Author Topic: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo  (Read 28468 times)

jelco

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Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« on: March 26, 2011, 11:01:54 pm »
I ordered my first collection of SP gear yesterday and looking forward to using them. I've managed to get my hands on a complete Porsche 997 gauge set which will make for a really cool dash on my simrig, and will end up connecting the tacho and the speedo of that set to the two Rev Burners I ordered. However, the set also comes with a variety of other common gauges (e.g. fuel level and oil pressure) and lights (like turn signals and a handbrake indicator). I'm hoping to get at least some of these to work if only because it looks cool - besides fuel level there's hardly any others that would even make sense to monitor during most sim races.

Although I don't really know a lot about the internal electronics of a car dash, I guess the speedo and tacho are the only gauges that work with pulses. This would mean it's quite complicated to use a Rev Burner for e.g. the fuel gauge. Switching lights on/off is a different story entirely.

I have not looked at SimDash in detail but I get the impression it's not intended for use with home-made externals. I was hoping to DIY some PCBs together and hook it up to SimDash, but from the looks of it that will be very difficult without access to the source code. If it is possible, I'd like to know how - if it isn't, do you plan on making this possible in the future?

Another solution would of course be to release new products; one that supports other types of gauges (or new firmware that somehow enables the Rev Burner to do so) and one that enables switching (or even blinking) lights.

Please don't think that I'm criticising you for not supporting some of these components I mentioned: I'm psyched to be able to use a proper tacho and speedo alone and understand that these are by far the most important ones to go for. However, as a sim fanatic I'm always hoping to add more stuff to my rig and making it look as real as possible, and hence hope that this will be possible one way or another in the future. :)

Jelco

Cristiano

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Re: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2011, 11:15:08 pm »
Hello.
Thank you for your feedback.
You are right. The rev burner will not work with the fues/oil/temp gauges, but it doesn't mean they won't be supported in the future. I am confident this year I will  release a board to drive them.

Regard the lights, very soon will be available a new board, called "Pro Shift", able to drive up to 16 leds.
these leds can be used to make a rev bar to display rpm, the warning lights of a dashboard or led-based gauges for fuel/temp....
More boards can be used at the same time, in the case 16 leds are not enough

I have built a small demo dashboard to demonstrate what the "Pro Shift" can do and I will post a video soon.

Cheers
Cristiano

chris p duck

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Re: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2011, 08:31:25 am »
Just FYI I am also interested in and would purchase the "pro shift" board (for the warning lights on my dash, not any LED based bar graphs for rev, fuel etc)

Cristiano

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Re: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2011, 03:42:48 pm »
The Pro Shift works with leds, sending 15mA to each leds.
The lights on the dashboard usually require more power. you will have to replace those lights with the led included with the Pro Shift. But they are very bright, I am sure you won't notice the difference.

Cheers
Cristiano

fahim

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Re: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2011, 07:06:06 pm »
Cristiano,

Look foward to that. The fuel & water temp gauge are waiting for your future board :)

kikie

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Re: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2011, 05:07:54 pm »
Cristiano, am I going to be able to connect this board to the your Mondeo dashboard cluster in conjunction with the 2 RevBurners that drives this dasboard cluster?

Cristiano

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Re: Support for dash components other than tacho/speedo
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2011, 06:16:48 pm »
You will have to replace the light bulbs of the dashboard with the LEDs included with the Pro Shift.

Cheers
Cristiano

 

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