Digital Instrument Panel

[cuthound]

3 hours ago, nicknorman said:

On one of the older helicopter types I flew with dial-type instruments, the system instruments were rotated so that the needles all pointed to the 12 o’clock position when the readings were normal. That way you could tell at a glance if any of the system instruments were abnormal.

 

As I pointed out in post #11.

 

Unless you require extremely precise readings (unlikely in a boat, car of flying thing) digital instruments have no advantage over analogue except for bling value.

Edited June 23, 2018 by cuthound
Spullung

[George and Dragon]

On 16/06/2018 at 19:44, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I said I was planning to make a digital instrument panel for a friends boat and that I'd be starting a topic on it in due course. That time has now come and here it is...

Excellent. Thank you. I may pinch some of your ideas.

 

[George and Dragon]

On 17/06/2018 at 21:16, cuthound said:

I much prefer analogue instruments. You can twist the gauges so that the pointers are upright when everything is normal, so you don't have to even read them,  just glance at them to check that everything is OK. 

  

 With digital readouts you need to actually read each one to understand what is happening, which takes much longer.

With the arduino it would be possible set alarm thresholds for any parameter which could flash a bright red LED, sound a buzzer etc. 

Or you could have three LEDs per parameter: yellow below normal, green in normal range, and red above normal. The actual numbers can be logged at suitable intervals and reviewed when the need arises.

[cuthound]

4 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

With the arduino it would be possible set alarm thresholds for any parameter which could flash a bright red LED, sound a buzzer etc. 

Or you could have three LEDs per parameter: yellow below normal, green in normal range, and red above normal. The actual numbers can be logged at suitable intervals and reviewed when the need arises.

 

Indeed, but it all adds to the complication, analogue meters rule for quick assimilation of information on a boat.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Agree with Cuthound. Needles on dials, aligned so that normal readings are vertical are the quickest for assimilating information and reacting to problems. That is why race cars and many aeroplanes are set out that way. Generally, on an inland boat the pace is a little less frantic than in a racing car with an engine about to blow up, or a flying machine about to turn in to a brick, or fly in to a cumulo-granite cloud. For my own boat I am sticking with moving needles on round dials. This project is for a friend who specifically wants a digital display.

 

There will be flashing led's and buzzers, as well as further information on the display *HIGH*, or *LOW* against the appropriate item as appropriate. No multi colour LED's, just red. Alternator charge LED is orange.

 

No data logging. There is limited EEPROM storage on the arduino that is used to store engine hours when it is switched off. This has a limited amount of write cycles (100,000 or so), before it wears out, so it is only updated every 0.1 hours (6 minutes). That should give a life of around 10,000 engine hours and probably something else will break before then. Data logging would require something else to write the log file too, or to read data for a log file. Perfectly possible, but no plans to implement it. I have got serial comms set up with the laptop for debugging, looking at input values and intermediate calculations, but this won't be turned on in the final sketch.

 

Jen

 

Jen

[Chewbacka]

It would be quite clever if the display were to tell you against engine hours when key service items were due, such as engine oil, gearbox oil, fuel filter, air filter etc.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

8 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

It would be quite clever if the display were to tell you against engine hours when key service items were due, such as engine oil, gearbox oil, fuel filter, air filter etc.

Now there is an idea. Would need some thought as to how annoying the nagging would be and how to clear it once the service took place.

Jen

Edited June 24, 2018 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Chewbacka]

20 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Now there is an idea. Would need some thought as to how annoying the nagging would be and how to clear it once the service took place.

Jen

Easy, same as a car, go to the dealer - in this case you - and pay an unreasonably large amount of money to confirm the service.  Good future income.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 minute ago, Chewbacka said:

Easy, same as a car, go to the dealer - in this case you - and pay an unreasonably large amount of money to confirm the service.  Good future income.

More money in the "get Jen a Hudson and butler" pot.

[Chewbacka]

3 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

More money in the "get Jen a Hudson and butler" pot.

Oh well back to lottery tickets then....................

[David Mack]

On 23/06/2018 at 15:05, mrsmelly said:

Oh dear!! does all this mean my dial thingies that all work with lovely needles are soon going to stop working ☹️ Will I no longer be able to see my water temp is exactly where it should be and so too my oil pressure and that my batteries are charging/charged without " Going Digital "

 

No. Go for gauges. Like Mark99:

 

[mrsmelly]

10 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

No. Go for gauges. Like Mark99:

 

Whilst I  wouldnt have the old knacker of an engine those gauges are great and can be seen by grown ups without resorting to spectacles ?

[George and Dragon]

17 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

No data logging. There is limited EEPROM storage on the arduino that is used to store engine hours when it is switched off. This has a limited amount of write cycles (100,000 or so), before it wears out, so it is only updated every 0.1 hours (6 minutes). That should give a life of around 10,000 engine hours and probably something else will break before then. Data logging would require something else to write the log file too, or to read data for a log file.

Good point. A RPi would be better then.

[nicknorman]

18 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Agree with Cuthound. Needles on dials, aligned so that normal readings are vertical are the quickest for assimilating information and reacting to problems. That is why race cars and many aeroplanes are set out that way. Generally, on an inland boat the pace is a little less frantic than in a racing car with an engine about to blow up, or a flying machine about to turn in to a brick, or fly in to a cumulo-granite cloud. For my own boat I am sticking with moving needles on round dials. This project is for a friend who specifically wants a digital display.

 

There will be flashing led's and buzzers, as well as further information on the display *HIGH*, or *LOW* against the appropriate item as appropriate. No multi colour LED's, just red. Alternator charge LED is orange.

 

No data logging. There is limited EEPROM storage on the arduino that is used to store engine hours when it is switched off. This has a limited amount of write cycles (100,000 or so), before it wears out, so it is only updated every 0.1 hours (6 minutes). That should give a life of around 10,000 engine hours and probably something else will break before then. Data logging would require something else to write the log file too, or to read data for a log file. Perfectly possible, but no plans to implement it. I have got serial comms set up with the laptop for debugging, looking at input values and intermediate calculations, but this won't be turned on in the final sketch.

 

Jen

 

Jen

You could consider a serial EEPROM if you have 2 spare data lines for I2C interface. They generally have 1million write cycles. Also, the write cycle normally only writes to one page (64 bytes in the smaller EEPROMS) so perhaps there is a strategy where several different memory locations in different pages are used sequentially, to spread the write cycle “damage” around the memory.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

A quick update. The veroboard that contains the connections to the outside world, input circuitry, warning LED's and buzzers is nearly finished. Just waiting on a metal oxide varistor to arrive as part of the protection from incoming boat electrics voltage spikes. More details later.

 

Jen

 

Pictures of liquorice allsorts and spaghetti. Yum! More evidence that I can't make wiring look neat.

 

[rusty69]

Wot, no BC108's fake or otherwise? 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

13 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Wot, no BC108's fake or otherwise? 

Nope. Just diodes of varying sorts. 1N4148's, LED's, Transient voltage suppressors and a zener.

 

Jen

[Jen-in-Wellies]

The aluminium control panel arrived today. Made from our CAD file by a local company that specialise in instrument panels. Engraved legends, coloured a nice blue. Very reasonably priced considering the work involved. I've assembled the various components on the back and everything fits! A nervous moment as we had one go to get this right...

 

Jen

 

The key switch and horn button are still on the old panel. The photo of the front is out of focus and the lens on my phone is reflected in the lexan "glass" over the display.

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by Jen-in-Wellies

[WotEver]

Cool

 

[Tony Brooks]

Just saying  how many strands are in the thin wires?

[WotEver]

4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Just saying  how many strands are in the thin wires?

Betcha it’s 7/02 or whatever the metric equivalent is

 

Or even 7/01

[Tony Brooks]

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Betcha it’s 7/02 or whatever the metric equivalent is

 

Or even 7/01

Agreed so not RCD compliant re minimum number of strands.

 

Best let Jen get on with it and stop being supercritical

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Appearances are deceptive. It is 16x0.2. About the biggest that can be successfully soldered to 0.1" pitch headers without risking shorts. Heatshrink on the connections just to be sure.

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Chewbacka]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Agreed so not RCD compliant re minimum number of strands.

 

Best let Jen get on with it and stop being supercritical

If I remember correctly the iso std required by the rcd are for device interconnection cables, wires within a device are excluded so put it in a box and all is ok so long as the manufacturer (Jen) is happy.  However the internal wiring needs adequate support for vibration resistance, but then I’m sure Jen will sort that with a few cable ties and some silicone.

 

added - meant to say it looks good but got side tracked by the above.  

Edited July 3, 2018 by Chewbacka

[nicknorman]

Just now, Chewbacka said:

If I remember correctly the iso std required by the rcd are for device interconnection cables, wires within a device are excluded so put it in a box and all is ok so long as the manufacturer (Jen) is happy.  However the internal wiring needs adequate support for vibration resistance, but then I’m sure Jen will sort that with a few cable ties and some silicone.

Correct.