Constructing a customized Arduino-controlled ‘analog’ dashboard

The oldsters over at Unhealthy Obsession Motorsport within the UK specialise in uncommon automotive builds, from a four-wheel drive Austin Mini to customized camper van known as The Escargot. Whereas engaged on that Mini, which they’ve dubbed “Binky,” they realized that they’d want create their very own customized instrument cluster. However they wished it to look acceptable for the basic automobile, so that they used Arduino boards to construct this “analog” dashboard.

This began as a extra modest undertaking. The Unhealthy Obsession Motorsport group simply wished so as to add LED lighting to present gauges. Off-the-shelf LED controller options lacked the type of brightness management they wished and they also started experimenting with Arduino boards. They discovered that brightness management by way of PWM (pulse-width modulation) is trivial with an Arduino UNO Rev3 and so, emboldened by their success, they determined to broaden the idea with new gauges.

These new gauges point out gasoline degree and coolant temperature. They’ve transferring needles and appear like they’re analog, however they’re really digitally managed by Arduino boards. Small interest servo motors transfer the needles in line with readings taken by a float sensor and a temperature sensor, gathered by an Arduino Nano Each board by its analog pins.

The Unhealthy Obsession Motorsport group did have hassle with the lighting management and the servo management interfering with one another (seemingly a problem with both energy draw or a code glitch), so that they break up these into two separate techniques. One Nano controls the LEDs and a second Nano controls the gauge servos.

The ultimate problem was returning the servos to their “residence” positions after turning the automobile off. As a result of all the energy comes from the automobile’s electrical system and that disconnects when the hot button is eliminated, they used capacitors to retailer a bit of additional juice. When the Arduino detects the ability disconnect, it instantly strikes the servos to their residence positions. Then they’re able to go the subsequent time the automobile begins up.