That's the right track - maybe the box and display twice as wide to fill more of a DIN slot. The height is about right though.

Something else - lots of the LCD's I have seen aren't mounted centrally on the PCB - to me the display needs to be in the middle of whatever box its in and that could cause problems.

Also - just thinking it would be very good if the unit was back lit for night use in a road car.

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GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Does this case look better ?

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/instrument-cases/1199296/

I only have the option of buying what's available as custom size will cost an arm, leg & kidney.

The suggested display will hopefully just fit inside the case, with window just above centre. Options are display to one side with buttons on one side, or display in the middle with buttons each side. Latter may work out as likely an up/down on one side and enter / back on the other.

What are your thoughts about plain text display vs. trying to be clever with graphics ? My experience is small graphic displays are usually hard to read especially in some lighting conditions.

The planned alphanumeric displays are backlit, and I can arrange to make the brightness variable.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

I believe Planar were the supplier I dealt with back in the nineties
Theses are certainly the style of display. Very high contrast and very easy to read. Of course with two very onboard there's bound to be another just round the corner which renders it unsuitable
http://www.planaronline.com/catalog/?cat=el

This was ultimately the dead end that turned my thoughts to pushing the display aspect into a SEP field

If you feel brave (aside, my flabber is ghasted, a bit of a babe doing electrickery)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4O3BGjxd5I

That case looks better.

My view on graphics is don't bother unless its going to be really really good on a full colour TFT or similar.

In my view just a simple numeric display and an label is all thats required (Oil T 54) for example.

Many people witter on about gauges and having all the needles facing up when things are OK so you can do a quick visual check, to me that is fine, if you are living in 1980. The warning alarms are so you don't have to look at the display at all, unless you want to.

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GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

someting similiar is already almoast good to go , the guy on st162.net had developed a basicly econo metar + all other sensor readings + custom stuff , here is a link, have a look on in



http://www.st162.net/forum/showthread.p ... Econometer

Graphics wise I prefer gauges if not in direct lime. I find this easier to comprehend when under pressure

Digits I find OK as long as they are in the eye line

I would actually pick gauges that change color or even simple rgb LEDs that give a visual indication of where the parameter is within specified ranges if such things were available

Thanks for the link Rio.

Only had a quick skim read, but looking at the way he's going about it, will be ages before he gets to market and it'll be typical of much commercial automotive stuff I buy, designed by computer nerds not by serious drivers.

It did trigger a possible solution to the sunlight readability of the dash replacement option. After Steve's comment about heat blanking I had toyed with the idea of retaining a mechanical needle for the speedo, but dismissed the idea as 'not spaceage enough'. Seems at least one well regarded manufacturer is already doing this:





My thoughts exactly. My experience of competition / driving fast is that you don't have time to look at gauges at the critical moments such as hard cornering.

The planned display is 2 lines of 16 characters each. From memory (not driven the car in ages ) the top line is a text description of the sensor, bottom line is the value and units, plus 'high' or 'low' or 'mute' to indicate alarm status.

If a channel goes out of limits, the display will automatically switch to it. Pressing the enter button 'mutes' this channel until it goes back into limits (or engine off). All other channels continue to be monitored and can also generate an alarm.
In the event of multiple alarms, higher level will over-ride lower level ones and be displayed automatically.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

Skimming through RS,

Colour graphics displays seem to be limited to standard 'portrait' , 'landcsape' or 'widescreen' ratios, or squareish. Thinking about it, I've never seen anything made with a long, thin colour graphic display.
The only real option I see (from RS anyway) is: http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lcd-colou ... s/7422191/ mounted on it's side.

Monochrome graphics are probably a viable option, e.g.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/lcd-monoc ... s/7435807/

This would allow a 'gauge' plus associated text in a large, easily readable form.

I would need to try one to assess sunlight readability, but I suspect it would be worse than the alphanumeric one mentioned before.

Another option would be a single line of 'abreviated text' for channel name and value, plus a bargraph display on the bottom line. It is possible to mimic high resolution graphic for this by user defining characters for each step of the bargraph through the character.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

Do folks think this is a viable product (the din case monitor / warning / logging that is) ? Would any of you buy it (assuming you're happy with the result that is) ?

If so, i'll do a few doodles and come up with a spec. & rough price.

Time to market would probably be 2 or 3 months as it's pretty simple and much of the work has been done & tested already.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

If it worked to fit my requirements I would buy it (price depending of course).

I think it could well be a viable product if you nail all the stuff that's been discussed. Lots of people spend a lot of money on gauges and setups like the Zeitronix. If it can be done more simply for less money I think you will profit from it.

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GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Honestly, for me, it is 100 dependent on this outcome of graphics/display

I don't think a din mounted setup with text would be a great deal of benefit to me unless the digits are large or the display is very contrasty. I've had limited exposure to Mikes Sparco display and it doesn't work for me. In the heat of battle it's in the wrong position and it's not easy to read. That's a typical 2 line alphanumeric

In terms of text displays the defi display unit I have is pretty good. This uses an oled display which is placed in my normal sight line. It's a dot matrix but still limited to two lines but the high contrast screen makes it very easy to read

Nail the display and the product will sell.

Price wise, £250-300 depending mainly on display cost. (finger in air that is).

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

Next time you're up my way (or the next food meet) have a look at one of our coin boxes & see what you think Steve. If you can't read it at a glance at 2m away, then you need the braille version.

Does the stero size (ish) format seem a good idea to folks ?

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

I think that it has to have a Wow factor, impress your mates sort of thing to have a wide market, where you mates say I want one?

If it is going to be very functional but not pretty, it will not attract a mass market. and then the R&D could be a limiting factor?

If I were going to by one of these, I would want it to fit straight into my dash, using the same screw mounts and cables or adaptors if required.

Just my 2 p's worth

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[color=#000080]ST205 WRC 1994
Hybrid turbo
Apexi AVC-R
Apexi Power FC (Not being used ATM)
Apexi Power commander (Not being used ATM)