W124 has to be electronical

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hi.
New to Arduino's and programming.

I have a car that I am modifying with a newer transmission that is electronic. I have a controller for the transmission, so that's covered. But am in need to control some servo's, a linear actuator and possibly a small dc motor.

I have no idea what type of Arduino I will need, which shield to use and how to program it. This is where I am asking for help. :slight_smile:

But I will explain in detail what I am trying to do.
I am looking for a way to make the the car digitial to an extent.
Mainly making the speedometer and Odometer electronic instead of cable driven as it was born and remove the shift lever from the car gaining valuable space in the center console.
If possible I would like for a small 20x2 HD 44870 lcd to sit in the speedo housing and display some stuff down the road mainly oil temp, outside temp, boost, current gear.

For speedometer/odometer I have two options and the latter seems to be the easiest, although the noise made by the dc motor is unwanted which is why I am leaning towards the servo.
The servo has to move the speedometer needle via gearing to give me 320 degrees of rotation give or take.
Or I have to drive the whole Speedometer/Odometer arrangement with a small dc motor most likely with Pwm which is noisy and not so elegant in my opinion.

The linear actuator will pull and push the gear lever from park to drive in a normal fashion ie. P-R-N-D. Actuator is a digital servo that operates on 6-12 volts with a max power consumption of 3.5A and a control voltage of 3-5 volts, pretty standard stuff if I remember correctly.
Actuator link.
http://servocity.com/html/heavy_duty_linear_servo__25__l.html

I would like to control the actuator with a rotary switch that has 6 positions, double row. So the switch would go P-R-N-D-M-TM.
The M and TM are Manual and True Manual. This only has to be told to the transmission controller and not the actuator.
For simplicity's sake assume that the actuator has to have the same position as D in M and TM mode. So the rotary switch only has 4 positions as far as the Arduino has to know, the remaining two will be electrically cut off from the Arduino with diodes, so the Arduino still holds the actuator in D.

So does anybody have an idea what I am in need of?
Thank You in advance. /me

2

First thing you need to answer is where you are located. In the US, tampering with the speedometer is a no-no.

3

Well. First off. I live in Denmark. If that means I break your laws then fine. It's not a problem here. :smiley:

I am not talking about tampering with the speedometer for the sake of doing illegal things.
I don't have that much of a choice anyway. I need to drive the speedometer in some way or I have no speedometer at all. :cry:
I want it to read correctly when at speed and have the odometer read the correct value.
At some point I have to have another speedo in it, as the maximum speed it can show is 220 km/h and I am adding a large turbo to the car plus I have altered the gearing..