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With the outside temperature today climbing towards 70 F, we took some time right after lunch to go for a ride in the XFire. Drove around the southern rural areas of Greenville & Spartanburg counties. We were gone for about 90 minutes. Got back right as Jaguars & Patriots game started. It is always a thrill to drive the XFire!!! I love the looks we get from passersby!!!
I finished my projector led fog light conversion last night. I just have to do the alignment for the projector lenses. Below is a comparison of the OEM halogen light (warmer color light) versus the LED light (cooler color light). As you can see between the two pictures, there is a great amount of light produced but it is low enough to where it will not blind oncoming drivers.
The LED is on tie right. The picture doesn't do justice for the beam pattern. I will post more pictures after I align them.
This is a couple of inches off the ground. You can see how much the projector focuses the light at the lower level.
I have also decided to stop all crossfire projects for now and focus on just this one below. I found a extra wide 12.3 inch LCD display online and some open source software and decided to bring my gauge cluster up to date. This will take some time to get it just the way I want it but I am confident I can make it work. I purchased a spare gauge cluster and have been messing around with it in my free time. I was able to emulate most of the signals that make the gauge cluster work and test them with the software as well. I tapped into the CAN bus at the gear shiftier and was able to get an abundant amount of info as well. Some of the data included was
Current gear the car is in (im both auto and manual shift modes)
The gear the transmission control unit is requesting the transmission to go into
RPM's (which as you can see, I will have to change the gauge redline range)
Speed
Throttle
Door open/closed
ESP Enabled/Disabled
and Summer/Winter mode
I also plan to add other information such as Radar Detector status (since I like to turn the screen off at night), rear view camera and possibly video playback from my dash cam (im not sure about this one yet but it would be nice since the actual controller is buried in the dash)
The two biggest things I am trying to work out before I proceed is the gas gauge signal (which I think shouldnt be a problem) and the odometer. I am thinking of leaving the original gauge cluster circuitry behind the LCD so I can pull the LCD out to verify the odometer if needed. If I take the needles and gears out, I think I can make it fit.
What is the software you are using on that display?
What is the software you are using on that display?
I am using Android for the display interface with an app called RealDash. It is a free download if you want to play with it. As for the interface, I am using an arduino mega with a CAN-BUS shield. What I cannot get through the canbus, I am getting through the analog and digital pins of the arduino. I also have some stuff going through an I2C bus as well. I am currently experimenting with tapping into the I2C bus on the dash itself to get the true odometer reading that the microcontroller writes to the center display. This would be useful because I could also have it read the FSS information when service is due.
I plan to start a thread soon as per some members requests. Unfortunately, I have been swamped with work and haven't been able to get to it yet. It will come soon enough
I am using Android for the display interface with an app called RealDash. It is a free download if you want to play with it. As for the interface, I am using an arduino mega with a CAN-BUS shield. What I cannot get through the canbus, I am getting through the analog and digital pins of the arduino. I also have some stuff going through an I2C bus as well. I am currently experimenting with tapping into the I2C bus on the dash itself to get the true odometer reading that the microcontroller writes to the center display. This would be useful because I could also have it read the FSS information when service is due.
I plan to start a thread soon as per some members requests. Unfortunately, I have been swamped with work and haven't been able to get to it yet. It will come soon enough
I will have to check that out and play around with it. I guess this might give me some motivation to take the arduino i purchase out of the package finally. I have this horrible problem with buying materials for projects and then never getting around to them. Hence why i have 5 of the chip computers that are still unused. I would be very interested once you get that documentation together. The dash cluster is definetly outdated when you compare it to moset newer cars
I will have to check that out and play around with it. I guess this might give me some motivation to take the arduino i purchase out of the package finally. I have this horrible problem with buying materials for projects and then never getting around to them. Hence why i have 5 of the chip computers that are still unused. I would be very interested once you get that documentation together. The dash cluster is definetly outdated when you compare it to moset newer cars
I agree. I originally cleaned the green tint off of the cluster and put in RGB led's shown in the video below. they are controlled by arduino and can go any color you want. I even went as far as putting a matte tint film over the cluster gauge so it will be completely black when it was off (except for the needles). I was satisfied with that because I could keep the gauge cluster red to match the rest of the buttons in my car but then I stumbled across this LCD. I worked a little over two months with a company in China to get a working sample. It was well worth the wait though. This LCD is direct sunlight readable and has a higher resolution than the other ones I found online. I think it will make all of the difference in the end.
I agree. I originally cleaned the green tint off of the cluster and put in RGB led's shown in the video below. they are controlled by arduino and can go any color you want. I even went as far as putting a matte tint film over the cluster gauge so it will be completely black when it was off (except for the needles). I was satisfied with that because I could keep the gauge cluster red to match the rest of the buttons in my car but then I stumbled across this LCD. I worked a little over two months with a company in China to get a working sample. It was well worth the wait though. This LCD is direct sunlight readable and has a higher resolution than the other ones I found online. I think it will make all of the difference in the end.
Have you had a chance to check out The company QT for digital gauge cluster> https://www.qt.io/.....I came across these while looking some things up and they seem promising
Installed 2 main lifting hydraulic cylinders on the Roadster that I had sent out to TopHydraulics for rebuilding. Topped off the hydraulic reservoir. She's good to go, works better than it ever did.
Installed 2 main lifting hydraulic cylinders on the Roadster that I had sent out to TopHydraulics for rebuilding. Topped off the hydraulic reservoir. She's good to go, works better than it ever did.
Where is the reservior? Is it easy to get to? what fluid should be used?
two new tires on the front yesterday. the Uniroyal Tiger Paws are so quiet!
replaced a headlight bulb the other day. (PAIN IN THE A**)
ordered the front Camber bolts that were never replaced.
Re: What did you do to your Crossfire today?
I love the looks we get from passersby!!! 
