Heads up Display?

[miket]

which lens or mirror is used in that diagram?

[bobski]

There's also the issue of readability. The MPGuino's 2x16 character display at winshield distance might require some squinting, or at least more than the kind of glance-down readability that stock instruments such as a speedometer provide. The MPGuino programming deals with this to some degree with it's double-line number font, but there's still room for improvement IMO.
An ideal display wouldn't require glancing at all... It would be big enough and/or simple enough that it could be read in your peripheral vision. Analog needle and bar graph type displays can be read this way, assuming proper placement and sufficient contrast. Honda took an interesting shot at this in the new Insight with the high-mount digital speedo (an inexpensive but perfectly useful feint at a HUD) whose background changes color as an efficiency indicator.
In fact, such an indicator doesn't need to be visual at all. The 'guino could be programmed to make a tiny blip or pop sound from a speaker for every milliliter (or some other arbitrary unit of volume) of fuel dispensed. As fuel consumption goes up, the pops get more rapid, a bit like a geiger counter.

[miket]

it could shock you electrically the more gas you use too!

[dcb]

Originally Posted by miket

which lens or mirror is used in that diagram?

I see the same picture you see, some concave affair by the base of the windshield.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...play-5840.html

[Cooluser23]

Did someone manage to make a successful HUD yet?

[2003protege]

I managed to get a seven segment display running off an iDuino just as a proof of concept...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4-TgL1mxUc

I put mine on the back burner when I got to fabricating the final display. Too much soldering at the time and just haven't picked it back up =(

[nimblemotors]

My I suggest something I worked on many many years ago.

To display MPG, it really is just a single number, and a single number can be represented as a bar graph. So instead of doing a HUD with digits, just create an LED bargraph that runs along the base of the windshield. With a bargraph that is 3-feet long, you can easily see the differences of a single digit.

My very first electronics project was creating a bargraph for the RPM display on my racecar. It ganged up 80 10-segment led bargraphs together (using LM3914), and displayed an 0-12v analog voltage signal as the bargraph. It was placed at the base of the windshield, and ran from right to left. This placed the spot where you shift right in front of the driver.
It also doubled as the speedometer when not racing, since RPM shows speed at a fixed gear ratio (always in 1:1 3rd gear on highway in my car).
This had never been done before, and still hasn't been done AFAIK. Totally cool seeing the "RMMMM, RMMMM" with the LED jumping to the left along with it.

The bargraphs were too dim in daylight (and too bright at night) so I created a shade for the display, but with todays LEDs this isn't a problem.

You could also use two or three different colors, and display three variables together.

[ECONORAM]

Originally Posted by meekin

Whoever figures out how to do a HUD. My hat off to you. I would love to have a HUD. I find my eyes creeping more and more to my MPG monitor in town (i have it mounted below my radio). This would be a great safety improvement (at least for me).

I could not agree more. I didn't think much of the HUD option, until I got a safety briefing this week about distracted driving. 4 people in the car, 2 in the back seat w/o belts fastened. Driver using smartphone as GPS, laying in his lap. phone falls on the floor, he bends down to pick up the phone, not realizing he is crossing the median. The car strikes an ambulance, killing 3 of the 4 in the car. I ordered two Arkon SM410 mobile phone holders from Amazon. They have a suction cup, and a vent holder option. A good second to a HUD...

I found this very sobering, because I have used my phone as a GPS several times, laying in the console instead of high on the dash or on the windshield. I then realized I spend a lot of time looking at the MPGuino while I am driving. I am quite interested in this, but lack the technical know-how.

[ecomodded]

Originally Posted by dcb

I had to do a quick experiment with a makeup mirror too, and a short extender cable It is promising, it is brighter in real life and the lcd is currently limited to half brightness (and might be pulse overdriven to a brighter appearance). A LED array might not be a bad idea either, but complicated.

I was thinking if you mounted your gauge upside down 'then' reflected it to the windscreen it will/may display the right side up. ?

[ECONORAM]

Ecomodded, that just might work. I was going to suggest folks look at the products I just saw on Ebay OBD 2 II Hud KM RPM Speed Battery Voltage Water Temp Gauge Cluster Hud New | eBay but they don't really cover the ecomodder type of data.
The HUD iPhone app, combined with a new program I saw called Dash Boss could be another alternative...but none as cheap as a cosmetics mirror!~