After the last message, my time has been elsewhere so no work has been done on this project. Now that indoor friendly weahter is here, at least where I live, I hope to get back with it. I hope to have a few boards made up sometime so I can get a picture out to see what everybody thinks.
Well, it has been a while since I last gave an update on this project. Between work and other time consuming activities, progress has been very slow. I don't know if anyone is still interested, but for those who are, I am mostly done with the programming and some of the finalization of the circuit board design. The design has deviated drastically from the original idea.
I know that there were numerous ideas that others asked to be implemented, like a compass, air/fuel ratio, speedo/tach swappable between sides, etc. I for the most part have kept it fairly simple as far as the amount of information that is displayed. I have the obligatory speedometer and tachometer, volts, oil pressure, fuel level, and engine temperature gauges in an analog style, complete with pointers. The speedo has a range of 160, and the tach is up to 7500 RPM. The rev range can be changed though. The tach has a configurable two color shift-light, therefore the warning and danger ranges indicated on the face of the gauge are not needed. The speedo and odometer has an auto-calibration function, making the setting up of different speed sensor pulses per mile a non-concern. The range of the other gauges is fairly similar to the stock gauges and they should be much more accurate, given the stock senders are in good working order. Information and warning indicators are fairly standard. These include low oil pressure, voltage, fuel level low, over-temp, as well as cruise control if wired for it, turn and high beam, etc.
The lcd is the main part of this display, especially having a menu driven interface system. Anything form shift-light to number of cylinders can be accessed through this display. There is even a BIG NUMBER display of the speed if needed. The outside temp is displayed as well as a ice warning if the temp drops below 36 degrees. I am finalizing a function that will be used on the test car, and that will be a fuel/trip computer. Given an input from the injection system, it will be able to give average/instant economy, mile to empty, gallons used, etc. I have not tested this yet in the real world, but the test bench seems to work correctly.
In closing, even though this is considered a digital instrument cluster, there is very little "digital display" about it. The control is digital, but for all intensive purposes this is an analog instrument cluster. I do not see this being done anytime this summer, but hopefully this fall there will be something to show.
So far I am still debating if I should produce a small batch or not. When I finish the first two, I will see if there is enough interest to warrant making more.
P.S. Once I have the gauge faces made, I will post a pic of what I have in mind and get input on it.
I have wanted to add a nice looking digital dash in my car, and have looked at a lot of options. I have been watching this thread since you started it way back when. I was surprised with this new post, saying that you now decided to use analog gauges.... You started wanting to make a nice digital dash, and decided to just do the digital on the backed, and use analog gauges?
Personally the entire reason I wanted to go to a digital dash, was to lose the analog gauges. I already have analog gauges, and not too concerned how they are driven, digital or not
the original display was just that, digital. I still have the design and most of the programming for the true digital system and shouldn't take much to finish it. That is if there is a true interest for it. Luckily most of the code so far is compatible between the digital and analog styles, so going between the two is more of a hardware issue.
I started this little project a few years and have spun off the trip computer from this. Now that the trip computer is nearing completion, the digital cluster is creeping back into the picture. The basis for this cluster IS the trip computer, so some already have an idea what part of it will look like. The trip computer is also the main controller for the instrument cluster, so most of the hard work is done. Now I just need to come up with a design that will work in the stock location.
Which leads to my question for everyone. If anyone has any design ideas that they want to submit, be my guest. If your design is chosen, you will eligible for a FREE cluster. I would prefer that it be mostly analog style pointers. If digital is included, 7-14 segment style LED displays and bar-graphs are acceptable. No LCD or TV style displays please. Photoshop or Corel Draw images are preferred.
Needs to include: Speedometer Tachometer Volts Oil Pressure Fuel level Engine Coolant Temperature Turn indicators High beam indicator Door ajar Check Wallet Light (SES, check engine, etc) Buckle up threat and anything else I may have missed.
Most of all, have fun.
[This message has been edited by chetw77cruiser (edited 02-13-2013).]
I am gonna have to bow out my interest on this project for now. I was looking forward to a nice digital dash cluster, as mentioned in the first post. Omething more than just a few "bar graph" style LED's. I am still in that pursuit, and just not wanting to go analog, which is in there already honestly
I will keep an eye on the trip computer thread, as that will make a nice addition to what I end up going with.
I am looking more and more to a couple small LCD screens running off a Raspberry Pi, or at least what I am thinking for now
If you are interested in one that is completely digital, make something up and submit it. I am truly interested to see what you have in mind. Switching between full digital or analog is fairly easy and I already have most of the code for the digital aspect. I accept your challenge to do something other than analog.
Bring it on.
If you go with the Pi, just get a couple smaller LCDs with the standard A/V inputs. they are a dime-a-dozen on that E something site. I used a 4.3 inch for a simple gauge using the processor I am using for the other projects. Simple graphics, but functional. What I do not like about them is the lack of dimming control that can be tied into the dash lights dimmer control. I am sure I would figure it out, but it is not high on my list.
I put a Dodge Dart Dash in a fiero... this is a VERY rough photshop. But you can see they incorporated both analog and digital gauges in one pod. The tach is analog, and the speedometer is on an LCD similar to this one here. You could make that the speedo and then use an analog tach? Idk im just trying to contribute somehow. A new gauge cluster would be VERY cool to have.
Hm, interesting concept. The layout could be done fairly easily aside from the speedometer being an LCD display. The physical part of the display is not the issue, the processor power I am using is. I will research into using BMP images to recreate the background and the pointer, but that may not be for a while.
I put a Dodge Dart Dash in a fiero... this is a VERY rough photshop. But you can see they incorporated both analog and digital gauges in one pod. The tach is analog, and the speedometer is on an LCD similar to this one here. You could make that the speedo and then use an analog tach? Idk im just trying to contribute somehow. A new gauge cluster would be VERY cool to have.
That would be awesome!
[This message has been edited by BV MotorSports (edited 02-15-2013).]
Any updates on this? I just got a Raspberry Pi, and want to start playing around with using it for a digital dash setup. I'm thinking of flashing the OS to an Android based system and finding a program to run an OBD-II system through a wireless bluetooth connection. Then i could buy a 7" touchscreen, and a spare gauge pod and mount everything up...
Any updates on this? I just got a Raspberry Pi, and want to start playing around with using it for a digital dash setup. I'm thinking of flashing the OS to an Android based system and finding a program to run an OBD-II system through a wireless bluetooth connection. Then i could buy a 7" touchscreen, and a spare gauge pod and mount everything up...
Mini Wireless ELM-327 Bluetooth v1.5 OBD-II 2 Auto Diagnostic Scanner CAN-BUS
That is great, but will only work for those that have done an engine swap, as it is just OBD II.
I would LOVE to follow your progress on a Raspberry Pie solution! I know it can be done, I just do not know where to begin trying to get the coding and all to make it work.
I still haven't given up on this yet. Im a little older now and have more coding experience, and more people have paved the way for this to possibly become a reality. I'm looking into using THIS but I need to build a better UI for it. The technology is getting there.
-Mitch
[This message has been edited by mitchjl22 (edited 03-16-2016).]
The layout could be done fairly easily aside from the speedometer being an LCD display. The physical part of the display is not the issue, the processor power I am using is. I will research into using BMP images to recreate the background and the pointer, but that may not be for a while.
That looks very very nice in there! 
