FridgeFreezer Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Since there was a bit of interest in the Pi thread I thought I'd start a thread for my (probably quite slow) digital dash project. The idea is basically to retain Series instruments and a traditional look & feel but drive them electronically from a controller board connected to the Megasquirt. For reasons of uber-convenience I'm developing on a board from work (from an unrelated product), unfortunately this means I can't open-source the PCB or codebase (although snippets specific to this project should be fine). The micro is a Freescale Coldfire V2 MCF52259, vast overkill considering the contents of the Megasquirt ECU but it's what's available and I have a working codebase for it already as I've spent the last 18 months or so writing it There are 3x stepper motor drivers on the board, the intention is to use these to drive gauges. I have a YBE100530 speed transducer for the LT230, most other data will come from the ECU although I have a few spare ADC's and GPIO's on the 52259 I can pick up if needed. The board also has a PAL/NTSC OSD chip on it, so I can tease you with this screenshot: The grey background is replaced by any PAL/NTSC video signal so if you have a camera in your car you can pass it through and have an overlay on a screen or recorded for datalogging. This wasn't really a design choice, the board already has the OSD and I have all the code so it's the easiest way to develop stuff. So far I have RS232 comms with the ECU and am working through all the realtime data conversions into "real" units. Although I'm developing on a random board, the plan is to maybe spin a custom PCB that's better suited to the job, retaining the main circuitry but losing un-needed bits and bringing out spare IO for future use. There are 3 UARTS on board, I may connect a GPS to one of them to give a GPS-calibrated speedo. First things first though, get the basics (speedo, temp, fuel, rpm) working and try and shoehorn the actuators into the Series gauges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Subscribed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Interesting, I was just considering the other day what it would take to build a controller board that would take various inputs from a vehicle (coolant temperature, fuel level, speed etc.) and use these to drive a set of modern-day gauges such as those used in the Puma dashboard. I presume these are stepper motor driven by a controller using data from the vehicle's CANBUS, so in theory this would work. If not then perhaps they can be hacked about to add actuators the same as you plan to do to your Series gauges. Look forward to seeing what comes of this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 such as those used in the Puma dashboard. I presume these are stepper motor driven by a controller using data from the vehicle's CANBUS Surely the RAVE manual will tell you this already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 It may, I haven't looked into it. Besides, my RAVE doesn't cover Tdci Defenders, nor the Discovery 3 from which I believe the instrument pack was sourced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SORNagain Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I love it. It will provide a nice easy way to correct the speed reading when you have bigger wheels fitted. You going to have the gauges flick round to full scale and back when you first start it? Be rude not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 You going to have the gauges flick round to full scale and back when you first start it? Be rude not to. It would, as you say, be rude not to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Small tweak today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 A little bit of progress... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8 Freak Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Looking good JU... (null) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Can I suggest using RC Servos instead of steppers? They are cheaper, waterproof and have the driver built in just requiring PWM. I've used them on a couple of gauges and a speedo by ripping the guts out and hot-gluing the servo in. You can get little servos small enough to fit in a 2" gauge housing. They are almost ideal for being driven by a micro controller - they will even run on 5v. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Simon - if I was starting from scratch then little RC servos would be a good idea. However, I have a bucket of stepper motors and a board & code set up to drive them. Maybe in the next project... argh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landy-Novice Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 is the needle held on with blue tack? why are you doing this? for uber accuracy? or just because you can? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I think the most apropriate question is.... why not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 The company blu-tack no less. It's a temporary setup, I wouldn't be using that motor for a gauge anyway as it draws nigh on 2A and is quite chunky! The needle is only a cable tie too. Why am I doing what, exactly? I'm doing this because I want to put a more user-friendly dashboard back into the 109, but the nature of the truck means I can't use standard series gauges, and even if I liked the look of them, I'm not forking out full price for VDO ones. Reading the data straight out of the ECU seems a pretty logical thing to do rather than double-up sensors/wiring (and allows for more options). The board I have to hand drives stepper motors and happens to have a PAL OSD chip on it so, well, why not eh? The intention is that it'll default to driving the gauges and a few warning lights as I don't like screens in the car, especially at night, but the video output is handy for dev/debugging/bling factor. Next jobs software-wise are to drive all 3 motor outputs, allow the displayed value to be selectable, and then add extra inputs for speedo pulses, fuel level, etc. I'm planning to add a 4x20 LCD somewhere, as well as a few buttons, but that's glory jobs f'ron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I was going to say those stepper motors looked big enough for powering some sort of cnc machining kit, maybe you could use them for your windscreen wipers if not using them for the guages.... infinitely variabe wipe, computer controlled sweep.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Oddly enough, Fridge and I discussed that earlier. Add an IR touch screen on the inside, and you could point at bits of the windscreen that need an extra scrub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Now that would be a good idea, if you could also control the washer jets in the same manner it would be an ideal way to remove the good luck charms that birds leave when you park under a tree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Oddly enough, Fridge and I discussed that earlier. Add an IR touch screen on the inside, and you could point at bits of the windscreen that need an extra scrub Sounds like a job for your STM32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I'm pretty certain that Coldfire you've purloined has enough grunt to cope with a couple of extra duties... plus it's going to put you way ahead in the office 'Smoking Silicon' league table by the time you've finished (Besides, I'm still busy with the worlds most accurate dashboard clock ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Servo windscreen wipers that double as gauges - now you're talking! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 Bring back the front-loading dashboard pasty microwave idea I say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Servo windscreen wipers that double as gauges - now you're talking! Si Use the wipers as the gauges, and mark round the screen for the values! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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