Today I went a little further today with the cluster. I finished all the programming I can do without the running and then started to reinstall the cluster. I just roughly fit it in and then hooked everything up to see if I would get any smoke
I didn't start the car yet but I am happy to say that it booted okay and even recognized the blinkers when I unlocked and locked the doors form the remote which is an awesome start for me. I have powered the full cluster a couple of times with a bench top power supply and a spare set of cut off connectors/cables that came with my eBay cluster so I honestly didn't think it would smoke (but you never know).

Here are a couple pictures of the rough fitment (don't mind the dirty steering wheel. Shes going to get a full detail when Im done with this)



Don't mind the fingerprints all over the screen

After this, I started working on what I am calling the "power management controller"

This consists of an arduino pro micro, an 8 input opto isolator board and a board consisting of 8 solid state relays. This will stay powered all the time and control when the computer, lcd, tablet, neopixel leds (which replaced all the interior lights), dashcam, and the usb charger ports/wireless charger. I picked this arduino specifically because it can emulate a usb keyboard which will allow me to connect it to the dash computer and easily put it into a sleep mode which pulls less current than fully powered.

As of right now, it takes about 45 seconds for the computer to fully boot into the dash software from a complete power off. I plan to see if I can improve this time but to help make it less noticeable, I am gong to use a couple of inputs from my push to start system. Currently, when my key gets in about a 5-10 foot radius of the car, the doors automatically unlock and the push to start button turns blue. I am going to tap into the voltage (with the opto board) for the blue LED and have the computer start to boot as soon as it turns on. The push to start LED turns green.when the car starts. I am debating on either using this green led signal or the door signal to turn the screen on (old picture of button at bottom for reference). I plan to have the screen turn back off after the doors lock or a 2 minute period (whichever is first). I plan to have it change to a basic logo screen with the time and odometer on it when it turns off until it receives the shutdown signal. I also plan to add a button to this controller to have everything (tablet, phone chargers, dashcam, etc) completely shut off for "long term storage" as well as a low voltage detection circuit which will do the same thing.





Ill be honest, This has been fun but I cant wait until this project is over