99-02 odo, swapped OEM smd leds with white smd leds, +converting odo to OLED screen
03-17-2015, 07:48 AM
#263
Update time Just a short update: it's not that we're not busy doing things.
- The test unit is still underway to LS4Vert, but should be there soon - status has changed to "waiting at post office", but that may also mean it's being processed by customs.
- The enclosure is on its way to the machine shop to have the openings milled
- My (Fiero) speedo's plexiglass is at the machine shop to have its opening milled as well, waiting for that to return to mount it in my car
- The daily test drives (read: my commute) are continuing, small bugs being found and fixed, small improvements, etc.
- I have designed a new display board that makes the display as thin as the original F-body odometer. The current board sandwich was about 1mm thicker.
- I am in the process of making a test box to bench test "production" units, that one is almost complete mechanically, I still need to wire it (LS4Vert has a pic of the work in progress)
What to do next:
- I still have to order a second display and parts to make a second display for bench tests when my display is mounted in the car.
- I still have to order a circuit board for the final board design and build a test unit so check fit and functionality when mounted in the enclosure
You see: we're slowly getting there...
- The test unit is still underway to LS4Vert, but should be there soon - status has changed to "waiting at post office", but that may also mean it's being processed by customs.
- The enclosure is on its way to the machine shop to have the openings milled
- My (Fiero) speedo's plexiglass is at the machine shop to have its opening milled as well, waiting for that to return to mount it in my car
- The daily test drives (read: my commute) are continuing, small bugs being found and fixed, small improvements, etc.
- I have designed a new display board that makes the display as thin as the original F-body odometer. The current board sandwich was about 1mm thicker.
- I am in the process of making a test box to bench test "production" units, that one is almost complete mechanically, I still need to wire it (LS4Vert has a pic of the work in progress)
What to do next:
- I still have to order a second display and parts to make a second display for bench tests when my display is mounted in the car.
- I still have to order a circuit board for the final board design and build a test unit so check fit and functionality when mounted in the enclosure
You see: we're slowly getting there...
03-17-2015, 09:27 AM
#264
I am picking it up at the post office today 
They made a delivery attempt and I wasnt home.
My custom cluster is not done, but to start off and test I will mounting it in a stock Camaro cluster. So, hopefully by the weekend I will have pics and video of it in action in my car. I forgot to order the c5 ambient temp sensor, hopefully I can find one local.
Will post a pic of the controller in a bit.
They made a delivery attempt and I wasnt home. My custom cluster is not done, but to start off and test I will mounting it in a stock Camaro cluster. So, hopefully by the weekend I will have pics and video of it in action in my car. I forgot to order the c5 ambient temp sensor, hopefully I can find one local.
Will post a pic of the controller in a bit.
03-17-2015, 11:45 AM
#265
I am picking it up at the post office today They made a delivery attempt and I wasnt home.
My custom cluster is not done, but to start off and test I will mounting it in a stock Camaro cluster. So, hopefully by the weekend I will have pics and video of it in action in my car. I forgot to order the c5 ambient temp sensor, hopefully I can find one local.
Will post a pic of the controller in a bit.
They made a delivery attempt and I wasnt home. My custom cluster is not done, but to start off and test I will mounting it in a stock Camaro cluster. So, hopefully by the weekend I will have pics and video of it in action in my car. I forgot to order the c5 ambient temp sensor, hopefully I can find one local.
Will post a pic of the controller in a bit.
Status just changed to delivered!
Hooray for the postal service! Let's hope everything is in one piece, and I'm eager to see it installed ;-)
Last edited by Fieroluke; 03-17-2015 at 02:45 PM. Reason: Update
03-23-2015, 08:19 AM
#267
It's in the car! Yup, LS4vert has installed the display in his cluster and wired everything up. I've just watched the video he took of his test drive, and it looks wonderful! I'm sure he'll post soon!
update: there are some nice pics as well...
update: there are some nice pics as well...
Last edited by Fieroluke; 03-23-2015 at 11:41 AM.
03-23-2015, 03:10 PM
#269
Yes I'm excited to see the pics and vid as well. It's been so awesome following this thread and seeing all the progress you guys have been making. I have really enjoyed all the info about the development and hardware you've been sharing as well.
03-23-2015, 08:35 PM
#270
Well save for some little bugs and some areas I need to go back through, the OLED is in and working in my car. My gauge cluster is not complete so I installed it into a stock cluster with oem faces and incandescent lighting. I took a bunch of pics of the install, but most of them I will save for a dedicated thread when I have my small issues worked out and tested. I cannot thank Oliver(fieroluke) enough for bringing my designs and ideas to life. This was a really fun project and it looks better than I envisioned back when these were just adobe illustrator graphics on my pc screen.
The biggest fear I had out of everything was breaking the damn dash removing it. I layed a damp towel acrossed it for 15 minutes to let it soak up some moisture as abs is porous. Thankfully came out and back in without a problem. Phew!
Here are some finished pics. Like I said I will do a more thorough install thread when I get a few things worked out.
Stock odo, just marking the needle positions with the ignition on .
Did not modify anything. The OLED and circuit boards sit in the stock cradle perfectly.
You do need to make some slight cuts to the lexan light guide and to the stock gauge face . I just used a dremel and plastic cutting disc on a very low speed.
I layed clear plastic over the OLED and used a sharpie to get the new shape. Then layed the sticky back gauge face over it so the plastic stuck to the back. Then used an exacto knife to trim the gauge face opening.
Sits perfectly with the lexan installed.
Then snaked the ribbon cable from the OLED through the a slot in the top of the cluster as it needs to plug into the main circuit board.
Here is the main circuit board. In an extreme rush, I milled the enclosure out of a solid chunk of polypropylene plastic. Its crude but it works well temporarily for testing. I mounted this box to the left of the radio. If you remove the radio there is a perfect place to mount this board to the left of where the radio sits.
The biggest fear I had out of everything was breaking the damn dash removing it. I layed a damp towel acrossed it for 15 minutes to let it soak up some moisture as abs is porous. Thankfully came out and back in without a problem. Phew!
Here are some finished pics. Like I said I will do a more thorough install thread when I get a few things worked out.
Stock odo, just marking the needle positions with the ignition on .
Did not modify anything. The OLED and circuit boards sit in the stock cradle perfectly.
You do need to make some slight cuts to the lexan light guide and to the stock gauge face . I just used a dremel and plastic cutting disc on a very low speed.
I layed clear plastic over the OLED and used a sharpie to get the new shape. Then layed the sticky back gauge face over it so the plastic stuck to the back. Then used an exacto knife to trim the gauge face opening.
Sits perfectly with the lexan installed.
Then snaked the ribbon cable from the OLED through the a slot in the top of the cluster as it needs to plug into the main circuit board.
Here is the main circuit board. In an extreme rush, I milled the enclosure out of a solid chunk of polypropylene plastic. Its crude but it works well temporarily for testing. I mounted this box to the left of the radio. If you remove the radio there is a perfect place to mount this board to the left of where the radio sits.
03-23-2015, 08:49 PM
#271
Moar pics.
Here is a short vid
And to top the night off, I pulled a marathon and got my apple carplay head unit installed. Between just oled and head unit my car seems 10 year newer.
Thanks to those who have kept interest, been a long road but this thing is about there.
Here is a short vid
And to top the night off, I pulled a marathon and got my apple carplay head unit installed. Between just oled and head unit my car seems 10 year newer.
Thanks to those who have kept interest, been a long road but this thing is about there.
03-24-2015, 01:57 AM
#272
Thumbs up! You're very welcome, it's been a pleasure to see this project go from tossing ideas back and forth to what it is today!
even though the prototype is in the car now, there still things to be done. I ordered the final circuit board (which will fit an enclosure with milled holes) on Sunday, it should arrive Friday next week. I don't expect any problems there, hopefully the redesign didn't introduce any bugs.
The redesign also features an even slimmer OLED board, which I'll install in a demo cluster I have. This board is also a test mule for the new connector so that the f-body connector doesnt have to be recycled.
I also have to finish the bench test box, still waiting for a part there.
Hopefully our machine shop has milled the plexiglass today for installing the OLED in my Fiero.
On the software side, I've started programming the GPS mouse driver for POI integration. That'll take a bit...
So, we're not lazy, there's just still a bit of way to go
from prototype to production...
even though the prototype is in the car now, there still things to be done. I ordered the final circuit board (which will fit an enclosure with milled holes) on Sunday, it should arrive Friday next week. I don't expect any problems there, hopefully the redesign didn't introduce any bugs.
The redesign also features an even slimmer OLED board, which I'll install in a demo cluster I have. This board is also a test mule for the new connector so that the f-body connector doesnt have to be recycled.
I also have to finish the bench test box, still waiting for a part there.
Hopefully our machine shop has milled the plexiglass today for installing the OLED in my Fiero.
On the software side, I've started programming the GPS mouse driver for POI integration. That'll take a bit...
So, we're not lazy, there's just still a bit of way to go
from prototype to production...
Last edited by Fieroluke; 03-24-2015 at 02:01 AM. Reason: Typo
03-25-2015, 01:40 AM
#276
Mass production Initially the plans were to make just one for Derek's Camaro. Then I ended up liking the result so much that I wanted it in my Fiero as well. And from all your comments we gathered that more people might like this. So we are in the process of preparing to make a batch of these now... Probably ten or so, if we find ten people that are interested in buying one. If not, it's not going to happen.
But first we want to make everything perfect, because we want everyone to be happy with it. We're keeping you updated on our progress so that you know where we are in the "mass production" project and what you are going to get in the end.
It's difficult to put a price tag on it yet, because there are still so many variables. And if I say a number now that's too low and the price is higher later people get mad, and if the initial estimate is too high people lose interest while the actual price end up lower in the end.
Please keep in mind that we're just two enthusiasts, not a business, and we're primarily doing this to benefit the community, not to make money. Yet we're talking about putting a considerable amount of money up front to invest in parts, so we're discussing how to go about this...
Anyway, your continued interest is what keeps us going and planning outside the scope of just one for each of us...
But first we want to make everything perfect, because we want everyone to be happy with it. We're keeping you updated on our progress so that you know where we are in the "mass production" project and what you are going to get in the end.
It's difficult to put a price tag on it yet, because there are still so many variables. And if I say a number now that's too low and the price is higher later people get mad, and if the initial estimate is too high people lose interest while the actual price end up lower in the end.
Please keep in mind that we're just two enthusiasts, not a business, and we're primarily doing this to benefit the community, not to make money. Yet we're talking about putting a considerable amount of money up front to invest in parts, so we're discussing how to go about this...
Anyway, your continued interest is what keeps us going and planning outside the scope of just one for each of us...
03-25-2015, 02:39 AM
#279
The oled yes. The appearence is for the most part done. If your referring to gauge cluster, when mine is done it will look exactly like that. I was just waiting to get the oled to get the new hole position. Im sending the design off in the next couple weeke to be made.
03-25-2015, 07:40 AM
#280
Very cool - I'll definitely be waiting to see what you guys end up with, if anything, as a product. I'd love to do this if the price is right. I've already messed with my stock cluster enough that I have no qualms about doing this...I would absolutely order a custom McNord overlay though.