I want to build a Heads-Up Display (HUD) for my Jeep. What do I need?

**Rickys** · 09-05-2011, 10:38 AM

Hey guys,

All I want is, instead of LCD, I want to project my PC on the windshield of my Jeep Liberty, like this picture below.

Has anyone done a mod like this? OR even just projecting speed and other car functions (not the PC)

Corvette had HUD back in the 80s. BMW started putting them in their cars, so has there been any aftermarket kits or parts for this mod?

I know speacial type of overlay is needed to be placed on the area, where the image is to be projected, but what is that called and where do I get one? Also which projector?

Any info on this would be helpful. for the time being I am going to try to hook up a tablet PC, but if this mod is possible right now, I want to give it a shot.

**OldSpark** · 09-05-2011, 10:24 PM

Digits are easy - it's merely 7-segment LEDs with the segments (bc & ef) transposed, and digit order reversed (transposed). That's often done for RPM & speed.

Search mp3car for other installations.

**theBlueLight** · 09-06-2011, 10:53 PM

I've searched through the other threads also for ideas, could not find anything really that useful. If I happened to have one of those pico-projectors lying around like this one for example and maybe also a mirrored ipad screen protector like this I'd be very tempted to knock up a prototype just to see if it would work. You'd need to find a way to reduce the brightness so you don't get blinded at night, but it could work. Has anyone else gone down this route?

**OldSpark** · 09-06-2011, 11:51 PM

Often just a reversed (video) screen - some have this function to reverse reversing cameras etc. (I don't think a projector is warranted.)

Don't forget some sort of film to reduce the screen's double reflection.

**Rickys** · 09-07-2011, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by theBlueLight

I've searched through the other threads also for ideas, could not find anything really that useful. If I happened to have one of those pico-projectors lying around like this one for example and maybe also a mirrored ipad screen protector like this I'd be very tempted to knock up a prototype just to see if it would work. You'd need to find a way to reduce the brightness so you don't get blinded at night, but it could work. Has anyone else gone down this route?

hahaha, I also got a hold of a Pico projector, it was a ShowWX 15Lumen. During the time I had the projector, I didn't have the reflective (Iphone mirror screen protector) Since the projector was battery powered, I took it with me for a a drive during the day, I projected on the dash and even on white paper, the image was very washed out and barely noticeable during the day light, and the image was gone in direct sunlight.

After I gave away the projector (since I had no use for it), I found an app on iphone that mirrored flipped the image of nav and speed. The purpose of the app was to put it by the windshield and have the image flipped and it would appear in the windshield and act as a projected image. That didn't work for me. I put a mirror screen protector on the windshield, but I couldn't allign it properly and when it was close to aligned the image was pretty bad.

So that's what happened with me, but please go ahead and try yours as well, hopefully you get something different.

**SaiLong** · 09-07-2011, 11:39 AM

Last year, I got a Gigaware micro projector and was jazzed that all I would need was a cigarette plug available at RS. until I had to deal with films..... I tried different types of Mylar and opaque etc..... so this is where I got stuck. Otherwise the unit is awesome and powerful. You can reverse the image, by using a mirror or prism.

**soundman98** · 09-07-2011, 05:44 PM

there has been some very lengthy threads on HUD's here. i believe most of them talked about how to get a lcd to work for the purpose.

**turbocad6** · 09-07-2011, 08:37 PM

what you will probably find after you do a whole lot of playing around with this is, hud's are great for very low resolution stuff. simple stuff like digits. lines... single color, maybe 2 or 3 colors max... simple peripheral field of view reference type stuff, but not high res complicated displays.

hud sucks for high res high color display... will be unusable during the day unless all daylight is completely blocked by the film, thereby canceling the whole benefit of a hud in the first place & then it will be way too bright & intrusive at night. it will always be no where near as practical or usable as directly viewing an lcd... forget high res hud, it's just not practical or doable really...