LCD Instrumentation for Cougar Controller

[harlequin2]

Add to that Calvento, Weisheimer and Bartie and now they have all gone.

[apowers]

My board was in the mail today. Thank You.


Also the LCD came today from 411 techsystems. The other company never did answer my e-mail about the order. After a couple of calls someone answered the phone and told me it was back-ordered.



Now on with the soldering. I just love the smell of solder.


Alvin

[MPaulHolmes]

Originally Posted by apowers

Now on with the soldering. I just love the smell of solder.

Alvin

Me too!! But it gives you that terrible head ache afterwards. The ironic thing is, California doesn't want you to inhale it. hahaha.

[Freyguy]

yeah, be careful. Inhaling too much of that stuff can cause dain bramage......

[E Vdubya]

harlequin2

Got my board today. Thanks for getting those made.
And thank you for who posted the instructions etc.
Let the build begin!

John

[harlequin2]

Yes, if only!
I have board, display, ic sockets, solder, special perfume to blot out the smell but NO PARTS!!!!!
I contacted the supplier (again) today to be told "Oh, they've just come in, we'll send them out today". Likely story.

PS Can't send out any programmed PICs until I build a board, so keep waiting patiently!

[Freyguy]

Originally Posted by E Vdubya

harlequin2

....And thank you for who posted the instructions etc.
John

That would be me since I'm the only one who's built one I want to point out that some pics in the PCB assembly write-up will vary slightly from your build though. The original PCB had the 16-pin header holes too small, so I couldn't use the 16-pin socket/header shown in the bom. (I stupidly used a SIP-16 footprint rather than header). I had to cut up a wire wrap 40-pin dip socket since it had narrower pins. What you see is a much closer board to board spacing in the pics. Good enough for conveying the idea and of course the pad holes were enlarged for my release rev of the PCB.

Good luck and pm if you have any additional questions.

[apowers]

Thank you Freyguy

I got it working , on the bench and it shows acc bat volts. Putting it in the truck may take longer.

I am not sure how to hook it to the gas gauge. It is a Ford and I used a 10 ohm resistor. I had checked it last week by jumping an 18 ohm resistor (thats what I had) across the 2 wires that were connected to the tank. When I turned the key on the gauge went to just over 1/2. So 10 ohm's should be right?

Just not sure how this 1 output from the board should hook to the gauge.

Thanks again
Alvin

[E Vdubya]

Hey Freyguy!

Thanks for all the hard work. I have a question about something I overlooked. On the BOM R20 value is TBD ....so I didn't order one. It appears on the overlay. Is it still used? Maybe I missed something earlier in the thread addressing it.
Thanks again
John

[Freyguy]

Hey Alvin, great job
If 18ohms was 1/2 tank, 10ohm should be good for full. These analog meters aren't exactly linear. Now one of those two wires should be the same as chassis ground and won't be needed. You could ohm them out to see which of the two it is. The other wire is the one you want to connect to the terminal block. Chassis ground is then provided through the Cougar Instrumentaion board.

Let me know how it works out since I couldn't test it in my VW. The voltage stabilizer that supplies 10V power to temp & gas gauges turned out to be bad. I'll need to take apart my dash YET AGAIN to replace it. Not a high priority for me since its a major pain.

-Chris