Quote:
Originally Posted by dunit121
Is their any way to add a buzzer or alarm of some sort to go off when the fuel is contaminated?
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Well. It it is/isn't. All I/O pins are currently in use. The led output could be used for sounding a buzzer instead of having the led signaling the state of the sensor/fuel. Earlier in the project i had some thoughts about a buzzer, but there is a major problem with a buzzer and that is that the sound form it will be very depending on where you place the device. It would be hard to find a good place to install it where the buzzer volume would be correct. Also, there would need to be a way to disable/override the busser since i personally would be very unhappy if it was buzzing as soon as i turned the ignition key on.
Instead of a buzzer, my idea is that the Android app will provide a similar functionality. The plan is that the app can be configured by the user to run in the background and reconnect to the ECA once its powered up. Then the Android app will be able to notify you about contaminated fuel.
Last days i have made some major code changes that makes it possible to control the failsafe output voltage that can be read by the ECU via the bluetooth link. This makes it possible for the user to set the desired output voltage that the ECU would get in case of a ethanol sensor failure or when it reads contaminated fuel (I'm not sure if this is a useful feature or not, but its cool =)).
The App which currently only is built for Windows can also read the current %, Min/Max % detected (resettable from within the app) and configurable timing/Hz compensation to make sure that the % reading is as accurate as possible. - Maybe i'm overdoing it, but i have tried to make the settings that was hard coded within the code earlier to be configurable from an app (saved into EEPROM on the ATTINY) so that the IC firmware doesn't need to be changed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by moto-mike
You figure the board, components, case & accompanying labor are going to be at least 100 (unless you off-load to china with quantities in the 1000's). Then add the sensor, and two harnesses (display and sensor). Then the display itself. Followed up with QC on components you end up with a price that is not too far off what zeitronix does wholesale. But if you can get the frequency - voltage conversion done for under a hundred there will be a market for sure. What's your total build cost so far?
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If it turns out that there is a big interest in this product then i will produce this board in batches and sell.
I have all the tools needed for performing reflow-soldering and such on my own, so no off-loading to china or someone else.
This device will probably never have a fancy display and case. The Display is replaced by bluetooth output since i don't like adding "single purpose" displays in my own car. Also, the ATTINY85 device memory that holds the running code is only 8KB(!), and its about full now so there is no more room available for the code needed for display output since the serial/bluetooth output was selected instead of a display. - Maybe sometime I integrate it in a OBDII devices/display that shows both ODBII and Ethanol information as described in my first post.
Regarding the case... The case will consist of a really simple transparent heat shrink tube =). The idea from the start is that it will be placed behind the dashboard and this can be considered as a more "protected" environment compared to the engine bay. Also, i suspect that the bluetooth signal might be poor if the devices is placed in the engine bay with the engine running, but i have not tested it yet so maybe it would work to store it in the engine bay fusebox.
I will send one of this devices out for testing to a person tuning Nissan:s and he will help me evaluate it. If someone else would like to help with the testing then let me know. I will need a few more weeks for it to be ready for testing.
I have attached a image showing a preview of how the windows app looks in this alpha stage.