Custom dash display panel (Arduino + LCD)

Definitely DEFINITELY keep us updated, I almost bought an Arduino kit from jameco the other day, but I couldn't justify it when I know I need sprockets and a chain.

I've heard of many awesome projects people have done with Arduino and for the past 2 or 3 months have REALLY REALLY wanted to start toying with it - but it never occurred to me to make a new dash. If you want - I have a book with lots of awesome schematics - I saw a tachometer and speed indicator circuit if you want me to scan em up for you.

Sounds like a fun little project - make sure you include lots of photos and details!
 
Subscribed.

how about portfolio stock ticker, rider heart rate, news alerts and wireless signal indicator? :BLAA:

All jokes aside, sounds like a cool project. I was messing around with arduino last year and it's freaking awesome :rockon:
Definitely freeze temp alert would be great. Acceleration numbers, perhaps?
You have to create a start screen with your name on it, something like "Good [time of the day], [name]"

Then you can expand into "Just what do you think you are doing, [name]?" and "Look [name], I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.":BLAA::D
 
chunkygoat said:
Definitely DEFINITELY keep us updated, I almost bought an Arduino kit from jameco the other day, but I couldn't justify it when I know I need sprockets and a chain.
Click to expand...

The "Arduino Mega 2650" is the first Arduino I bought - it was around $60. Lots of features, good for developing. I found out that you can get an exact clone of that board from Cool Gadgets at the Right Price - Worldwide Free Shipping - DealExtreme for $18, including shipping!

They also have the smaller ones (Uno, Duemilanove) based on the 328p for even cheaper, and the nano I bought for only $13

I've heard of many awesome projects people have done with Arduino and for the past 2 or 3 months have REALLY REALLY wanted to start toying with it - but it never occurred to me to make a new dash. If you want - I have a book with lots of awesome schematics - I saw a tachometer and speed indicator circuit if you want me to scan em up for you.
Click to expand...

I think I've got the tach and speed pretty well figured out already, it's just a matter of waiting for parts to come in and testing it out.

Sounds like a fun little project - make sure you include lots of photos and details!
Click to expand...

Oh course, I'll be over-documenting the whole process!
 
Subscribed! Sounds like there is lots of potential. Will be waiting to see what all comes out of this. I can already hear the girlfriend's opinion about this though....:BLAA:
 
Definitely a neat project. As a former embedded systems software engineer, I dig this stuff. :rockon:

I just started playing with the ATMEGA8 and I agree that the shipping time from China is painful! (But the prices are so good....)

Is there a CAN (or other communications) bus available on the FZ6 ECU? If you could communicate with the ECU, you could get a lot of parameters without extra sensors (voltage, RPM, speed, temperature, etc.)
 
jrevans said:
Definitely a neat project. As a former embedded systems software engineer, I dig this stuff. :rockon:

I just started playing with the ATMEGA8 and I agree that the shipping time from China is painful! (But the prices are so good....)

Is there a CAN (or other communications) bus available on the FZ6 ECU? If you could communicate with the ECU, you could get a lot of parameters without extra sensors (voltage, RPM, speed, temperature, etc.)
Click to expand...

I think there is a CAN bus or something similar, but I don't believe that it's particularly accessible or well-documented. My goal for this project is not to replace any existing functionality - I'm only adding new things. Specifically the Voltmeter and Gear Indicator are the primary improvements, and to get the Gear Indicator I need Speed and Tach.

Some people have commented that it would be interesting to use something like this to replace the stock display. While it is possible, you'd have to use the CANBUS to get the Odometer, Trip-Meter, Fuel Guage, Coolant+Oil Temp, as well as all the various indicator lights and trouble codes that I've never even seen. Personally, I don't think it's worth it. I like the stock gauge cluster!

I'm not duplicating any existing sensors, at least. I'm going to just tap-splice onto the Speed Sensor and Crankcase Position Sensor, and plug a wire into the battery (which I'd have to do to get power anyway). I am adding a temperature sensor to get Ambient Temperature, but that's a new one - FZ6 has an air temp, but it's at the intake so it's very hot. I want to get the actual Ambient Air temperature, so I will site the sensor far away from heat and hope for the best.

Tapping into CAN would be neat for the purpose of data logging, though. Not that I have any plans for what I would do with a graph of my coolant temp, but who knows!

I also did some more thinking about TPMS. It's actually not QUITE as impossible as I originally thought. For around $100 on eBay or Amazon, you can buy a kit that includes the wireless sensor stems and an LCD screen that shows tire pressure. You'd have to get the stems installed in the wheels, but I imagine that can be done at the time of replacing tires for minimal additional cost (provided that the stems will fit). That alone is all you need to get TPMS, so long as you don't mind having the random LCD screen that comes with one of those kits. Integrating a system like that into this, though, is a bit more complicated. Not a lot of specs on TPMS exist - they are mostly proprietary and all that is known is that they operate at 315Mhz or 433Mhz. In the event that somebody is able to reverse-engineer the protocol and format for a TPMS sensor, you could get a 315 or 433Mhz receiver for $5-$10 and pick up sensors at around $30 each. Again, this is a very long shot in the dark, but it would be amazing if it could be made to work. I'm not going to attempt to even get this into Version 1, but I will keep it in the back of my mind as a future idea that would be awesome.
EDIT: I just found a 433Mhz RX/TX pair for $2 on eBay, including shipping. I think I will do some investigating trying to read from the sensors on my Jeep!
 
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If you start selling these, Im definitely interested. You're already incorporating the 2 thing I want, the voltage and gear indicator. Nice work!:thumbup:
 
Very interesting... For the one of us that run PCV, any suggestion on be able to have a smart phone as display? If I plug my laptop I have all the info I need, I just need a small display without having to buy a $250.00 LCD from Dynojet.

I have an Ipod and a LG Android phone.

Thanks a lot!
 
Subscribed:thumbup:


one thing i would suggest in regards to the freezing temp indicator would be to initiate it around 40* because thats when you may still have ice on bridges and stuff
 
Marthy said:
Very interesting... For the one of us that run PCV, any suggestion on be able to have a smart phone as display? If I plug my laptop I have all the info I need, I just need a small display without having to buy a $250.00 LCD from Dynojet.

I have an Ipod and a LG Android phone.

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

That's what I'm talking about!
 
I was out in Alaska for a couple weeks for work and just got back. Found a huge pile of envelopes from China waiting for me! Only missing the extra LCD screen for a permanent install, but I can use the one I already have to get a prototype on the bike.

Just tested the digital temp sensor in my freezer. It seems to work pretty well down to below freezing, as expected. Need to test out the magnetometer (compass) that came in and then start wiring things up on the bike (crankcase position sensor and speed sensor interfaces).

Should have something interesting to share within the next week or so!
 
Marthy said:
Very interesting... For the one of us that run PCV, any suggestion on be able to have a smart phone as display? If I plug my laptop I have all the info I need, I just need a small display without having to buy a $250.00 LCD from Dynojet.
Click to expand...

PCV seems to have its own USB interface. I'm guessing the only way to make any sense of that would be to reverse engineer it (I doubt they made their format available for developers to replace their overpriced display unit and software!) Probably not possible or worth it, but if anyone has more information about the specifics of that USB connection, pass it along.
 
That's an awesome idea Se7enLC, keep us posted on how things progress. Talking about screens, i need a water proof screen, I installed a rear view camera system on my FZ, its awesome as i can quickly check behind me without needing to look over my shoulder, but because the screen isn't water tight it keeps fxcking up the display. Could you incorporate that in your project? And for the time being do you know of a decent water proof screen?
 
Kenna2000 said:
That's an awesome idea Se7enLC, keep us posted on how things progress. Talking about screens, i need a water proof screen, I installed a rear view camera system on my FZ, its awesome as i can quickly check behind me without needing to look over my shoulder, but because the screen isn't water tight it keeps fxcking up the display. Could you incorporate that in your project? And for the time being do you know of a decent water proof screen?
Click to expand...

Waterproofing is something I haven't put a lot of thought into, yet. I figured that since the LCD I'm using is only $2, I can just glue up all the seams and hope for the best. Maybe a small piece of plexiglass or similar, even. The electronics will probably be harder to waterproof. They might be living in a prototype-stage for awhile until I come up with a good solution.
 
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