Field Report: How did Haltech keep THIS a secret?

Speaker 1: 0:00

In this day and age, digital display dashes have largely replaced the traditional analog gauges, but of course there are a variety of options available, each with different price points and different pros and cons. We're here with Scott from Haltech to talk about their IC7 range and, in particular, an upcoming fairly major firmware development. Welcome to High Performance Academies' tuned in field report podcast series. In these special midweek episodes we look back through our archives to find the best conversations we've had through years worth of attending the best automotive events across the globe. We've pulled the audio from these tech filled interviews with some of the industry's most well known figures and presented it in podcast format for you to enjoy as a quick hit of insider knowledge. For a start, scott, let's get a bit of an idea of what the IC7 actually is as it stands today.

Speaker 2: 1:00

For sure. So the IC7 is a 7 inch display only dash. It's got six buttons on the front of it. It can display a whole bunch of different CAN protocols from a range of manufacturers, or OBD Display only. It's been like that since we released it a couple of years ago, but we thought it was time for a birthday.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Alright, so let's just talk about what that actually means. So display only really the key there is. It's not a logger, so you're only using it as a driver display to tell the driver what's going on and maybe bring up warnings if maybe your coolant temperature goes too high, for example.

Speaker 2: 1:31

Exactly right, yeah, so think of it more like a slave device. So it doesn't exactly have a brain of its own, so it has no outputs. It's got no math channels available and stuff like that. No onboard data logging, no onboard GPS, so it really is a display only, with no bi-directional communication between the, the dash itself and the engine management system.

Speaker 1: 1:52

How River? That's a known quantity, that's how it's always been, and of course that comes at a benefit of a lower price point.

Speaker 2: 1:59

Spot on. So a couple of years ago, when we released it, the display only was exactly what the market wanted. There was a big hole there and this thing has filled it perfectly. The displays are really nice, it's really sharp, it's got all its auto backlight dimming and it's been a wonderful product for a long time. But we are hearing that people want more, so that's what we're here for.

Speaker 1: 2:18

Before we go into what more actually means, let's also just talk about how the data is going from the ECU to that dash you mentioned CAN. Now, this is a Haltech product, but of course, like most dashes on the market, it's not solely limited to working with the Haltech ECU is it, of course?

Speaker 2: 2:37

yeah, so all of the Haltech stuff. So for quite a long time all the Haltech CAN protocols have all been internal stuff. The things that all of our devices, like our CAN based wideband controllers, our thermocouple amplifiers, our IO expanders, our PDMs, our ECUs, our dashes all of that CAN information has been internal. We've had a public CAN protocol for the display, the things that the ECU sends out to all sorts of dashes. That's changed recently, where we've released all of those internal CAN IDs to the public so that anybody can use them with whatever devices they like makes things a whole lot easier to use. So we weren't doing that to be difficult. We were doing that from a tech support perspective, where releasing all of those CAN protocols and then having all of our tech support staff supporting the CAN communications protocols, it is a really, really complicated thing, but thanks to people like you guys, we are starting to get there, people are starting to understand this and now there is a way to learn about CAN communication.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Yeah, and I think at the simplest level, it's nice if you've just got a drop down menu and the ECU or the dash and you select this is my ECU, it's a Haltech Elite 2500 or it's a MoTeC or an MChon or whatever that may be, and then everything's done. When you have to actually go through and actually develop your own CAN communications template, I mean that is a difficult task, not insurmountable, but puts it out of reach of a lot of people. Do you want to take your car knowledge game to the next level? Join us in the next free lesson at hpacademycom. Slash free and start developing your own skills. Today, now that we've got out of the way how it communicates, how we get that data and also should just touch on you mentioned OBD2 you can actually get data from a stock ECU as well. You don't actually have to have an aftermarket stand alone. Let's talk about these updates. What's coming in the pipeline for the ICC?

Speaker 2: 4:22

So from the beginning we've had the ICC software, which is a separate software package that we use to program the dash. So we're going away from that software and we're actually going to be programming the ICC7 dash directly out of the NSP software, just like you would an engine management system. So the dash is actually going to be firmware updated into what we call a master device. So it will stand on its own two feet. It will have half a gigabyte of onboard data logging. It's got a bunch of outputs, it's got a bunch of inputs and all of those things can be programmed.

Speaker 2: 4:51

So let's say, for example, you've got a full carbureted car, instead of having a bunch of gauges, you just put our one dash in it. You use all of those inputs and outputs into the device. Then you can use it to control your thermofans, your fuel pumps, all of that sort of stuff. Or you'll be able to configure the dash with a PDM, for example. So our PDM is not a standalone device, it needs a master. The dash will be able to do that. So once you join those two together, all of a sudden you'll have a huge amount of flexibility to control a whole heap of different stuff without an engine management system now just coming back to that.

Speaker 1: 5:24

Am I right in saying if this is just a firmware update, you don't actually need? This is not a new generation of ICC7 dash, so older existing ICC7s out there firmware are updateable to incorporate all this new functionality, the dash for the people, haltech for the people.

Speaker 2: 5:39

We try and do the right thing there where it has been there. It's been the plan all along and we've kind of got to the point where the dash needs a birthday. It's a couple of years old, so a whole bunch of new displays and a whole bunch of new functionality, because we're racers too like we want to see it happen the obvious point I'll make here is that if you are now releasing this just a firmware update, obviously that means that the hardware was there all along.

Speaker 1: 6:03

So clearly Haltech actually had this in mind from the initial release of the dash yeah, absolutely, and, as you know, nothing happens overnight.

Speaker 2: 6:11

So being able to release as a display dash, get any bugs ironed out, get the thing as a tried solid hardware product and then build on it, is always the best sort of course of action we're here recording this interview at World Time Attack right at the end of August 2023.

Speaker 1: 6:28

Can you give us some insight into when this firmware is going to be available for public consumption?

Speaker 2: 6:32

uh, months, weeks and months, not not years and years. So I think hopefully there'll probably be a few spy shots from World Time Attack this weekend where we might have a laptop and a dash set up on the stand that some keen eyed viewers might see, some NSP software with some dashes where you'll be able to drop and drag things and a bit more flexibility over how the screens are laid out. So hopefully if you come over to the stand you might be able to see it then and off the website and you'll see a heap of YouTube advertising and stuff and I'll be doing a bunch of demos of how it works, I'm going to say in the next month or so from the date today.

Speaker 1: 7:06

Perfect. Thanks for your time, Scott. It's a really interesting update and I'm looking forward to testing it out myself.

Speaker 2: 7:13

Mate pleasure. Thanks for having us. As always, it's been fantastic work, cheers.

Speaker 1: 7:17

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