Arduino powered display

MordeKyle · Jan 10, 2015

I'm going to be working on a Sim display (F1 style) for the budget minded Sim racer. I'm going to use the arduino (possibly uno) to power the display. If anyone wants to throw some knowledge or past experiences my way, I'd be happy to take the help.

This will be a 100% open source project. I look forward to posting my progress here.

Scroll thought the posts to see update.

Alberto Casado · Jan 10, 2015

Before you reinvent the wheel, have a look at that thread http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/diy-dash-indicator.89304/

It's probably better if you improve on that base than if you start from scratch.

MordeKyle · Jan 10, 2015

Alberto Casado said:
Before you reinvent the wheel, have a look at that thread http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/diy-dash-indicator.89304/

It's probably better if you improve on that base than if you start from scratch.

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely take a closer look at that.

MordeKyle · Jan 16, 2015

Thought I'd share some progress...

Lap delta and current lap

Jonathan Menéndez · Jan 16, 2015

Interesting.

Connor Caple · Jan 16, 2015

Mmmm... breadboards. Yummy

MordeKyle · Jan 16, 2015

Right now I'm working on integration with the Codemasters games. As the info Alberto Casado posted covers most of the other popular Sims. Once I get everything working with Codemasters, I will modify the arduino code to work with the other games.

Right now I'm having to build my own program in C# to extract the data from the Codemasters API and send it to the arduino. Work in progress!

MordeKyle · Jan 16, 2015

Also, if anyone know, on the real F1 displays, how is the number zero displayed? Is it simply a 0, or does it have the line through it?

Jonathan Menéndez · Jan 17, 2015

No line, simply zero.

MordeKyle · Jan 17, 2015

Jonathan Menéndez said:
No line, simply zero.

Thanks!

MordeKyle · Jan 17, 2015

Brightness control. Dimmest on left, brightest on right. 16 brightness settings.

MordeKyle · Jan 23, 2015

Thought I'd post a little update. ;-)

Darius Hayati · Jan 24, 2015

Looking really cool so far. I don't race codemaster games but as soon as the other sims are in place I'll be trying this out.

MordeKyle · Jan 31, 2015

Here is a video I made tonight of what is going on with the display. Hope you guys like.

MordeKyle · Feb 7, 2015

So I see the wiring of this project being an issue for people (including myself). This whole thing is just a huge rats nest of wires. So... I spent a couple days putting this together...

I'm going to triple check some stuff, then send this off to have the circuit printed.

Alberto Casado · Feb 8, 2015

@MordeKyle I am not sure from the schematics (the zoomed version is still too small to see clearly), but it seems you are using something like 30 resistors, I guess to limit the current for the LEDs. I suppose you are using shift registers to deserialize the signal.

Maybe is a bit too late if you already sent the board to print, but have you considered using LM3915/6 's? you could just send a properly scaled analog value from the arduino and that would take care of lighting up up to 10 leds without additional resistors.

(Disclaimer: i have not tested that... yet, but it should work)

Alternatively, you can use resistor networks to do the same but a bit more compact/clean.

MordeKyle · Feb 8, 2015

Alberto Casado said:
[R=206395]@MordeKyle[/USER] I am not sure from the schematics (the zoomed version is still too small to see clearly), but it seems you are using something like 30 resistors, I guess to limit the current for the LEDs. I suppose you are using shift registers to deserialize the signal.

Maybe is a bit too late if you already sent the board to print, but have you considered using LM3915/6 's? you could just send a properly scaled analog value from the arduino and that would take care of lighting up up to 10 leds without additional resistors.

(Disclaimer: i have not tested that... yet, but it should work)

Alternatively, you can use resistor networks to do the same but a bit more compact/clean.

Yes, there are 26 I belive. One for each rpm LED, one for each warning LED, and one for each segment on the 7 segment. And ya, I'm using shift registers. My concern with doing what you say is how to adjust for the voltage drop when say all 15 rpm LED's are on compared to just 1. Also, how difficult would it be for someone to adjust the brightness to their own liking?

I'm using 100ohm and 150ohm resisters on red and all other colors respectively. Even when I set the brightness values to the lowest possible value, these things are still super bright. So I would think someone would want to add more resistance to bring them down some.

Thanks for the info, I will definitely be looking into your idea.

MordeKyle · Feb 8, 2015

@Alberto Casado it looks like the M3915/6 is for like a bar graph, no? If that's the case, this wouldn't work for this project. The rpm LED's are not exclusively for displaying shift points. They will also be used for things like remaining kers, pit limiter, and shunts, as well as other things. The LED's will not always light up in a specific sequence.

Also, the resistor networks are a great idea! Thanks!

MordeKyle · Feb 9, 2015

Ok, so here is the second version...

I'm really kinda shocked at how much all these companies want to print this... It kinda defeats the purpose of doing this cheaply.

eSEA One · Feb 12, 2015

What's the price on printing the board?
BTW I am sure you have seen this for a alternative
http://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/i...2-1-3-for-ac-v1-0-rewrite-auto-updater.14172/
Bur the drawback from this one is it doesn't have the bigger display for the gears!