Arduino Engine Monitoring System

[karl.]

I am going to create a wee project where I will be able to monitor how the engine is running.

I am going to be monitoring at the minute, boost pressure, fuel pressure, oil pressure, oil temp and water temp.

This is all going to be displayed on a small screen with a button to be able to flick over to another screen to see a different pressure. Just thought I would update this here as it may be useful to some people who are looking to monitor all this information in one place without having piles of gauges all over the car.

I have seen some DIY's about fitting a wide band so this will be on the cards if it all works.

Bare in mind that I currently have completely no knowledge about these things at all and will be trying to put it together based on tutorials from the net.

So expect some updates to this over the next few weeks as it has only been ordered today.

So just to cap over what I've spent and have got:

Oil And Water Temp Sensors x 2 + p&p = 15

Water Hose Adapter 28mm x 1 + p&p = 7

80Psi Pressure Sensor x2 + p&p = 40

20-250Kpa Pressure Sensor x1 + p&p = 20

Arduino Mega 2560 Style Board x1 + p&p = 14

Arduino Starter Kit x1 + p&p = 45 (Could of been a lot cheaper if I just bought a screen separate)

Total : 141

I have to get a couple of wee adapters now that will allow me to fit the oil temp and pressure sensors. For the sake of it I might just buy a sandwich plate to save any hassle.

Edited October 17, 2013 by karl.

[karl.]

So far I have bought two 80 psi pressure sensors, I hope to use these for fuel and oil pressure. I just hope that they work because they are £20 a sensor. I thought 80 psi was enough as oil and fuel pressure shouldn't really be going over 5.5 bar.

I have also bought a 20-240 kpa Pressure sensor, this will give me a range from -11.8 to 21.3 psi when you factor in atmospheric pressure.

For the arduino I bought a starter kit at £40 which included the screen, buttons, resistors etc but I have decided to go for the Mega 2560 to control the whole thing.

I have also got the idea of been able to control the coilovers with this aswell so as stiffness is able to be adjusted from inside the car.

[karl.]

Has anybody any solutions to a sandwich plate for the oil filter housing so as I can fit my oil pressure and temp sensors? I want to keep it as cheap as possible because this is starting to cost alot already.

[TurboTobz]

Not entirely sure but you maybe able to tee off of the existing oil pressure sensor, but I may well be wrong and you may need a sandwich plate

[RobSR]

Not entirely sure but you maybe able to tee off of the existing oil pressure sensor, but I may well be wrong and you may need a sandwich plate

You can do this indeed.

[karl.]

Not entirely sure but you maybe able to tee off of the existing oil pressure sensor, but I may well be wrong and you may need a sandwich plate

You can do this indeed.

Have you anymore details on this?

[The_Notorious_C_A_T]

Interesting project bud, always a fan of these home brew gadgets.

[karl.]

So the plan for the screen is a layout like this,

This is the oil Screen, it will include the oil temp and pressure. It will also have a bar at the bottom which will change following the oil pressure which will be easier to read than the number changing.

__________________________

| Oil temp 90C pressure 3.1 bar |

| |

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |

|_________________________|

The next will be water, this will display the temperature of the water aswell it will also include the bar at the bottom so as it acts as a guage.

___________________________

| Water temp 70C |

| |

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |

|___________________________|

The next will be boost, this will have the boost pressure in psi at the top and a bar at the bottom that goes up and down according to boost.

Once the car is at full vacuum the bar at the bottom wont be there as the psi level increases the bar will fill towards the right. I feel this will be easier to read than trying to watch a number change. The bar will be fully filled across the screen at 20 psi which is just under 1.5bar. My car is only boosting 1bar at the minute so this will provide a bit of a warning.

____________________________

| Boost 5psi |

| |

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |

|___________________________|

They are a bit hard to imagine what they will look like but its the only way I can describe it at the minute.

I think Im going to set the screen to be green to match in with the dash in a glanza but for some warning I plan to be able to change the screen colour to red if anything is outside a boundary eg boost pressure is over 1.3bar, water temp is over 99c etc. A buzzer will also sound to make sure I notice something is wrong but hopefully will never need to use this function but will be a good alert.

Edited October 17, 2013 by karl.

[AdamB]

I've used these kits before and they are very good for the money. If you need a hand with anything drop me a pm and I'll have to rattle my brain lol.

[karl.]

I've used these kits before and they are very good for the money. If you need a hand with anything drop me a pm and I'll have to rattle my brain lol.

Sounds good, I will most likely be coming to you as Im not too good with the whole wiring side of things. Im completely new to this whole thing. I do a bit of coding but not in C++ so it will also be a challenge. But i'm looking forward to it, this plan is to fit it to replace the standard clock.k.

Edited October 17, 2013 by karl.

[AdamB]

The wiring is pretty easy, can be fiddly though I always used an external board to make things easier to see and wire up, tends to get messy on the Arduino itself as soon as you have about 5 wires on the pins.

The C langauge is very easy to pick up, I made up my own code for a few things before, I'll have to see if I've still got it laying around somewhere.

[jimlols]

Played with aduinos and writing stuff to them in uni last year, interesting project this!

[karl.]

The wiring is pretty easy, can be fiddly though I always used an external board to make things easier to see and wire up, tends to get messy on the Arduino itself as soon as you have about 5 wires on the pins.

The C langauge is very easy to pick up, I made up my own code for a few things before, I'll have to see if I've still got it laying around somewhere.

Aye I've got that starter kit so it should help get it setup outside the car then If it goes I will get it put onto a more permanent board.

Had a quick look at it there earlier and its handy enough by the looks of it. I will keep this thread updated with whatever code I write so as people can either copy it or give me some pointers on it.

Played with aduinos and writing stuff to them in uni last year, interesting project this!

Heres how the boost gauge is going to look while it is running, hopefully lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-laLAwmfQ-A

[Xpect]

One suggestion, for more of a warning indicator you should display the bars in the normal and safe temp/pressure range smaller and the unsafe range bigger. So you really see when it's critical. Also maybe fit some LEDs for this and a little beeper. So the LED lights up when any temp is too high or oil pressure too low, maybe a LED for both oil parts and one for water or one for both temps and one for oil pressure. Also the beeper if something substatial is wrong, way too high boost or way too low oil pressure for example.

Also an automaric switching of screens if something goes over or under a specified threshold so with one look at the screen you see what exactly it is.

Personnally I would program this warnings but have the screen simply in place of the original clock in the middle and showing the time, so I have the temp etc in gauges but when the arduino detects something wrong I don't have to skim through gauges but have it on the screen for faster reaction (switching of engine or simply driving slower).

Unfortunately I have no idea how to programm an arduino, otherwise I'd help you. But it would be nice if you upload your finished config when you're done, or maybe even "betas" when you have one thing ready, so others can use it and maybe suggest a thing or two you wouldn't have thoughr about. If you are working steady on it you could even charge like one or two £ for your work via PayPal to account for your time put into it.

Edit: not charge but have a little donation button for it. This is used in the xda-developers forum for the ones that build custom ROMs etc for android devices, as it is timeconsuming and many like to pay a bit for work they like or find useful. Me too for yours for example ifI build the same thing.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Xpect

[karl.]

One suggestion, for more of a warning indicator you should display the bars in the normal and safe temp/pressure range smaller and the unsafe range bigger. So you really see when it's critical. Also maybe fit some LEDs for this and a little beeper. So the LED lights up when any temp is too high or oil pressure too low, maybe a LED for both oil parts and one for water or one for both temps and one for oil pressure. Also the beeper if something substatial is wrong, way too high boost or way too low oil pressure for example.

Also an automaric switching of screens if something goes over or under a specified threshold so with one look at the screen you see what exactly it is.

Personnally I would program this warnings but have the screen simply in place of the original clock in the middle and showing the time, so I have the temp etc in gauges but when the arduino detects something wrong I don't have to skim through gauges but have it on the screen for faster reaction (switching of engine or simply driving slower).

Unfortunately I have no idea how to programm an arduino, otherwise I'd help you. But it would be nice if you upload your finished config when you're done, or maybe even "betas" when you have one thing ready, so others can use it and maybe suggest a thing or two you wouldn't have thoughr about. If you are working steady on it you could even charge like one or two £ for your work via PayPal to account for your time put into it.

Edit: not charge but have a little donation button for it. This is used in the xda-developers forum for the ones that build custom ROMs etc for android devices, as it is timeconsuming and many like to pay a bit for work they like or find useful. Me too for yours for example ifI build the same thing.

That is always a option to set the bar a bit higher its no more of a hassle to be honest, but the limit is going to be the sensors at the minute. The oil pressure and fuel pressure just goes up to 80psi but suppose too high isnt overly a bad thing either. Boost pressure only goes up to 36psi iirc but it should never be that high but it gives plenty of extra room for the bar to go up to at the end.

Im not really sure how the whole thing is going to work at the minute but id say your idea of it flicking screen to the one that is out of threshold is a good idea and will be pretty simple to implement. I recon with this between the screen changing colour and a loud beeper I would like to think I would be able to realise there is a problem quicker than having a mass amount of gauges infront of my face and trying to monitor them all at once.

And finally making money out of it would be great as everyone loves making money lol but I wont be forcing people to pay, I will maybe put my paypal link at the top or something, thanks for the idea. Each stage will be uploaded at most likely a video of it working so as people can recommend changes to make it better. I will be spending alot of time on it but I have alot coming up in November so i'm not sure if itl be finished any time this year. But then again its just waiting on sensors/boards thats holding me back the most at the minute.

Thanks for your input

[Xpect]

I mean the acutal height of the displayed bar.

And yes, even with gauges it't more convenient to have this automatic switch to the screen out of threshold, that's why I suggested it. I for myself want gauges as they look cool and some are useful while normal driving or standing (for me oil temp, boost if I ever boost it and Voltage for my audio) but fir normal driving and even tracking it you only need to know if and what is wrong so you can react fast.

So your Arduino idea is really good and I certainly will also implement it as now I'm even thinking if I really need 3 gauges or if 2 were enough. Before that I was at like 5 to 6 gauges and was already thinking where to put them (planning phase still of course).

And while running in or tuning the engine or maybe the ECU the function for switching screens is useful, in normal driving you only need a clock I think so it can be implemented absolutely invisible as you can replace the original dashclock. A bit of fibreglass to mould it in and done ^^

Oh yes, additionally to the LEDs you need a button. A small simple one only.

[TimD]

I really want to do this as well, how are you getting on?

I'm a .NET developer by day, super her by night.. just kidding. Anyway, I bought a Netduino to play with. I want to do similar, just oil temp/pressure, boost and also a lap timer. I'm at the stage now where I need to start buying sensors, I have a link bookmarked at work from a guy who did a lot of research and started doing a similar sort of thing, will try and remember to post it here tomorrow.

[TimD]

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/good-interior/84794-sti-robot-project-robotmeter-project-see-post-461-if-you-want-test-setup-out.html

That's the big project, it will take some reading through, there's detail on his trials and tribulations throughout the post, I'm about 20 pages deep at the moment.

Some more useful stuff here..

http://blog.nsfabrication.com/2009/06/29/arduino-based-lcd-boost-gauge-with-resettable-peak-hold/

and here

http://cstark27.blogspot.co.uk/

I was going to start with a lap timer first, just a simple start a timer at a given GPS co ordinate, and stop the next time through it and then work on replicating Racelogics Performance Box from there. I have some other ideas, but they're big picture, and as I struggle to find the time to even get this thing started it seems pointless discussing them here.

Good luck though, keep this thread updated.

[karl.]

I really want to do this as well, how are you getting on?

I'm a .NET developer by day, super her by night.. just kidding. Anyway, I bought a Netduino to play with. I want to do similar, just oil temp/pressure, boost and also a lap timer. I'm at the stage now where I need to start buying sensors, I have a link bookmarked at work from a guy who did a lot of research and started doing a similar sort of thing, will try and remember to post it here tomorrow.

Just after seeing your posts there now, sorry.

Im only a student developer so im not overly experienced in the whole thing but im in a placement for a year now so hopefully should pick up plenty by the end of that. Good to see I can use you for tips/help lol.

The thing is, it isnt hard to add something on to this later on. I've been looking at a boost controller mainly and it doesnt seem to bad and I never even considered a laptimer but I have no need for that as the i never race

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/good-interior/84794-sti-robot-project-robotmeter-project-see-post-461-if-you-want-test-setup-out.html

That's the big project, it will take some reading through, there's detail on his trials and tribulations throughout the post, I'm about 20 pages deep at the moment.

Some more useful stuff here..

http://blog.nsfabrication.com/2009/06/29/arduino-based-lcd-boost-gauge-with-resettable-peak-hold/

and here

http://cstark27.blogspot.co.uk/

I was going to start with a lap timer first, just a simple start a timer at a given GPS co ordinate, and stop the next time through it and then work on replicating Racelogics Performance Box from there. I have some other ideas, but they're big picture, and as I struggle to find the time to even get this thing started it seems pointless discussing them here.

Good luck though, keep this thread updated.

Had a quick look at the first post of the first one there and I can tell I've alot of reading ahead lol Seems very detailed now, once i get a chance I will look into the others.

Thanks for the links.

Well my update for today is that I got the board and started wiring up a few wee things but im struggling with the code I have to admit.

Anyways heres a picture of what I've got so far.

by the way just seen that its costing your man well over $1K, Lets hope that doesnt happen me lol

I dont know if you can see it but the screen is displaying something like:

Engine Monitoring

System Glanza V

[karl.]

So what do people recommend as safe operating conditions?

oil pressure <= 0.9 bar

boost pressure >= 1.3bar

water temp >= 100c

oil temp ?? not sure what this runs at

fuel pressure??

[Xpect]

For oil press I'd use two thresholds, one for too low and one for too high. And if it's too low I'd have tge display display "Oil pressure low" with an annoying beeping.

[TrisK]

For oil press I'd use two thresholds, one for too low and one for too high. And if it's too low I'd have tge display display "Oil pressure low" with an annoying beeping.

Danger to manifold

[karl.]

For oil press I'd use two thresholds, one for too low and one for too high. And if it's too low I'd have tge display display "Oil pressure low" with an annoying beeping.

Yes sounds like a plan? What do you think too high would be?

Danger to manifold

Haha very good, hopefully it doesn't come to that lol

[karl.]

Here is a quick picture of how the screen is coming along, Im not interested in getting it all working and displaying accurate data before I worry about the layout

Here I have a total of 5 senders, oil pressure, oil temp, fuel pressure, water temp and boost pressure.

So soon enough im going to start making a loom that will be a bit more permanent with the wires being soldered to a proper board and hidden inside a case. This will then be hidden inside the dash.

The power for the ardunio will come from a phone charger that I will take apart and wire in directly so as it has a 5v source instead of a 12. This should help keep things a bit cooler.

[TimD]

Looks good does this!

I decided against trying to reinvent the wheel as far as gauges go, so have gone back to my original plan which is to develop a lap timer. My GPS sensor and Accelerometer arrived int he mail this morning, hopefully get some time on Sunday to start prototyping.