Fuel Management App Idea for Armbian – Need Feedback!

[Danuta]

Hello everyone!
I’m new to the forum and recently set up Armbian on my Orange Pi using the latest July 2025 image. I’m working on a user-space application to monitor fuel consumption for IoT projects involving vehicle fleets, like optimizing diesel trucks. I’m thinking of something that could run via armbian-config or as a Python script, pulling data from fuel sensors.

So far, my idea is to log consumption data and calculate efficiency based on user input. I’ve tried Grafana, but it lacks a dedicated fuel calculator—kalkulatorpaliwa.com.pl could serve as a starting point for a simple interface. I’m unsure how to approach this on Armbian—should I use Python with Matplotlib, or go for a lighter option like Bash with awk?

I’ll share a basic startup script if someone helps me get started! What tools do you recommend for building such apps on Armbian? Has anyone worked on a similar fuel monitoring project with SBCs? What challenges might I face with sensor integration? Looking forward to your suggestions—I plan to start testing this week!

[umiddelb]

homeassistant ?

[robertoj]

Sensor integration: buy a OBD2 to USB adapter and study the OBD2 codes to read the fuel liters/hour, km and km/h. It is very possible there is a python OBD2 library.

 

The SBC should be running continuously in the vehicle, since the car electronic control unit does not have the memory to store the information for you.

 

Python+tkinter/pyqt6+matplotlib is very effective for this kind of apps.

[Offeacy61]

22.07.2025 в 21:40, Danuta сказал:

Hello everyone!
I’m new to the forum and recently set up Armbian on my Orange Pi using the latest July 2025 image. I’m working on a user-space application to monitor fuel consumption for IoT projects involving vehicle fleets, like optimizing diesel trucks. I’m thinking of something that could run via armbian-config or as a Python script, pulling data from fuel sensors.

So far, my idea is to log consumption data and calculate efficiency based on user input. I’ve tried Grafana, but it lacks a dedicated fuel calculator—kalkulatorpaliwa could serve as a starting point for a simple interface. I’m unsure how to approach this on Armbian—should I use Python with Matplotlib, or go for a lighter option like Bash with awk?

I’ll share a basic startup script if someone helps me get started! What tools do you recommend for building such apps on Armbian? Has anyone worked on a similar fuel monitoring project with SBCs? What challenges might I face with sensor integration? Looking forward to your suggestions—I plan to start testing this week!





If your project scales into broader fleet management or business process automation, consider integrating with ERP systems. Expert odoo erp consulting services can help tailor solutions that bring together IoT data, fleet operations, and business workflows into a unified platform.

Welcome to the forum! Your project sounds really interesting and practical, especially for optimizing fleet fuel usage.
 

For an Armbian-based solution, Python is usually the best starting point. It offers great flexibility, extensive libraries, and good community support. Using Python with libraries like Matplotlib for visualization and Pandas for data handling would make it easier to process sensor data and create useful charts. Plus, Python scripts can easily be integrated into your workflow, whether as standalone scripts or through lightweight web interfaces (Flask or Dash, for example).
 

Bash with awk might be lightweight but can quickly get complicated as your project grows—especially when you need calculations and data visualization.
 

As for sensor integration, make sure to check the compatibility and communication protocol (I2C, SPI, UART) of your fuel sensors with Orange Pi. Sometimes the challenge is not only reading accurate data but also filtering out noise and handling sensor calibration.
 

Regarding dashboards, if Grafana feels too heavy or lacking in fuel-specific functions, you might consider building a custom Python dashboard or integrating with lightweight web frameworks that allow tailored features like a dedicated fuel calculator.
 

Looking forward to seeing your startup script and how your project evolves!