Thread: Arduino Modular Engine Sensors Unit (~$50)

Originally Posted by Judo

I recently had a hire car that had both needle and digital reading for the speedo. The digits were way better to read IMO. Needles are so last decade. :P

Have to agree - one of the things I actually like about the Dunny Door is that I can select a digital speedo display, which is the only one I look at. I never look at the tacho either, but that is because it is a company car...

I have just found this nice topic and made a quick read. Some ideas are wery nice. I have a "prototype" of arduino based (Mega2560) multi display for my TD5 Discovery (but it can be used in any car). TD5 is nice, as it has nearly all sensor already fitted (temperature, boost presure, ....), so I will add only oil presure sensor and EGT termocouple sensor. The most important think is an audible alarm. Because you can have 10 displays on the dash, but you will not recognize incoming problem, because you have to drive the car, not watch the numbers.
My idea is a bit different - one unit on the top of the dash with lot of wires to the sensors - only short wires, because my engine ECU is moved from engine into the cabin (to make it a bit more waterproof), so all signal are bellow the dash. And it is easier to make one unit, then making two units.
The most important think for automotive electronic is safety (using the right fuses, polyfuses or limiting resistor for all wires, .....) and electromagnetic compatability. There are very hard standards used for automotive. Also I don't want to disturb the function of engine or other parts of car. It is a good idea to at least read the standards and try to understand them. It can save a lot of problems during development and possible production.
I was also looking for ready made solutions, but didn't find any that fulfill all my needs and wishes. The EMS Madman was the closest one.
Some basic functions of my "prototype":
40x4 LCD (the biggest standard LCD - cheap and easy to buy)
measuring Main battery, Aux battery and managing of aux battery charging (I have a deep discharge one)
measuring Coolant temperature, Boost pressure, Exhaust gas temperature, Oil presure - all with two level alarms - yellow = warning (with short beep, I have time to find a place to stop the car), red = long beep, I have to stop inmediately
I'm also planning to add some speedo correction function, because I have fitted a bit bigger tires and the speedo is a bit pesimistic now.

sounds great madtom, pretty much just what i want. just for others interest this is the lcd setup/wiring ill be using to begin with. (maybe upgrading to larger one later)

Arduino - LiquidCrystal

Download - Fritzing

just found this great free prototyping software for making the images as seen in the link in last post:

Originally Posted by haydent

sounds great madtom, pretty much just what i want. just for others interest this is the lcd setup/wiring ill be using to begin with. (maybe upgrading to larger one later)

Arduino - LiquidCrystal

I'm still tossing up whether to get a Nano or a higher spec'ed one, but either way I plan on getting a SMARTGPU touch LCD to go with it. Being that the Nano has 8 analogue inputs, I'm leaning towards the Nano + touch LCD. Am I likely to run out of memory on a Nano? Or a non-issue in your opinion?

Re: your first post - are you still thinking of sharing the design and code so others can copy? Once I have the touch LCD, I will be attempting to code a touch based GUI. It'd be keen to interface it to your code if that works for both of us. Thoughts?

On a somewhat related note, which may interest some, I have been playing around recently with Sparkfun data loggers. They log to a micro-SD card.

We usually buy our stuff from Arduino & PICAXE :: Welcome to Ocean Controls

They stock Arduino stuff as well. It is handy to be able to get everything in one place, and I have found the guys there good to deal with.

Looking into SMARTGPU more... appears I was dreaming when I thought it was around $60-$70.... ? They want $159 + $43 postage!!!!

But found this instead:

2.8 TFT Touch Shield for Arduino [2.8] ID: 376 - $59.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

$59 + $10 postage.

yeah, ill be making my code and designs open. i found this too:
multidisplay - Arduino based open source display for interesting measurand´s of a car. - Google Project Hosting
very similiar

judo-you may want to consider a better than nano if you have the space

i got my breadboard today and hookup wires and have started playing around.