OBD for Proton - new bluetooth project

It has been a while... There are some requests for the Obd reader (dashxtender) but since it involves a lot of hadware I found it difficult to make. It also needs to have the look to be attractive, for which I am not very good at aesthetics. Plus, the LCD that I used are no longer in the market and new ones has different pinouts. I need to change my circuit...!

Hence, I have been working on this bluetooth thing. I found one cheap bluetooth to serial board. I just received them last week.

I ordered the wrong ones!. This one has no pin. With my age and eyesight, it was a strain to solder some wires on those small things.

This board that I build can communicate with my Galaxy Note. Yeay...!

I also built some codes so that this thing can communicate to my Proton Saga BLM ECU via OBD. I also incorporated some translation codes so that TORQUE can communicate with my ECU via this board. Findout about Torque here http://torque-bhp.com/ or you can download from Google Play. There is free version - torque lite. Paid version lets you do a lot more things..!

Initial tests proved a success..! I can display things such as speed, rpm, manifold pressure, load, temperatures on my Android..! and error codes! Now you can use TORQUE for your PROTON...!

This kit is also much cheaper to make..!

Here is a video of the kit in action....

You can add more display such as injection pulse width, battery voltage by using customised PID in Torque.

Interested? Leave a comment below or email azrisyamilATyahooDOTcom

kepada Joy , kalu pakai Kancil dengan carburettor je  tak payah pasang la...   



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HCCI single cylinder injection and ignition piggy back system

This was done many-many months ago. Now I don't even remember how it should work exactly. But this was built to help my colleague doing his PhD work on HCCI engine. HCCI stands for homogenous charge compression ignition. He was working on a single cylinder direct injection research engine and trying to convert that to HCCI operation. The idea was to build a piggy back system that would take over the injection and ignition control of the engine. The system would truncate the fuel delivery pulse so that a very lean operation would ensue. The system was also supposed to cut off the ignition when operating in HCCI mode. To assist combustion, alternate firing of the spark was desired (alternate cycle will have ignition spark). There was also a swicth that would allow the engine to operate either on HCCI or on normal mode.

Sadly, the system was never tested. As I completed building it, my friend had found other options. Nonetheless, it was tested using relay in place of fuel injector, and some LED to show the ignition.

Here is the picure of the system. The top half is the simulated engine (relay and injector and LED as ignition).








I don't have the schematics drawn yet. But the source code is here

The HEX file is here

Sensorless engine rpm counter update

Here are some videos of the rev counter in action. Unfortunately, my effort to modify the display to make it brighter did not work quite well.

The second and third video are the improved display, by changing the pause time between each LED light up. The LED draws power from the PIC microcontroller, thus need to limit the current. They did not turn up very bright. The videos were captured early morning, before sun rise. I wanted to change the circuit and draw the power for the LED from power supply regulator, but it got messy and I damaged the whole thing.

One more thing, the rev counter works best when there is electrical load from the engine such as headlight or rear windscreen demister. Readings are more stable...

My new project is to develop a control system for a pyrolysis reactor. Part of it involves controlling the speed of a DC motor (in this case a cordless drill), without any speed encoder. I also used Selmaware's StampPlotLite software for computer control and data logging... Maybe more on that project later.

Universal Proportional Integral Derivative Controller

It has been quite a while since my last post. For some reason or another, these 2 months were a bit hectic during the weekends. For the past few weeks the weekends were spent attending the Hajj (Pilgrimage) Crash Course. I am hoping to go for my Hajj this year. More on that later....

I've also put on hold the project on my HUD. I was asked by my colleague to develop a Proportional,Integral and Derivative (PID) controller for an engine test equipment. So that kept me away from the HUD project (will finish the HUD thing later). Then I thought this could also be used for any system that need PID control. This thing will take any 0-5 volt input (you can also make it 0-10 or whatever by putting a voltage divider). Then there is this PID algorithm that will compute the voltage output. The DAC0830 will then output this voltage. You can use to control whatever thing that require voltage output.

Sometimes you need to trick a system by giving false input. For example, you want to tell the engine that the intake manifold pressure is high so that the engine will inject more fuel. You will get more power. This same hardware can also be used. I've developed the source codes for this. You just need to recalibrate the voltage i.e. the actual one and the desired one.

Here are the components needed:

1. PIC 16F877 - 1 (RM27)
2. buttons - 4 units
3. DAC0830LCN - 1 unit (RM10)
4. op amp LF351N - 1 unit
5. 2pole dipswitch -
6. npn transistor C337 - 1 unit
7. relay (automotive type) CMA51-S-12V - 1 unit
8. LCd display
9. resistors
10. capacitors
11. 20MHz crystal
12 some length of wires

Oh ya, you also need the negative voltage supply. I got it from the old PC power supply. See my previous post on using this power supply.

PID source code is here . The hex file is here

Signal modifier code is here .The hex file is here

I don't have the schematics yet. Maybe later....

Update of sensorless engine rpm meter

This is the project built onto strip board. It was quite a challenging project. The idea is to display this as a HUD (head up display) on the windscreen of my old kancil. That is what the 7segment LEDs for. I am hoping that the LEDs are bright enough to be projected onto the windscreen.

Haven't soldered the components yet. It took me a few hours just to put the component together.

Can't wait to solder everything and test it. Now I have to run my other errands first .....

Engine Oxygen Sensor reader

This is just for fun. Another weekend project for the weekend warriors.

For most modern engines, there is air fuel ratio control to ensure efficient operation. Mostly aimed at reducing those harmful gases of the exhaust that destroys the environment. Also, it helps protect the catalyst. Too rich mixture can melt the catalyst.

Items

1. PIC16F676 - (RM8)

2. 7805 power regulator - (RM1)

3. Capacitor (ceramic) -(RM0.3 x 4=RM1.20)

4. Capacitors (e caps) -(RM2)

5. Resistors -(RM0.05x3=RM0.15)

6. KK connector7 way (male and female) and 4 way– (RM5?)

7. IC socket for the PIC16f676 -(RM1)

8. 4MHz crystal - RM(2.50)

9. strip board/vero board -RM(6.50)

10. diode 1N4007 -(RM0.30)

Tools

1. Solder

2. Pic programmer

3. Any compiler for PIC (I use PICBASICPro)

4. Download free Selmaware StampPlotLite

5. USB to Serial (COMport) converter – you can get it from computer stores.

Depending on the engine make, the voltage signal from the oxygen sensor vary. On my TOYOTA it is about 0.1 to 0.8 volts. I think for PROTON also about the same. Actually, what I built was just voltage meter, and plotted the voltage read out on the laptop.

First build the thing. The source codes is here. The source codes is in PICBASICPro. The hex file is here.

The schematics is here.

To connect the 9pin com port to the board – ground to pin5 of the 9pin port, serial out to pin 2 of the 9pin port.

Get the free Selmaware StampPlotLite. http://www.selmaware.com/stampplot/

Find the wires that leads to the oxygen sensor of the engine. Depending on the sensor type, comes with either 2 or 4 wires. Usually for the 4 wires, the black is ground,the red is 12v and one of the lighter coloured is the signal. First using multimeter. With engine ON, find the one that appears to have fluctuating signal.

Here is an example of the signal from the oxygen sensor. I save the data to excel. Note that there is a lot of noise in the data. I suspect that the noise comes from the poor serial communication ( there is a lot of invalid data coming in). I think that it is due to the inaccuracy of the crystal. Need to change that.

digital rpm tachometer untuk kancil

Satu atau dua hari punya projek. Untuk weekend warriors:

Barang2:

1. PIC16F877 - sesuai kerana banyak port, boleh guna untuk LCD display (RM25)
2. 16x2 alphanumeric LCD display (RM27)
3. vero board/stripboard (RM6.50)
4. KK connector 7 pin complete with crimps (male and female connectors)(RM5?)
5. IC socket, 40pin (RM1?)
6. capacitors (E caps) - (RM2)
7. capacitors, ceramic 4 bijik (RM0.3x4=RM1.20)
8. crystal 4MHz (RM2.50)
9. diode 1N4007 - RM0.30 x 2 = RM0.60
10. zener diode (rm0.5x2 =RM1)
11. resistors (0.25Watt) RM 0.05 x 4 =RM0.20)
12. film capacitor - RM0.50
13. potentiometer, variable (untuk LCD contrast control)- RM3.50
14. power regulator, 7805 (RM1.00)
15. some length of wires
16. double sided tape
17. dua batang skru
18. solder
19. bekas ais krim (free, yang ni aku curi wife aku punya bekas kapur tulis. Dia cikgu sekolah)









board dan LCD display setelah disambung







Untuk kancil lama aku, dia punya ignition signal diambil di sini. Perhatikan wayar ungu kecik dalam gambar di bawah tu. Connector kat coil tu ada dua pin. Aku ambik pin yang bawah. Cucuk dengan pin yang selalu orang guna untuk pakai tudung kepala tu, hopefully water prooflah. Wayar tu aku masukkan melalui firewall, dengan cara tebuk satu penutup plastik dekat situ. Kalau boleh tutup lubang tu baik2 sebab tak mau wasap dari kompartment enjin tu masuk ke dalam cabin.
















LCD dalam bekas aiskrim dipasang dekat sisi kiri tempat duduk pemandu. Guna double sided tape pun dah OK. Vero board tu aku letak dalam kotak dan sorok dalam glovebox.

Untuk lebih selamat, elok letak dalam kotak elok2 dan lekatkan di luar glove box. Power regulator tu agak suam2 jugak aku rasa. Biar ada ventilation, lebih baik. Kalau nak letak heat sink pun boleh. Tapi aku tak guna heat sink pun OK. Setakat ni letak dalam glove box saja pun aku dah pakai dekat sebulan. Paling jauh perjalanan setakat ni adalah dalam 200lebih km (dari Tronoh ke Nilai) dalam tiga jam.

lagi satu, LCD display tu elok letakkan jauh dari matahari. Nanti padam pulak dia.

















Ni ada video rpm tachometer setelah siap semuanya.




Source code boleh didapati di sini . Tapi dalam PICBASICPro. Kalau nak migrate ke bahasa lain pun tak susah. Bahasa PICBASICPro ni mudah, very high level mnemonic. Kalu nak Hex file dia ada di sini.


Schematics di sini dalam bitmap format.
















Next projek aku nak cuba fikirkan macam mana nak dapatkan odometer/tripmeter pulak. Untuk makluman, kereta buruk ni pakai cable untuk odometer dia. Jadi, tak ada electrical signal (digital atau analog). Ada dua pilihan: 1. hack dashboard meter tu, 2. Guna clever trick dengan rpm dan inertia measurement (guna dual axis accelerometer, tapi mahal sikitlah)

How to make use of old PC power supply

I have 3 of those old power supply. At least 2 of them still works.Here is how to make use of the thing for power supply for other purposes.

This power supply has 5volts, 3volts, 11 (or 12?) volts and -11volts power. This is nice for electronics projects. For example, some IC's like the DAC requires negative voltage. It is available here without having to buy negative voltage generator.

Best of all, electronics dedicated power supplies costs at least RM100 or usually more. But in this case it is much cheaper. RM50?

The trouble is when you simply hookup this power supply to the 230volt supply,it will not work. Here is the trick that would make it work.

The black wire is ground. Using a multimeter, check each connectors and you'll find at least one wire with 3V and one with 5 V.

Most of the wires are red, black or orange. The other colours are one each.

Using 1kohm resistor, connect the 3V line to the other wires (not the red or black)one by one while monitoring the voltage across the black and redwire. Best to try connect the unique colour wires first to the 3 volt line. When you register 5 volts(or 12volts) across the black and red wires,the power supply unit is ready to go.

In my case, the 3 volt wire is green, and need to be connected to white wire for the power supply to work. Now I am off to do some projects..