★★★★George Graves★★★★ Project Blog for e30 Gizmos and Gadgets - 2025 UPDATE

[The Dark Side of Will]

So, let's see what we can do....Let's make a prototype. Sure - why not. (and yes, I'm being a disingenuous by pretending this didn't take weeks and weeks of work)




Fitting a display in such a tiny case is an exercise in insanity. I'll get back to that in a moment.


Prototype - ignore that flying resistor.

Nice job!

Was surface mounting the chip a pain? Why no through-holes and a soldered socket? That way the chip could be swapped to change the gauge's function.

Looks like vertical clearance would be pretty tight for that, though.

[george graves]

Surface mount is much quicker once you learn how to work with small parts. The chip only drives the display, there is another control unit.

[e30sodirty]

In for Valerie. Whenever she's ready...

[The White Guy]

Very nice.,
Quality as usual looks to top notch. I'll probably be in for one when they are ready.
Thanks,
Stan

[The Dark Side of Will]

Surface mount is much quicker once you learn how to work with small parts. The chip only drives the display, there is another control unit.

Ahh.. ok.

Mount a toggle somewhere else for the hazard switch?

[rzerob]

Subscribed.

[george graves]

Normal sized display simply won't fit(center). I specially ordered these. Smaller footprint, but same (or sightly larger) numbers. And better looking font IMHO.Better readability. - small difference, but it's the little things 'ya know. For comparison the "font" is slightly larger then the OBC's display. Very readable.

[george graves]

That's the good news. Bad news is that they are a PITA to work with.

Better news, is that I'll have one or two ready to go in a bit. PM me if you want to know details.



10 pins on each display. So 30 pins in total. 30 pins have to be connected to 11 pins. That means about a 40 connections have to be stuffed into what I use to have to only stuff 10 into. Good grief.

[george graves]

Goals for this project....

- stealth look when key is off (a "no tell" to police or thieves you have a turbo, or a tuned motor, or a car of interest)
- highest possible dash location, daylight readable, with virtually no glare.
- user settable custom day and night brightness. Easy to read in the brightest daytime, and easy on the eyes at night.
- High accuracy - less then a 1/10th of a AFR value or better.
- fast update to see small changes with ARF values.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I hope you're assuming a wide band will drive the thing...
0-5V input?

[Wschnitz]

Could this also be setup for oil temp too?

[george graves]

I hope you're assuming

I don't "assume" anything.

Could this also be setup for oil temp too?

Yep!

[pandaboo911]

That's sweet! Could it be run as an AFR gauge?

Edit: I'm stupid and didn't read. 10/10 would pay moneys for that.

[Nisse Järnet]

Oh i want!

[george graves]

List updated...


Now for sale - E30 wide-band stealth AFR(air-fuel-ratio) gauge.

Done and done - and it's awesome.

Worried that your AFR is off on your expensive motor swap?? Sick of driving with a laptop in your passenger seat? Don't want a gauge that cops can see?

Wideband AFR stealth gauge that mounts into an empty slot along your hazard/defrost switch. Extremely accurate, and with a very nice update rate. Plus separate daytime and nighttime brightness levels that are user settable - and triggered automatically when your headlight are turned on. It's kinda yummy.

What you'll receive. Display brightness goes from supper sunny readable, to night time easy on the eyes. You pick the brightness for both - just twist a knob.


Inside the case.


Instructions included. Everything you want to know and more - most of you won't need it - but I include them for the shade-tree guys.


Some one that was beta testing the gauge asked me how accurate it is. Here is the data. Less then 1% error. So it's kinda spot on.



Price is $195 shipped to anywhere in the US. I'm only taking a few orders. I need to wrap up some one touch windows first before I take more than a few orders. So I'm limiting the orders to 6. Why? Cause that's all my free time will allow. Sorry.

Q&A:

Q: Will this work with any wideband controller?
A: Yes. It's compatible with every controller on the market.

Q: how do I buy one?
A: PM me.

ALL SOLD....ALL SOLD....ALL SOLD....ALL SOLD....ALL SOLD....