Prototyping my Alipna style gauge setup - what should I monitor?

[DrJosh]

And all this time I thought this disappeared. You sly dog you.

Also Is that gregs car infront of a cobra? Nice!

[flyboyx]

i was reading around in the general section of s14 and came across another thread with some similarity. here is the link: http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread...262#post470262 i think you have a great idea with the bezel but as i posted in that thread, i personally believe it a waste of this product's potential to make it alpina-like. i don't know the limits of your abilities, but instead of confining yourself to 4 rudimentary led outputs, what about an organic led screen that can be interfaced with a laptop? this could allow the user to customize the outputs to suit their needs. what do you think about allowing the user to display bar graphs so you don't have to take your eyes off the track to read your instruments? the same digital instrument could be used in many many models of vehicles. once the product is developed(perhaps one with a horizontal screen and one vertical), all you would have to do is design a plastic vent bezel for each model. grand scale here. subaru, ford, honda.....hell, even pick ups.

i think if someone wants an alpina vent display, they should go buy one on ebay.de for 2+ grand. you could have a higher calling here if you wish.

[///M42 sport]

^^freaking awesome product

[george graves]

Looks great. But I think if you're going to make an alpina gauge it should be a real replica. If not, you need at least an LCD screen. Those generic gauges just don't look right.

But the plastic bezel looks great - I'd love to buy some bezels, and put some customs designed gauges in there!

I have a large collection of reference images for the alpina gauge - it was something I was thinking of making, but it's just too much work for one person. If you would like to make an alpina vent reproduction - just the plastic parts, let me know - I'd be glad to supply the electronics!

[e30m3s54turbo]

I am in if you make Alpina gauge.

[mamzak]

Looks great. But I think if you're going to make an alpina gauge it should be a real replica. If not, you need at least an LCD screen. Those generic gauges just don't look right.

But the plastic bezel looks great - I'd love to buy some bezels, and put some customs designed gauges in there!

I have a large collection of reference images for the alpina gauge - it was something I was thinking of making, but it's just too much work for one person. If you would like to make an alpina vent reproduction - just the plastic parts, let me know - I'd be glad to supply the electronics!

OP is an idiot if he doesn't take you up on this GG.

Red Rocket Labs for the win.

[MC Hammered]

i was reading around in the general section of s14 and came across another thread with some similarity. here is the link: http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread...262#post470262 i think you have a great idea with the bezel but as i posted in that thread, i personally believe it a waste of this product's potential to make it alpina-like.

The only part of this product that is Alpina-like is that it uses an e30 vent and has the potential to display up to 4 items.

Thanks for the link to the project on the s14 board.

i don't know the limits of your abilities, but instead of confining yourself to 4 rudimentary led outputs, what about an organic led screen that can be interfaced with a laptop? this could allow the user to customize the outputs to suit their needs.

We have looked into the OLED option and there are two issues with that technology at this time:

1 - cost of the display

Large displays are available but they are not cheap. The most accessible displays are trickle down from cell phone technology and we are limited to whatever display sizes that are used. To use a more unique display size increases cost a lot as the manufacturer knows there is limited competition.

2 - size of display elements

PLX came out with OLED gauges and they are very cool, but when I bought one to test in my pods I found the displayed information very hard to read due to the small size of the information shown on their 52mm unit.

Using the images provided in the s14 link the LED displays are 0.3" tall and the OLED display boards are about the same size.

We took some measurements using the boost/voltage image and determined that the text used up 40% and the numbers 60% of the display, so the 13.0PSI reading that is shown is ~0.16" tall. Information shown at this size is hard to read, however, remove the text title and you have a much better 0.3" tall character to read. The LEDs that we use show digits that are 0.4" tall.

The e30 solution will initially be released with a LED display setup and we will look into developing an OLED display for a future version as the technology becomes more accessible and cost effective.

what do you think about allowing the user to display bar graphs so you don't have to take your eyes off the track to read your instruments? the same digital instrument could be used in many many models of vehicles. once the product is developed(perhaps one with a horizontal screen and one vertical), all you would have to do is design a plastic vent bezel for each model. grand scale here. subaru, ford, honda.....hell, even pick ups.

i think if someone wants an alpina vent display, they should go buy one on ebay.de for 2+ grand. you could have a higher calling here if you wish.

Bar graphs are available as shown in this picture of the prototype in an Audi



As I mentioned before this setup we have created is going to be very flexible unlike the original Alpina setup which was supplied with only 4 preselected displays.

For example you can have this Valentine 1 remote display in the vent

[Dirtboy]

If you can make it similar to the Alpina vent gauge I am in.

Werd!

Oil temp, oil pressure, A/F, Fuel pressure... I'd be all over that!

[einstein57]

Ass a turbo guy the important things to me are

AFR
Boost
Oil Temp
Air Intake Temperature


N/A guys would have different needs. But i do think its silly to have 2 water temp displays

[Adrian_Visser]

Hey cool idea. I want one.

[DrJosh]

You can put me down for;
Oil temp,
Oil pressure,
Air intake temp,
Fuel pressure.

I look forward to this Winston.

[sharky]

I would be in if it is similar to the Alpina design. Make the gauge holder and let GG wire it up and put in the displays!

[nando]

if you can make it do oil temp, pressure, volts and AFR I'd buy one. 100% no bullshit. I want to relocate my gauges to the center vents but I can't stand the thought of not having them on freezing ass winter mornings.

manifold pressure/boost might be a good substitute for volts as well. Volts isn't terribly useful, but is neat to have. I'd rather have manifold pressure and relocate my voltmeter somewhere else.

I don't care about it being an alpina replica. just make it as functional as possible.

[wannaBMthree]

Bad ass

[Brian 89 325i]

Im am SO down for a setup like this. I have always loved the Alpina setup due to the fact it actually looke like the vent, rather than a flat piece of ABS with holes in it, but there is no way Im paying 2k for guages for a car that's worth about 2k. I think the std options like: AFR, Oil P, Oil T, Boost, IAT, EGT, Voltage, & Amps are the more than obvious ones, but the V1 remote or maybe some kind of tuning controls would be really nice. As stated before, once the OLED displays become cheaper that would really be the way to go, or maybe the standard led as a base and the OLED as an upgraded system.

-Brian