LCD Instrumentation for Cougar Controller

[ianbartie]

Very true, harlequin2. It was just one of those things.
Anyway, 8 of these new boards are spoken for already.
There are 7 left at the moment.

Now for the the soldering iron & the box of goodies.

[harlequin2]

Yes, it went together very easily even sans component overlay. Mine works well and I'm thinking of attacking the software so as to be able to alter some of the parameters without re-programming the chip ie do it through the serial interface.
One problem I had with Mouser: they sent me two 3-way connectors instead of the two 12-way ones I asked for. Error comes about from the fact that they click together to make up various sizes. Something to watch when you order the parts.

[ianbartie]

There are now 3 PBCs left.
If you are interested let me know.

[jackbauer]

Well i'm a moron. Its official. I had mis-installed vr2 so its wiper was on the pic's rs232 receive line! This caused my rs232 and fuel gauge drive issues. Now solved.

[MPaulHolmes]

Originally Posted by jackbauer

Well i'm a moron.

At least you didn't fall off the cliff! (you were a little more on) haha.

[Freyguy]

Hey guys,
One final feature I wanted to add (and time had allowed) was the addition of a charge mode. Provided you are using a hall sensor to monitor battery current, this version of code detects current moving in the opposite direction and automatically brings up a charge status screen. Battery charge current is calculated from measured battery amps and a “charge efficiency” constant you can select. This calculated value is added to the battery’s capacity every second. The new screen shows total charge time, measured charge amps, and the current SOC. If charge current goes to zero (or a programmed trickle charge threshold) the charge timer will stop incrementing.

Since accessory voltage is off while the car is charging, an alternate +12V source is required. I used a 12V 1A AC/DC power supply mounted in the engine bay and powered from an AC outlet on the side of my onboard charger. An oring diode is required on this line. I attached mine to a harness which is then soldered onto the LCD board right at the input to the +5V regulator (see pics)

I’ll have the code posted sometime this week.
Here’s a little demo-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qCTOHr4tNI

[jackbauer]

Just thinking out loud regards powering the board when on charge. I don't use a dc-dc. I have a seperate 12v battery and charger for the accessory systems. I have the lcd module powered via a relay from the ignition switch. I also have a mains powered two pole relay that i use one pole for traction inhibit when on charge. If i wired the spare pole in parallel with the 12v relay it would activate when plugged in and draw power from the 12v charger. I'll give it a try. Might save a bit of rewiring.

[Freyguy]

Sounds like it would work. For me, the AC powered supply was an easy way to provide power when ignition was off and charger was on. This setup could even be powered by the accessory battery directly since a 160mA load for a 10 hour charge cycle wouldn't be much of a drain. Just need a switch or AC relay.

[BadDog98]

Hello All,
Is the latest BOM available in XLS format. I noticed earlier versions were in this format. The PDF version doesn't seem to allow the cells and columns to act like cells and columns. At least not in my reader. Later, Mark

[1-ev.com]

Hey Chris,
Do you know that this item 863-NTD4858N-1G has been discontinued, according to Mouser;

"End of Life: Scheduled for obsolescence and will be discontinued by the supplier."

if viewed in your project list.

Also, can I replace this one 140-50N2-180J-RC (Backordered) with any other? Guess I should be able to with 140-500N5-180J-RC

Also, would be nice to make some sort of delay (2-3 cek) for displaying the mAMPs and bAMPs during driving, due to the fact that human eyes cannot adjust to changing numbers that fast

I know someone would say "YOUR EYES WILL ADJUST" as in "Alvin and the Chipmunks" where Ian Hawke was given Simon a new pair of glasses ...

Thank you, good work!!!
-Youri