Arduino Modular Engine Sensors Unit (~$50)

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Originally Posted by slug_burner

Is it pandering to old technology to have physical needles/pointers moving on a dial yet having to use stepper motors and controllers to achieve that outcome. You could just have displays that generate a graphical representation of the dials and needles simplifying the whole thing.

There is nothing like a good old mechanical dial even if it is driven by a digital circuit:cool:

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It's a great way to get classic looks with modern performance. I'm all for it.:)

It's the way that pretty much all cars have been running their instruments for at least a decade now. It's only recently that a few have one LCD display that looks like gauges (current RR etc).

Haydent, that information on the TD5 is great. Now I just need a TD5. :D (Give me a few years and I'll have SWMBO convinced..)

I'll be hooking up all my own sensors on my 300TDI. The only one I have at the moment is a EGT guage. I would like to get an engine head temp sensor, coolant temp sensor and battery voltage readings to test the Arduino. I figure they should be all relatively simply to aquire and hook up, but if anyone has suggestions on which sensors to buy I'm open to suggestions. (Haven't looked into it yet).

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Originally Posted by haydent

just for your interest though:

Stepper Motor Driver Board ULN2003 for Arduino 5V 4-phase 5 line | eBay

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Thanks for the info.
This one will drive one stepper. Is it possible to drive 3x instrument steppers from one arduino or does that necessitate 3 of everything?

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Originally Posted by Dougal

Thanks for the info.
This one will drive one stepper. Is it possible to drive 3x instrument steppers from one arduino or does that necessitate 3 of everything?

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My understanding (from a few days reading up on Arduino) is yes. The stepper board uses 4 pins on the Arduino board, so as long as you have an Arduino with at least 12 pins, you can use 3 steppers.

One of the guys who works for me has been pestering me to buy some Arduinos for the lab. However I think he mainly wants them for his Pajero and his house... He mentioned turning on his coffee machine when his alarm clock goes off so there is hot coffee waiting when he gets up in the morning... :D

However we do have applications where we need to control 240V devices... Does anyone have experience with any 240V relays and relay drivers?

solid state relays work well for that purpose, can be driven by 3V DC or so, and will switch 240V, they are also silent and have no moving parts to wear out. A heatsink is required if switching relatively higher amperages, but it depends on the application

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Originally Posted by Judo

Haydent, that information on the TD5 is great. Now I just need a TD5. :D (Give me a few years and I'll have SWMBO convinced..)

I'll be hooking up all my own sensors on my 300TDI. The only one I have at the moment is a EGT guage. I would like to get an engine head temp sensor, coolant temp sensor and battery voltage readings to test the Arduino. I figure they should be all relatively simply to aquire and hook up, but if anyone has suggestions on which sensors to buy I'm open to suggestions. (Haven't looked into it yet).

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I think you'll found most coolant sensors work the same way. Just need to check the voltage.

I bought a couple off head bolt k thermo couplers off Ebay that I don't need. I can send you one of you Pm me your address. Bear in mind you'll need a op amp circuit for these. Ill do one some day our buy one, but for now factory coolant temp sensor is enough for me with header tank float switch add backup. those and oil pressure are my initial goals.

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In regards to voltage if it's above 5v just need a simple voltage divider.

In regards to the older models, I'll be making one for my 92 v8 d1 too !

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You can use glow-plugs as thermocouples for measuring head-temp. Apparently B-type thermocouple charts are close.