Custom dash display panel (Arduino + LCD)

[Se7enLC]

Quick update video:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01FiDD_zG-c]Prototype of dash display - YouTube[/ame]

Not much to see - I'm now using the real compass and temperature sensor chip.

The -- on the display is set to show up when the compass is tilted too far (it's not accurate unless it's flat). When it's flat it shows N E S W NE SE NW SW. It's possible to add an accelerometer to compensate for the tilt, but I don't think it will improve enough to be worth it.

The temperature display is climbing because I put my finger on the IC. In the finished product, the chip will be on the end of a wire so you can keep it away from things that generate heat so it will be more accurate.

Voltmeter is just using a ~12V adjustable supply that I'm turning the potentiometer on.

Just need to get the speed sensor and crankcase sensor and button it up. It looks like a huge project on the board, but the actual components are quite small. The Arduino nano is only 0.73" x 1.7", and the rest is mostly just wiring. It should easily fit in the size of an Altoids tin or similar case.

Note: Ignore the "vv" on voltages < 10v, I already fixed that bug. Not that you should see voltages < 10V anyway...

 

[PDX_Piggy]

Quick update video:

Prototype of dash display - YouTube

Not much to see - I'm now using the real compass and temperature sensor chip.

The -- on the display is set to show up when the compass is tilted too far (it's not accurate unless it's flat). When it's flat it shows N E S W NE SE NW SW. It's possible to add an accelerometer to compensate for the tilt, but I don't think it will improve enough to be worth it.

The temperature display is climbing because I put my finger on the IC. In the finished product, the chip will be on the end of a wire so you can keep it away from things that generate heat so it will be more accurate.

Voltmeter is just using a ~12V adjustable supply that I'm turning the potentiometer on.

Just need to get the speed sensor and crankcase sensor and button it up. It looks like a huge project on the board, but the actual components are quite small. The Arduino nano is only 0.73" x 1.7", and the rest is mostly just wiring. It should easily fit in the size of an Altoids tin or similar case.

Note: Ignore the "vv" on voltages < 10v, I already fixed that bug. Not that you should see voltages < 10V anyway...

Beautiful. If you want to make instructions when you are all done I wouldn't have a problem assembling, casing, waterproofing and shipping for a small fee. I could even keep some stock on hand. For those who are intimidated by electronics...

 

[jrevans]

Quick update video:

Prototype of dash display - YouTube

Not much to see - I'm now using the real compass and temperature sensor chip.

Just need to get the speed sensor and crankcase sensor and button it up. It looks like a huge project on the board, but the actual components are quite small. The Arduino nano is only 0.73" x 1.7", and the rest is mostly just wiring. It should easily fit in the size of an Altoids tin or similar case.

Looks good! Heck, that's useful without the speed/crankcase sensors. Voltage, Temp and Heading are nice items to have.

I was looking at buying a junky Voltage/Temp sensor for JC Whitney years ago, and when I went to buy it, it was discontinued.

Now, get fancy and use one of the PWM outputs to drive a power transistor which would automatically and variably power my heated grips, based on the outside temperature.

 

[Se7enLC]

Here's a schematic, for fun! It looks way more complicated than it is, and I'm starting to think I'm going to need a board to mount things to (I was originally planning on soldering components directly together)



Got outside and measured the speed sensor. Looked like a 5V square wave with a frequency that varied with speed. Perfect! It was at around 110Hz at 6mph (Idle in 1st on center stand).

Crankshaft Position sensor is another story. Single wire sensor, and I couldn't make any sense of it. Looks like it was just a solid 3.2V. Couldn't find any variation on it. I started poking around and found a signal on a different harness that gave me something useful. 55Hz at idle, frequency increasing with engine speed. 12V square wave, it seemed.

Both should be pretty easy to incorporate: Schmitt trigger to "square" and debounce the signals, and zener diodes to make sure only 5V makes it to the Arduino.

I just need to figure out what the signals mean. The 55Hz on the tach wire could be 2 cycles per engine revolution, which puts my idle at 1650RPM (not warmed up). That seems possible / likely to me.

The speed sensor is anyone's guess. Around 110Hz at 6mph. Speed sensor should be a wheel rotation sensor. I was expecting a much slower rate, more like 1 cycle per rotation from what I read in the service manual. I like it, though, 100Hz is a nice easy thing to keep track of, I just don't know how to match that frequency to a speed apart from trial and error (I'd prefer to work off some known quantity rather than a magic number).

Here's a rough diagram of the wires I tapped off for measurement. I'm not 100% sure if I marked the right wire for where I got the tach from - it was a 3-wire connector with white wires (14-16 AWG or so, my guess). Any idea what that connector is?



Some gratuitous oscope shots:

(Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Bitscope doesn't just show the measured frequency on the screenshots. Kind of annoying)

 

[Se7enLC]

Looks good! Heck, that's useful without the speed/crankcase sensors. Voltage, Temp and Heading are nice items to have.

Yeah, voltage was all I wanted to begin with, the rest of this is just "because I can". With just the compass, battery voltage, ambient temperature, and bluetooth, it's a very simple module that only needs to connect to the battery and ground. Nice and simple install!

Tapping into the speed and tach is a little more complicated and requires either a splice or connectors that probably exceed the cost of the rest of the components, sadly.

I was looking at buying a junky Voltage/Temp sensor for JC Whitney years ago, and when I went to buy it, it was discontinued.

Haven't tried to find a combination temp/voltage sensor, but I found a number of voltmeters that are < $10. Not as much fun as a custom system, but still very useful! Never again will I attempt an analog voltmeter, though - too much vibration and not enough useful resolution. Digital wins!

Now, get fancy and use one of the PWM outputs to drive a power transistor which would automatically and variably power my heated grips, based on the outside temperature.

Sounds pretty straightforward, actually! I think the heated grips/clothing probably already works on PWM, but set with a simple temperature knob. If that's the case, the hardest part would be figuring out what ambient temperature should correspond to what modulation frequency. I think that would probably be best left to a separate system, though, rather than wired in. And you'd probably still want to keep a knob to manually adjust the temperature.

 

[Se7enLC]

For anyone following along, I've hit a couple snags, and it's going to be a while until I have this project completed - probably spring, since Winter is Coming.

First, I had the breadboard set up on my coffee table and picked it up to move it out of the way. I accidentally shorted the pins on the back of the LCD which let the magic smoke escape from the Arduino Nano. It's toast. I ordered a couple more to replace it, but it'll be at least a few weeks before they arrive.

Second snag, is that I thought again about the way I'm measuring battery voltage. Since the original + primary goal of this device is watching my battery voltage, I want to get it right. I'm currently using a voltage divider (two resistors) to step the voltage down to under 5V so I can measure it on the arduino. Problem is, that means that the + and - terminals of the battery are ALWAYS bridged, with some resistance (a large resistance in the 1-10MOhm range - but a resistance nonetheless). That means that even when the bike is off, there will be some vampire power draining the battery. That's no good at all! That's ADDING a problem!

I need to rethink how I'm measuring voltage for that. Either I need to add a relay to only check the voltage on demand (and open-circuit when the power is removed), or I need to use something that can measure the full 0-~15V range directly, removing the need for the resistor-divider, which will allow it to open-circuit when the arduino is off.

 

[patrickb37]

You could still use a resistor divider, but just add a transistor on the "bottom" (ground) side that will open-circuit the resistors when turned off. Try Fairchild BSS138W or equivalent.

 

[Baci]

Ive aided on a few aurdio projects(I was more of a shadow). I helped create a starter kill device that would not allow a car to start with out a code entered every few weeks. It was for a used car dealership and aided in repos......facisnating stuff.

Doubt I can be much use here, but I will make a great fly on the wall. Cant wait to see what the final build comes to be. Good luck on the project, sorry to hear about the breadboard snafu......I really hate when I let out the magical smoke out of my ****.


Blue tooth could add some fun things here.....what about syncing it to a bluetooth headset? YOu could play music....or even read aloud stats or maybe your speed if your going to fast......."You are going 105, slow the **** down" :thumbup:

 

[Se7enLC]

You could still use a resistor divider, but just add a transistor on the "bottom" (ground) side that will open-circuit the resistors when turned off. Try Fairchild BSS138W or equivalent.

I'm thinking it will be something like that. Or a MOSFET or even a relay would do it - anything that can be controlled from a digital output pin and won't drop too much voltage when it's on.

 

[Rreynolds]

Have you considered setting up a power distribution block? Just use a standard automotive relay off the battery and tap something like the license plate light to open the 12V supply. So, if the key is off the circuit is open and no impact to the battery.

Just a thought.

 

[Randomchaos]

Shift light? Would just be a neat option

Think it would be possible to program a speedohealer type device?

Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

 

[Motogiro]

My first instinct would be to use a small relay.

As well as a relay this might also work well...Using Transistors As Switches


Your load will be your divider network...


In this diagram you could use the ground path provided for the headlamp relay provided through the ECU. The draw back would be to won't be able to look at static battery voltage because the headlamps will be active.

 

[chunkygoat]

Any progress on this project?

I bought an arduino uno to learn how the coding works in comparison to an 8031 which I am very framiliar with. I LOVE the arduino - compared to other assemblers/compilers......programming them is far more effective and simple.

I'm working on an app for my android that communicates wirelessly through the blue tooth shield to instruct the controller to move a lego car I constructed fully decked with servos, a steering column, and a really badass frame design.

It's a work in progress, but makes me curious how fare you've gotten with this? I'm considering using the uno to make a simple gear indicator (i always seem to lose track of whether i'm in 5th or 6th lol).

So yeah just curious if you made progress -- keep us informed!

-Matt

 

[chunkygoat]

Motogiro -- you seem to be the schematic master....where do you get all your schematics from? I'm trying to hunt down the wiring diagrams for the 08 fz6. Anything involving the ECU really.

I feel it wouldn't be terribly hard, if the schematics were in hand, to work with the ECU. For a speedo healer, I can't see why you wouldn't be able to break the circuit where the data being held for the SPEED is being propogated, and make a small correction using a micro controller -- then output the newly corrected speed to the display rather than directly from the sensor.

There would be tons to do, but where do you find your schematics at? You have anything for an 08 fiz?

 

[Randomchaos]

Motogiro -- you seem to be the schematic master....where do you get all your schematics from? I'm trying to hunt down the wiring diagrams for the 08 fz6. Anything involving the ECU really.

I feel it wouldn't be terribly hard, if the schematics were in hand, to work with the ECU. For a speedo healer, I can't see why you wouldn't be able to break the circuit where the data being held for the SPEED is being propogated, and make a small correction using a micro controller -- then output the newly corrected speed to the display rather than directly from the sensor.

There would be tons to do, but where do you find your schematics at? You have anything for an 08 fiz?

Is this what you are looking for?

 

[chunkygoat]

Is this what you are looking for?

Yes bro, that is exactly what I am looking for. Good looks - you guys are awesome.

 

[Marthy]

Voltmeter... done. I have the dynojet lcd-200 aslo where I can see all sort of data in real time. I can also log data and tune the map on my pc.

Sent from my LG-P925 using Tapatalk 2

 

[trepetti]

This was an interesting thread. Any updates?

 

[Se7enLC]

No updates yet - except to say that I got my bike out of storage, and I believe I have all the parts I need to get started again. Might have some time this weekend.

The hard part at this point is mechanical. What wires and connectors I'm going to use to physically connect the components to keep them modular, but also fairly resistant to the elements.

I re-thought about my battery meter plans and had an "Oh, duh" moment. I already HAVE a power distribution, keyed on ignition! (fuse box and everything). I was already planning on getting power from there - so it doesn't matter at all if I just use a resistor divider, since it will only be drawing on the order of uA, and it will only be doing that when the ignition is on. So I'll just keep it simple and stick with that.

I'll start by epoxying the LCD into the dashboard and sealing it up from the elements as much as I can. I still need to figure out how to run wires from there back to the Arduino, but to start with I can just use the jumpers I already have. I think a more finished product is going to require a single connector with X pins (I think it was 6-8 or so if I remember right). The voltmeter, temperature, compass, and Bluetooth link are the easy parts, since they are mostly self-contained. Tapping into the bike for the road+engine speed are going to take a bit more work, which should be easier now that it's warm, at least.

 

[Se7enLC]

It's not pretty, but it's starting to take form. Here's the Arduino wired up with a 9-pin connector to attach the LCD and the Bluetooth module. The thick wire running off to the right is the 12V in from the bike (both for power and monitoring). I'm using one of the PWM outputs to adjust the LCD backlight, and I have a potentiometer to adjust the display brightness.



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!). If it ever stops raining, I'll take another crack at tapping into the speedometer and tachometer signals.