Outsider787

Has anyone seen any projects where the regular speedo/tach instrument cluster behind the steering wheel was taken out, and replaced with a LCD screen?
It seems like all the info displayed (speed/tach/warning lights) can be acquired from an ODB II port, and there are many frontends that can display this info already.
It doesn't seem like too far of a stretch to imagine a display that can replace the main instrument cluster with a glass cockpit type digital display for all that is car related (speed, warning lights, nav, music...)

Anything like this out there?

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odagled

Hmmm I like the idea...seems feasible...

thebranded

i'd be worried if it would pass rego.

Also the display would have to be safty check and accuracy checked. If youare caught speeding cause the display was wrong due to a progame fault what would you do? the systems that can just plug in would have already passed theses tests.

i think it would be not be worth the headache to do it. Tacho maybe, but not the speed

bbalazs

The main problem is the illumination and screen ratio, you need a long, narrow display.
I think OLED will overcome all the ordinary instruments.

I have already made it a couple of years ago. I used an Olivetti quaderno with DIY backlight in my fiat126p. Tacho and speed with a Hall and a PIC16f876a.

Then I made a similar thing in my Seicento. A 7" lcd TV was applied in the middle and I displayed the speed, distance, accu voltage, rpm, temperatures, etc. It also served as the display of media center. After a while I did not watching the original instruments at all...
I STRONGLY believe, the central (and upper) position for instruments are better.
Perhaps you do not have to move your eyes up-down, refocusing, etc, just a sideway sweep.

Now, in my LagunaII the instruments are better, but I missing my good old lcd TV.
I am planning to fit a small, four-digit led display at the top of the dashboard and I displaying a mirrored speed, and it will reflect at the appropriate position of the windscreen (semi-HUD

Nerd2

like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtfmMsP2Tls

Outsider787

Yup, just like that... Especially the 'aircraft setting'.
: )
Well maybe not exactly just like that, but something like it.
But like Jeremy said, I too want that in my life.

bbalazs, do you have any photos you can post of what you did? I'm curious to see.

bbalazs

Outsider787:
I have found them on the computer of my workplace, so I added to 'My photos' section on the page 2.
pic1 shows you the display (instruments are those colorful rectangles) and the 'media center controller'.
On pic2 you can see the layout (according to the american cars it is VERY small).
pic3 is a microcontroller board with pic18f4525 in the middle and a tlc1243 as AD and a serial/parallel ic (I was in the shortage of I/O pins). That small relay switches between reverse camera and computer concerning to the reverse gear.

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