Arduino Uno

[Farrar]

I just got my Arduino Uno in the mail today and must say it's quite impressive. For those not in the know, this is a simple I/O board for DIY electronics projects. Here's a link to more detailed information and a datasheet from the manufacturer.

It fits in the palm of my hand. I didn't expect it to be that small, but this is my first electronics hobby "kit" (I bought it along with a small solderless breadboard and an LCD display) so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The Arduino even has a "reset" button on it!

I am thinking in the future that an Arduino or two could be the basis of a DeLorean digital dashboard. When you think of it, this would be fairly easy: all of the gauge senders are electronic. (Well, almost all of them: the speedometer/odometer is the obvious exception, but with GPS speedometer/odometers now available requiring only 6 seconds or less to find a signal, I think a GPS sensor would be an appropriate substitute.)

So what does all this mean right now? Nothing for the community, I'm afraid. I can't offer a digital dashboard for the DeLorean community, but in the process of creating one I need knowledge.

I am hoping that someone here already knows what I can expect from the various sensors/senders in our cars, e.g. a sender will send a value of 15 Ohms to 200 Ohms and the gauge reads 0 degrees to 260 degrees. I guess I could test these using my own multimeter but I am hoping someone else has already figured this out so I am not duplicating another's work.

What I REALLY need to know, though, is if there's somewhere out there where I can buy a GPS sensor to use for an Arduino-based speedometer/odometer. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Farrar

[Bitsyncmaster]

Your thinking of one very big project. Get started with one gauge and build your project from there.

Start with the volt gauge. You can test by just connecting your one input to the cigarette lighter.

[nullset]

sparkfun.com has some GPS modules that will happily talk to your Arduino.

Have fun!

GPS doesn't work under bridges/etc, though, so I wouldn't make a GPS speedometer be your only source.

--buddy

[Bitsyncmaster]

sparkfun.com has some GPS modules that will happily talk to your Arduino.

Have fun!

GPS doesn't work under bridges/etc, though, so I wouldn't make a GPS speedometer be your only source.

--buddy

Some do a good job showing speed with accelerometers when the GPS signal is lost. They also update speed much faster.

[dmc6960]

I'm already doing this....

[dmc6960]

...started on this back in spring. Posted about it on .com, had a 4 page thread going, then we all know what happened to .com...

Summary of the project...

Complete replacement digitally controlled instrument cluster.
All gauges use stepper-motor driven needles.
Angle drive replaced with electronic pickup.
Gauge faces completely stock-looking and truly backlit with proper matching colors and full dimming.
140mph and/or 85mph and/or metric speedometer gauge face.
VFD or 7-segment LED 999,999 mile odometer and 999.9 mile trip meter.
Possible optional digital speed readout in odometer display.
Electronically controlled LAMBDA light, possible optional strobe flashing to alert of overheating.
Possible optional universal fuel gauge sender compatibility (no external logic box).

Thats the quick list. Could be more options. Along with building the electronics, this also needs to develop a completely new plastic cluster housing, new faceplates for the gauges, new backlit overlays for the gauges, and new translucent needles.

Benefits include...
ELIMINATION OF ANGLE DRIVE AND 95% OF ALL SPEEDOMETER MECHANICS.
More precisely (more accurate) controlled gauges
Overheat alerting
Elimination of rear flex board
Backlighting!
Generic fuel level senders
100,000+ mile ODO display (for those hard-core drivers out there)

I'll likely start a new thread as this progresses. Ideally I'd like to have it complete for showing at DCS next year. Probably is a longshot but we'll see. I'm not using Adruino Uno (ironically I just learned of its existence a few hours ago), I'm using PIC micro controllers.

[Farrar]

Your thinking of one very big project. Get started with one gauge and build your project from there.

Exactly! And since I don't plan on ever selling the car, I can take as much time as I need.

sparkfun.com has some GPS modules that will happily talk to your Arduino.

Thanks!

Some do a good job showing speed with accelerometers when the GPS signal is lost. They also update speed much faster.

Excellent -- and the Arduino is accelerometer-friendly.

I'm already doing this....

Great! I'd love to get into the nitty gritty of how you're doing it and collaborate -- unless of course you're planning on selling your setup and don't want to get rid of your trade secrets, in which case I understand. Admittedly, you and I have something different in mind for the end product. I believe you are using off-the-shelf gauges -- correct? -- Whereas my goal was to have an all-digital instrument cluster with LEDs and backlit LCD displays. Your way might in fact be more feasible, but with the Arduino set to drive an LCD display with simply a little code involved, I thought it might be worth a shot.

FWIW, the Arduino is a PIC microcontroller... it just happens to be open-source and programmable via USB -- and I have Linux on a laptop, so it seemed a logical choice for me.

Just out of curiosity dmc6960, are you planning on mounting a sensor at one of your fuel injectors so that you can monitor fuel consumption?

Farrar

[dmc6960]

My gauges will be completely custom built. There are no off-the-shelf gauges that will accurately accomplish what I want. I've already done that research. The end result is desired to look exactly like a stock cluster. Only difference would be the ODO display and being backlit at night. Imagine the HVAC decal, the version without the outlines. I hope to have the needles driven by the same stepper motors and controllers production cars come with. The stepper motors are easy to get, the driver chips are proving to be difficult.

I have no problem collaborating, I'm not a product Nazi. I'd like to be able to sell these to other people once it is completed. This would allow many more owners to enjoy the improvement. It also would recoup my costs getting decals professionally printed, the new plastic housing, circuit board, minimum part quantities, etc. I also don't think I'll be able to tackle all aspects of the code or electronics, so I may have to pay out o a developer for some of that a well.

I don't need any extra sensors on the injectors for fuel consumption. This can be calculated by the logs in Megasquirt - injector PWM, duty cycle, initial opening time, etc. With the addition of a VSS, which I'll have once the project is complete, it can also calculate realtime mileage. I haven't looked to much into this though.

[Kevin]

Ooo I'm excited about this project, be sure to keep us updated. We've been using Arduinos around my office to automate silly things, like adjusting the blinds on the windows, and we have one that monitors the weight of the coffee pot and lets us know when it's getting low (some people just don't like to refill it). I'll second sparkfun.com, we've bought a few sensors from there to complete various tasks.

[Jonathan]

Farrar,

Is this more or less a home DIY PLC? I played with a lot of PLC's when I was commissioning water treatment plants. We used a lot of Allen Bradley as well as GE Fanuc PLC's. Basically it gets programmed with some form of ladder logic software. Plug in all your discrete or analog inputs and outputs and then tell it what to do. If that is kind of what your product here does that is pretty sweet. Almost endless possibilities.