OlderThanMe Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Well I just typed up a huge thread and didn't copy it before I hit submit. It just vanished so here I go again. Here is a fairly current picture of my lightweight aluminum dashboard and temporary switch board. (notice lack of stock wiring) I am going to be making my own microprocessor controlled guages for my dashboard. They will have a sweep of 180 degrees and I can lay them out any I want on my dashboard. The face of the dash that I have to work with is 6" tall and goes 52" across IIRC with a weld seam vertically in the middle under the divider. I also have this fun little item from Japan to work with. It is a flourescent display that is 64 pixels high and 256 pixels wide. Aproximately 3.5-4" across. The display looks fuzzy but it is just so bright that the camera is blooming the picture. It is infact very crisp. Obviously I have played with it a bit and will use this screen as the boot-up screen for when it turns on. I'm trying to figure what guages I am going to work into it. Probably AFR eventually and maybe EGT. It will house my odometer I know. One option I have is to mount this display on the top of the dash with a piece of lexan angled back so that it can be used as a heads up display. This type of display has been used as a heads-up display in many cars. So what do y'all think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 I am going to draw up my guage face plates in solidworks or autocad and have them laser etched onto a piece of aluminum or maybe even stainless. The guages are going to be moved by special servos that I bought for this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguy678us Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 program that thing to respond to the shiftlight an make it say SHIFT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Thats awsome, I just started to look at microprocessors myself, what chip you using? There are a ton of things they could be used for. cant wait to see what you come up with , kewl project ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyZ Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 What is your backround in electronics, is this stuff all self taught? I am an EE student at Cal Poly (graduating in June!!!) and I am just curious where your experience comes from for this kind of project. What kind of system is this going to be, are you going to be programming in VHDL, assembler, C... What kind of microprocessor are you going to do? This seems like a huge undertaking, sounds like a lot of fun though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 Niceguy: I was rolling that idea around in my head earlier today... I may do that. 78zlt1: There are a couple chip options. I'm thinking the PIC16F88 is what we will be using for this project. BobbyZ: Yes it is a big project but tiny in comparison to what the next unnamed project will be. My dad has been tinkering in this stuff for 15+ years so he knows all about designing circuitry and programming on his own sothiswill be easy stuff. I think he mostly does programming in "picbasic" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators RTz Posted May 23, 2007 Administrators Share Posted May 23, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Hmmm....I'm not sure how this is going to factor into the smackdown...I many need to get some sort of novel engine monitoring system now. That screen is dope, it looks like a MegaView that my friend has for his MegaSquirt in his saturn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar240z Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillZ260 Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I see a market for this... very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 Ron: Thanks! Max: I need guages for the smackdown! Hanson: Thanks! Bill: That is the plan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar240z Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 a HUD would be so awesome. is it bright enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 24, 2007 Author Share Posted May 24, 2007 a HUD would be so awesome. is it bright enough? Plenty bright enough. I'm looking into how it will be set up for proper angling. I don't think projecting it onto the curved windshield (with the HUD film) is really an option. It might seriously distort the guage. I have another option though that I am thinking through and it sould work well. *think fighter jet* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjc5500 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Jet style HUD woudl be super cool!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Max: I need guages for the smackdown! Man, I don't even have a gas guage! Just Tach, Speedo, and coolant temp for now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 24, 2007 Author Share Posted May 24, 2007 I ran around town all day today with NO guages... You can tell when you are low on gas when you can hear gas coming from the fuel return and not splashing into gas back into the bottom of the tank...LOL Premium gas is $3.24 a gallon!!! and we "have it good" in ATL!!! This stinks! Next time I am just going to try "plus" grade gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 That does look like the same VFD that Megasquirt uses. Here is my display. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjc5500 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 last week i payed like 3.20 for REGULAR!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted May 24, 2007 Author Share Posted May 24, 2007 That does look like the same VFD that Megasquirt uses. interesting... Looks very similar. Does the MegaSquirt display say who it is mady by on the board somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators BRAAP Posted May 24, 2007 Administrators Share Posted May 24, 2007 Ala-bomb-a-rama… Very cool. I like the display… Can you get it to animate a rolling tire doing a foggy and then rolling off the end of the screen… Post it in the FOGGY burnout thread… I also like the HUD idea. Definitely carries a lot of WOW factor. Are you going to use the HUD film as used on the early 240 SX for your HUD project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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