Nxt Mod: Replace Stock Gauge Cluster with DASH2

[rob13572468]

Originally Posted by turbophil

You can give the trick with A1 a try and let me know how that goes

The turn lamp thing is wacky to me too. It's almost as if someone forgot to include the signals in the dash and had to improvise... It surely isn't a weight or space issue. I wouldn't think it's a cost issue either... Perhaps just a little from the Lotus creators

The D2 has a provision for both turn signals. I'll soon be the only lotus driver in town that knows which signal flasher is on, Whoo hoo

Yes there is a relay of sorts for the shift/alarm light to seperate the Alarm and shiftlight signals. The shiftlight signal comes through CAN obviously.

There appears to be two signals for wheel speed. One via CAN and the other comes from ABS controller and is analog. The Lotus service sheets indicate that CAN functions are:

Speedo
fuel
MIL
Oil Pres
Tach
Water T
Shift Light
Tire Pres

It makes no mention of the odo. I think the odo/trip get their signal via the ABS unit rather than CAN. I can see that the Speedo and odo are connected, but for what, I dunno. In any case, it would be real cool if there's a nice square wave signal on pin A1 to tap into for a speed signal to the D2... That would save running 1 wire from the ECU anyway Which leaves me with just 3 wires to run for the Dash2 in particular: Temp, RPM, Fuel Level. With those three I'll have an *accurate* version of what the car came with and the Dash will be able to stand alone.

Adding the DL-1 into the mix will bring a whole host of other sensors and display options into the mix

Best,

Phil

I would re-check A1... if you look at the drawings you see that A1 goes to page 3 splice C which is 12v battery.

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by rob13572468

I would re-check A1... if you look at the drawings you see that A1 goes to page 3 splice C which is 12v battery.

There's something wrong there... I see what you're saying, but there's got to be more to that signal other than 12v.

Further support from my buddy darksol is that the speedo is off, but the odo is dead-nuts accurate. indicating the possibility of a different source for distance traveled than CAN. Maybe it's the brain in the cluster that causes that delta??? Why would the odo have it's own 12v source that splices on page 3 rather than using either of the other 2 12v sources going to the dash... it doesn't jive to me... I guess I'll play with it.


If it turns out that it's just a 12v source coming from fuse 8 up front, the wheel speed signals (all 4 of them) are running down the center of the cabin for super easy access. This project is looking to be pretty easy on paper. Your CAN converter would be sweet to make it SUPER easy though

Best,

Phil

[rob13572468]

Originally Posted by turbophil

There's something wrong there... I see what you're saying, but there's got to be more to that signal other than 12v.

Further support from my buddy darksol is that the speedo is off, but the odo is dead-nuts accurate. indicating the possibility of a different source for distance traveled than CAN. Maybe it's the brain in the cluster that causes that delta??? Why would the odo have it's own 12v source that splices on page 3 rather than using either of the other 2 12v sources going to the dash... it doesn't jive to me... I guess I'll play with it.


If it turns out that it's just a 12v source coming from fuse 8 up front, the wheel speed signals (all 4 of them) are running down the center of the cabin for super easy access. This project is looking to be pretty easy on paper. Your CAN converter would be sweet to make it SUPER easy though

Best,

Phil

It may be that the wiring diagrams are wrong (possibly intentionally) or it could be that there is a speed pulse wire but its undocumented.. i would check to see if there are any extra wires going to the cluster that arent in the diagrams.

I agree that it looks wierd that the A1 pin happens to go right to the odometer so maybe it is. Further when I first did the CAN research and did my famous 150 mph sitting still in the garage the odometer did not advance even though the CAN was getting speed signals so it also lends credence to the seperate speed wire idea. the question is which wire is it?

[turbophil]

The dash is a complete standalone... Not quite finished but should be tomorrow

[choi0706]

nice, whats with those splices?

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by choi0706

nice, whats with those splices?

I didn't want to cut off the pig tail for the stock cluster. This way the Dash2 is a standalone unit that I can revert back to stock if I want to... I still need to clean up the installation a bit, but it's pretty close how it is...

Best,

Phil

[turbophil]

So here are the pics... I'm all done... Details.

I routed 2 CAT5 wires of different color. One for the Dash and one for the DL1. I tapped wires to avoid cutting. I prefer this method. All taps are just under the air box and pretty well protected.

The dash looks pretty OE sitting in there. Notice the 4 button by the key hole. Those are the function/menu buttons for the Dash...

The Dash PC software is very easy to work with and I had some fun tinkering with different configs. For the doubter out there, the below pics clearly show it working with car running

Best,

Phil

[Dave]

Oh yeah! That looks like OE and fantastic. Guess my wallet is about to shrink (again)

[MaineLotus]

VERY well done, I want this in my Elise! This is my next mod, after the engine is back in the car. Is the odometer and gas gauge working?

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by MaineLotus

VERY well done, I want this in my Elise! This is my next mod, after the engine is back in the car. Is the odometer and gas gauge working?

yep and yep... I probably need to fine tune the gas gauge a bit. That's easy enough with a little trial and error at the gas station. The dash2 has the cool provision to slow down the sampling rate on any of the input. So I can make so that as the fuel sloshes it won't give false readings. I told the dash to give a 1.00 when full and 0 when empty. I'm terrible with computers. If I can figure this out anyone can. It's nearly idiot proof software...

Best,

Phil

[MaineLotus]

Turn signal and high beam? Anything not work? Again, great job, I'm very impressed.

[scottyb]

Phil,

I have to admit, I did have some doubts, but she looks great.

Is the dash still legible when in direct sunlight?

Also will you be selling this as a kit?

[Lotus F1]

Nice! All your missing in that cockpit is the F1 Paddle shifters

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by MaineLotus

Turn signal and high beam? Anything not work? Again, great job, I'm very impressed.

Pretty much everything you'd want works... I even have both turn signals now I have a high beam light, fog light, and alternator/charging system light (the old battery light). It has a warning light for the brakes. Although, I learned that our cars simply connect the circuit to ground when blake fluid is low or park brake is on. The D2 looks for a hot wire. So I'll have to wire a relay if I want that light to work... No biggie... A project for another day. At this point my back hurts to much to tinker with it for a while

The only things you lose are a handful of idiot lights: Airbag, MIL, ABS, Seat Belt. The ALDL/OBDII port still works, so the above can be checked there if one cares to look from time to time...

It's hard to take a good photo of it. It really does sink right in there and it looks pretty cool. I can't wait to plug in the DL1 and get it displaying all sorts of stuff on it... I'm big supporter of wiring the dash up so that it can be a standalone such as I did. Of course if I ever sell the car, I can install the stock dash with little effort since all I did was splice...

Originally Posted by scottyb

Phil,

I have to admit, I did have some doubts, but she looks great.

Is the dash still legible when in direct sunlight?

Also will you be selling this as a kit?

Thanks Scotty. I can't believe you doubted me though

It seems to have more than sufficient contrast for sunlight. It was designed to replace an OEM dash, so RT had sunlight in mind when they made it...

Not planning any kits at this time. I'll be happy to provide all the support I can for anyone wanting to do this yourself. It's really not that hard... Very timing consuming, but not hard...(Although I can't think of many things that are hard to do on this car. Some things just take more time than others)
Plus, as it is, I'm backed up with clam hinges and a few other items for quite a while. I think Andrew (my partner in crime) would unplug the beer fridge if I took on another product

Best,

Phil

[scottyb]

Phil,

It looks like you've got plenty of room on the sides to add any idiot lights your missing.

[charliex]

speed pulse should be brought out to the cluster, which is the odo.

the speedo are seperately calibrated, so even if the signal was sourced from the same place they dont have to match, but speedo is can, odo isn't

i also have the connectors for the stock wiring harness/cluster plug for people who want to make a harness.

[jlj3394]

Looks awesome!

I wish my wife would let me tinker like that!

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by charliex

i also have the connectors for the stock wiring harness/cluster plug for people who want to make a harness.

That would have been great to know....YESTERDAY!

Well I guess it wouldn't have saved that much work, but I'll still take one... Mind dropping one in the mail to me?

Best,

Phil

[charliex]

Originally Posted by turbophil

That would have been great to know....YESTERDAY!

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/show...&postcount=131

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by jlj3394

Looks awesome!

I wish my wife would let me tinker like that!

Thanks, maybe she will after she sees it at the next GTG

Cheers,

Phil