Thinking of a new gadget...

[Csory_imp]

Time for an update It's been quite a while since the last one - and I've been busy with tweaking the final design.

First thing first: the new inductors are in, work flawlessly, and the new power supply design ended in significantly lower power consumption. Now it is 5.3mA with backlight off, and 7.3mA with backlight fully on (both measured at the 12V input).

The smaller inductor allowed a smaller Schottky-diode (0.5A instead of 1A), making the 6-pin socket connector the tallest component on the board. This made me put on my thinking cap: if only I could put the connector side-by-side instead of on the board... ended up redesigning the entire PCB, flipping it upside down and creating a "notch" for the connector (on the left side):



Also, reduced board thickness from 0.8mm to 0.6mm. These two changes shaved off 0.8mm thickness of the display module, as you can see on these newly printed housings:



While still waiting for the new boards to arrive (due in this Thursday), worked a bit on the software too. Main changes are:

- Option to use icons instead of text for "oil" and "coolant" temperature, see image below. The black "drop" represents engine oil, while the horizontal lines were meant for coolant (reminds me of a radiator grille):



- Advanced setup now skips steps that are non-relevant in the given configuration (i.e. coolant sensor adjustments will not show up if there is no sensor attached).

- Connection error with sensors will show "N/C" message instead of garbage temperature values:



- This is a hardware change, but has software implications: with the more efficient power supply I could double the system clock. This also doubled the frequency of backlight switching - now looks even smoother when dimmed.

Also, five set of cables are ready. The one with the rotary button is for adjustments, the other one is for programming. Opted for 90-degree connectors on the BikeGadget's end, allowing better access when the display is already mounted on the bike (see below).



Once the new boards are in I'll go ahead with manufacturing and - finally - sending the units out