SeaBass
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 08:49 AM |
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Electronic Dash Site...
Anyone seen this site...
Bob Carter's Site
Are you a member on here Bob?
Looks like a good job as a viable/simpler alternative to the Digidash.
Cheers
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PioneerX
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 10:17 AM |
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I'm using a simular thing for the dash, but ave deisnged mine around the PIC microcontroler as they are really cheap & require very little
external componants. This is a consideration as I plan to release the final electrical diagrams on the web so others can build, keeping the componant
cunt down makes it easer for people to build and modify with veryt little elcectrical knowledge themselves.
Simon
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tadltd
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 11:05 AM |
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Keep the component 'what' down?!!
Don't you like the guy very much?! 
Steve.
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splitrivet
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 11:12 AM |
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Lots of I wills and I'll do this on that site seabass.
Not taking it away from the guy,but good intentions mean zip till youve made the stuff.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
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PioneerX
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 11:41 AM |
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sorry tadltd. Should read my post before confirming it. That should have been keep the component count down. ie minimise the amount of parts used.
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PioneerX
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 11:43 AM |
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splitrivet,
I agree, but lucky for me I have already got to the stage of complete fuel & temp gauges. Just working on the PIC code for the speed (converting
the pulse from the sensor to an actaul number that means something).
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SeaBass
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 12:48 PM |
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PioneerX.
I've done some PIC development myself, made a few things including a shift light for my daily driver... Versatile little blighters. Which chip
in particular are you using?
Would be interested to see you results when you've finished.
Splitrivet - only bringing another site to peoples attentions don't know the guy etc etc sorry if I wasted your time...
Cheers
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Northy
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 01:24 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by PioneerX
I have already got to the stage of complete fuel & temp gauges.
PioneerX, have you got any details of what you've done so far?
Cheers
Graham
Website under construction. Help greatfully received as I don't really know what I'm doing! 
"If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?"
Built 2L 8 Valve Vx Powered Avon
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Dale
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 01:38 PM |
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Simon, are you using digital gauges or running analog gauges with digital drivers, Only problems I have seen with digitals so far is seeing them for
the glare, My donor car came with a digital speedo and analog gauges but in the sun they were hard to see.
Dale
cant wait to see what you come up with
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PioneerX
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| posted on 28/1/04 at 01:58 PM |
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Seabass,
I orginally designed it around the 16F877 because of the digital to analoge converter and enought ports to run the seven segment desplays directly.
The orginal deisng was to use a fequency to voltage converter on the pulse then feed this to the ADC on the 877 with some maths to convert and output.
This ment I could do the pulse recogintion outside the PIC making the code easier.
Later changed my mind, now I'm developing with the 16F84 (cheaper, & low external part count) attached to BCD to &-segment converter.
Makes to code more difficult becuase I have to do the pulse count myself but makes the design simpler and the size smaller.
Northy,
Got the fuel & temps done, but not PCB'ed or mounted yet. I will post the electrical diagram (other than a few resistors they are the same).
Basically they are voltage to bar graph converters the variable voltage is set from 0-4v by using the resistance of the sender in a potertial divider.
The tacho uses the same electronics but the 0-4v variable comes from a frequency to voltage converter which in turn is driven by the voltage spike at
the coil terminal (or green whire on vauxhalls)
Dale,
I'm using digital drivers on LED's, the temp, fuel & tacho are all indervidual LEDS arranged in rows (or curve for the techo) I tryed
LCD, but had the glare problem even using an LCD with proper backlight panel. I did also look at the pre-made LED bars as seen on the pictures in the
link that started this thread, but they had two problems. The first was the glare because they are flat fronted there light projection field is quite
narrow. The other was I wanted variable colours. The fuel guage has two red LED at the bottom end and 8 green for the rest. The tacho has 3 red at the
rev limit and 5 orange to show the peak or the power curve.
All,
Once mounted I will put photos up, the guage is designed as an all in one, with the tacho running in a curve above the speed number, the speed in the
middle, the fuel & temp bars running horizontal under the speed and the warning light scattered around. All this fits in the housing of the
mini's guage.
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Bob C
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| posted on 29/1/04 at 02:48 PM |
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Bob Carter here of the site above...
I'm presently doing a genuine prototype control board for the dash, thought I might make a few of these. A couple of other forum users are going
to get them well before my car's ready. If they work well & seem popular I'll try to get them manufactured properly. I've
changed it a bit - I now have a charge light on there (like an ignition warning light) & it's now adjustable for different wheels/ diff
ratios.
Of course the site has bags of "I wills" etc - I'm at the tacked up chassis stage! ANyway, a couple of weeks should see the first
prototype fully operational - fingers crossed - the PCB is built up & butchered but I can't program the flash yet.....
Cheers
Bob C
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givemethebighammer
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| posted on 29/1/04 at 11:18 PM |
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Keep us up to date with the dash, sure loads of people on here (myself included) would be interested.
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Fifer
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| posted on 30/1/04 at 10:09 AM |
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Prices
Any price indication for these units complete with senders etc ? i.e. ready to install ?
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Bob C
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| posted on 30/1/04 at 12:01 PM |
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Cost - hard to say yet, doing one- offs & prototyping services are pricey businesses. I'm expecting about £200 hardware cost for the 1st
off, that would come down loads if I made, say, 10 - but then I'd want some profit ;^)
ciaou
Bob C
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ceebmoj
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| posted on 30/1/04 at 08:13 PM |
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Hi
To all of you out there who are considering using PICs to build your stuff you can odder free samples from the microchip web sight of up to three on
any device and up to 5 separate devices which will be delved to your door. This includes the entire PIC range and a whole host of other peripheral
devises.
It is worth looking in to if you are considering using PICs not wanting to teach any one to suck eggs ether but by simply adding a 6 components you
can add a com port to your design witch will then enable you to use a boot loader witch allows much faster code downloads.
What compiler are people using or are you all manly assembly programmers out there. I am interested in finding a c compiler for the 18 series if any
body has one I could have a look at.
Blake
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Northy
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| posted on 30/1/04 at 08:20 PM |
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Ceebmoj,
I write firmware at work for the 18F series in both assembler and C. I have a full copy of Microchips 18F C compiler at work that a rep gave us that I
could do you a copy of. Its quite old new, but you download updates for free off the site. Another thing we were told to do was download the demo, and
when it runs out, uninstall, and re install it
Cheers
Graham
Website under construction. Help greatfully received as I don't really know what I'm doing!
"If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?"
Built 2L 8 Valve Vx Powered Avon
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