I have searched and I haven’t seen anyone try this so I don’t know if it’s even possible. I’m looking to use a tft display as an 8 gang control panel to turn on and off different features in my truck. Lights, winch, etc. I understand that I’ll need a relay box to control each feature. If anyone has any experience or advice on what to use would be appreciated
I would guess that has been done a few thousand times. Google is your friend.
Unless this project is for a toy truck, use only automotive rated relays, not the toy relays most people use for their hobby/learning projects. Also use automotive rated fuses for each circuit you are switching.
Well I guess I’m an idiot and don’t know how to google or what exactly to search cause I haven’t found what I’m trying to do. One or two companies make them but want 1000 bucks each. Not spending that
I assume you are interfacing to a real truck? does it have a canbus interface?
there are many TFT screens with touch interface - simplest maybe a cheap yellow display which has an onboard ESP32 microcontroller
you could interface it to a 8 Channel I2C Interface Electromagnetic Relay Module
do you want the TFT display to directly control the relays or communicate with a second microcontroller which does the relay control??
possibly use a smartphone to control the relays??
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Yes ( sorry I was lazy in my original explanation being it was 4am and was still tinkering) yes it’s on a 2013 Chevy duramax in which does have CANbus. What my intentions are is controlling aftermarket add ons to the truck, work lights, compressors, basic functions that I am to turn on and off with the screen. It’s more of a look feature and the not having an even more big mess of wires.
In my thinking I was going to control box that insist of idk 6-8 relays that went to whatever I was turning on and off. The screens function would pretty much be the switches, be nice to be able to program a new button if I were to swap something out or add something else.
You can use TFT Touch Shield for Arduino Uno, or use it with Mega/Giga R1 if need more IO pin. The full code and instruction are available here:
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I will check this one out. There’s so many options now days it’s hard to make a good decision lol. I appreciate the help
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the UNO R4 TFT has the advantage that it plugs into a R4 - no need for jumper wires etc which can be a source of poor connections and intermittent problems
photo of a mcufried_3_5_TFT_LCD plugged into a Mega running File>Examples>MCUFRIEND_kbv>GLUE_Demo_480x320 from the MCUFRIEND_kbv library
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I tuned in again and this draft popped up, I had forgotten all about it:
I googled
arduino touch screen relay control
I do believe it has been done, at least the easy(er) part - touch screen operates relays. More advanced controlling is a separate issue.
a7
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Well, of course, the hard part of this project is not energising a few relays via a microcontroller because, let's face it, that is trivial. The hard part is developing software to display buttons or fancy widgets (visual controls like slider potentiometers, dials, knobs etc. etc.) on a touch sensitive screen and reacting accordingly to the user's finger movements on this screen.
Some display technology such as Nextion, but I am sure there are many others, attempts to make this easy with libraries and development environments. You can even, at a push, do this with a raw touch screen. I guess you'd start with a rough design of the display with all the controls, background graphics etc. and, in an iterative process, refine downwards to what is realistically achievable within the scope your knowledge and the available software.
Once you have got the display right with the controls and actions, start thinking about how you'd integrate that with your vehicle electrical system (of course with all the disclaimers about observing rules, safety regulations and all the things that mature adults have to consider before embarking on such a venture).
Just to give you an idea, google for "nextion touch screen vehicle control" and look at all the pictures and maybe some videos.
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i appreciate the help and the advice, i have looked into the nextion and which i am considering one of these.
i wont be tapping into my vehicles electrical system by any means this is all after market and ran separate from the vehicles electrical system considering it has canbus and all that.