Elise LCD Dash

[garw]

 

[Bibs]

Very cool!

[gt111]

Awesome

[garw]

Thanks

100 miles testing and counting . About 22 miles per day . 

Working very well so far . 

[garw]

Some more info

The race screen is a compressed version of the Elise concept car that never made it to production

only computer renderings were ever produced by lotus ,the Elan concept had something similar and a demo screen

was fitted to that for a car show. 

I have a 12.3 wide LCD which I will use later to get the full graphics as it was represented by Lotus.

 

Classic screen is a 2006 S2

[Barrykearley]

Your dash is very smart indeed - well done 

[garw]

The next major update is to allow dash users to create their own custom graphics.

in my opinion existing methods used by some high end dashes require a high level of expertise

to understand their specialist software used to create the visuals and all scaling .

And in some cases it costs an extra circa £350 plus vat for the software to do it.

Lotus took this approach with their 3 eleven , a motec 5 inch dash with custom graphics created with 

motecs custom software

...so although custom graphics can be done for a customer, to allow full creative freedom 

some will want to do it themselves or at least their mate who is very good with graphic software.

Also if there is a generic, free and standardised  way to create new graphics then a community can

share their creations for free or otherwise.

 

....so how do we do this (im open to all suggestions)

my current thinking so far is to firstly allow the screen graphics to be created and laid out in any graphic design software

from paintshop pro to paint.net to blender etc.

after all the assets are ready (assets being all the pictures you want to use) they can be saved with all their necessary

co-ordinates in their title.

i.e needle_rpm_100_100_20_10_s

which is the rpm needle x an y co-ordinates and x and y rotation point with shadowing

with all this on a usb stick my software will take it an place it on screen in the right place.

 

 

[Bibs]

Would you be able to supply photoshop templates (PSD files)? They seem pretty ubiquitous for anyone who does anything with graphics.

[garw]

Yes

A skeleton layout can be provided to start people off

upload this layout , see what it does , modify it put it back 

[garw]

some previous desktop testing with CANbus interface (elise s2 canbus codes)

 

 

and

 

 

more on my channel of older stuff if you fancy a look

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRlvA7Bsl5bZECRKHfu9AFA

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2016 by garw

[DAV1D]

This is very exciting! I'd love something like this in my Elise. The first video you posted looks great as it is! 

[NW76]

Looks really cool ... do you have any idea if this can be easily adapted to an Exige V6 as well? same can bus?

[garw]

Possibly it is the  same canbus, 

I have been told it will work with exige but not tested yet, but that would be the 4 cylinder engines

Its a matter of trying

if your current instruments are the same part as the elise then it has a good chance 

worst case the canbus codes will need changing 

 

[Peterpan]

I am interested.

I like this. It's nice that you can change between original Lotus design and something different and new.

i like the gear indicator very much and digital number speed indicator.

will you make the plastic frame smaller in future, it's the only thing i could criticise at the moment.

I guess it won't be much of a problem to do a setup in km and km/h instead of miles?

Do you need a toyo elise (2zz-GE, Facelift) to test the metric setup?

 

[garw]

not sure what plastic frame you refer to , it's all aluminium , a bit rough I know, it's a development enclosure . It will be softened with chamfered edges etc and a deep black anodise . 

it has km switching . And this can be done anytime back and forth  , the odometer is stored in km and miles , 

send me a message if you like to test 

[NW76]

You should commercialize this and make it a really sophisticated dash alternative for Lotus ;-)

[Peterpan]

39 minutes ago, garw said:

not sure what plastic frame you refer to , it's all aluminium , a bit rough I know, it's a development enclosure . It will be softened with chamfered edges etc and a deep black anodise . 

it has km switching . And this can be done anytime back and forth  , the odometer is stored in km and miles , 

send me a message if you like to test 

Ok, thought it's plastic since the original has a lot of plastic as well.?

just think the frame around the display is a bit too wide or the display too small.

[biggerbigben]

Like this project a lot. I know you are working on a product that will be for standard replacements at the moment but would this work, perhaps in the future, for elises/exiges running aftermarket engine/ECU's? For example my syvecs ECU supports CAN 2.0b.

[garw]

If the standard cluster works with your syvecs then this will also. 

And there is a plan to add support for extended data , either through additional sensors or canbus /u art from ecu 

[garw]

On 3/29/2016 at 16:10, biggerbigben said:

Like this project a lot. I know you are working on a product that will be for standard replacements at the moment but would this work, perhaps in the future, for elises/exiges running aftermarket engine/ECU's? For example my syvecs ECU supports CAN 2.0b.

I understand now that you are the person fitting a 5cyl vag engine into an elise , with some very nice pipework if I remember.

Therefore your syvecs is for the VAG engine and not necessarily working with the current cluster.

the electronics in the dash support CAN2.0b   and in testing I have driven both variants of the canbus clusters ('06 white face 1Mbit and '08 black face 500kbit speed)

So the approach in your case is to leave all the wiring to the cluster 'as is' for lights, indicators etc and run the canbus from the ecu to the dash.

the speed can come from your ECU canbus if you plan on fitting speed sensor to your ecu (for traction control maybe) or direct sensor to the dash if not.

The syvec canbus codes will need implementing or if the codes can be set in your syvec ecu then the Lotus Elise codes can be used.

But Lotus canbus does not include MAP,MAF,OIL temp,pressure etc which for your build i think is needed.

Either way it can be done.

[biggerbigben]

Yes that's me. I'm that idiot! lol. (think we need to have a chat about your scratch build at some point as I'm just starting something similar along side the exige project.. bit of a long term project)

Anyway I've been chatting with DJWilmas on SELOC about your dash display so understand its capabilities a lot more now but your response clears most things up. I plan to put the speed sensor(s) through the ecu for traction etc as you mentioned. I will have to have a play re the canbus codes when I get it wired and connected to a laptop. If not I'm sure syvecs can help. 

Re additional canbus data. Will there be an option to add these into a custom display in the future? You mentioned that you will be allowing custom graphics but will you be able to configure for example a boost gauge or inlet temp or warning alerts.. If not I could install a separate small device like a plex sdm-300 to run additional datastreams/alerts/data logging if the ECU can support hooking up another CAN device?

I'm 100% interested. For me I like the classic view design as I want mine to look as factory as possible! Having read all the threads about this I think you'll find that there is a lot of interest in the UK as well as USA.. no idea why the thread on SELOC was closed?!?! Hey ho. Good luck :-)

 

 

[garw]

There will be an option to add custom displays and use any data feed for them , and support for aftermarket ECU's will be added as requested.

Director requested I stopped posting  commercial content and refused me to become an advertiser  after a complaint they received

from another advertiser. 

Therefore blocking me from putting any of this stuff on the playground.

 

[biggerbigben]

Their loss! Good luck and look forward to purchasing one in the not too distant future :-)

[Geordie]

Just wondering out loud really - these are reversible and plug n play, but effectively the mileage on the original stack will be paused as soon as you swap it out.

I'm assuming the LCD dash can just have mileage programmed in, but is there any way to get the OEM stack mileage increased if you ever swapped back?

I've basically got an (ever growing) box of all my old OEM bits at the back of the garage in case I sell up and the new owner has twigs in his beard and wants the original valve caps to be refitted etc 

[garw]

No easy way of increasing the mileage on the old stack unit,  other than running it at 160 MPH on the bench and waiting for the odo to catch up,

I added some virtual miles to my S1 dash and other peoples S2's dashes during development. Gave them back and their cars had somehow increased in mileage

without moving :-)