SpaceMan's Custom Gauge / Instrument Cluster

[spaceman]

Background my spare ski's display was dead-on-arrival.

I removed the oem cluster and tried to repair it, but the electronics had basically dissolved into powdered salt....

The only salvageable part was the wiring loom for it.



I don't see the point in purchasing a replacement cluster and then a GPS module for it. So i decided I will build my own one. Using an arduino Leonardo + i2c 20x4 LCD.

[spaceman]

This is my early alpha. Pretty much how it will work and operate. It will have speed, altitude, time, compass/heading from the GPS.

RPM from a custom built sensor
Gas/Fuel and oil levels from the stock senders.

I could take a speed reading from the speed sensor, but I figure gps is the way to go.

The total Hours is stored in memory, so it survives power off

Speeds are in KM/h.

https://youtu.be/Cvdg8Trpc7M

[spaceman]

SpaceMan's Custom Gauge / Instrument Cluster

When I got back from the electronics store with an expensive bag of components: GPS unit, data-logger (logging to sdcard... ), 3 axis accelerometer (g-meter .. )

[eb87]

That is awesome!

[spaceman]

As of now.

The unit will monitor the Oil and Gas levels in realtime, and give a warning when they are less than 25%. These warnings will reset if the levels increase without needing to restart the ski.

the GPS is updating speeds at 10Hz (10x a second).

Added an Info center, changes between:
heading (N|NNE|NE....),
Distance traveled (calculated by gps current point to previous point 10seconds ago.)
Trip Time (time since the ski has been on)
Current Time from the GPS (corrected to my timezone).
Notification if GPS looses its signal.
Speed and RPM is smoothed by using a median average of 3 readings. (ie ommit the highest and lowest and take the middle reading)
RPM value of 10 medians ( 30 readings ).

Speed and distance of less than 1 Km/h and 0.1km are ignored. Dont need to log and process trailer time.

Warnings: activate the warning led (clear becomes red, like the stock guage)
They also beep and flash the display's backlight on/off every 10 seconds.

Regarding RPM, i'm having an issue finding the correct cable I need to wrap around the spark plug lead.

pics to follow.

[spaceman]

Test fitting how it will look, going to use an oem decal on a piece of plexiglass, the screen will be completely epoxied/siliconed to the rear of the plexiglass. So no water issues.

The plexiglass will be mounted from the front to make maintenance easy(no removing of cowlings.

Electronics will be housed in a little water tight container...

I made a copy/xerox of the decal, cut it open. The red mark is where the led will go.

[K447]

Have you tested the display for sunlight readability?

Anti-reflective coating on the front plexiglass?

[spaceman]

The oem guage was LCD without a backlight. I have tested the display in direct sun and it works perfectly.

These are LCD displays like a cheap digital watch, calculators and those old old old monochrome nokia's. So they are extremely visible. These are not LCD's like on smartphones and computers.

I might make one for my other ski, but then Ill use a graphical OLED or a graphic E-Ink... But then Im going todo some amazing things. Like AFR, Fuel predictions, G-Force Meters, 0-60 + Lap Times, Mapping.

Total cost of all the parts is around us$80

[spaceman]

Info and warning tests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLiiGcRbeY

[Gabagool984]

Awesome job!! Following

[meinstein1987]

Making one for rxt and xp

[spaceman]

SpaceMan's Custom Gauge / Instrument Cluster

Dash fabrication.

I decided to cut up an old plastic number plate. Basically I tapped it and traced the old instrument cluster outline. Used a small diamond cutting wheel on my dremel at a low speed and free hand cut it. Then sanded the edges. Next one I make will be out of carbon fiber sheeting and then I won't use the sticker :$

[spaceman]

SpaceMan's Custom Gauge / Instrument Cluster

For the electronics.

I used an adjustable DC-D.C. Switching power supply, I've set it to 4.98v from 12v. This gets its power from the existing dash connector, i.e. fed perfect 12v from the Ecu.

I have 4 wires for the LCD.
2 wires for the oil level sensor
2 wires for the gas level sensor
3 wires for the ecu (power, ground and comm)
2 wires for the buzzer/speaker
2 wires for the warning led
1x USB cable, makes it so I can reprogram or read it from the laptop, without needing to remove anything.

I'm using a little water proof container, drilled a 10mm hole in the side for all the wiring.

I have soldered all the connections to the gps "hat"

[spaceman]

SpaceMan's Custom Gauge / Instrument Cluster

Putting it all together...

The LCD screen is epoxied to the back of the plastic dash. Exactly aligned as I wanted. This means it's 100% sealed and watertight. The entire LCD circuit board has been sealed with epoxy. Again 100% water proof as well as chemicals.

The opening where all the wires enter the "dry box" has been sealed with marine silicon

I predrilled a hole about 3mm deep into the plastic and mounted the warning led with clear epoxy. Once this has cured I encased the warning led with black epoxy so it gives an amazing glow. 100% direct sunlight visible.

The dry box is mounted with a zip tie to prevent it bouncing and moving.

The dash is sealed with a thin layer of silicon and 2 stainless counter sunk bolts to the Jetski (the ones used to mount the stock speed sensor to the ride plate)

[spaceman]

SpaceMan's Custom Gauge / Instrument Cluster

And this is what we have.

Whole point was to mimic the stock gauge. I might do some amazing things on the next one I build..