I want to make a motorcycle gauge using a android tablet.
There are several lights like oil pressure, water temp and neutral light also some gauges like fuel, speed and rpm.
The light indicators works at 12vdc. the rpm gauge works at ~12vdc, the higher rpm the lower the voltage. Fuel sensor I have to figure out but I think it works at 12v at full (sensor raises resistance as fuel lowers). Speed sensor I have no idea yet, it uses a magnet and sensor to count the revolutions of the wheel. I think I can get/tab into all this info at the stock gauge connector/plug. I am not looking to contol anything, just dispay data on an android screen.
I understand I need some kind of microcontriller or interface unit to pass this info to android or process this info, translate it into usable data and pass it on to android to be displayed. The problem is that I have basic understanding of electronics and some light programing experience. I need to be thrown in the right direction. What I do have is persistence and motivation.
My question is what hardware do I need to make this happened. I was looking at arduino or some pbasic stamps but like I said before I have no clue where to go from here.
Since I have some light programing experience a easy language would be preferred. Price is another issue, I was looking to spend as little as possible. Please help me choose the best board with the easiest language at a good price
Maybe there is a similar well documented project out there?
Your guidance would be much appreciated, thank you.
Sounds like as far as getting the data to an arduino you're well on your way to figuring it out, using a combination of digital (e.g., the light indication) and analog inputs). You just need some circuitry to change the voltage ranges from 0-12V to 0-5V. You might be able to get away with some simple voltage dividers.
I guess the main hurdle is how to get it to the Android device. I've been wondering how far along the Android Open Accessory initiative has progressed, particularly in regards to supporting the FTDI chip. In May at Makerfaire FTDI announced support for Android Open Accessory:
"FTDI is very excited about the new Android Open Accessories initiative and in response has decided to provide support for it in both the Vinculum II dual USB host/device controller IC and the low cost Vinco development board product offerings” states the company’s CEO and founder Fred Dart. “We expect this to have a major impact on the way engineers carry out future development projects, giving them access to a far greater breadth of device connectivity.”
This move will prove to be of great benefit to engineers using the company’s Arduino-inspired Vinco platform (which was released in November 2010) to create USB 2.0 connected embedded systems.
I'm not sure if many people here have tried the Vinco device but that might be the way to go. It would be cool to use XBee as the communication link.
Vinco looks good, good price too. The only problemi see ia that the min Android version is 2.3.
I think is because prior versions dis not allow arduino to be a host. I would like to fond something that is compatible with 2.1 and above. Do you think a project like this needs needs arduino to be host or can I get away with Android been the hosts?
I will look at voltage dividers, not familiar with them.
Jonagpa:
Do you think a project like this needs needs arduino to be host or can I get away with Android been the hosts?
Can't say I know much about that for sure, but the Viniculum II IDE that you use with the Vinco has example apps for "USBSlave" and "USBHost" in the Vinco folder. The USBSlave app has this README:
USBSlave FT232 Sample Readme
This demonstration application emulates an FT232 device in the Vinco and simply echos data received from the host.
The Vinco is connected to the host (PC) via USB Port 1.
Anyway, the device seems very interesting. This is FTDI's summary:
Microcontroller: VNC2-64Q
Operating voltage: 5V
Input power supply: 9V
Digital I/O: 30
Analogue I/O: 8
USB port: 2 – configurable for host or device operation
FLASH memory: 256kbytes
RAM: 16kbytes
Variable clock speeds: 12/24/48MHz
Superset of the Arduino Duemilanove / Uno development boards.
FTDI Integrated Development Environment (IDE) including code editor, compiler, assembler and
debugger, which is supplied free of charge, and supports ANSII C coding for easy portability and
maintainability.
Precompiled drivers for a variety of interfaces e.g. USB, UART, SPI.
Precompiled driver support for a wide range of USB host classes including Mass Storage, Human
Interface Devices (keyboards, mice), audio devices, video devices (webcam) with many more
under development.
Precompiled driver support for a wide range of USB device classes including FTDI peripheral ICs,
Human Interface Devices (keyboards, mice) with many more under developed.
Compatible with existing Arduino shields.
A software configuration wizard is currentlty under development.
