In Car Multigauge - project

I did electronics at Uni over 20 years ago and never touched it since, took a lot of reading to be able to get back in the swing.

Sorry to ask a question off topic. I first looked at Arduino boards about 6 weeks ago. If you were going to use one to monitor something over time, and record the data, would you have to connect it to something like a raspberry pi?

Al2O3 said:

Sorry to ask a question off topic. I first looked at Arduino boards about 6 weeks ago. If you were going to use one to monitor something over time, and record the data, would you have to connect it to something like a raspberry pi?

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Edited due to incompetence in correctly reading your question!!

Kwakerman said:

Edited due to incompetence in correctly reading your question!!

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Didn't see what you wrote. Doubt it would be incompetence, probably not fully awake at that time in the morning!

Al2O3 said:

Didn't see what you wrote. Doubt it would be incompetence, probably not fully awake at that time in the morning!

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I was going to say that the Arduino is pretty well self contained but then I re-read that you wanted to use it as a sort of data logger but as it doesn't have any non-volatile memory (that I'm aware of) it would forget whatever it was logging when it was turned off.

You can get an SD card 'shield' to plug into the Duino, they're pretty cheap so you can dump the data out to that.

Or use a Pi, pretty sure code's pretty portable between the 2.

Kwakerman said:

I was going to say that the Arduino is pretty well self contained but then I re-read that you wanted to use it as a sort of data logger but as it doesn't have any non-volatile memory (that I'm aware of) it would forget whatever it was logging when it was turned off.

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Bennehboy said:

You can get an SD card 'shield' to plug into the Duino, they're pretty cheap so you can dump the data out to that.

Or use a Pi, pretty sure code's pretty portable between the 2.

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Thanks chaps, I thought that would be the case. It's a great idea to use the Arduino on the Landy. Awesome in fact.
I'm hoping to use one to monitor things in an aquaponics polytunnel. The idea has taken a back seat while I've been doing the Landy, but my mind is starting to turn to it now. You two clever fellas might be able to help me out in a few weeks time!

Be happy to help.

Bennehboy said:

Be happy to help.

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Cheers, Bennehboy. There might be a PM or two coming your way in 3 or 4 weeks time.
I could do some googling on this, but do you happen to know if you can get sensors to detect water conditions such as pH, nitrates, nitrites?

Not a clue on that one I'm afraid.

Ha ha, totally different area to oil pressures etc. Cheers, though. I may well be in touch!

So this has moved on a fair bit since I last posted, EGT is now being read successfully using a MAX31856 digital processor, all other sensors are working except oil pressure - mainly because I've not actually bought a sensor.

Made some other improvements too, the system now recognises when sensors are not connected and displays a no connection icon.

I'll be adding a digital incinometer when the part arrives next week, just need some suitable graphics.

Also moving the entire project onto a faster microcontroller which has more inputs - a Chinese Maple Mini clone.

Anyone who wants to hack the code can grab it from my github -> https://github.com/BennehBoy/LRDuino

Please feel free to make code contributions via github, my c++ is pretty sloppy

New version uploaded..

Now incorporates a low coolant level warning - this just flashes low coolant on one of the displays for now but should also emit a buzzer tone when the piezo I ordered arrives. It will also throw an error if the cabling is disconnected.

This can be wired directly to a BMW style coolant tank with low coolant sensor.

Fixed some bugs in the code.

[youtube]

Pushed the latest code online

https://github.com/BennehBoy/LRDuino

We now have a digital roll meter courtesy of an ADXL345 chip



I also tidied up the screens a fair bit

Still working away on this.

The more I 'get into' things the more ambitious I seem to get.

Anyhow, I'm currently working on code that will directly read PID info from the TD5 ecu, this means that the standard sensors/fuelling info can be read just as a Nanocom does.

I've got the code bench tested and am building the circuitry at present to test this in vehicle with a live ECU.

I've also got a variant that will work with a bog standard ELM327 based bluetooth OBD dongle, meaning the system can work in just about any modern OBD compliant vehicle.

Photo of the device reading OBD PIDs for RPM & Speed below:

My project now has a menu system and can talk to an emulated TD5 Ecu.

I've got an MSB ECU here with topside switch failure that I'll be bench testing against once the econoseal connector for the black plug arrives in the post.

Assuming all goes well there, I've got a little bit of K-line sniffing to do to get my code handling fault reading/clearing, then it's time to build out on stripboard for the car.

The system can also log data to a micro SD card.

Here's a photo (although caught the displays mid refresh) of the system reading a few PID's from the emulator (running on an Arduino Uno with LCD screen):

Are you just showing off now?
That's awesome, mate. Looking forward to seeing it built up for going in the car. Superb work. After 20yrs, it's obviously all flooding back.

Ha, I just thought it made sense that since it will be a permanent fixture it may as well be able to do a subset of what the nanocom can.

I think the nanocom is great but it's such a pain to have plugged in and mounted.

Bennehboy said:

Ha, I just thought it made sense that since it will be a permanent fixture it may as well be able to do a subset of what the nanocom can.

I think the nanocom is great but it's such a pain to have plugged in and mounted.

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Ya doin it again! I'm reading the words, but it sounding like Greek Ha, ha. Does make a bit of sense to be honest.

Bennehboy said:

Still working away on this.

The more I 'get into' things the more ambitious I seem to get.

Anyhow, I'm currently working on code that will directly read PID info from the TD5 ecu, this means that the standard sensors/fuelling info can be read just as a Nanocom does.

I've got the code bench tested and am building the circuitry at present to test this in vehicle with a live ECU.

I've also got a variant that will work with a bog standard ELM327 based bluetooth OBD dongle, meaning the system can work in just about any modern OBD compliant vehicle.

Photo of the device reading OBD PIDs for RPM & Speed below:

Click to expand...

Hi mate
I just came across this thread and loving what you've done so far. All the way through the thread I was wondering how hard it would be to adapt for a Freelander but if you can use it with an ELM327 bluetooth then there's no reason why it couldn't be adapted.
Don't suppose you have a circuit diagram for this do you?