R53 with the new ECU. Still a few adjustments to be made, and the cabling to be routed behind the dash but I hope to have it sorted before AMVIV.

 

Wow that looks awsome!!

Happy to help out.

BBCooper

 

BBCooper creator of all things incredibly cool for the MINI

 

Hey SDMike, how about some info on that ram mount you are using. I haven't seen one mounted to a vent like that.

 

Well it's the basic RAM Kit for the Sony Vaio UX series.

The cool part was I took my dash apart and had a friend make the "plug" that sits firmly in the vent hole, providing a solid flat area to mount the RAM unit.

I'm nost sure how much I can really elaborate, I'll let the "engineer" guy chime in on it.

 

Engineer guy here...
Well the "vent plug" is just that... It is a big cylinder (3 1/2" diameter) of plastic that was trimmed down to fit tightly inside the vent. SDMike did the hard part - figure out how to get the R56 dash apart and remove the vent directing element.

Once the vent director was out, I started fabricating the plug to seal on two separate diameters inside the vent "tube" for the best support. Also had to keep track of the spacing when the dash rings were put back on... Once that was all good.. We drilled a few holes in the face of the plug to attach the Ram mount base.. and PRESTO!! SDMike's Sony PC is road ready. Of course it took much longer to do than it takes you to read this.. But that should give you the general idea.

Maybe that helps,
BBCooper

 

Nice, thanks for the info on the mount. I think the Sony in there is a great option. Especially if you travel a lot. You get sweet looking gauges while driving and have a full blown computer to handle email and anything else you might need on the road. Great work!