It is update time - again... 
There vere many things that kept me from being happy with the previous iteration of my gadget. It didn't look as unobtrusive as I hoped, and the 3-digit display was a bit restrictive in terms of usability. Kept looking for more display options and built three different prototypes with white graphical OLED's but none of them were bright enough for acceptable daylight visibility. Then I found this LCD module.
This is a 4x10, or 2x10+1x10 character display, with FSTN positive construction. It is the same arrangement used with the OEM LCD display of the center console - excellent daylight readability, and white backlight for nighttime riding... Also, character height is almost exactly the same as the OEM one - 5mm in 2x mode. It is also super-thin, thanks to the COG manufacturing - chip on glass = electronics are mounted directly onto the glass display layer, no separate circuit boards used, resulting in 2mm (=1/12") total thickness. Backlight adds another 2.6mm, but this is still a very thin module that could be mounted over the Honda-logo, as if it were a sticker...
Now back to the "brain" part. To keep the display unit as thin as possible, designed a separate box for everything else. This goes to the underside of the center console - out of sight. The "big news" is the completely redesigned oil temp sensor. Now it can read the OEM EOT sensor signal, giving true oil temperature. Also got rid of the mounting problems of an additional oil temp sensor element. There is also a second, currently unused signal channel that could be utilized to read coolant temperature (ECT sensor) on liquid-cooled bikes, or the exhaust gas temperature (EGT sensor) if so desired.
All these new features (displaying more than one sensor at a time, allowing user calibration of the backlight, contrast and sensor elements) gave me another headache. How to interact with a complex menu system without having buttons or a touchscreen? Ended up adding a stub cable with a tiny 4-hole connector on the end, and a separate rotary encoder button that can be connected there. The gadget automatically senses when the rotary button is connected, and goes into setup mode. There you can alter whatever setting you want to or input calibration data, disconnect the rotary, tuck back the connector cable and ride away. I like it
Functionally it is still very similar to the original concept: battery voltage and cranking voltage display, ambient temperature, oil and optionally coolant temperature, and a ride timer. Thanks to the larger display it can show 4 or 5 different values at the same time. During "regular driving" we have air temp, oil temp, battery voltage and a ride timer. The only "new" thing is the direct reading of EOT sensor. As long as it is the factory Bosch sensor, we can use high-precision Steinhart-Hart coefficients. If some other kind of sensor is used, either a "beta + R25" value can be input or the unit can self-calibrate itself using two or three temperature measurements. I'm still working on making the menu as self-evident as possible
Will post pictures / video in a follow-up...
There vere many things that kept me from being happy with the previous iteration of my gadget. It didn't look as unobtrusive as I hoped, and the 3-digit display was a bit restrictive in terms of usability. Kept looking for more display options and built three different prototypes with white graphical OLED's but none of them were bright enough for acceptable daylight visibility. Then I found this LCD module.This is a 4x10, or 2x10+1x10 character display, with FSTN positive construction. It is the same arrangement used with the OEM LCD display of the center console - excellent daylight readability, and white backlight for nighttime riding... Also, character height is almost exactly the same as the OEM one - 5mm in 2x mode. It is also super-thin, thanks to the COG manufacturing - chip on glass = electronics are mounted directly onto the glass display layer, no separate circuit boards used, resulting in 2mm (=1/12") total thickness. Backlight adds another 2.6mm, but this is still a very thin module that could be mounted over the Honda-logo, as if it were a sticker...
Now back to the "brain" part. To keep the display unit as thin as possible, designed a separate box for everything else. This goes to the underside of the center console - out of sight. The "big news" is the completely redesigned oil temp sensor. Now it can read the OEM EOT sensor signal, giving true oil temperature. Also got rid of the mounting problems of an additional oil temp sensor element. There is also a second, currently unused signal channel that could be utilized to read coolant temperature (ECT sensor) on liquid-cooled bikes, or the exhaust gas temperature (EGT sensor) if so desired.
All these new features (displaying more than one sensor at a time, allowing user calibration of the backlight, contrast and sensor elements) gave me another headache. How to interact with a complex menu system without having buttons or a touchscreen? Ended up adding a stub cable with a tiny 4-hole connector on the end, and a separate rotary encoder button that can be connected there. The gadget automatically senses when the rotary button is connected, and goes into setup mode. There you can alter whatever setting you want to or input calibration data, disconnect the rotary, tuck back the connector cable and ride away. I like it
Functionally it is still very similar to the original concept: battery voltage and cranking voltage display, ambient temperature, oil and optionally coolant temperature, and a ride timer. Thanks to the larger display it can show 4 or 5 different values at the same time. During "regular driving" we have air temp, oil temp, battery voltage and a ride timer. The only "new" thing is the direct reading of EOT sensor. As long as it is the factory Bosch sensor, we can use high-precision Steinhart-Hart coefficients. If some other kind of sensor is used, either a "beta + R25" value can be input or the unit can self-calibrate itself using two or three temperature measurements. I'm still working on making the menu as self-evident as possible
Will post pictures / video in a follow-up...
