Expermintal FE meter, first pictures...

[JohnnyGrey]

I don't know what JohnnyGrey's plans are with his device, he has only announced that it is not open source. But there are a number of people working on the open source mpguino . The goal of that project is to put fuel consumption feedback into as many hands as possible (read cheap and easy), so if you take a look and post over there about where we lost you then you would actually be helping too

My plans are to develop it, add features, debug as necessary and once I'm satisfied with its performance, offer it for sale. The board itself is quite simple. The final design will be a sandwich type board. The AVR board will combine with the display board via header pins. I'm considering leaving off the switches and allowing the use of remote switches, which can be placed in more convenient locations. It will not come in a nice finished box like the SG, but if you can cut a rectangular hole, you can mount it nicely in a panel somewhere. Since it will come programmed and ready, it shouldn't take an EE major to get it going. Creating an open source meter is admirable, and I've worked on a few open source linux projects myself, but seeing as how I'm not using any open source or prepackaged components (and coding in asm no less), I don't feel the need to give away many hours of slaving over a hot keyboard for free. I do have capitalistic tendencies.

[getnpsi]

Well as we all want increases *NOW* in our vehicles, I'd not hesitate to pay for working items before tinkering for weeks and on three differnt "groups" researching online all night, even if my actual profession involved boards and circuitry. Keep up the good work.

[rocket]

Originally Posted by getnpsi

Well as we all want increases *NOW* in our vehicles, I'd not hesitate to pay for working items before tinkering for weeks and on three differnt "groups" researching online all night, even if my actual profession involved boards and circuitry. Keep up the good work.

I agree. when it comes to computer-type stuff, unless its easy DIY, i'd pay for a finished product.

What price range are you looking at for your setup? do you have an idea of when it will go to 'production'?

[JohnnyGrey]

What price range are you looking at for your setup? do you have an idea of when it will go to 'production'?

I can't give a timeframe set in stone. I'd guess within a few months, I'd have something I could stand behind. A price of $100 would get you a one piece bare board system that's ready to run, with a display of your choosing, (minus buttons) and would have 8 wires coming out of it: +, -, FI, VSS, and 4 grounded switches. I plan to house the AVR chip in a DIP socket which could allow for firmware upgrades via snail mail.

[blownintegra]

when are you selling them?

[Blue07CivicEX]

For $100 it should be OBD-II compatible, I'm not being critical cause I've been too lazy to build an mpguino for my g/f's car, but a bit of constructive criticism if it's not OBD-II for $100 scangauge at ~$150 will have you beat every time. I do hope this project goes well for you though good luck with it!

[diesel_john]

From what i have read on this forum, the OBD plug does not contain injector pulse width. So that is why the mpg data from ODB is slower to respond and inheritly less accurate, than pulse based data. Two different animals, apples and oranges. Salt and pepper.

[Blue07CivicEX]

I'm purely thinking from a marketability standpoint, for a truly marketable product to be sold at a high dollar ($100 is pretty pricey) to have somebody tapping into injector wiring and what not for the install is not going to be a piece of equipment that can be marketed to the masses.

Technical people with some sense of electronics/vehicles will be ok with it but again for a $50 difference they would be more apt to go with a OBD-II compatible product rather then spending a weekend trying to wire the thing into they're car.

I have a lot of respect for what you are trying to do I'm just giving the perspective of a potential customer. One thing that makes scangauge so popular is it's plug and play, stick it in your car, plug in a wire and you're good to go.

[monroe74]

For certain people the SG will always be a better choice. But I think there are also people who want something with the potential to be more accurate. Possibly much more accurate, under certain conditions.