Doniol
Veteran Member
I know some are probably tired of seeing yet another boost gauge thread,but I want to share my ideas and see what kind of interest there is. I'm an electrical engineering student working on designing a gauge for my MKIV tdi on my spare time. My protoype is complete, but still have to design the final PCB which will fit behind the cluster. Here's my criteria:
- Integrated OEM look (matches cluster colors & no pods/housing required).
- Easily viewable (inside cluster)
- Easy to install (includes removing/dissasembling cluster, maybe some basic soldering)
I'm using a small (1.4" x 1.4") but very crisp color OLED display. These are different from LCD panels in that they are viewable in direct sunlight and have a near 180 degree viewing angle. The screen has a very fast >60Hz frame rate, so the graphic needle moves very smoothly.
My current design is for 0-25 psi. All the hard work for the graphics programming is done, so making units with a different scale or different units is easy. I'm starting with 0-25 psi so I can tap into the existing 2.5bar MAP sensor in my car. The microcontroller scales the PSI relative to ambient pressure, but also shows where 1 atmosphere pressure is on the scale depending on your altitude.
I'm still a couple weeks away from sending away my design to be manufactured. I'm looking for a couple people willing to help me test in other cars not like mine (2005 Golf) with different cluster variants. If you're interested PM me and we'll set something up where I'll send you a unit at my cost.
My design prototype:
Photoshop cut & paste for how gauge will look in the cluster:
- Integrated OEM look (matches cluster colors & no pods/housing required).
- Easily viewable (inside cluster)
- Easy to install (includes removing/dissasembling cluster, maybe some basic soldering)
I'm using a small (1.4" x 1.4") but very crisp color OLED display. These are different from LCD panels in that they are viewable in direct sunlight and have a near 180 degree viewing angle. The screen has a very fast >60Hz frame rate, so the graphic needle moves very smoothly.
My current design is for 0-25 psi. All the hard work for the graphics programming is done, so making units with a different scale or different units is easy. I'm starting with 0-25 psi so I can tap into the existing 2.5bar MAP sensor in my car. The microcontroller scales the PSI relative to ambient pressure, but also shows where 1 atmosphere pressure is on the scale depending on your altitude.
I'm still a couple weeks away from sending away my design to be manufactured. I'm looking for a couple people willing to help me test in other cars not like mine (2005 Golf) with different cluster variants. If you're interested PM me and we'll set something up where I'll send you a unit at my cost.
My design prototype:
Photoshop cut & paste for how gauge will look in the cluster: