I am New to Arduino and I want to build a fuel gauge reader that converts the signal from the sender unit in the senor to number of liters available in the tank.
after i did some research I learned that there are different types of fuel gauges some are analog and some are electric .
Can I build a generic chip that will work for both.
Can I build that using Arduino ?
Is Arduino for me or not ?
Thanks and Regards
I think arduino is a bit overkill for that task but I would say it's entirely possible. If you are new to microcontrollers and such then I suggest using arduino, if you have some experience then I would use an atmega88 on a custom pcb.
I am new to microcontrollers, I have experience in .net development. the point is that I am afraid this will not be compatible to the majority of the fuel gauges and I will have to think of a different design maybe for each gauge (analog and electric) and those gauges reading from car computer and so on.
Is it feasible to use ardunio as a proof of concept as i am beginner to microcontrollers ?
Is it feasible to use ardunio as a proof of concept as i am beginner to microcontrollers ?
absolutely.
Thanks,
Does any one know if different fuel gauges will require different designs ?
I believe different tank size might require normalization for the voltage value conversion.
any Ideas ?
No clue on that but for the orginal question id say the arduino is for u, there's many amazing things I've seen the arduino do, very few things it understandablly can't, but yhe arduino is very flexible and if you knew before the many types of guages or made your program editable on the fly then I don't see why it couldn't be compatible with it all assuming the voltage ranges are similiar
Great , So what do you recommend the best device to start with (I will be using it for this project).
Freshabd:
Thanks,Does any one know if different fuel gauges will require different designs ?
I believe different tank size might require normalization for the voltage value conversion.
any Ideas ?
There is no standard for fuel gauges, so you will have to figure out the value -> fuel level conversion for each vehicle. Do this by taking a reading, adding a little fuel (say half a liter), take another reading, add another half liter, etc.
wizdum,
Can't I take the reading when the tank is empty and the reading when the tank is full and with the size of tank known I do the scaling. or this will not work ?
Is there any easier way than filling .5 for each vehicle this will make a generic fuel tank sensor almost that shows fuel in liters almost impossible.
You could try contacting the manufacturer of the fuel sensor and asking for a product datasheet...
Freshabd:
wizdum,Can't I take the reading when the tank is empty and the reading when the tank is full and with the size of tank known I do the scaling. or this will not work ?
Is there any easier way than filling .5 for each vehicle this will make a generic fuel tank sensor almost that shows fuel in liters almost impossible.
There are some things to consider that can explain why this may not work as well as it might sound.
The sensor may not provide a linear reading based on where the fuel level is
For example, if empty is a reading of E and full is reading of F then the values the sensor
provides may not be even distributed through the range of motion/detection of the fluid.
i.e. a reading half way between E and F may not be when the fluid level is halfway between empty and full.
Assuming the sensor is linear, then there is still the possibility that the tank is not square.
If this is the case, then the volume of fluid based on depth of fuel in the tank is not
linear. i.e. 1 inch of fluid change when the tank is near empty is not the same amount
of fuel when the tank is near fuel.
If for example, if the tank is trapezoidal shaped and the tank is larger at the top than
the bottom, then if you used a simple linear scaling and the sensor is also a linear sensor
(based on depth of fuel) then the first half of the tank would
appear to last longer since it is more fuel than the second half because an inch at the top has a larger square area
than at the bottom.
It is possible to account for a non square tank using a non linear sensor that matches
the tank. In that case even though the tank is not square and the sensor is non linear
the readings from the sensor would be perfectly linear.
However, that may not be desirable as the indicator gauge may not want a linear input
for its readings. i.e. the amount of energy needed to indicate 1/4 of tank may not be 1/4 of
the energy needed to indicate a full tank etc...
In a perfect design, the sensor, the tank and the gauge are designed or at least matched to work together to
give an accurate reading on the gauge.
The beauty of using a microntroller and some software is that no matter what the sensor readings are, you can
always map them to whatever you need.
Just keep in mind that you probably will have to use some external circuitry to match the sensors output
to something that the AVR can handle. In the simplest case it is a voltage divider to convert a 0-12v signal
to be no more than 5v.
--- bill
It sounds like you are planning to sell this. Just so you know the arduino processor is not for use in automotive products according to Atmel. But that is probbly a don't sue me sort of thing.