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Thread: 2 1/16 gauge ECM data display

  1. #1
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    2 1/16 gauge ECM data display

    I've always wanted a nice display to run inside my car and that's one of the reason I started working on Android apps. Clarion recently came out with the AX (http://clarion.com.my/ax1/), an Android based head unit. That was the first I was seeing from a decent head unit company, instead of those Chinese no name one. The main issue with that unit tho is that it's running Android 2.3.7 which is already over 2 years old. I really want Ice Cream Sandwich at the very least. I would assume 2 years ago is when they started working on this thing but they need to update it as it's already way out-dated.

    So while I'm waiting for that nice Android based head unit to come out, I thought I would come out with an alternative solution for a permanently mounted display. This is when I thought I could turn my boring Voltmeter into something much more powerful. I will be replacing it with a gauge that will be reading data from the ECM over the CAN bus. I'm mentionning CAN bus because I'm running a MegaSquirt ECM and it will be a much better option then serial as it will allow me to keep the gauge connected all the time while still have access to the USB port on the MegaSquirt to tune / datalog. Also, the gauge being a CAN device will allow me to tune it using the USB port of the ECM. That way I can change the gauge display value or whatever gauge parameter with an Android device or netbook in the same tuning software that I use to tune / datalog.

    Making this project fully customizable and working on any ECM (even any MegaSquirt) would take years so this will be mostly be an hard coded version for my specific application. I might start "unharcoding" some stuff at some point but it will take a while. The good news for you guys is that it will be open source so I really hope I will have a few person jump in and create an ALDL fork or something :)

    I've done similar project in the past but using an LCD touch screen instead and let me tell you that the OLED screen seems to be a much better option for automotive use. The display seems to look good from any angle which is definitely not the case of an LCD screen (or at least the one I had).

    Any one interested in this project ? :) I will keep updating this thread if you guys think this is an interesting project!

    The OLED I got now is this one: http://www.adafruit.com/products/938

    The code will be hosted here: https://bitbucket.org/SebGiroux/diyecmgauge/overview

    Here is where I'm at after 15 mins of work:

    Last edited by 3400tZ; 11-27-2013 at 06:33 AM.

  2. #2
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    Very nice.

    If anyone is interested, here's a link to a couple of Arduino based 8192 ALDL loggers that I've built: http://www.xm381.com/xm381/aldl.html

    Just like 3400tZ, mine is designed for my specific application a 1227727 ECU with $A1 code but could easily adapted to any 8192 ECU.

    3400tZ has motivated me to look a little further into a gauge mounted logger for 8192 ALDL.

    I suspect 160 baud should be quite doable too.

    My projects use a hardware serial port but I think one of my next step is to build an 160/8192 communications library based on the softwareserial one.

  3. #3
    RIP EagleMark's Avatar
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    I approve these projects!

    Just kidding, this is way cool stuff guys!

    1990 Chevy Suburban 5.7L Auto ECM 1227747 $42!
    1998 Chevy Silverado 5.7L Vortec 0411 Swap to RoadRunner!
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  4. #4
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    Few more hours of coding:


    I have a few issue now tho.

    The first one is that I'm maxing out pretty much everything on the Uno. I tried loading all libraries I want to use at some point (GPS and all), and I got this output from the compiler:

    Binary sketch size: 18174 bytes (of a 32256 byte maximum, 56.34 percent).
    Estimated memory use: 2416 bytes (of a 2048 byte maximum, 117.97 percent).

    So It's maxing out the SRAM just loading the library, I haven't done anything with them yet.

    So Uno definitely won't work. Flora is not gonna work either (I think they are 2.5k SRAM ?) I'm thinking about getting a Mega now. I was looking at the Due but it seems to be too incompatible with so many thing, it could be annoying. The Due is somehow cheaper then the Mega tho...

    The issue with the Mega (or Due) is the SPI pins seems to be at different places then the Uno so I will end up having to do something like this:







    So as you can see in the video, I'm currently using a push button to change page. It's way too sensitive now and I need some debouncing but it's a pain to do in the software as Arduino doesn't support calling millis() function inside an interrupt which is very annoying. So I will probably end up with a hardware solution by adding a capacitor, something like this:



    The original plan tho was to use these two things:
    http://www.adafruit.com/products/1096
    http://www.adafruit.com/products/1391

    As you can see on my video. The issue is that for some reason it doesn't work. When I got the receiver, only half the pins were soldered on the PCB I went ahead and soldered everything but maybe I shouldn't have done that ? Anyway, its cheap enough, I will order another one next time and see how it goes. It would be cool to control the gauge with the remote instead.

    I've commited the code in the bitbucket repo I posted the link above if anyone is interested, but so far, it's a mess. :)
    Last edited by 3400tZ; 11-11-2013 at 07:21 AM.

  5. #5
    LT1 specialist steveo's Avatar
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    i'd like to see the code, but it appears that your bitbucket repo is private

  6. #6
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    Looking good.

    I'm sure you know this; the Meg2560 and the newer UNO's both have an 6 pin ICSP header (for SPI) in a common location, but it looks like your CAN bus shield was designed for the older style boards since it doesn't have those connections (unless they are surface mount on the bottom of the board).

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    steveo, sorry about that, I'm was pretty sure I created it public from the beginning. Oh well, now it is, let me know if you have any issue.

    Mike, yeah both CAN bus shields that I know of don't have the ICSP header. To make it worse, SparkFun does sell this thing https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11469 that I think would work to change the pin out back to "normal" but I'm not 100% sure it will work fine with the Mega and it has no holes that I need for my enclosure (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10088) that seems to be a standard for arduino stuff. So I found this shield instead https://www.gorilladistribution.com....uct/leoshield/ that does seems to be a better option. So now I'm trying to go back to sparkfun to look for an enclosure that could possibly contains two shields and their site down for maintenance for a few hours... fun fun fun :D

    It seems like everything is incompatible with something, its a pain in the a** :D

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3400tZ View Post
    So now I'm trying to go back to sparkfun to look for an enclosure that could possibly contains two shields and their site down for maintenance for a few hours... fun fun fun :D
    It's the Obamacare website virus...

    1990 Chevy Suburban 5.7L Auto ECM 1227747 $42!
    1998 Chevy Silverado 5.7L Vortec 0411 Swap to RoadRunner!
    -= =-

  9. #9
    Super Moderator Six_Shooter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3400tZ View Post

    It seems like everything is incompatible with something, its a pain in the a** :D
    Which is why I don't rely on shields, I just breadboard it.

    I have one shield that I bought when I bought my Uno, for the LCD, because it was simple and it made it easy to do some of the basic LCD stuff I wanted to do.

    If you're looking for alternate gear look at the Teensy, it's very much like the Arduino, even uses the Arduino IDE, but seems more powerful, IIRC. I have a Teensy++ 2.0 and it's nice, especially for for plugging into and using a breadboard for development.

    www.pjrc.com
    The man who says something is impossible, is usually interrupted by the man doing it.

  10. #10
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    I just spent a few minutes verifying that the Teensy++ 2.0 has 8kB of SRAM, referred to simply as "RAM" on the PRJC site.

    http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/index.html

    Atmel page (the Teensy uses the 1286 uC):
    http://www.atmel.ca/devices/AT90USB1...tab=parameters

    Did I mention the Teensy is cheaper than the Arduino?
    The man who says something is impossible, is usually interrupted by the man doing it.

  11. #11
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    Yeah, my problem is that I don't really know what I'm doing in term of hardware :P I think I will buy that "LeoShield" and an Arduino Mega because I know all that stuff will work together out of the box. I don't mind buying some Arduino hardware as I know this isn't the last little project like that that I will do so it's always nice to have some stuff already laying around.

    I haven't forgot your offer to create a proper PCB tho :) I was thinking it could be cool to maybe eventually sell a nice PCB for that project as well as some open source libraries that are already working for MS/ALDL/ODB2 as a DIY data display gauge type of project. I bet some people would be interested in that!

  12. #12
    Super Moderator Six_Shooter's Avatar
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    Where you're headed with this is what I wanted to create for my GM stuff, I'm just not that good at writing code, other than assembly, I seem to have my head pretty wrapped around that...

    I was hoping that the TVII that I have in my car would have done this, it was supposed to, but since the creator of it has backed off from pretty much all GM support it makes it almost useless. There's only a few things that can be displayed on it, that can't be done with regular gauges. I'm using mine right now mostly as my temp gauge since I don't currently have one in my dash.

    Anyway, the way to go with this, hardware wise is SMD devices to make it small and fit INSIDE a gauge, with only a few external connections. But like some gauge companies are doing you could make one control box that feeds one or more gauges on a common databus, SPI, I2C, etc.

    It's not hard to follow the pinouts and figure out what connects to where, there's enough information on the interwebz to help there, especially since most shields schematics are available, you can pick out what you need and leave the rest alone, and connect the appropriate pins. Take a look at the Teensy, it's a pretty atout bit of kit.
    The man who says something is impossible, is usually interrupted by the man doing it.

  13. #13
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    If you learned Assembly, you can learn C++. Especially on the Arduino platform with all the library and stuff, it's pretty easy. As a programmer, I did look at Assembly but it's one of the rare programming language that I haven't done a project with because its so low level that I feel that it takes sooooo much time to do pretty much nothing, I got bored quickly :)

    I agree the Teensy board looks pretty cool. Pretty much the chip I need for a really good price. I'm not sure why the Mega is so freaking expensive (more then the Due for some reason ?). The main advantage of the Mega as you said is that I won't have to look at any schematic or anything, I will just slap everything together and it will work (or at least, I hope :P).

    I think this setup is what I will be using:
    - Arduino Mega https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11061
    - LeoShield https://www.gorilladistribution.com....uct/leoshield/
    - CAN bus shield https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10039
    - Enclosure https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10033

    I will be ordering a GPS module and Accelerometer from Adafruit soon as well.

    The advantage with all this is that I should be able to have a somewhat clean prototype without wires everywhere while doing minimal work. I will probably use the proto area on the LeoShield for a small power supply and whatever hardware I decide for the page changing thingy (either with the key fob or with a push button). As a software guy, I would rather pay more for the hardware (I do realize its quite a bit more in this case) and spend more time making the software awesome instead :) I understand you think I'm retarded to pay that much tho but I'm OK with that :P

  14. #14
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    Got some empty 2" x 1 5/8" deep gauge cases on their way!

    I purchase Westach aircraft grade EGT gauges for one of my other hobbies, http://www.xm381.com They custom build each gauge for your specific installation, so when ordering another EGT gauge yesterday I asked if I could buy empty cases and they said yep.

    This is what I'm thinking: this LED ring, http://www.adafruit.com/products/1463 and this OLED display (same as what 3400tZ is using I think), http://www.adafruit.com/products/938 powered by one of the small Arduino's like this, http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardNano and a bluetooth transceiver like so, http://imall.iteadstudio.com/im120723009.html I think I can get it all to fit in the gauge case. I've got communication code for this already working here: http://www.xm381.com/xm381/aldl.html and pretty much done with the bluetooth portion too.

    Functionally in stand alone mode the gauge will request ALDL data and then display it (a button or two for navigation between parameters) but when you pair with the bluetooth the gauge will then let TunerPro, ALDLDroid, etc. request the data then transmit the ALDL stream back.

    BTW, hows it coming on ALDLDroid?

  15. #15
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    Cool that you found some empty gauge cases, let us know how it goes with them! I've been ordering a bunch more stuff for this project lately. :)

    What do you mean hows it coming on ALDLdroid ?

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