Just looking for some quick info on Scangauge vs. MPGuino
 

Ok, so I need some instrumentation for my car. It's OBDII and fuel injected. I have knowledge of electronics and programming both, so building an MPGuino and making it at least turn on shouldn't be a problem.

My first question is, on a scale from say, 1 - 10 what is the difficulty rating you would give an install of the MPGuino. Assuming that the ScangaugeII is a 1 since it's basically plug and play. How hard is it to find the diagram for the wires under the hood that I'll need to hook up (or under the dash to splice the OBDII connector wires) because that's my only fear is that I'll get this thing all built and programmed but then will have no clue how to hook it up once I have that all done.

I'm assuming this thing is pretty stable, but just in general, can someone give me a quick rundown of what all the Scangauge has that the MPGuino doesn't (aside from things like engine temp and stuff like that, just the stuff that one can do that the other can't and vice versa when it comes to FE stuff).

Depending on what all ends up happening this summer I may give this a go before I go for the scangauge just to try it out if nothing else.

I would say from my personal findings, if you running a stock set up and do not plan on fooling around with ANY sensors or the ECM scan gauge is dead on and great.

Start fooling the ECM by tricking the sensors and scan gauge can go off it rocker.

So if you doing work on the car... well I am getting the MPGuino, to replace the Scan gauge.

Rich

Scangauge is nice as it just works, MPGuino requires some stuffing around.

See my post above.

I've build and installed few MPGuinos.
1. Is it hard to build? I wouldn't say that especially if you're using ARDuino as a platform. A bit more complicated is to build it using just the ATmega chip.
2. Is it hard to install? Sometimes it requires a bit of work to locate and run the cabling.
3. Is it better than ScanGauge? I would say it's different. It definitely doesn't give some additional info that you would get from SG. Like engine load, temps etc. But it gives plenty of info about how you drive.

The best in MPGuino is that you can set it up any way you want. You can use big or small LCD, put buttons or LCD anywhere you want. It needs of course more work than to plug and play SG, but it definitely gives more satisfaction.

That's my opinion.