Vehicle Maintainer (Software)

[rbattelle]

I recently wrote a vehicle maintenance program.

Vehicle Maintainer (VM) is a simple windows database for vehicle maintenance. It's designed to occupy minimum disk space, and all data is stored in simple text files. Simplicity is the key here.

My philosophy in writing VM is to provide a means for estimating when (in time) upcoming maintenance is likely to occur. This is done based on the average rate of mileage (or hours) accumulation on the vehicle. The idea is to be able to provide some idea of when (calendar day) a recurring maintenance item is likely to occur given the vehicle's use rate.

This software operates by the “garbage-in, garbage-out” principle! There are very few steps taken to “idiot proof” it, and it is therefore very easy to get garbage results if you fill it with garbage. For example, if you make it a practice to record the mileage on a particular event as “pickles” instead of a numerical value, VM will not be kind to you.

VM uses a simple hierarchical relationship between a vehicle and events that occur with that vehicle. There are only three objects in VM - the vehicle, events, and fuel events. The most basic entry would be a vehicle without any associated events.

Vehicles are identified by a unique filename, where all their data is stored (including basic vehicle information and events and fuel events). This file is a simple text file, viewable in any text editor or word processor - in case you lose the software, you don't lose all the information you entered.

The initial startup screen


The new vehicle entry screen


The new event entry screen

The existing event view screen


The new fuel event screen

The existing fuel event screen

The reports generator

The upcoming maintenance view

Ryan

 

[Scrappy]

I like it and would be interested in it!

 

[rbattelle]

A few more details I didn't mention in the first post.

1. Works with either English or metric units.

2. You can have an infinite number of vehicles. Each vehicle is stored in it's own text file (similar to the way each document is stored in its own file in any word processing application).

3. There are quite a few fields that can be input, but very few of them are actually required. For example, to define an event all you really need to do is give it a name and a date. The idea here is to be flexible enough that people who don't really care to track details can still get something out of it.

4. The reports that are generated are simple columnar text files, which are meant to be imported to any spreadsheet (or database) program (such as MS Excel). This permits easy plotting or printing of maintenance records.

Ryan

 

[Red Ram]

I like it to I will test it for you and all at TDR my Email is -- email address removed --

 

[JDiepstra]

I would buy it but am not sure if I would use it.

 

[Spunkys Ram]

I'm all for that program. Looks like a great idea!!! I would be more then willing to 'beta' test if you would like.

 

[RollOver_Pete]

Nice work.

I like it!

 

[rweis]

Looks good. Just some input that I track, maybe be useful maybe not useful:



Orgional seller of truck/ location/ contact information

Date purchased truck/ todays date/ number of days

Odometer purchased truck/ todays odometer/ Average miles per day /

VIN # / Tag number/ State Registered/ Tag expiration date/ weight date/ weight



Total consumables cost (fluids/filters/recurring maintenance/tires)/ cost per mile/ cost per day



Date anything was purchased/ cost/ from what company/ address/ telephone/ website/ who I talked to/ invoice #/ warrantee info



Date anything maintenance done/ what was maintenanced/ cost/ from what company/ address/ telephone/ website/ who I talked to/ invoice #/ warrantee info/ routine maintenance? if not why was it maintenanced? what is the problem?/ what was the desired outcome? was the desired outcome achieved? /if not why not? /next maintenance interval odometer reading for maintenance/ leave as open item?



Fluids:

Fuel quantity/odometer/price per gallon/location/ truck condition (empty, towing)/ approximate total weight/ calculate mpg ,calculate total gallons, total cost, last 5 purchases moving average mpg, cost per gallon



Oil Fluid/Filter interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Oil Bypass Filter interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Transmission Fluid/Filter interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Differential Fluid interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Fuel Filter #1 interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Fuel Filter #2 interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Power Steering Fluid interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Brake Fluid interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Radiator Fluid/Filter interval miles desired/actual miles interval/date changed/next odometer reading for change/ this cost/ total cost



Bob Weis

 

[HOBrian]

Ryan, I hope you don't mind.....



This program is great!! I have wanted a program like this for awhile. I find it very easy to use, and almost wanting to use it. I can keep track of spending on fuel and main. and with twins at home and the wifey being a stay at home mom I need to keep track of things that otherwise I would not have to.



I have two vehicles set up my 03 and the wifes 07 Grand Cherokee. I find it fun to look at what each of them is costing me and how each one has it's pos and cons. I also like the fact that it will help predict what I am going to need. Again with so much on my plate it is nice to have something that does some of the thinking for me. ( used to take great pride in being on top of what ever the truck needed but now with everything else the truck has taken a back seat. )





(I do not have a strong computer back ground so this was great for me. )

 

[rbattelle]

Brian was one of my 2 beta testers, that's why his post is one of someone who has actually used the software. His response has been quite enthusiastic.

I've posted the users guide (.pdf) here, so anyone can download it. No need to PM or email me.

If everyone will please bear with me, I've got to hold on until I can explore my options, which are based heavily on how much interest I get.

Bob - excellent suggestions. Some of them are already in the program, some aren't. If there's one thing this program is not, it's not "crowded". I mean, it's fairly lean. I tried to make it not-too-cumbersome to use.

Again, I want to reiterate that I know it's very hard to tell the merits of a program based only on a user guide and some screen shots. Thanks for being patient.

Ryan

 

[seemore]

Hey, It'd be worth $5 to me, looks cool. You sure aren't gouging anyone or making any money!!:-laf

 

[rbattelle]

Someone was kind enough to point out to me that I haven't made it clear what, exactly, this program does. It has 2 primary purposes:

1. To maintain a complete database of maintenance (and fuel) items that have been done to the vehicle(s).

2. To provide a means for the user to see what scheduled maintenance is due on the vehicle(s).

It is the second purpose that makes the program most useful. My idea was to estimate when (on what date) scheduled maintenance will occur.

Click here to see the "Upcoming Maintenance" screen for my truck. You can see there are 7 things that will be coming due on the truck.

These 7 items are organized in chronological order based on the current mileage of the truck.

As an example, take a look at the first item - "Fuel Filter". This entry says: the fuel filter must be replaced at 2217 hours. When I input the last fuel filter replacement, I told the program that I wanted to replace it again in 300 engine hours.

Then, based on the database of events, the program estimates how long it will take the truck to reach 2217 engine hours. As we see in the example, it has estimated I will reach 2217 hours on August 28th of this year, and my odometer reading on that day will be 77506.

This is the core of what VM was written for! Not only does it warn me that I've got maintenance coming up, but it also estimates for me when I'm going to need to be ready to do it.

Take another example. The 4th item down is an oil change. VM says I need to perform the next oil change at 78000 miles. It has estimated that I will reach 78000 miles on October 14th of this year, and the engine hours on that date will be 2231. It knows this because my last oil change entry in the database says to set the interval to the next oil change to 3000 miles.

Ryan

 

[donnier]

From the looks of it, it would be something that I would be interested in.

Id like to know when its released and the cost.

Thanks.

 

[ENafziger]

Hey Ryan,

I would be interested in the program as well. I already have a spreadsheet with alot of that information, but your program looks a lot more streamlined.

--Eric

 

[Whiskey]

Ryan, looks like a good program!!!

I would be interested!

whiskey

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Ryan,

I just found this. I can't believe I didn't see it before.

That looks great! I would definitely be interested in something like this. I like the ability to approximate when service is due. This would make planning a lot easier.

Jeff

 

[rbattelle]

Well, response here is roughly the same as the response I've got in the "real" world - lukewarm at best.

I wrote this program for myself, and it works in a way that's intuitive to me, but perhaps not so intuitively for other people. Many people tell me that they simply don't track their vehicles very closely, and those who do already have a system they're happy with.

Many thanks for all those who expressed interest. I'm still developing the program (adding new features), but I'm not going to offer it up for public consumption at this time.

Ryan

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Well, good luck with it. I would gladly change from the spreadsheet I am currently using because I just can't find a good way to put all of the information I would like in there.



If I were a little more savvy with the computer, I would probably try to write a program like yours. I vaguely remember my Visual Basic classes from college. Anything else would probably be hopeless.



Jeff

 

[Ducman82]

i would love to have this. it would make things alot neater for me. it would be kinda nice to have a sections for recipt info. like invoice numbers etc. for warrenty or records keeping... .

 

[rbattelle]

I think I'm going to offer up Vehicle Maintainer for free. I put so many hundreds of hours into it, why should I be the only one using it?

Besides, if I try to sell it then people will expect a lot in return. By offering it for free, I won't have to turn it into something that occupies vast amounts of my time.

It's certainly not perfect, but I find it pretty convenient. If you'd like a copy, send me a PM with your name and email address. At least for now I want to track who I've sent it to.

There is no true anti-piracy protection on the software (except that it's copyright me), but I would ask that you kindly keep it to yourself for now.

Ryan