Thread: Project NiteVision - NiteMax + HUD + carputer

It have been making some progress, I am close to done with the box that I built for the camera and ccd, I was about to solder up molex connectors for both boxs (the camera and the main box for in the dash) but I am still struggling on deciding which box to use for in the dash. I have two,. one will probibly be too small and require diffcult/layered mounting of the controller, power board and lcd, and then it may not provide the lcd as much movement/clearence as i would like. And the other box is too large, and I would have to cut out a HUGE chuck of my dashboard, but would give me room to adjust the position of the lcd, ect.

I have not been able to find a box inbetween(radio shack project boxes) I probibly should look around more first.

anyway, hit me up on IM in my profile and i will pm you my #.

so i'm thinking to myself one day, what's protected from sunlight, usually dark, will remain stationary, won't kill my view of driving of overstimulate, and is a good display platform. And then i looed down at my speedometer..."it can't be that simple"

No light problems, no worrying about cops, you can keep your eyes on the road ahead (windshild), or keep your eyes on the road ahead (HUD) wihtout damaging your night vision. Its soemthing you look at regualrly anyways, so no new behaviors to force-learn, like weeding out a distracting screen or readjusting yoru eyes in ways you're not used to. No tints neccesary, so night driving is unhindered when the system is down, film is though. Daylight veiwable in many cases, unless the sun is at that lovely angle and offset behind you, and then you can up the brightness, no problem.

Place the nitemax LCD on the stearing wheel column and film the guage cluster.a few adjustments and its show time. Sure, the guage cluser will reflect a bit more, and be harder to read, but i'm wondering if we can't solve that in other ways, like have an LCD sctrip that displays speedo info (i have na automatic, so RPMs are only a concern when i'm worried about my engine, but i hear you M/T drivers can hear when to shift) The warning lights are bright enough to display behind, and at night, you just tunr down the interiror lights. If you want speedo, i'm wodnering it it will produce and eerie overly/underlay effect- that would be COOL!!

What do you think?

The new S class has the night vision where you are talking about, It is not reflected, however the entire dashboard is made up of pixels!

Personally, I think it will be most useful on the windshield, it is where it will be be the most visible. I entertained an idea simular to yours (except i was going to try in install an lcd in the place of the speedometer, but my gauge cluster is of the annoying small circle type and the screen would be to small to be practical.

On a side note I received my opus 120 from mp3car today (with a invoice number that read in binary 10011 = 19 base10 Which made me think that if I ever sold techie stuff I would do all of my invoice numbers in binary ) EDIT: very fast as always I ordered it on wed and recieved it on friday

The 120 is my new power regulation for my dvd, screen, usb devices and night vision system, freeing up my dsatx. I have been suffering from inadequate power on my 5v rail and the additional hardware I am adding for this project would have put it over the edge for sure.

The 120 should work without the atx connected if I short the j6 jumper(works like an AT power supply) hopefully this is accurate

no no..i dont' want the LCD on the inside. THe S class is nice, but that's all LCD, and hence very expensie and not an HUD liek we're making. i want something that will just reflect off the light. What ths also does is makes the bottons closer for steering wheel control.

i looked again, and realized i swtich the angle that the glass recessing to, it'll have to be at the top of the insde cowel

Well, i know this thread has many readers and what not, and i've been once accused on only nay-saying or coming up with ideas but never action, but today i went a bit proactive. Some of you are trying to visualize what alti, quantum, and I AND shotgunefx (sorry buddy, didn't know!) are trying to do. Some are trying it figure out what i'm trying to do. Others are still trying to figure out what i said . Well, in one of those moments where a bright idea hit me...a bright idea hit me.

"I have a pocket PC. It has an LCD. Its really thin, i can place it almost anywhere, and has adujstable brightness. I have a digital camera. Why the HELL didn't i think of this before??? Oooooo..shiny..."

Anyways, one big thing i didn't think about was flash and my once steady hand shaking the camera to blur everything. So, without furher ado, my shots

taken at twilight


taken at night


interestingly enough, at this position, my G20 has a lip around the glas, and it has this really nice side effect...

taken at tiwlight


taken at night

You can't really even see it!

For the first one, although taken at twilight, when i could get a decent picture with as little hand shaking as possible, you can easily see that the image of the screen is noticable form a high angle, but when in a car, standing a little back,or level, as in the night shot, its almost not there!

here is why i wanted the LCD under the cowel of the guage cluster.



I moved the image up in oder to find a good location and also lowered the brightness. this was the best mix of brightness and transperancy. After this, atleast for me, the image faded out. I took other,s but they illustrate the samepoint- its VERY HARD to get it so that the brightness of the image doesn't give you teh two way mirror effect and make you totally lose the outside world.

at low low light, the guage cluster


Now, this works better in my celica, which si where i got the idea, than in my G, as the celica has a much wider cowel. The G's narrow profile really doesn't let it work too well here, but its a proof of concept. This was taken with the night shots and the brightness hasn't been adjusted. As you can see, the image...well..kinda see...is pretty clear...also, the speedo, which is off, is visible somewhat. It has a better trasnperancy than using it on the windshield. WHen illuminated, the speedo will be able to be seen through the image pretty clearly (or should).

dont forget shotgunefx, in the above list!

looking at your pictures I am starting to think that I need to look more seriously at projecting the image through a lens to make it larger then simply reflecting it on to the windshield. the image looks really small, another possibily might be to get a larger screen for reflection though. The whole HUD part is really a pain in the ***

right when i thought I was makeing good progress too, yesterday I wento to home depot and bought the parts to make the lcd mount in my case and make it ajustible (tilt) with a screw. WIll post pics later have to run out now.

Shotgun's doing HUD too??? haha, seriously, we gotta start our own Nitemax/HUD subforum!

Yes, image enlargement is a MUST. It will lower the brightness, and that's seriosuly not a bad thing. I couldn't see jack through the projected image. Also, bit problem that BigPoppa reminded me last night...this is a REFLECTION, so you'll have to REVERSE AND FLIP UPSIDE DOWN the image. I'm not sure about reversing, but flipping is pretty easy

Hehehe, progress is painful. Check out your dash again, if you have a lip, and a great angle in your window like the G20 does (Nissan cars, what can i say?) this project is made worlds easier as all you have to do is cut a but into the dashat the edge, where the LCD hits. Ofcourse a box makes it trasnferable...which makes em like your idea better

Hehe, you are making good progress...all i did was but two and two together, made for and showed the class how much a rock at english. .

Seriously though, what did you think of tthe gauge cluster idea and photos?

My biggest concern now, with the projection HUD, is that its not going to be transparent enough to see the road ahead unless you have lots of black in it. The nitemax imange will be too bright and distracting, IMO, or it may defeat the purpose since the darker parts of the miange will fade out into the scenery. That's, atleast, what i believe will happen based on my tests. If your friend has a pocket PC, try it one night. You'll see what i mean.

Then again, my statmenet is based on the idea that this is going to be an aid. If you're driving soley by the nitemax, then by all means, you're on the correct route. See if you can get an IR laser with a beam scatter, kind of like what they have for regular laser pointers, of an arrow so that it can tell you where your heading is. I would suggest seeing if a regualr laser pointer would do this, but then you have the issue of visible projecting red lights and that's, once again, a no-no that hits you with an undisputable fine.

For those doing a fullscreen carputer display, a windows theme that has everythign high contrast in a mostly black background is then the best route if you're using this while driving. however, because of that, it restricts it to making it good for raw data, such as MP3 ID tags and whatnot, but suck for movies.

The BEST thing this could be used for is navigation while driving though....a projected on screen map...using IGuidance's night mode all the time, that could be hot. Just seeing your heading, roads, and everything. I may try that! I'll seriously take pics of it tonight, i just hope i'll have figured out a way to steady the camera to give you guys a great view. Hehe, its hard cause i have to do it in a way that has the dash in the picture as it won't focus soley on the projected image.

Anything beyond that is just too distracting.

This ofcourse, is not to pull you away, nay say, or anything for the sort, but to inform you of the possible cons in doing this. If not done right, seriously alti, this could get dangerous. There are many issues to be reviewed in doing this knowing the risks, including the legal ramifications, such as a potential lawsuit, a law that will be passed down restircting carputer use after a fatal accident, and the fact that no one, including me, wants you hurt or dead, espcially because of a design we helped you construct (if you can call what i've been doing "helping"). I just want to warn you.

I want to see this finished though, so go for it!