Chariot Gauge - Wideband O2, Boost/Vac, Oil pressure, Temp and Voltmeter

[Fusion]

I have my VDO OPS mounted similarly into the extra oil filter hole the M50 has.
I've been driving with it sporadically (not a DD) on pretty bad roads without any problems, although I have thought about a line instead of mounting it directly.
I'm not sure what the inside of the OPS looks like or how thick wall of the threaded part is, but I think VDO makes a quality product and iirc OPSs have a very small hole. I don't recall if the instructions mentioned mounting in a certain way.
But something like this would be reassuring

[codrum]

This is awesome and I will definitely be ordering it in the near future. I have an LC1 and vacuum running to my glovebox already for megasquirt so that's easy, and obviously 12v is cake, but I was wondering where people are putting their oil temp and oil pressure sensors. Also if anybody has suggestions for suppliers for those parts it would be great.

I'd be tempted to put my oil pressure gauge right on my turbo (post restrictor) as that would be indicative of the system oil pressure and since I've already killed one turbo with too high oil pressure it would be good to be able to keep tabs on.

As for oil temperature, do people typically measure this in the pan?

Jaywood is correct, it would be best to move the pressure/temp sender/sensor remotely so the weight doesn't cause it to break off from the vibrations of the engine.

However I have my setup similar to what you describe. The stack looks like turbo -> oil pressure restrictor -> adapter -> pressure sender -> oil feed line. Here's a picture of it installed I just snapped:



You can see how the weight of the sender could be an issue and could potentially break off in the adapter. I really need to either reinforce it or run a oil line from the adapter to the sender which is then tied to the chassis.

[jaywood]

This is awesome and I will definitely be ordering it in the near future. I have an LC1 and vacuum running to my glovebox already for megasquirt so that's easy, and obviously 12v is cake, but I was wondering where people are putting their oil temp and oil pressure sensors. Also if anybody has suggestions for suppliers for those parts it would be great.

I'd be tempted to put my oil pressure gauge right on my turbo (post restrictor) as that would be indicative of the system oil pressure and since I've already killed one turbo with too high oil pressure it would be good to be able to keep tabs on.

As for oil temperature, do people typically measure this in the pan?

Oil filter sandwich w/ two ports works great for temp and pressure.

[Mossman]

This is awesome and I will definitely be ordering it in the near future. I have an LC1 and vacuum running to my glovebox already for megasquirt so that's easy, and obviously 12v is cake, but I was wondering where people are putting their oil temp and oil pressure sensors. Also if anybody has suggestions for suppliers for those parts it would be great.

I'd be tempted to put my oil pressure gauge right on my turbo (post restrictor) as that would be indicative of the system oil pressure and since I've already killed one turbo with too high oil pressure it would be good to be able to keep tabs on.

As for oil temperature, do people typically measure this in the pan?

[Vtec?lol]

Can't wait!!!

[codrum]

Small update today: I'm in full swing Bluetooth development right now. Bluetooth 4.0 (Low Energy) is quite a bit different from Bluetooth 2.0 in the way it connects and transmits data from a device. There are two components: the central (iOS app) and the peripheral (Chariot Gauge controller). The peripheral has various services, each of which contain various characteristics. The idea being one device can transmit various data - such as a heart rate monitor that sends back heart rate bpm as one characteristic and the location that the heart rate is taken from on the body as a second characteristic.

The app is connecting, finding the one service and one characteristic and transmitting the raw data from the Chariot Gauge controller to the app and converting the bytes to readable data - hurray. Unfortunately my bluetooth module I'm using crapped out so now I'm waiting for the replacement from China - boo. So it's back to interface development. The last big obstacle is the settings screen and handling how the different settings integrate into the gauge views.

More to come..

[codrum]

very neat, but would it be possible to setup a GPS speedo too?
I wonder if I could somehow permanently mount a small tablet in the cluster area.

I've had a lot of requests for a speedometer from the classic car community as well, I think it's a very good idea. What's nice is the functionality to support a speedo is entirely within the phone/tablet which means I can update the apps with it after the boards ship since no modification to the board would be needed. I'll be looking into it closely after the iOS app is complete. I think I'll give the voltmeter a dedicated gauge view too..

Loving all your work. Cant wait for my iOS version

Thanks man!

[deutschman]

Loving all your work. Cant wait for my iOS version

[dmoney(AB)]

very neat, but would it be possible to setup a GPS speedo too?
I wonder if I could somehow permanently mount a small tablet in the cluster area.

[LEANE30]

And possibly a way to get everything (though not exact) on one screen for phones.




(pic stolen from ebay)

This would be super awesome! Maybe have a digital value displayed at one end of each bar? Perhaps in the settings there could be a skinning option for different gauge sets

I really like this product. It could be inconspicuously installed and then if your phone or tab isn't hooked up, the interior would look like nothing special, stealth mode. No gauges cluttering it up unless you need or want them, genius

[codrum]

I've had a few people request the CAD drawings of the board. I'm not really comfortable releasing the gerber files just yet but hopefully these images will suffice. The board was developed using Eagle's CADSoft. Let me know if there are any particular parts you want to see more in-depth.

This is the board with all layers turned on (except for drill):


The layout/schema of the board:



I've been working on positioning and bounds of the various parts of the gauge interface. There are three dynamic sizes of the gauge: small medium and large used for the single gauge, dual gauge, and quad gauge respectively. Each will resize based on the size of the hardware's screen which makes it compatible with iPhone and iPad screens:


I'm not settled on font type or size yet, but the positioning looks right:


I'm a certified Apple app developer (for the low low price of $99 a year!), so I can start testing the app on a physical device now. Getting there..

[codrum]

I was thinking to grab a board to play with and wait til you get the ioS app done but your mastery of the subject makes it obvious I should wait til you roll it out.

Kudos for the effort on this.

Right on man, I really appreciate the support and interest. I'll give you a shout when the iOS version launches.

[jeffnhiscars]

I was thinking to grab a board to play with and wait til you get the ioS app done but your mastery of the subject makes it obvious I should wait til you roll it out.

Kudos for the effort on this.

[codrum]

Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression that each version of bluetooth was backward compatible so wouldnt it be easier for you to put the 4.0 chip in all the boards so as to just have one piece of hardware ?

The hardware is backwards compatible, the issue is on the software side. Most Android phones haven't adopted 4.3 yet which is the update that provides support for Bluetooth low energy (4.0). So to cover all Android devices I'm still using Bluetooth 2.1 since all versions of Android support it. Once the iOS port is complete I'll revisit the Android app and handle different Bluetooth code bases that will switch depending on which version of Android is installed on the phone/tablet.

This software fragmentation is a big issue with Android devices, something iOS solves by having one line of phones and one line of tablets so when a new version of iOS comes out all of the hardware gets updated quickly. The limitation with iOS devices is Bluetooth 4.0 hardware was used starting with the iPhone 4s. All prior devices have older Bluetooth hardware but not a real software stack for small developers to support.

[jeffnhiscars]

The iOS controller will be slightly different due to iOS having Bluetooth 4.0 on all devices since the iPhone 4s came out (Android only recently provided 4.0 support in the latest version 4.3). Other than the Bluetooth chip the controllers will be identical.

Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression that each version of bluetooth was backward compatible so wouldnt it be easier for you to put the 4.0 chip in all the boards so as to just have one piece of hardware ?