Custom dash display panel (Arduino + LCD)

[paulie75]

I'm working on a new project, looking for some ideas/suggestions!

Summary: I'm installing a 16x2 character backlit LCD in the dashboard to display a bunch of stuff: battery voltage, gear indicator, tachometer, ambient temperature, and notifications from my smartphone. It will have a bluetooth radio to get notifications from the phone and also feed data to the phone for recording/displaying (voltage, tach, speed, etc).

Cost: It's very inexpensive (<$30). $13 for the Arduino Nano microcontroller (any arduino will do - that one just happens to be small and cheap). LCD is ~$3 on eBay. $8 for the blueooth serial module, $1 for the air temperature sensor, and maybe at most another $5 for other random components (schmitt trigger, some diodes, some resistors, wires, connectors, etc). I'll also need to box it up to make it at least water-resistant.

So far I have working:
1). The voltage measurement
2). Tachometer readout simulated. I generated a 4-pulse-per-rotation square wave and then read it back in - I'm waiting for parts before I actually tap into the tachometer wire, because the microcontroller can't handle the high-voltage.
3). Bluetooth connection to the phone (to send alerts to the device or read raw serial from it) is working.

The ambient temp display is waiting for the sensor IC to arrive.
The wheel speed sensor connection is waiting for a schmitt trigger (gear indicator will be calculated from engine speed and wheel speed).

Here's a Bench Test Video
(Voltage is being measured off a supply, tachometer is cycling between 1000 and 10000 RPM. Temp and gear indicator are just fake display placeholders currently)

Questions
What else would be useful to have on here?
What kinds of things would you want to be sent automatically from the phone to the bike display, or bike to phone? (incoming call/text notifications? weather alerts?)
Is there anything else you'd want to measure on the bike?
Any other sensors worth including? (GPS, accelerometer, gyrometer, tilt, sound, open discussion!)
Do you think there's any need to have a button near the display for any menu or display type? Or is having a passive display preferred?

Thanks! I'll post the whole finished product when I'm done (might be another month or so - shipping takes FOREVER from china!)

Hey Jeff, If you need any type of housing machined up out of lexan of some mounts, let me know. I enjoy the fun little stuff. Machining is more fun when you don't have to do it for a living!!! I'd also be interested in a unit as well, so it will be cool to see how things turn out.

 

[patrickb37]

I'll be adding the compass and temperature chip soon and fitting it to the bike (and trying to figure out how to waterproof it!).

You can use a conformal coating to waterproof it. Places like McMaster or Techni-Tool sell aerosol conformal coatings for circuit boards.

 

[Stevo592]

Does anyone have a pinout for an 07 ECU. I don't mean to hijack the thread but I am looking into making this for my bike. Thanks for your help!

 

[Se7enLC]

It's been a long time! I broke my finger back in March, so I wasn't able to ride or solder for a couple months. I'm back at it now though. I have the temperature, voltage, and compass working, all mounted in my dashboard. I'll be taking it for a long test ride this weekend. I decided to just use electrical tape to "waterproof" it for now. The board in its current state is actually really kludgy, so I think before I bother putting much effort into waterproofing I will get a printed circuit board made.

Bluetooth alerts from the phone might be awhile. Google broke Bluetooth pretty badly in version 4.2. None of the code I already wrote or any of the sample code works with SPP at all. It's a "Known Problem", apparently. I'm hoping 4.3 will fix it soon.

 

[Chaosratt]

It's been a long time! I broke my finger back in March, so I wasn't able to ride or solder for a couple months. I'm back at it now though. I have the temperature, voltage, and compass working, all mounted in my dashboard. I'll be taking it for a long test ride this weekend. I decided to just use electrical tape to "waterproof" it for now. The board in its current state is actually really kludgy, so I think before I bother putting much effort into waterproofing I will get a printed circuit board made.

Bluetooth alerts from the phone might be awhile. Google broke Bluetooth pretty badly in version 4.2. None of the code I already wrote or any of the sample code works with SPP at all. It's a "Known Problem", apparently. I'm hoping 4.3 will fix it soon.

Glad to hear back from from you and that your doing better.

Do you have any new pictures of the current setup? I picked up an i2c display for my Pi and I'm curious if I could replicate this setup on that platform (after I finish learning python).

 

[Se7enLC]

I didn't take any photos of the current setup. It's actually pretty poor looking. I had drilled a gigantic circular hole in the dash for an analog voltmeter before realizing that the vibration makes them worthless. Then I used a dremel to make a hole for the 16x2 display (but half the circle was still open). I ended up just using black electrical tape to close it all up. I guess it doesn't look THAT bad, but I'm not exactly proud of it, either.

I went out for a maiden voyage last weekend up to Lincoln, NH. 2+h on the highway in some insane heat (90+).

• The voltmeter worked great. It listed 13.1V when it was charging, and between 12 and 12.5 when it was idle, 11.8 when off. I didn't verify with a trusted voltmeter, but the numbers seemed accurate. I was surprised to find that it's not ALWAYS 13.8 when revving. I guess that makes sense.
• The temperature chip worked...but it was really really really hot. The chip said between 108 and 115 for the whole ride. Actual air temperature was probably only in the 90s, but the chip was under the cowling, so I'm guessing it was quite a bit hotter than it would be if it weren't attached to a motorcycle. I think I might move the sensor away from warm components, but I'm not sure it will matter.
• it was actually so hot out that the phone I was using as a GPS would no longer charge (battery got too hot). I had to put it away so it wouldn't burst into flames.
• Compass was worthless. I originally thought it was just an inaccurate chip, but then realized that there is a lot of magnetic interference on a bike. I don't think a magnetometer is the right way to go for compass. I might try using an accelerometer instead in the next revision.
• Bluetooth comms are down until Google fixes their broken Android OS.
• Overall the white-on-blue was very visible at night, less so during the day. The normal dashboard uses a backlit transflective display, so it's incredibly clear during the day and night. that might be a better choice.

 

[FinalImpact]

Se7enLC, I completely missed this thread! Very creative!

How about a photo cell and simply let it adjust to the ambient?? This all looks like too much fun! Good to see someone exploring!

If I had to add one piece of info the bike doesn't have, it would be Oil Temp. And if I were to tamper with the engine, I'd love to get hold of the ignition and have some say so in the Advance curve. I'm guessing Marthy would love this too!

Good Job!

 

[Se7enLC]

How about a photo cell and simply let it adjust to the ambient?? This all looks like too much fun! Good to see someone exploring!

It's not the brightness that's the issue, really. No matter what you set the backlight to it's going to be hard to read in direct sunlight. You really need a display that is visible in both sunlight and darkness. Magic word is transflective.

If I had to add one piece of info the bike doesn't have, it would be Oil Temp. And if I were to tamper with the engine, I'd love to get hold of the ignition and have some say so in the Advance curve. I'm guessing Marthy would love this too!
Good Job!

S2 has Oil and Air temperature display already (or perhaps it's coolant temp instead of oil temp?). In any case, adding a temperature sensor to the oil is a fairly serious modification that could cause more problems than it solves. I'm not sure I want that sensor enough to drill a hole into any place my oil goes to get it

Maybe a threaded fitting that goes between the bike and the oil filter that has a sensor in it, nicely sealed? That would be how I'd design it. Failure mode is pretty severe, though, so it's risky.

 

[marbro]

just wanting to know if there was any further progress on this?