Guest Aaron Posted May 20, 2002 Share Posted May 20, 2002 OK, I was watching speedvision or ESPN this weekend and saw an interior shot of one of those Pikes Peak type of cars (not sure of the racing series). It had a LED number on the dash that indicated what gear the car was in. Does anyone know if there is a premade guage that does that, or how would be the easiest way to wire one up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted May 20, 2002 Share Posted May 20, 2002 The transmission has to output some type of data (usually small voltage steps) to indicate what gear its in. You might be able to rig up two switchs to the linkage that can increment or decrement a counter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted May 20, 2002 Share Posted May 20, 2002 We musta been watching the same channel! I immediately searched on this and found nuthing premade for manual trannys. I think Dakota Digital has one for automatics. Anyone who can make one for a manual tranny, please contact me! Off subjet here, but Grant's new RF steering wheel has buttons on it for a variety of functions such as turn sig, wipers, horn, whatever. It would totally eliminate the steering column mounted stalk assy. Too bad I can't use a Grant wheel with my setup... Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted May 20, 2002 Share Posted May 20, 2002 Why not just make a LED panel and use a set of micro switches (6 for a 5 speed + Reverse and 7 for a T56 + Reverse). Actually, you could probably, just tap into the reverse light switch for the reverse LED. All it would take would be a bracket to hold the switches by the shift lever. I made one of these for my land rover, but not for the 1 through 4 gears, but rather for the overdrive, which was a seperate lever and I didn't use LEDs, but rather regular dash pilot lights, but not all that different. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Or a sticky note pad on the dash to jot down what gear your in.... , Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Tim, that is just about what I was thinking. I have always thought it would be cool to have the H pattern on the shifter knob light up the gear that you are in, or you could have the H pattern on the dash beside the speedo. Lone, ROTFL... I Love You Man... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 a little vertical line of leds would be pretty cool too.. probably not as good for hand eye coordination.. but yeah.. still would be cool you could possibly rig it up inside the tacho gauge.. the lights anyways.. the best way to control would be little microswitches, like you guys have mentioned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 27, 2002 Share Posted May 27, 2002 If you have a FWD car, with a linkage, you could use a couple of rotary switches attached to the two axes on the base of the shift handle -- one for front/back and one for left/right. Wouldn't work on a car without a linkage (RWD) though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oltmann Posted May 28, 2002 Share Posted May 28, 2002 http://www.sureshifter.com/ It looks pretty similiar to Tim240z's idea (you violated their patent btw, lol) I was hoping to hijack the T56's CAGS system, but as it turns out the ecu guesses the gear selected based on mph and rpm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted May 28, 2002 Share Posted May 28, 2002 It looks pretty similiar to Tim240z's idea (you violated their patent btw, lol) Depends how long they have been making them, I did my Land Rover Overdrive indicator over 10 years ago!The idea is very simple and I think the T56 shifter is well suited to the application. BTW, I definitely wouldn't put the LEDs on the shifter knob....kinda defeats the purpose don't yas think? If you have to loook down at the knob, then you would most likely be able to tell the gear merely by where the shifter is..... Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted May 28, 2002 Share Posted May 28, 2002 So that's where the microswitches go! Tim240Z was dragging me along and enjoying watching me beg him to tell me how to do it Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted May 28, 2002 Share Posted May 28, 2002 So that's where the microswitches go! Tim240Z was dragging me along and enjoying watching me beg him to tell me how to do it Dude I told you to call me ....can you imagine trying to explain THAT in text, holy crap it would have been like the old homework assignment in school to write directions to tie a shoelace, step by step!!!! BTW, I'm sure that you could wire it in such a way that a neutral light would come on if none of the microswitches were closed...that would save the $$ on one extra switch. And I bet the little door sill switches that turn on the dome light when the door opens would work for this application...real low buck job. Fryes has LEDs cheap too!! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oltmann Posted May 28, 2002 Share Posted May 28, 2002 Originally posted by Tim240Z:[Depends how long they have been making them, I did my Land Rover Overdrive indicator over 10 years ago! The idea is very simple and I think the T56 shifter is well suited to the application. The patent was filed March 27, 1995. Hopefully you can read it here /snip/ Ok, it barfed over the super long url. Do a search for patent# 5,552,761 here. Man, I'm bored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted May 29, 2002 Share Posted May 29, 2002 The patent was filed March 27, 1995 I got them beat by at least a year!!Damn, I'm so smart, I should have been twins!! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagz Posted May 29, 2002 Share Posted May 29, 2002 I performance tested Lone's idea. The damn pen kept rolling off the console every time I went around a corner. Note to self: Get more post-it pads for longer road trips and swipe a pen chain from the bank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thurem Posted June 22, 2002 Share Posted June 22, 2002 A T5 trans has a gate (so to speak) underneath the shifter, it guides the internal rail which has a springloaded ball running on it. If you were to drill small holes in the positions where this ball is in, in the individual gear positions. Then install an insulated contact point in each hole. If you wire an indicator bulb or diode or thingamagig to 12 V and use the contactpoint as a switch to ground it out when the ball touches it, then you would have your cool gearindicator. PS. This makes sense to me, but I could prolly draw a diagram and scan it and send it in an email if you needed it. Thure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 2, 2002 Share Posted July 2, 2002 If you guys come up with a way to get the signals, via switches, relays, or data stream, you can interface it with a Basic Stamp from www.parallaxinc.com. Once the Basic Stamp (a programmable microprocessor), is connected to the switches, you could display the output in many different ways, serial port to a laptop, 7 segment display, showing 1,2,3,4,5,R/P,R,N,D,1,2, or a combination of LEDs I wouldn't mind helping with the stamp stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 ShadeZ, could that Basic Stamp be used to interface a computer with other sensors? I am a computer guy by trade, and I had an idea to gut an old laptop, mount the LCD in the factory guage pod of my ZX, and write a program to display all the cars vitals on screen. My problem has been the interface between the sensors and the compter, because I have no electronics knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boobala Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 Your In-dash Laptop plus Edelbrock’s QwikData™ Data Acquisition System could do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 Aaron, I'm a computer guy too , but with some electronics knowledge. To answer your question, yes, as long as you know what type of signal to expect from those sensors, you could wire it in. A Basic Stamp can read analog voltages, or digital. You could combind your gear change sensors, with temp readings, and data from other sensors, grab it all with a basic stamp, on a circuit board maybe 4"x4", and show readouts on a display via a RS232 line from the Stamp. Check out amazon.com for a book called Basic Stamp cookbook, it's for computer guys like us, playing with Basic Stamps. Oh, and the great thing about a stamp is, that you program it in BASIC , hence the name. And you don't need any extra hardware to reprogram it, just a serial cable and 5-15VDC. LCDs that take RS232(ie PC serial port) input are sold by Scott Edwards electronics, and other places. Shade Z Mechanic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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