I suppose I'm about 1/3 of the way done on mine. I'm having to program up an engine simulator to allow me to test the timing measurement function. I've figured out how to do this (it took a while) and I hope to have it running soon.



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S.
1000 AAQ: 1000q.dsm.org
ECU Primer: members.home.net/costall/ECUprimer/index.html

Well christmas is around the corner and I have to tell Santa where to pick one of those timing readers. LOL

Any news?

Hey Michel...

I know I should of try to get that project going but the genius that is suppose to help me is pretty bussy trying to fix some of the problem we are having with our old Hercs... We had a big cockpit upgrade and some interface are not working as advertised. I'll try to talk to him and keep everybody informed.

By the way; Is there anybody here that is good or knows about microcontrollers??? That could help speed up the process.

Ask around The Montréal UBB Michel you might have a better ansewer that me.

Ghislain.

I've had the prototype operating now for a little while. Unfortunately, I've had significant delays because of other things.

I've also had to switch microcontrollers - the original design worked just fine, but I had second thoughts about some aspects of the design which caused me to switch. Also, my prototype was built on a less-than ideal PCB stolen from a finished work project, and I was never able to modify it to the level I wanted.

I was in the middle of designing a new prototype board for a different work project, and incorporated some features into it to allow me to build the 'improved' version of my own product. Of course, now that I have the prototype PCBs, work is going gangbusters. Plus I have had all kinds of other things eating up my time, not the least of which was some surgery on Thursday that pretty much killed my weekend. (Not me, I'm doing ok.)

I did get a lot done on the weekend, but it was on the 1000AAQ pages, not on the gauge. I've had kind offers of help from two Canada DSMers, and I thank them for their efforts. Unfortunately, they have both become distracted with their own lives, and little progress has been made on the 1000AAQ in several months time. I probably put in 20 hours of work on the 1000AAQ this weekend, and knocked off maybe 5 of the 40 items in my 'edits' mailbox.

Of course, this gave me something to do while I was virtually bedridden, but I'm starting to seriously question if I can keep the 1000AAQ maintained and still have time to pursue other interests.

Anyway, I've been trying to get the new prototype constructed. Once I do, I can port over the code and hopefully get the new version running without too much effort. It should be superior in some ways to the original design.

Don't go counting your pennies yet, as I intend to debug the living sh!t out of the product before I even hint that I'm selling it - the last thing I need is some semi-moron doofus burning up his car (in one of the oh-so-many ways, not meant to refer to anyone on this forum (natch)), blaming me for it, and litigating me out of house and home.

I am also facing non-trivial startup costs that may prove to be inconvenient. I will have to finance the production of printed circuit boards for this product, as well as purchase parts and populate all the units personally (by hand).

That's where I am. If I hadn't forgotten the damn prototype at home, I might be working on it right now.....

I suppose, while I'm talking (ranting? ahem) on the subject, I may as well ask your collective opinion on the form factor for the gauge. I am pretty much restricted to off-the-shelf boxes, unless somebody wants to give me an unbelieveable deal on custom-moulded plastics.

For this reason, the gauge is likely to be a small black box - tentative dimensions are 90 x 60 x 25 mm. This is almost exactly the size of a busines card, and as thick as a C-cell battery.

Stack three C-cells together, and that's about the size. Less accurately, it's roughly the size of a 16' tape measure - not the gargantuan Stanley 'professional' monstrosity, and not the itty-bitty 12' wimp version. It's a somewhat inconvenient shape for DSM applications, but I don't really have much choice.

The 'face' of the instrument is on one of the 90 x 60 mm sides, with an LCD display and some controls.

Anyway, here's some Qs for you all:

- Would you buy the gauge in this form factor, despite the fact there is no ready-made mounting system?
- Would it be more useful if the instrument 'remembered' readings for you, so you didn't have to watch it 100% of the time?
- What side should the wires come out of? Top, back, bottom, side?
- In your opinion, would a remote-mounted LCD display be: worse than useless, mildly interesting, reeeealy cool, or a practical necessity?
- If you could make the gauge measure anything, what ELSE would you want it to measure?

Thanks,

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S.
1000 AAQ: 1000q.dsm.org
ECU Primer: members.home.net/costall/ECUprimer/index.html

Mounting would not be a big issue for me as the unit would be a tool.

Read only would be fine for me.

Wires comming from the side or back would be also ok.

Remote display would be cool. Could mount the visual display anywere.

I think it would be cool if the unit would double up as a A/F Gauge. Yes lots of ppls already have a A/F Gauge but with one glance the user would see two important engine parameter.

Ghislain.

Mounting would not be a big issue for me as the unit would be a tool.

Read only would be fine for me.

Wires comming from the side or back would be also ok.

Remote display would be cool. Could mount the visual display anywere. Have a look at my A/F Gauge display (Brad Bauer scematic's) http://www.lks.net/~ghislisa/Gauge.jpg

I think it would be cool if the unit would double up as a A/F Gauge. Yes lots of ppls already have a A/F Gauge but with one glance the user would see two important engine parameter.

Ghislain.

What would be great is some kind of delta or rate of change. Like if the timing climbs with rpms, an up arrow and if it falls with rpms, a down arrow. That way, you could know at a glance if the ECU is pulling the timing or not.

Mmmmmm, it's probably more complicated than that. It's just an idea from someone who doesn't know jack about ICs.

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Francois Villeneuve
Le Talon
12.53@113.4MPH

Criminy, a guage like that could let you start your own bloody company...

What I'd be interested in is schematics for things like this, and a LCD a/f guage. I can get anything built that I want fairly easily, but I have NO talent when it comes to electronic hardware at the component level. I can build it, but have no idea how it works or what it does...

I was also laughing how everyone started talking about theories and stuff, and Sean just pipes in, "Done!" (:

[This message has been edited by Troy Jollimore (edited September 13, 2000).]

Like Francois mentionned, havin the arrow AND a timing readout would be a real plus.

Yes a memory would be a plus, but it's not an issue for me.

A slim LCD remote screen would be a plus depending on the price.

I'm not to picky on the wire issue

How big is the LCD? Would it fit into a 52mm Guage? I was thinking of having the LCD in a guage for easy mounting purposes and the acutal circuit placed elsewhere. The controls could also be placed in the guage or separate from the board and LCD. I think it would be great if you had the controls mounted in the center console while the LCD is mounted in a guage on the A-pillar. The problem I see with this is having about 20 wires coming out of the box for the LCD and xxx amount coming out of the box for the controls. Lots of extra materials but gives you a lot more mounting options for customizing.

For my Digital A/F and Lightbar A/F Meter, I mounted the two displays into the guage pod and didn't have room for the circuit board so that is placed separetly under the dash and connected with some wires.

Jazz

It would probably be possible to build the display unit into a 52mm gauge, if I had a source for 52mm gauge casings. I don't. Anybody know of one?

However, a remote mounted display seems feasible. It would probably be uncased to minimize the size. The buyer would have to figure out where and how to mount it. The number of connecting wires would be small. The unit would be small, flat, square.

Remote mounted controls are also possible. Not that there are many controls.


Nobody wants this thing to do anything else? C'mon. There must be some combinations of gauges that would be handy. Lord knows some people stick tons of gauges into their car.



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S.
1000 AAQ: 1000q.dsm.org
ECU Primer: members.home.net/costall/ECUprimer/index.html

Read my post...

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Francois Villeneuve
Le Talon
12.53@113.4MPH

Digital voltmeter!!!! or ohmmeter please!!

Francois: I did. That's a feature, not a new measurement.

Micheal: What range? And why? Want an A/F in there?



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S.
1000 AAQ: 1000q.dsm.org
ECU Primer: members.home.net/costall/ECUprimer/index.html

For the range of the voltmeter, I guess something betweeen 9 and 18 volts would be fine. For an ampmeter: -100 to +100 amps.

Why? because my batteries or alternators always die on me.

I already have a digital O2 sensor readout, so I don't neeed an a/f guage

Oh, sorry...


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Francois Villeneuve
Le Talon
12.53@113.4MPH

How about a built-in coffeemaker? (: