HUD speedometer

**RBJensen** · 07-02-2010, 09:30 AM

Note; Not sure if it counts as "innovation", but I fail to see which other thread to use.

My fusion brain has been used to create a HUD speedometer - 3x 1.5" 7-segment LED displays reflecting off my windscreen.

I'm using 7 output pins for the "ones" display, another 7 for the "tens", and the last two pins turn on a "1" in the last display whenever I go above 100.
This obviously means that the maximum speed I can display is 199, but my car can't go that fast anyway - and even if the car could go above 199, I think I'd better concentrate on driving rather than looking at pretty lights at such speeds.

The actual speeds are provided by my GPS receiver (more accurate than if somehow measured by car-mounted sensors) and decoded by my (homemade) car pc front end.

**2k1Toaster** · 07-02-2010, 09:47 AM

Very cool!

Have you experimented at all with windscreen films to optimize the reflective part of the HUD? The Mercedes and Lexus models with HUDs have a thin coating on that section of the glass to make the HUD stand out more. Perhaps you could source something similar so it is brighter? Or is it bright enough while driving? It is hard to guess from the images, but looks much better than I anticipated.

**MeeM** · 07-02-2010, 10:06 AM

This is one very cool project. I'd love to see this stuff being churned out on a mass scale for car PC usage. Imagine Centrafuse showing up between the driver and the windscreen

(probably a driving hazard but still very cool)

**2k1Toaster** · 07-02-2010, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by MeeM

This is one very cool project. I'd love to see this stuff being churned out on a mass scale for car PC usage. Imagine Centrafuse showing up between the driver and the windscreen

(probably a driving hazard but still very cool)

Full colour VGA quality images are not going to happen in the next decade. Dual colour character LCDs (or pattern LCDs) are at the high end of the tech spectrum right now. Miniaturizing that while retaining the light output and increasing density is not feasible today nor in the immediate future. Maybe our children will have that, but we will not while we are still hip and young. Or rather still walking around with our original natural hips...