Intercooler Monitor
 

Well, here goes my first post!

Just a copy & paste from PGMFI.org:

I thought I'd post a link here because I figure you guys would appreciate it.

At the request of a friend, I've created an intercooler monitor that displays inlet/outlet temps of the intercooler on a VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display). I also added peak temp display as an afterthought.

I created a video of it in operation:

http://home.comcast.net/~tekphobia/vfdfinal1.avi (2.6MB)

There's a smaller video I did that shows the opening screen, plus the initial layout:

http://home.comcast.net/~tekphobia/vfdfinal.avi (363KB)

Pictures can be found here:

http://forums.club4ag.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=56501

Hope ya guys like it!

I'm not advertising it, just wanted to share my creation. Though, I've been thinking about selling them. I don't have a PCB made up yet, so if someone DID want one, it would be built on RadioShack perfboard =) Oh, and only 3-wires for the VFD!

-Tim

(Note: I just C&P'd my post from another forum I frequent...a Toyota (*gasp*) forum.)

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Looks very cool. 8) In that first video, is that on a car? What is it measuring? It didn't look like it was actually on a car. ???
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Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

No, it hasn't been in a car yet. I made it for a friend's Supra (MKIII).

We had a power surge and it took out the 12V power supply I was using which killed the 5V supply which in turn...killed the entire project (VFD included). Oh, and my XM radio was running off that 12V supply as well >:(

Here's a more recent video:

http://tekphobia.home.comcast.net/vfdfinal2.avi

As an afterthought, I added a dimming button and a peak clear button. Sure beats SP Engineering's $250 gauge:

http://www.sp-power.com/newproducts.htm

(Near the bottom)

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Looks awesome, I want one!

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

i want one as well.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I want one too also as well! How much, IF you did make them for us? If you already posted a cost, I didn't see it.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

yes, how much would one cost?

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Thats pretty sweet. I would pick one up...

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I'd take one too:D

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

To be honest, I haven't given much thought to pricing it. I just wanted to brag ;)

Something not seen in the pictures are two buttons I added. One is to dim the display (8 levels of brightness) and the other resets the peak display.

If I had to make a PCB for it, that would take a while. On the other hand, it would look more professional. However, perfboard is fairly easy to do. Here's a parts list:

1 - PIC16F628 - $3.63 - DigiKey - PIC16F628-04/P-ND
1 - VFD (Display) - $32.50 - BG Micro - ACS1375
1 - ADC0834* - $3.75 - DigiKey - ADC0834BCN-ND

*This could change. That part# is for a 4-channel A/D converter, could use 2 channel (ADC0832)

1 - 5V Switching Regulator - $2.51 - DigiKey - LM2575T-15-ND

1 - Perf Board - $1.69 - RadioShack - 276-148

The passive components (resistors, caps, etc.) are things I have laying around.

Umm....what else...

I used a 9-pin d-sub connector for the VFD. Would need a female receptacle and male connector. I'm too lazy to check DigiKey at the moment.

I'd say $50-60 for parts. For assembly, programming, etc., I think $100-120 would be fair. Still, MUCH better than SP Engineering's gauge.

Keep in mind that the display is HUGE. At 7.75" x 2.58" x 1" it'll be hard to hide. I'm half tempted to do an LCD design that's quite a bit smaller. The VFD has a serial interface and some handy commands which makes interfacing it a breeze. Switching to and LCD would get rid of that regulator above since it wouldn't require so much current.

I guess it's still a design in progress. I could duplicate it the way it is now, but it's still kind of in the rough. I think a nice backlit LCD would look more high-tech than a big honker VFD.

We had a power surge the other day which killed the power supply as well as the entire project. So, I've had to order new chips and I'm still waiting on the status of another VFD.

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

That is some cool ish right there. I think LCD would look sweet. Even if you do decide to sell and keep the project with the VFD i'd still try to route it into my glove compartment. Hiding everything is going to be a bitch, gauges, etc. Lots of robberies down here.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

why don't you post a schematic, and share the knowledge? I'd like one but its not fun to buy something I can make.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I suppose I could. However, you'll also need a PIC programmer to burn the code into the chip. I'll whip up a schematic and put it on my Comcast site.

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Dude, try and make a nice LCD one, that would be awesome:D

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Dude ---- that.Be smart and sell those things.Youll be kicking yourself in the ass if you dont.Id buy one.Im to lazy and stupid to build my own :P

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I'm definitely contemplating that!! The VFD is huge, which isn't convenient for some people. And the extra weight of it will slow ya down ;D

I like the idea of a remote display and the "brain box" stashed away somewhere. So, I would dedicate another PIC (the microcontroller...brains, etc) as a serial <-> LCD middle man. That way, you can locate the LCD far away (using RS-232 votlages) and it would only need 3 lines. If there is no middle man, the minimum # of lines you would need would be six. That's just too many! Plus, LCDs are cheap and plentiful. I'll definitely be looking into this.

At the moment, the temperature is capped off at 256 degrees (max value from 8-bit A/D converter with 2.56V reference). I'd like to up that to the max of the sensor, the LM34, which is 300 degrees. However, I doubt intercooler inlet/outlet temps get that hot...or do they?

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I like the sounds of that man...
I bet if you produced one with an LCD you could make some huge cash here...
Because the more sales = more word of mouth you know, and Im sure these guys know a lot of people lol

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Alright, here's the schematic. I have yet to install Protel, so I did the schematic in Paintshop Pro (read: Poorman's Photoshop). Well, that's my excuse for the crappy schematic :)

http://tekphobia.home.comcast.net/icmon.gif

Datasheet for the LM34:

http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM34.pdf

ADC0834:

http://www.national.com/ds/AD/ADC0831.pdf

PIC16F628:

http://www.microchip.com/download/li...62x/40300c.pdf

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I would definitely need to buy one.

I have no fcukin clue how to read that s**t, lol.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

so how much we lookin with an lcd display?

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Hmm....LCDs can be sourced from LOTS more places than VFDs. They can range in price from $4-$100. Some companies (*cough* Matrix Orbital) will make a serial LCD and jack the price up to $90. Just about all the LCDs (character, not graphic) use the same core chipset (like an engine block), so it makes using them a breeze.

I'm still indecisive about having a remote display or having it in the case. It would be a cost difference of about $15 or so.

Either way, an LCD would drop the price down about $30-40. The place I got the VFD from has a limited quantity so it wouldn't be feasible for a long term solution.

I should've said it before, but thanks for the kind replies everyone! I'm definitely more motivated to finalize this and offer it to people.

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I'd DEFINATELY prefer it had a remote screen. Thats the best part of it in my opinion.
Your mounting options would be almost unlimited. Just think about it. You could have it mounted in a sunvisor, in place of rearview mirror, flush mounted into your gauge cluster (depends on size of screen obviously).
See what you can do with LCD's and get back to us! Im seriously interested in one with a remote mount LCD screen.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

dude. that is some ------ badass ---- man. I am definately making one. thanks!!!!!!!!

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I think I may have found us an LCD supplier! I forgot about these guys, and they have excellent prices, too!

http://www.crystalfontz.com/cgi-bin/pricing.pl?product=

They have lotsa LCDs. Just to reiterate: Serial LCDs will allow remote mounting and a fairly thin cable. I think they have the best prices for their serial LCDs. I'm partial to the blue/white scheme :D

Though, their parallel (requires 11 wires versus 1 for serial) LCD selection is nice as well. (See link below for parallel LCD.) But, a remote re-location would be less feasible since there are many more wires involved. I think I'll do a serial-only (remote location) design instead of an all-in-one.

Just as a comparison, CrystalFontz sells a serial 2x16 (2 rows of 16 characters) LCD for $37:

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products...ml#CFA632YFBKS

Matrix Orbital has one for $52.37:

http://www.matrixorbital.com/pages/p...=1&ProductID=4

Comparing the features, CrystalFontz wins out easily.

So, to summarize. It's gonna be a serial only design. That means I could make provisions to make a parallel LCD into serial; but I'd like to avoid that if I can.

CrystalFontz seems to be the best supplier at the moment. They became popular with case modders who wanted LCD screens in their drive bays.

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Def. a good decision man!!
I like it:D

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

i like this screen

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products...ml#CFA633TMCKS

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

The one with the blue backlight is sweet.

I also remember crystal fontz because of case modding, i wanted one, those things are sweet.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Well, as soon as my poor self gets some $$ I'll get one and get to work on an LCD version. Shouldn't be too hard!

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

wow man, that's awesome, this is my first time looking at this thread :P you could prolly make a couple bucks if you whipped some of these things up and put them up for sale, you can never monitor too many things going on with your turbo ;D ;)

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

so ya gunna make us some with remote lcd's? how much we lookin total?

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Yea, I want it to be a remote display. I just need to get my hands on one from CrystalFontz and re-write some of the code to interface to it. Until my lazy butt gets a job, I won't have the opportunity for a while. I could write the code using the datasheets only, but then I can't guarantee bug-free code :)

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I want one badly. ;)

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I can't understand any of what you said, but I want one too. You people over at pgmfi are your own damn breed! I don't know how you guys come up with this ----. ??? ;)

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Bah...I've no association with PGMFI. In fact, I posted my project there and it got moved into a dark corner :'(

I'm gonna scrap up some fundage for a CrystalFontz display. Once that's taken care of, then I can start selling them. OR, for you adventurous ones out there, I can sell the programmed chip and you can supply the rest of the parts, case, etc. That's what I did with my one-button securtity lock (ftp://nutsvolts.com/pic_lock.txt). The main chip (a PIC microcontroller) is only $3.50.

We'll see. I don't want to lead anyone on. I'll definitely make this available to anyone. Partially because it makes me sick to see companies charge a 1000% markup on something so simple JUST because the import market is hot. Supply and demand I guess.

Don't ya hate it when you're typing a message and you get a bloody nose...then you have to tilt your head back so you can't see what the hell you're typing? Ppfftt....

-Tim

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

You gotta lay off the coke man.. ;D

j/k I used to get bloody noses in the winter a lot. It's because of the dry air. Get a cheap humidifier and the problem goes away.

If you haven't looked into it, Eagle PCB is a pretty cool program for doing schematics. Once you create the schematic, it automatically creates the PCB layout for you and it can autoroute all of the traces based upon tolerences you set.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

thats a sick little gadget, though you would make a killing selling this built, why not offer the schematics (which you did) free and sell the programmed chips, us weekend electricians (not really, my friends do it for me) like doing stuff like this for fun. though this is a great thing you made man, hats off to you.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

there would only be a FEW people doing something like this on their own, I think he's going the right way in offering a DIY version as well as a pre made version. Kind of like the batronix emprommer or the DIY-WB bot seem to be doing ok for themselves this way.

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

I made something like this 2 years ago as an EBC and the biggest problem I found with the LCD option is a lack of a wide temp unit. When they're cold the display would react really slow. Problem with the VFD was high cost. I may get back to it when my car is running properly...

-Michael

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

What does it use for temperature sensors?

Stan

Re:Intercooler Monitor
 

Yes, I've thought about that issue as well. The LCDs at CrystalFontz.com are 0 - 50°C (32 - 122°F). Matrix Orbital has some wide temp LCDs, but their prices are fairly high.

The VFD I'm using was $32.50 at a surplus electronics place. However, it's HUGE! The actually display part is 7 3/4"W x 1 3/4".

So, if you're not living back east with -30° temps, I think an LCD would work alright.

-Tim