Arduino Gauge, Looking for Colab

[Akya2120]

Hey,

Was wondering if there are any code gurus on here that could work with me on building an Arduino oil pressure and temp gauge. I would build and test the circuit you'd have to figure out how to interface with the OBD2 for the oil temp and the oil pressure would have to interface with a oil pressure sensor.

Together we will discuss where to mount the screen and what the design for the bracket is. I am a designer can 3D print the mounts/brackets/fascias for making it fit together.

I already have an arduino mega for testing, but I would imagine we would want to use one of the smaller boards for implementation. We could also allow for extra functionalities like logging, or exhaust temp gauges, intake temps, et cetera. But, I believe for now the base functionality should just be getting temp and pressure for oil.

I propose that once we complete the project we make the 3D model, and code publicly available. That way everyone can have a fairly reasonable access to a sleek looking oil pressure and temp gauge that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. My interest was driven by this unit primarily, and not wanting to spend ~$500 to have it in my car.

Hoping someone can help me make this happen. Thanks for the interest.

[stugray]

Reading and displaying the oil pressure from an off the shelf pressure gauge is trivial.


Pulling the oil temp from the OBD port would be more difficult than just reading it from a separate temp sensor.


I have an arduino datalogger in my racecar that logs all of the essential data and displays it on my phone like torque.
It just reads analog voltages from the oil temp & pressure gauges that are already in the car.


Check this out for arduino prototypes:


https://123d.circuits.io/

[Akya2120]

There may be a way to tap the oil temp sensor directly that is already in the engine but I am unsure. It would take someone with more technical knowledge of the engine and it's components to make that observation. That avoids having to interpret OBD2 data, although that kind of interface might be more advantageous.

[stugray]

If you just included a ELM327 OBD module, then the arduino could access the OBD data over Bluetooth.


Those modules are only about $10.
I have one and number of various Arduino boards.
Just none with a Bluetooth shield/adapter.


There is also a CAN Bus shield, but that is ~$20 right there.

[Akya2120]

The CAN Bus shield seems like a pretty good option. I think it is reasonable to spend ~$100 on an open source gauge which is expandable to other useful functionalities. It should definitely have a button or three. I like the idea of putting the gauge in the vent like the one I posted earlier, but at the same time I'd love to do something fancy (which doesn't reduce the functionality of another feature.) Like producing a replacement defroster vent that can house a screen for projecting the information on the windshield (kinda like this but not tacky as all hell.) Regardless I think making a replacement for that vent would be a good position to house a gauge. Opinions?

Is anyone familiar enough with the CAN Bus shield (or code) to tweak a script which has already be written to do what we want? I did a little reading, but from what I could find nothing specifically said it could be used to poll oil temps. It seems with the other capabilities it is reasonable to assume that it could, but perhaps someone more familiar with the tech could chime in.

Thanks for the interest and input thus far! Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling and put together a tutorial for making a well integrated and affordable solution to monitoring our engine's health.

[brz880]

Check out http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75181

[Akya2120]

Well that makes life easy... Now to pick a screen (I like that one, but it might be impractical. also finding a way to make a pin out for an arduino may prove difficult.) Then find some buttons, and design an enclosure that fits the where the old vent goes. Out of curiosity, does anyone know how hard it is to get that vent piece out of the dash/how hard it would be to plumb wires into it?

[Captain Curt]

Originally Posted by Akya2120

Well that makes life easy... Now to pick a screen (I like that one, but it might be impractical. also finding a way to make a pin out for an arduino may prove difficult.) Then find some buttons, and design an enclosure that fits the where the old vent goes. Out of curiosity, does anyone know how hard it is to get that vent piece out of the dash/how hard it would be to plumb wires into it?

If you're looking for a screen, I highly recommend Adafruit or https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/76. They have a lot of plug-and-play options with PCB+driver+display solutions, and the support for their products is top notch.

If you ever have any Arduino related questions feel free to contact me. I've been toying around with them for years and have even designed my own scalable driver board for driving RGB LED's to give you an idea of current skill level:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpRtEYmvBlY"]RainBoard - RGB LED Rainbow Fader - YouTube[/ame]

[ze12o]

im interested in contributing. i have also been toying around with this idea, and you read my mind about open source.

i have some ideas

[Akya2120]

Nice! Sounds like we can all work together.

Anyone know if there is a technical drawing of that vent laying around? Otherwise I will have to just go buy one and take a bunch of measurements, or get an Xbox connect and scan it.

The open source is cool because someone else might add some functionality or modify it and make it a better and/or more visually appealing unit.

I also thought about putting it in the plastic piece to the left of the head unit but producing that piece might be a little harder with a 3D printer.

[Mazikowski]

Depending on how you want to do the gauge(s), 4D Systems has a 1.38" (35mm) round LCD.
http://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/uLCD_220RD/

[Racecomp Engineering]

@robot (sending out the robot signal)

I wish I could help guys, but I'll at least be interested in following along.

- andrew

[Sly_Don]

I'm currently working on something similar to this with an arduino as well.
The elm327 is pretty useful. I'm using this spark fun obd2 interface board which has everything built in for a bit more money than just an elm. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9555
As mentioned above the 4d systems stuff is pretty good and you can get them with they a built in processor with graphics libraries which takes the graphics load off the arduino. I'm using some of their screens for my project.

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

[pandamancer]

Subbed and available for collaboration.

I've been pondering/planning a setup which would capture these requirements for a while now.