DIY dash indicator

[Terry Rock]

Have any of you guys built this $24 dash indicator?
Think I'll give it a shot...parts ordered.

 

[Richard Hill]

Thanks will have another look tomorrow the pic is great but I think I may have already got the wires all sorted as the picture shows.
I have been trying to get it running on AC and on rFactor 2 but nether seemed to work. On rFactor I got the plugin simble come up but still didn't work.

 

[Anestis]

If you want to check if your arduino/display is faulty and locate if the problem is there or to the plugins/windows etc side, you can run this sketch.
It's a simple clock (again not made by me) that makes use of the display without need to run something else on your pc.
It use pin 6 as strobe, 7=clock, 8=data. Of course +5v and gnd are always the same .
http://www.filedropper.com/tm1638clock

 

[Richard Hill]

OK I have only just had chance to try the things that you have suggested.
I have found out how to upload sketches to the arduino properly now and I tried the simple clock and the display did light up and seem to work.
Tried to us it on AC after uploading the sketch for it but the display still didn't seem to work. do I have to switch something on In game? I have a feeling that I am doing something wrong lol

 

[Anestis]

If you're talking about Ivan's(Batrako SimWorld Blog) software, no, you don't need something more than to run the ACorsaArduinoConnector.exe for AC , rFactorArduinoConnector.exe for rfactor/gsc etc.

You can also try this if you're interested in A/C only. He (Turnermator13) is doing a great job, much more complex and more options but at the moment is for A/C and iRacing only(read the instructions how to use it)

 

[Stereo]

I'm quite curious how you did those buttons. I'm planning to try one myself so was wondering if you could help me.

I can think of two ways to work the button. One would be to use the button to trigger a message to the computer via the serial port of the arduino.

The other way would be to use a teensy as a joystick, and emulate the buttons of a joystick.

Did you happen to do it via one of these two ways? Or is there another method that I'm not seeing?

Hi Daryl,

I just saw this thread so you may have already solved it, but Arduino has mouse/keyboard libraries that would let you have the buttons correspond to keystrokes. Might actually be better than a joy button cause you can make buttons do things like send short text messages & macros to the game even if the game doesn't support that like iRacing does. I haven't tested it though so it may interfere with the serial connection part of the software.

 

[Richard Hill]

Thank you @Anestis Genidounias and @Richard Hessels i finally got it working on ac and I was very impressed with it especially costing so little. Not got it running on rfactor 2 yet but I'm quite happy at the mo with ac as it has come on loads since I last played it but still needs work. Thank you again

 

[Alberto Casado]

Tried it, works fine. I will use some of it for my little project.

 

[Zizza17]

Do you think it would be possible to use a little TFT monitor with arduino to make a dash?

 

[Alberto Casado]

Do you think it would be possible to use a little TFT monitor with arduino to make a dash?

It is possible (there are LCD shields and examples), but the usual size is something like 3 inches screen, and don't expect miracles.
I think for making something with a proper display you need to step up to a raspberryPi / beaglebone or similar, that is, a mini computer, not a microcontroller.

 

[Zizza17]

Thanks!
Just to know, with a single Arduino Board it would be possible to control a 3.5 "GLCD screen, some LEDs and one 7-segment display?

I'm very interested because i'm nearly to finish my custom wheel (http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/replica-acura-arx02-a.95452/#post-1851427) and i'm evaluating every option.

 

[Alberto Casado]

The dash indicator in this thread can run the leds and the segment display. Takes 3 pins to do it.
For the lcd it depends how you wire it, for example 6 pins here http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LiquidCrystal or here http://playground.arduino.cc/LCD/SC2004CSWB, to the very nifty one single pin here http://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/SparkFunSerLCD (more examples: http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/LCD)

In any case the number of pins seems low enough, the most tricky part will be probably mixing in all the codes to get the combined functionality.

I believe the processing speed should still be up to the task, hopefully.

 

[RichardHessels]

I think the Arduino board can cope with some more with ease.. it's just putting some switches on a very simple piece of code, adding some extra lines to output a bit of text to a LCD screen should be no problem.

 

[SexualChocolate]

Hello guys. I have parts coming to build this. Question though; could the arduino(in my case im going with a teensy 3.1 board(will act same as arduino)) drive 2 of the segment displays at the same time. Im thinking of going for "twice" the information center in size. In other words the left side segment could display gear/speed with leds as rpm of course. Right side would display the same rpm in reverse so they meet towards the middle. And the segment display on the right could indicate lap time/fuel. Now I know nothing of coding the sketch, but I have had a look at it. It doesnt seem too overly complicated. But im wondering the microboard will be able to drive both displays simultaneously? thanks.

 

[Alberto Casado]

Add more and more things using power and for sure the micro-controller (or the USB port) will eventually give up, but without looking at the specs of it all is difficult to say if it will take two, three or six displays to get to that point.

If you find out that it is going to be too much, I would recommend powering the stuff from a separate source* and using the board/microcontroller just for the data signals.

* For example of a cheap one, take an old charger (from a phone, router, tablet...), cut the connector and connect the leads to a voltage regulator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_regulator) of your required voltage (5v in the case of the JY-MCU). So you could use a L7805 and a couple of capacitors to stabilize the output, less than 1EUR all in all.

(Try to use a charger that is not too far in output voltage from the required voltage or you will need to heatsink the voltage regulator).

 

[jostiebrink]

I just soldered new wires on the backside of the print, on top of the existing button connections..
o the old mini buttons are still there under the plate. I like simplicity...

The buttons come from DX.com.
http://www.dx.com/p/diy-replacement-toggle-switch-red-silver-5-pcs-291763

How did you solder this? Every button has 2 solderpoints on the board but the buttons are 3 pins. Have the same buttons here, just not sure where to start.

 

[RichardHessels]

mostly the buttons with 3 pins have 2 groundpins and 1 contact.
You have a mulit meter to see the function, or can you post a photo.
My buttons had just 2 pins.

 

[Anestis]

Usually 3 pins means 1 C (Common), 1 NO (Normally Open) and 1 NC (Normally Close)
If your buttons are exactly as the ones in the link you provide you have to solder to pin C and to pin NO, but if nothing is written on your buttons, you'll need a multimeter as Richard said.

 

[jostiebrink]

mostly the buttons with 3 pins have 2 groundpins and 1 contact.
You have a mulit meter to see the function, or can you post a photo.
My buttons had just 2 pins.

Usually 3 pins means 1 C (Common), 1 NO (Normally Open) and 1 NC (Normally Close)
If your buttons are exactly as the ones in the link you provide you have to solder to pin C and to pin NO, but if nothing is written on your buttons, you'll need a multimeter as Richard said.

Yes it shows C, NO and NC.

Thanks for the tip. I already got a dash where the digital part is broken (pretty new to soldering so.. ) but the buttons still work so i'll give it a try this weekend. Got 2 new 1638's comming in 2 weeks ( I hope).

 

[SexualChocolate]

finally got my boxes done. I wish they did more than just show fuel pct and gear/speed. I dont play iRacing, and it seems the majority of code that does those extra features goes strictly for that game Dont have the best camera in the world so apologies if a bit blurry.

 

[SexualChocolate]

and another closeup