MPGuino Stolen :(

[scubascooby]

Does the display stay on all the time ?!

No wonder it got nicked. The local chavs around here will nick anything like that. I had read about the constant power supply being needed (not 100% sure why) but assumed the display went off when it was no longer doing anything.

[wagonman76]

If built to spec, the backlight will shut off after the timeout set in the programming. Default is 7 minutes. I set mine to 3. After that it is hard to read. The screen on my Celeb mpguino does not totally shut off, but it does not use the recommended display either.

The constant power supply is needed to retain the program and settings. Like the clock and presets on the radio.

[dcb]

I think a few folks have figured out how to control the backlight from the ignition power. It doesn't come that way "stock" as it complicates installation a bit, but it can be done with just adding one resistor I'm sure. [figuring...] Looks like about 300ohms+ and 1/4 watt+ resistor for the standard display. Disconnect the emitter lead on the pnp from the onboard 5 volts and hook the emitter to ignition power through the resistor.

In theory of course

But if it works then the backlight would turn off immediately when you turn the key off.

[Coyote X]

I can't really do any engine off stuff on this van so I just set the timeout to 1 minute on the new one. With it mounted where it is on the dash and going off quickly it should not be an issue. But with it sitting on the top of the dash and the 7 minute timeout I guess it was just a big temptation for someone to grab and run off with and figure out what it is later. on the top right of the dash you can see the spot where it used to be and melted a part of the dash cover.

I finally got my new one set up and properly working. I had to replace the speed sensor buffer module, it was burned up when the wires were shorted out. So 80 bucks later I have a fully working van again. Maybe adding some 0.1 amp fuses would have saved it but from looking at the specs on the chips in the vssb module they could only handle 5 volts so any 12V going into them would kill them even if the fuse blew almost instantly. I am not really sure what it would take to protect the signal lines except for maybe a germanium diode on the lines where they spliced into the factory harness. They seem to blow a lot easier than silicon diodes so that would offer better protection I guess.

I probably still won't put any protection on my wiring other than to lower the 12v inline fuse to 0.5A or 1A so it will actually blow with the 22ga phone wire shorted out. The 15A fuse I had laying around I put on there is a bit big for a phone wire short and never did blow.