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Old 07-20-2010, 08:28 PM   #82 (permalink)
bobski
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Newark, DE
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'91 CRX - '91 Honda CRX DX
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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.
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