I was looking at getting gauges for the camaro project and the more I look the more I think my laptop can display all of the things I need to know about the engine for a hell of a lot less then purchasing separate gauges.
this is what the tweecer program that I currently use looks like, and all of the data is received from a single usb cable from the ECU
I guess my question is this. How well is a laptop going to handle the vibration from being mounted in a car all the time. In theory this display would be able to provide more usable data at a lower cost then conventional gauges. Obviously it will not eliminate the need for certain gauges but it is a solid start.
well, when it says danger to your manifold, don’t ignore it.
i don’t know how well an LCD will perform for a display attached to a laptop flopping around on your dash while driving. maybe a car-puter with a small display wired for on board tuning w/display, and wifi @ timmy hoes but not just a laptop bouncing around in the pass seat.
Seems like a lot of dicking around. You can get a netbook with a flash drive for $350. Not sure if anything’s out yet, but this seems like the deal application for one of those silly little tablets that have been popping up like weeds since the ipad came out.
to be honest That is a extremely expensive option. I will may use some of their stuff for logging AFR and EGT but that stuff can be displayed via the laptop using BE right along side much of my other data. I am fairly confident I can customize the dashboard to include whatever I want. I am not sure if I can run in onto dual monitors and if I could I am not sure it is necessary to see every engine parameter all the time. Once it is tuned I will probably limit the gauges to rpm, oil pressure, oil temp, ECT and EGT I am considering running EGT probes on every cylinder too and BE will allow me to display and log all 6 at the same time.
I was actually looking at some instruments used in the aircraft industry but holly hell some of that stuff is expensive. I am sure it also has reliability far exceeding my needs too though.
Who cares about boot time? :roflpicard: You get in and hit the laptop power button and if you need to see your gauges for startup you wait 30 seconds before starting the car. If he’s willing to use a computer to save money on gauges I’m sure he’s willing to do that.
In dash display/touchscreen mounted where the radio goes, use a cheapo laptop with an SSD to drive the display. And if you want threshold alarms or some crap for it I’ll write an app for it.
Shut down too, you don’t want to be constantly just cutting the power.
I wonder if they still have keyboards with power and shut down buttons?
A laptop seems like too much of an inconvenience to me.
I bet if you could find a keyboard which will turn on and shut off the laptop via separate buttons, hack it up and use some relays connected from the ignition power to those keyboard buttons, you could probably get the laptop turning on and shutting down properly with the ignition power…Since the laptop has a battery you can just turn the car off and walk away while it’s shutting down.
