Using the NFC Ring to start my car

Nickkford

So I, like many others on here, am wanting to replace my key with my NFC Ring (whenever it arrives...). I'm having a couple issues with the project (without even getting started yet...) The first being that I have absolutely zero experience with Arduino's or Raspberry Pi's, so I will have some learning to do for sure. The second is that I drive an 02' Beetle TDI (diesel), which means glow plugs instead of spark plugs, meaning that they need a solid five seconds or so to warm up before she'll start happily.

Ultimately, I want to be able to walk up to my car, tap my ring to the handle, unlock and then tap my ring to the dash to have it start some sort of sequence where it would run the glow plugs until they're good and warm, then put through to the ignition. I've read through some of the other posts on here about car starters and such. I guess my two main questions - wait three. Three main questions are:

What exactly do I need? Arduino/Raspberry Pi?
Is it even possible to script something like that in so that it would work with a diesel?
If I do this, is it easy to revert back to key ignition? Can I still use the key intermittently?

Thanks!

Lokki

Hi @Nickkford, I can't see why you wouldn't be able to script glow plugs into the start sequence. I'd perhaps add an extra relay to do that though. But it should be completely achievable to simply add a timed output as part of the start sequence.
As long as you don't physically remove the original ignition you should be able to happily revert back to that at any point.
Personally I'd use arduino, purely because I have no experience with the raspberry pi.

MrStein

A rasberry Pi is more expensive and need more power than a classic arduino. I think the better choise is the arduino for that ;)
You can also choose some alternative like MSP430 10$ for the launch pad with 2 MSP430 chip!. It's as easy as arduino to use but cheaper and it's an ultra low power chip.