Exeptionally "geeky" project in mind, need help!

Hai guys,

Well, I've just spent my entire day and yesterday's afternoon googling the internet upside down. There's so many little information on this thing, that it's almost as it's secret, or people across the globe are that lazy.

Anyhow, let's start at the beggining.
Yuh see, I just passed my driver's licence and my grandad passed away last year, leaving me his car. I'm all excited and ooh childish about it all, I know.

In broad daylight, an idea has fallen into my head...

How about a Do It Yourself HUD display in a car? Yeah you all think of me crazy now, let me elaborate.

I am first and foremost searching for ~10" high-brightness LCD display module. Looking all over, only ones at those diameters are for Laptops, which would (I'd imagine) be incredibly difficult to control.

So basically, I'm having in mind a drop-in module where the car radio would go, I have access to the sufficient power supply. In it, I'd place all the MCU circuitry, and an LCD screen right below the windshield, the top of instruments board is flat and I'd have no problems placing anything there. On the front of the circuitry, I was thinking of ON/OFF switch and brightness control for the LCD.

On the HUD itself I'd place a clock, speed, fuel level perhaps, nothing too fancy requiring an external sensor.

Here's the basic idea:





Now, there are some "premade" modules for simply inserting it under the windshield...




But I'd be interested in something on larger scale, like with 10" LCD screen.

Now let's take baby steps at the time:

Would anybody know an easy-interface high-brightness screen suitable for this? It would be great. Next, MCU with graphical abilities for controlling such an LCD. Finally, your thoughts and ideas on all of this?

All ideas and developments would be kept on this thread so people can follow up and possibly create their own stuff.

So, any good screens coming to mind?

I just passed my driver's licence and my grandad passed away last year, leaving me his car.

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1. My congratulations
2. My condolences
3. Might I ask what car?

As I can see, you already found out about the Corvette and the M5.
I once did a very superficial research on the subject, apparently the Chevrolet's version
is not really that great to many people.

I don't know about any display in particular, but keep in my mind, you'd need a mirror
between the display and windshield, for obvious reasons.
Make sure the display is bright enough so you can use it in daylight.
Also, it needs to be able to be dimmed at night.

I think an Arduino might be the best DIY option to drive the whole thing,
that is, if you'd want to do something more elegant and professional than simply slap together
a couple of already-made LCDs displays to make your HUD.

On the HUD itself I'd place a clock, speed, fuel level perhaps, nothing too fancy requiring an external sensor.

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Might I suggest instead: RPM, boost pressure (unless NA motor), speed, oil pressure
and temperature.

But Clock? Fuel level? Please, nigger.... those are not the important numbers in a cockit.:crackup:

I like your idea, I myself toyed with it but quickly dismissed it in favor of other, more
practical modifications to he car.
Too nerdy for a car, you know. For my taste, that is.

But don't let me discourage you, it's a fine project and definitely something to brag
about, everybody riding in your car would be WOWed.

1. and 2. Thanks
3. It is a Suzuki Maruti 800.

Yeah I know. It has 35 horses. 36 if I'm driving it :crackup:

Not many people are interested in DIY at all, you know... no reason not to keep up with your idea

Mirror would not be neccesary as the windshield itself is highly reflective, reflection of the top of the panel is what struck the idea in my head (and it wasn't even all that bright day).

Loud LOL at your comment on data displayed, haha (Though, you may want to type "niggah" or some other mutilated word, people might find the actually spelt word offensive or anything, not me though me and my buddies are always calling eachother "nigga" although I've only seen a black person like once in my life).

Well, I'm often wondering what the hell time it is, and how much fuel I've got and I don't want to take my eyes off the road. Speed is less of a concern as I'm really good at aproximating it... besides, not much regulation these days.

RPM would be a problem. The car does not have an RPM sensor (yeah, I know, alright! ) And those other stuff you've just said, only temperature is doable although not much interesting.

I was also thinking of perhaps a clicky which would switch all the data displayed with a GPS map or something... But we need a functioning display first and foremost.

I know the idea is too nerdy. I know this is why it's hardly found anywhere mentioned on the internet. It's exactly why I love it and WILL make it.

P.S. Everybody riding my car will be puzzled how to drive the damned thing, since there's apsolutely no electronics inside the car what so ever (except the very core, battery, lights, wipers).

Eudaimonium said:

3. It is a Suzuki Maruti 800.

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Had to look it up.:emb:
Hmm, ok... yeah "India's favourite car" LOL.
What year?

Eudaimonium said:

Mirror would not be neccesary as the windshield itself is highly reflective, reflection of the top of the panel is what struck the idea in my head (and it wasn't even all that bright day).

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Sure thing, if you can display your info already mirrored to begin with.

Eudaimonium said:

RPM would be a problem. The car does not have an RPM sensor (yeah, I know, alright! )

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Laughably easily remedied with one of those magnet sensor thingies that
measure RPMs (and calculate speed for given wheel diam.) for bicycle "computers".
Infact, screw that, all you'd need is a magnet and a reed switch. I can send you one, if you like.
Install it on the cankshaft pulley, for example.
Then just let your Arduino count the impulses/sec and *60. Or something...

If you want my honest and practical opinion:
unless that car already is in a perfectly serviced state (not much there to service anyway, right),
you'd be better off to invest in actual parts for the car, you know, brakes,
shock absorbers, tyres, spark-plugs and cables, filters, etc....
Only when the car itself is fine allround, should you start to spend on "unnecessary" modifications.

But please, don't le me detract you from your definitely cool project.

You have a point there, but the car's running perfectly fine for it's age actually.
It's one of those that never, EVER leave you hanging on the side of the road with the hood up.

You never do a preventive maintanance on this car, only the one after something is beggining to fail

Besides, it's incredibly much cheaper to build this, than to upgrade stuff on the car, since stuff available here locally costs like it's made of solid gold. Hell, if it were, it would not be as expensive.

Also, more fun this way.

I don't understand your point about the mirroring the image. If you're talking about reversing the image itself so it's mirrored back after the windshield, it's no problem having the image reversed already when it's displayed on LCD.

Eudaimonium said:

You have a point there, but the car's running perfectly fine for it's age actually.

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Well wonderful, I never meant for you to do preventive maintenance, I
was trying to encourage you to do repairs as they come along, and not
accumulate little defects, even if the car still runs.
Your car: what year, how many kms on the clock?

Eudaimonium said:

It's one of those that never, EVER leave you hanging on the side of the road with the hood up.

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Knock on wood, my friend, knock on wood!

Eudaimonium said:

If you're talking about reversing the image itself so it's mirrored back after the windshield, it's no problem having the image reversed already when it's displayed on LCD.

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Yeah, that's what I meant, so nevermind.

On topic:
A really crude and simple display would be just a bunch of red led 8-segment displays stacked together. Have fun driving them, though.

anselm said:

Knock on wood, my friend, knock on wood!

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I don't understand what this means, I'm afraid...

anselm said:

On topic:
A really crude and simple display would be just a bunch of red led 8-segment displays stacked together. Have fun driving them, though.

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Well they would be bright enough and would display numbers and all. After all, 3 of those 4 images in opening post were of a product which uses 3x 7segment LEDs to display speed (and uses GPS system to measure it).

However, I want something more... nerdy.

There is this screen on SparkFun:
Color 24-Bit LCD 4.3" PSP 480x272 - SparkFun Electronics

How hard would it be to drive it using DIY MCU circuitry? It was from PSP after all, and 24bit interface... man

I've seen PSP, it's bright enough. Not too big, but when I think about it, don't want stuff obstructing my view of the road.

EDIT:
This is not bigger than PSP screen...

Eudaimonium said:

I don't understand what this means, I'm afraid...

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wikipedia said:

Knocking on wood, and the spoken expression "knock on wood," are used to express a desire to avoid "tempting fate" after making some boast or speaking of one's own death.
.....
"Da kucnem o drvo"

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Eudaimonium said:

How hard would it be to drive it using DIY MCU circuitry? It was from PSP after all, and 24bit interface... man

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I'm sorry, I really don't know anything about driving screens, but if I were you,
I'd PM that crazy electronics wizard italian dude, you know who.

anselm said:

I'm sorry, I really don't know anything about driving screens, but if I were you,
I'd PM that crazy electronics wizard italian dude, you know who.

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Oh, that, like "Hoping not to doom it by saying it" kind of expression? Hah, don't worry.
My car is silver color and was bought some 15 years ago (wasn't used very much by my grandad but it was used none the less).

My family drives a Spark, but you see before that we had a red ... Suzuki Maruti 800. In TWENTY FUKKIN' YEARS that we've had it, it NEVER left anybody at the side of the road lifting up the hood. Evar.
It has a 5-digit analog kilometer counter. It was going 3rd time from the start, and was nearing the end of 3rd run. That's nearly 300.000 km.

I can tell you one thing, Suzuki knows how to build cars!

Oh you mean, HIMNL9 ? Sure, will do.

I think your best bet would be to use an actual laptop LCD then tweak the backlight to make it brighter. You could probably use an MCU to drive the LCD, as well as polling the sensor data, but it might be easier to use an MCU to poll the sensor data, send it to a PC, and have the PC output to the LCD.

Here is a cheap-as-dirt netbook with a 7" screen you could use. Take apart the screen, remove the backlight, replace with high powered LED's. Grab an arduino with a USB interface, program it to poll whatever sensors for RPM and speed etc, then write a simple VB interface to display a graph. That'll be a helluva lot easier than trying to drive the LCD directly from the microcontroller.

This might work: 8.9" LCD Panel for RoBoard Single Board Computer - RobotShop

@Pseudo , well yeah, a thought of having the Netbook did cross my mind but I disregarded it as too expensive... But now that I think of it, $100 for a netbook might not be a bad idea. Replacing the backlight migt be a problem since I've never taken apart any LCDs, but since you're suggesting it I assume it's possible. Good suggestion overall. I know that driving an LCD from MCU directly is very difficult , hence I was looking for something more of a DIY "module" type screens, not laptop replacements.

I do not know... I'll take this option into consideration and will weight everything against everything and see what comes out as best option.

@Jib77 , nice website, I wasn't aware of it. Seems the screen is really good, has everything. Just not sure of it's brightness. It's a bit expensive though.

Hmm... I dunno maybe the netbook idea comes off as better... after all, cheapest netbook has possibilities way above any expensive-ish DIY MCUs, but there would be less fun.

Thanks for the input guys. I will reserach into both ideas.

anselm said:

..... that crazy electronics wizard italian dude, you know who.

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Eudaimonium said:

Oh you mean, HIMNL9 ? Sure, will do.

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Hmmm ? ..... someone said my name ? ..... sorry, i was asleepd, i just finished to eat the last one that summoned me, and the digestion process always make me feel sleepy ..... :evil:

Seriously ..... the idea is not bad, but consider that the visibility of a similar type of HUD depend a lot from external condition, cause you cannot ask to anyone to place a selective holographic mirror on your windshield.

The one in the video linked, as example, more than a LCD image, it look as a FLP / plasma panel (those panels for calculators and cash recorders, monochrome, usually yellow or blue and very luminous), and also the external conditions are low light and cloudy / rainy sky ..... anyway, for monochrome displays can always be added a dichroic mirror, it's just a bit difficult to find a big one at low prices ..... for color units, instead, probably you lost a lot of visibility (that light blue is one of the better solutions, contrast with the external images and don't "fade" in the rest, but if you use multiple colors, it can confuse in the background)

Also, keep in mind one important thing ..... LCD screens are sensitive to heat, and can easily be damaged or killed from overheating ..... now, for project that image on your windshield, you need to place the display in a position (instruments cover) that usually is the more exposed to sun and heat in summer or sunny days, and it's usually black for a good reason (for avoid that street lamps reflect on the inside of your windshield, obstacling your visual at night, as example ) ..... it can be a good thing, if you can build a system that cover the display with a black opaque plate when not in use, maybe sliding away when you turn the car on (or better, only when you turn the HUD on) ..... for increase its lifetime.

About driving them with a MCU, it depend from the signals that the screen want as inputs ..... usually custom or "internal parts" screens are made with absolutely no respect for any standard (as example, phones or games screens are made for match theyr own electronics, not for be used in any standard environment), so you need first to know how much and what type of signals the screen need, plus their timings schemes, before to decide what you want to try ..... and usually is a nightmare, to convince those manufacturers to give you those technical data about their custom products.

In my opinion VFD display would be the best choice for this project.
It has amazing color, they are bright and contrast is great because there are only individual pixels that glow. And what is the best is that VFD displays can operate in the most demanding environment. And they mostly have common signal inputs.

I've found that damn link ..... Vishay made some of them, here is the page of datasheet links (but any other manufacturer that made the same type of panels is ok, i suppose ..... this is just as example) ..... models like APD 240G120 and similars are graphical dot-matrix units, and accepts standard signals (but i suppose you still need the right library for program your MCU type)

If I get this project operational, you can eat me like Sarlacc, I'll die a happy man

Anyhow, it seems you've already given a shot at this yourself, since you just wrote a novel-long post from the top of your head...

Anyhow, I have found this in the meantime:
Parallax 112 x 16 Serial Graphic VFD Display - RobotShop
Which looks damn epic. Should be easy to code.

HIMNL9, I'm looking for very bright display, so I can avoid having to place something reflective on the windshield on inside. That would be clumsy as hell. Windshield's interior is very reflective, hence the idea

And about the heat, yes I have thought of that too, and I'll be covering the inside with those reflective covers during sunny times anyhow. (since I have no air condition or anything, it's pretty hot in that little box during summer).

Okay so, I'd use only one of those displays for now, only for speed, just to see if it works. If needed, I'll add the second one with warning lights or something, so I don't have to look down to the instrument panel.

I just need a proof-of-DIY-concept for now.

We'll add all the fancy features later.

HIMNL9 - What MCU would you reccomend?