arduino & touchslide

[Jon Wildsmith]

Here's a pic Ray sent me for the Tyrepal he bought recently, comparing old and new sensor sizes

 

[Ale]

Hi Jon

I'm thinking of putting together my own Arduino solution to monitor coolant and ATF temperatures. rather than your Touchslide solution, I was thinking of replacing the digital clock with a small OLED I2C display wired up to an Arduino.

I was wondering what type / make of coolant sensor you use? I can find the coolant adaptor / joiner's on ebay with a 1/8 thread, but was unsure what make of sensors would be best. I'll be replacing my radiator shortly so would be an ideal time to plumb one in.

For your ATF monitoring, are you measuring the flow temp to and from the radiator, or only in one direction?

Any help appreciated

Cheers

Al

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I'm using ordinary VDO resistive sensors wired in a voltage divider arrangement to ADC pins on the Arduino. From the voltage you can calculate the sensor resistance and the VDO data tables to calculate the temperature conversion are freely available on the net. When I did ATF on the 100 I used an adaptor to fit the VDO sensor where the OEM idiot light switch sensor goes in the box to cooler pipe and I'd do the same on an 80 I think. I only measured the oil leaving the box not returning.

 

[Ale]

Hi Jon

great. thanks for that. Yes I was thinking of doing it this way. I've already being playing with some thermistors and my Arduino for another project. So I'll see what sensors I can find!

Cheers

Al

 

[Bat21]

I used to have one of these as a kid.... these arduino's look like a mans version of one of them

I might have to have a play with one of these.... I feel a new hobby coming on

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Still refining this, hardware and software. The speed signal output has always been good enough for the dash speedo but made cruise control a bit jittery. I almost never use cruise control so that has been a very low priority but has bugged me that something is wrong even though on the scope everything looks fine. Digging a bit deeper I found the signal was clean but not quite accurate enough so I worked out a way to increase the resolution of the hardware timer driving that PWM pin and now it's very accurate and cruise control is smooth. I've also changed the display so there are several pages I can cycle through instead of all being squeezed onto one page and squeezed in the 3rd battery voltage to keep an eye on the fridge battery.

 

[Gav Peter]

That looks a much neater layout JW

The resolution issue is why Oiley hunts & lags in cruise control then... Might have to get that update sorted soon

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The resolution issue is why Oiley hunts & lags in cruise control then... Might have to get that update sorted soon

Yes, it has been a niggling issue from the start. I am now wondering if low speed cruise control would be useful. If you set the speed output correction to a low number e.g. 5% you can use cruise at very low speeds although the dash speedo will read incorrectly. It's slightly fiddly to change the correction figure so I might add another button that toggles between 2 values for normal and slow speed to make it easier. I will have to try it manually first to see how the cruiser control behaves, the correction rates it uses might be too aggressive for low speed control.

 

[Gav Peter]

Sounds good JW - you should be ready for the next moon landing soon!!!

 

[rollinns]

TPMS availablility? and what sensors to get

Awesome work, is TPMS currently possible with it?

What oil pressure sender should I use, or what resistance value range is your system designed for?
What boost pressure sensor should I get?
It appears this system will work with any k-type thermocouple, is that true?

I tried to PM you with some questions about pricing and shipping, but for some reason it wouldn't let me.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Awesome work, is TPMS currently possible with it?

What oil pressure sender should I use, or what resistance value range is your system designed for?
What boost pressure sensor should I get?
It appears this system will work with any k-type thermocouple, is that true?

I tried to PM you with some questions about pricing and shipping, but for some reason it wouldn't let me.

TPMS is still on the todo list ...

VDO pressure senders are the only ones I have data for but any resistive sender would work if you can supply data for it.

Boost also uses VDO pressure sensors.

Afaik yes any k-type thermocouple will work.

 

[warrenpfo]

Jon I know you have now sold the car and I guess the project may have died or maybe you are about to start another one but seen you started this back in 2011 and we are nearly on the eve of 2015 would you still use the same touchslide and audrino as the links (they no longer work) or would you go with some thing else.

I am looking to get started on this and dont want to buy something that is out of date now.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Jon I know you have now sold the car and I guess the project may have died or maybe you are about to start another one but seen you started this back in 2011 and we are nearly on the eve of 2015 would you still use the same touchslide and audrino as the links (they no longer work) or would you go with some thing else.

I am looking to get started on this and dont want to buy something that is out of date now.

I'll be building one for the ML as soon as I have time. I don't think there's a UK importer of the screens now so they have to be bought direct from the manufacturer in the US http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/TSL/TouchShield+Slide . The Arduino board is still the Mega 256 e.g. http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/arduino-mega-2560-r3.html . I have to get some more interface PCB's manufactured next week (takes about 2 weeks) I don't use the project boards or home made PCB's any more, too much trouble.

 

[Gary Stockton]

And fortunately there's another user sending dumb questions back to Terminal Zero for consideration in the next iteration. Anyone would think we use a Agile approach here

 

[ledgend80]

Well hasn't it been a while since I was here last. Definitely need to get back onto this.

 

[Shay Harting]

Is this still being worked on? Fascinating work and I'd like to see / help with anything if possible. Is any code posted on github?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

There are a couple in use but development is well and truly on a back burner at the moment.

 

[Shay Harting]

Can you share your code and do you still have the ability to print another circuit board? I can source the components and take it from there. Happy to contribute to your beer fund!

 

[chapel gate]

wow. some great work here. uk version of the obd 2 scan gauge?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I don't think the screens are available any more which is one of the reasons it's on a back burner.