What features on your ULTIMATE fuel economy instrumentation?
 

In the thread about Nissan's CARWINGS service that takes fuel economy instrumentation to a higher level, CarloSW2 said...

That got me thinking... What features would you like to see on the "ultimate" fuel economy computer?

Couple of things I'd like, off the top of my head...

• Heads-up display, projected onto the windscreen

• Settable audio tone, (e.g. when "target driving" - aka DWL - to a specific instantaneous fuel consumption rate) that sounds/changes as you start to approach/drop below your target

• An interface with the cruise control for target driving - so you set your target MPG, not a target speed, and the computer talks to the cruise control

I'd like an online or whatever link to gas station prices along my route. No more filling up at the "wrong" place and missing the lowest price!

That's a neat idea.

I like the Nissan idea too: automatic upload to a web and in-car database (with optional privacy settings) so you can compare to all other people who are using the computer.

More integration with NAV/GPS equipment and the ability to monitor and sense elevation and grade. The ability to remember routes and conditions and which techniques worked best under different scenarios and provide some form of coaching. You'd probably cross some line connecting it to an actual control except maybe the cruise module.

Also the ability to judge forward distances, distance of vehicles behind , sense traffic light pattern and alert when they may change (at least try modeling patterns on those that are on standard routes).

Ooh. Good ideas. How about:

• The ability to tell you, exactly how much throttle to use to accelerate at maximum efficiency, and suggest when to shift (if it's a manual).

How about a traffic jam warning?

Wind speed indicator so you know if you can take advantage of the wind, or if you are driving in the wrong place in a wake.
Current wind conditions along your route. may be better going clockwise around Indy today rather than counter clockwise.
A red, yellow and green led on the back of the car, to tell the driver behind if you are accelerating, coasting or engine braking.
Ditto, cruise control options for economy acceleration and cruise, with/out trans down shifting or unlocking.

Since I respond to visual items best, I would vote for a digital meter for selected parameters instead of a number (FE, LOD, TPS, GPH).

To take the work out of it, the device would upload to a PC (wireless, bluetooth, USB, whichever). The program would interpret the highest cruise FE and the parameters present during that run (timing, IAT, LOD, speed bands).

I'd also vote for previous suggestions of a HUD, and wind speed / direction.

If we're dreaming here: it could also program fuel maps and shift autos manually. :D

RH77

Ditto on the elevation/grade info. I borrowed a gps with elevation readout, but the constant monitoring and mental calculation required to determine rate of accent/decent was too time consuming and distracting.

Ditto on the wind conditions: Absolute, maybe. But I check the wind conditions before starting my commutes anyway. Relative wind would definitely useful. (Will I look too dorky with an anemometer and wind vane on the roof of my car? Will the drag offset any gains?)

Ditto on communications. But I don't need wireless. The SGII already has two serial ports. It would just be nice to poll it with a pc for data logging, or with a micro controller for mod control, etc. Why not share all data available, including calculated FE?

How about an integrated EFIE, with the ability to control it based on parameters such as throttle, rpm, or speed? eg, if speed > 45 and throttle < 25 and loop = closed then enable EFIE.

Speaking of controls, how about some programmable outputs for controlling our mods? In addition to the above mentioned EFIE, we could control torque-converter lockup, water injection, fuel vaporizer, alternator disable, HHO generator, etc., based on engine parameters.

I'd just plain make it where It could be used on any vehicle, you know.. before 96... carbed or not. etc.

first pic my first fuel computer circa 1977. used magnetics on the drive shaft and a little pancake shaped fuel meter with a circular groove inside running horizontal around the groove was little black ball about 1/4 " in diameter each time the ball went around it traveled between a light and a light pickup. counting the fuel volume. it works well till the ball turned to gue, from the fuel. worked on any engine that didn't have a fuel return.


next pic the new computer i just got working, works on any mfi engine, uses vss signal and pulse width to compute current economy.

I would want mine to store every piece of info about my car into a data historian. tire pressures, oil pressure, fuel flow, ambient temp, engine temp, cars weight, bearing vibrations. Anything that can be measured.

On TOP of my list would be 0-5v line indicating Load, could be used to trigger all sorts of things.

Programmable output lines would be great. Something to swith Alternator On/ off BMW style would be great, another with A/C linked to a cabin air temp sensor would be great as well.

More data is always good.

Cadence, I like it on my bike, might be cool, easy to implment.

Can someone help me understand what exactly cadence is in the context of a car?

cars should have pedals, for when I need to move up 10 ft in a traffic jamm.

How about the ability to limit your throttle, that way even if you mash the pedal under an economy setting full throttle would not be applied, thus controling your consumption in certain modes ...

To answer your question metrompg. Just 2 things. 1. Mpg cruize control. it would need adjustable minumum and maximum speeds for going up and down hills. Also it would need adjustable gain so that again as you are going up and down hills it would be able to adjust how much you slow up and speed up. 2. would be downloadable stats with the ablity to add gauges. example would be if you wanted to monitor the oil in the rear end (differential) you could add that function. With this system any car could use it cause its expandable. kind of like plug and play on the computer.

Real time updating 3d maps!

Let me plot data of velocity (x) rpm(y) and fuel consumption (z).. Or maybe load on the y.... Whatever the case, I want to be able to change what is displayed on each axis :D

I think that, or something like it, would be an ultimate feature.... Although it requires quite a bit of math which I haven't done in awhile :D

They have this on my garmin, works pretty well. It actually re-routes you if the traffic jam is heavy enough... :thumbup:

*A BSFC map with a blip indicating where you're operating and a vector indicating which way you want to move throttle and RPMs.
*A road load indicator breaking down how much aero, rolling, inertial, and gravitational load you're experiencing, and a summary of those loads at the end of your trip.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ncy-12478.html :thumbup:
If only there were a commercial application for this system, a major automaker would have built it already. I guess it's up to hobbyists and academics to build it.

*A navigation system with traffic and hills forecast. The hills forecast would let hybrid drivers know when to build up and run down the traction battery state of charge. This might already be available, I don't know.

Something where you could have a HUD and every single sensor record stuff and upload it to a server or Google docs (in real time).

+100!

...a visual indication of "...where-the-BEST-FE-is..." and "...where am I driving now..." would go a long way towards teaching drivers about FE on the road.

...something to do with a picture and 1,000 words (ha,ha).

This thread is full of interesting ideas to stea- er... borrow for my arduino project. Keep em coming. ^_^

Already have the HUD and bar graphs figured out btw... Just a matter of the displays (7-segment, 16-segment, bar graph or otherwise), appropriate I2C LED display drivers and a few functions to communicate with them. Communication only takes up two I/O lines and is expandable a bit like USB. If there were some program storage space to spare (maybe go to an Atmega328 chip?), it could probably be tacked onto the MPGuino code.

Good lord man! You just described autopilot, not cruise control. While i would love that, it is years away, and i am not holding my breath, rather sighing in dismay.

Vacuum gauge. A computer would have to process the information, then relay it with audio. If it had lights, it would be quicker, but the good old vacuum gauge, and a competent user can do this without fancy integrated circuits.

pardon the humor:

VACUUM GAUGE = mechancial-analog feedback

SCANGAUGE-II = digital-display feedback

Pardon my lack of an ability to see your point... I am a huge fan of analog displays. So is a very large portion of the population, and auto manufacturers, considering they have kept the analog tach, speedo, voltmeter, coolant, fuel gauge(which admittedly would be very nice to have a digital percentage rather than a needle), and various other instruments.

...has nothing to do with their realtime displays, as both are easy to see and understand; however, it's almost impossible to capture & record data from an analog vacuum gauge, but very easy to do so from a digital system.

...and many MPG people like to track/analyze what happens as they strive from better FE.

I think we are arguing about something ridiculous, they have both available for different reasons, i personally prefer the analog. You can attach a recording device to the OBDII to get your recording, if you choose to use an analog display, or you can get a digital one.
I find analogs to be more reliable, faster, and easier to read, but this is my opinion, and I respect yours.
Nevertheless, a vacuum gauge can, and does provide information that can be used for hypermiling, and if you are on a budget, it is a very cheap implementation.

...I believe you haven't read the OP subject of this thread, which is "...What features on your ULTIMATE fuel economy instrumentation?..."

...Hence, the answer(s) revolve around an "instrumentation" system and what "other/new" features people would like to have implemented by that system, with the implied understanding that the (digital) instrumentation system already exists, such as ScanGaugeII™ or Ultragauge™, etc.

As stated before, ability to work on pre ODB II cars.

Some cars dont output the vacuum data through the OBDII, so my scanguage doesnt have it. Im looking for a vacuum gauge. And you can have a digital gauge with an analog display BTW... Then you have your accuracy and recording, but a traditional display with the ability to judge relative position, and patterns.

I really want to add an indicator in my car to tell me when the car has entered/left closed loop mode... as it's nowhere near as efficient before this.

...I stand corrected.

I don't have one (yet), so someone who does can confirm, but doesn't the Ultraguage do this already?

It does.

The ScanGaugeII does that as well.

Timing retard/advance control, user programmable with manual and automatic mode

One thing I would like that I haven't seen on any available gauges is a gear indicator (for AT cars) to tell you what gear your car is in, when it is shifting, etc. That would be quite handy for discovering at what speed your car switches to the highest gear, etc.

This is a feature in gliders, where the "vario" gauge often outputs current vertical speed in audio form, making it almost instinctive to recognize variations in lift.

Mark