I've been working on this project for quite some time now so it's time to share my ideas and thoughts. Last year I was looking for navigation and navigation mounts for my Monster 696. After a long search I came to the conclusion that all mounts will 'break' the esthetics of the bike. The only logical place for a navigation system would be on the dashboard, it even has the size of it. But obviously there's a problem. if you put a navigation system there, it will block of your crucial motor data, like rpm, accurate speed, neutral, etc. mmm
But wait, doesn’t the m696 has DDA port? And can't we read the data from it? Yes we can(bus)!
So I bought an Arduino and a canbus shield and started logging. Based on this post, I thought it should be possible and after some long days of searching I found the answers inside of the enormous datalogs. A matrix of the canbus id's and byte can be found here.
Next is the dashboard itself. Because Android Is the most open platform and has a lot of navigation systems available, it was the obvious choice. I needed a way to display my motor data, and still show the navigation in the background. Luckily, android supports floating Windows on top of other applications, a very first draft of the software looks something like this:
![Image]()
I'm also thinking to create different set of views, that you can switch with the normal buttons on steer, so you can also get a full screen dashboard.
And the last part is maybe the most tricky part. How about the esthetics? Well, there is a solution for that, 3D printing. And that's a completely new world for me. So my first revision looked like this:
![Image]()
I've designed it in a way that the original dashboard will still be there, without the cover, and an android Motorola phone will fit under it. The original plan was to keep the normal lights for neutral, blink, etc. But as it turns out, there is just not enough space, even if you try to 'guide' the light with plexiglass to a different position.
So I needed to find more information on the CANBUS so I could skip the original indicators and a better design. And with a little help, the next design became a lot better:
![Image]()
![Image]()
There is still a lot of work to do, like creating a proper power cable for the Arduino with the right voltage regulators, refactoring a lot code on both Android and Adruino and making a proper fit for the new cover. I'll post the photo's as soon as the next 3d print arrives.
But wait, doesn’t the m696 has DDA port? And can't we read the data from it? Yes we can(bus)!
So I bought an Arduino and a canbus shield and started logging. Based on this post, I thought it should be possible and after some long days of searching I found the answers inside of the enormous datalogs. A matrix of the canbus id's and byte can be found here.
Next is the dashboard itself. Because Android Is the most open platform and has a lot of navigation systems available, it was the obvious choice. I needed a way to display my motor data, and still show the navigation in the background. Luckily, android supports floating Windows on top of other applications, a very first draft of the software looks something like this:
I'm also thinking to create different set of views, that you can switch with the normal buttons on steer, so you can also get a full screen dashboard.
And the last part is maybe the most tricky part. How about the esthetics? Well, there is a solution for that, 3D printing. And that's a completely new world for me. So my first revision looked like this:
I've designed it in a way that the original dashboard will still be there, without the cover, and an android Motorola phone will fit under it. The original plan was to keep the normal lights for neutral, blink, etc. But as it turns out, there is just not enough space, even if you try to 'guide' the light with plexiglass to a different position.
So I needed to find more information on the CANBUS so I could skip the original indicators and a better design. And with a little help, the next design became a lot better:
There is still a lot of work to do, like creating a proper power cable for the Arduino with the right voltage regulators, refactoring a lot code on both Android and Adruino and making a proper fit for the new cover. I'll post the photo's as soon as the next 3d print arrives.
