Arduino alternative?

[SuzukiSteve]

I am set on making my own MPGuino. The price on a pre-made one is fantastic but making one would be fun and i really want to mount the screen in the gauge cluster and the buttons on the dash.

I've been researching for a while and I'm almost ready to order parts. I found a red letter black background screen for $7 delivered on ebay (red matches my car). I plan on buying the resistors, diodes, buttons, etc locally.

I cant decide what Arduino to get though. I found a kit, also on ebay, for the Arduino Duemilanove Atmega328 for $22.58 delivered. SparkFun has an assembled Arduino for about $30 delivered that is tempting. How difficult is soldering it together? Im decent at soldering but have never attempted something this small or sensitive. I also found something called an Anarduino (kit) for $9.23 delived. It looks similiar to the iDuino.

Anarduino - an Arduino Clone ATmega328 Kit - NEW - eBay (item 170556448515 end time Oct-28-10 14:50:48 PDT)

I searched ecomodder and couldn't find anything on the Anarduino. Has anybody else used the anarduino? Does anybody see a reason why it would not work? Any better places to buy a kit? It doesn't have a USB or serial hook up but I think I can wire that in...? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[nickdigger]

Are you sure the red/black screen is readable in widely varying light conditions?

As for the missing serial/USB functionality, just skip it & program it via LPT. If you want serial, you might as well start with a platform that has it. Looks like that Anarduino is also missing a 5v voltage regulator.

[SuzukiSteve]

Im hoping the red on black will stay readable under the sun shade of the gauge cluster. I think I will go ahead and give it a shot.

Im gonna have to google what LPT is, lol. but at least now i know there is an alternative. Thanks.

I read where somebody used the charger cord from a cell phone for 5V. Or I can install a regulator, I could dangle it off the end of the board or jumper over to a couple unused holes if i have some.... right?


I have another question. What is the current status of the RPM function? I saw on the wiki that it was added but maybe removed or something...

[nickdigger]

It looks like RPM is disabled in v0.86, but the following code "should" "probably" work, though someone on v0.86 will need to test it.


unsigned long instantrpm(){
unsigned long instInjTime = instInjEnd - instInjStart;
if (instInjTime == 0) return 0;

init64(tmp1, 0, 1000 * instInjCount);
init64(tmp2, 0, 120000000ul);
mul64(tmp1,tmp2);
init64(tmp2, 0, instInjTime * parms[injPulsesPer2Revolutions]);
div64(tmp1,tmp2);
return tmp1[1];
}


//also, replace existing doDisplayCustom with this:
void doDisplayCustom() {
displayTripCombo("MG","LK", instantmpg(), " S", " S", instantmph(), "GH","LH",
instantgph(), "RP","RP", instantrpm());
}

[Cooluser23]

Please post pictures of your setup. I'd love to see how it looks.

[Cooluser23]

Will that code work with V6 engines as well, or does it need to be modified for that?

[saand]

hi all,
I have made my own mpguino type device, i have done it with a TI, MSP430 and a custom PCB (because i can get PCB's made for free at work) and TI gives free samples.
So if your after a real challenge that is the way to go, but the easiest way is to just get the mpguino. Although i do have datalogging which i dont think the mpguino or anyone else on ecomodder has (i haven't seen anyone that has it other than me)

let me know if anyone wants info about my setup, i am not sure it will do much for anyone but let me know

[nickdigger]

Originally Posted by Cooluser23

Will that code work with V6 engines as well, or does it need to be modified for that?

V6 is no problem. The Setup parameter is "injPulsesPer2Revolutions", which is normally set to "1" if you are tapped into 1 injector. The RPMs would work the same whether you're tapped into 1 of 4, or 1 of 6, or 1 of 8 cylinders.

[gtkid2002]

I'd honestly recommend going with the actual Arduino board. I tried using a Seeeduino mega so I could stuff in tons of other misc stuff like temp sensors around the car, but uh.. Turns out I wasted almost 50 bucks in that effort. Just now got around to buying an actual Arduino, and I'm hoping that goes better.

You can always just buy the component chips and make a circuit board or breadboard arduino, but I think you have to have a programmer, in which case it's easier just to go and buy the USB board, and probably a bit cheaper, unless you plan on making more than two of them. Then it might be worthwhile.

Although if somebody's figured out how to use it with the Seeeduino Mega, send me a PM please.. I'd like to put the shiny red board to use in a car or SOMETHING. Instead of it taunting me with it's tons of unused pins.

[vfolly]

hi there I have th MSP430 Launchpad. Please send me more details of your project as I would love to get it going. i am able to make my own PCB's.

Originally Posted by saand

hi all,


I have made my own mpguino type device, i have done it with a TI, MSP430 and a custom PCB (because i can get PCB's made for free at work) and TI gives free samples.
So if your after a real challenge that is the way to go, but the easiest way is to just get the mpguino. Although i do have datalogging which i dont think the mpguino or anyone else on ecomodder has (i haven't seen anyone that has it other than me)

let me know if anyone wants info about my setup, i am not sure it will do much for anyone but let me know