Building a digital inclinometer

I thought about the Kickstarter route but honestly I think I can bootstrap it myself...I don't have a bunch of tools to buy and the services I'm using are pretty reasonably priced. It would be nice to buy components in bigger quantities to get unit discounts, but it's not that huge of a difference in price really.

The publicity and exposure could be huge, but if I didn't hit my goal I'd probably spiral into a huge depression. haha But if it was REALLY successful then I'd have the problem of trying to fulfill hundreds or thousands of orders really quickly.

This way I can go at my own pace and not get stressed if a deadline isn't hit: there are no deadlines.

 

Oh geez, I haven't thought about that...I'm guessing that whatever format the stock temp gauge outputs isn't going to be compatible with my board so I'm going to have to do all kinds of conversions by trial and error. One of the sensors I'm usually actually does have an on-board temperature sensor, but it would be the temperature of the air around the sensor itself, not the outside temp. And depending on where you end up mounting it it could be a lot warmer than the actual cabin air.

If I get a chance I'll look into it but i can't promise anything!

 

Yeah, I could add a menu that let you sound an alarm when you reach any particular pitch/roll angle. Maybe I can market it as a simple "angle notification system" rather than a "rollover warning" to avoid any legal problems.

 

there are too many variables involved to determine what angle a truck will rollover.. you are better off not making a warning chime on the product and just putting a warning label to release you from liablilty.. you dont know how each lift kit will affect the center of gravity, or if the person has a RTT, or what other characteristics each truck has.. the only way to know what will flip the truck is trial and error on the drivers part..

 

Or just have it as a user definable feature. I would like to have it, and I would probably be very prudent with the angle I set it at

 

That's why he said it would be up to the user to input the angle they want.

 

Cool. And hey if it dosnt work so be it... I would rather have the pitch going on up there anyways.

 

I am very interested.

 

I for one would love to have one, maybe i could make a retro dash mount similar to old yota's that fits in the tacoma interior and you could make the gauge.

I would like one with the stupid noises if they had a volume or cancel button or something. And i would gladly give a liability waiver to purchase it.

Do something like 30 degree passenger, 28 degree driver, 50 incline and 45 decline idk

 

Also, when going really slow things like this are usefull..

Would the digital gauge flutter with bumps like the liquid filled ones in the "o shit" meters of military trucks?

 

The sensor used to determine the pitch/roll is an accelerometer which, when you're sitting still, just measures gravity. But when you're accelerating it senses that as well and starts throwing your numbers off. So for now you need to be still to get an accurate reading.

That being said, I have a gyroscope on the same sensor. The gyroscope can tell you if the vehicle is currently rotating in any plane, versus just accelerating on a flat surface. I'm trying to find a good formula for subtracting the effects of acceleration so that you are truly only measuring gravity. Still working on it...

 

Hey, does anyone out there want the ability to measure radiation with this thing? https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11345

 

Apocolypse vehicle. I like it.

 

If you were to buy the components and build it off an Arduino board yourself you'd be looking at ~$90 for components, but it'd be a little less if you had some basic components laying around (VR's, Resistors ...). I presume the final version wouldn't be based on an Uno board as in the pics, so you'd save $10-15 right there depending on how many boards OP has made. Add in some for assembly and R&D if you buy from OP and you're probably looking at <$150.

OP has been nice enough to make his code and diagrams open source. There's most of the work I'll be ordering an LCD and accelerometer tonight, thanks OP!

 

You're welcome! I started a second repo with the code that adds the barometer (for altitude) and magnetometer (for the compass):

https://github.com/camerontech/offroad-cpu

If you want the sensor I'm using you can get that here:

SUNKEE 1232055 10DOF 9-Axis Attitude Indicator L3G4200D ADXL345 HMC5883L BMP085 Module Arduino

http://www.amazon.com/Attitude-Indi...?ie=UTF8&qid=1382247921&sr=8-1&keywords=10dof

Let me know if you get it up and running on your own, I'm interested to see how many people will want to get their hands dirty and just built it on their own instead of waiting for me.

 

I've ordered my parts for the build. Even shipping everything way up north my total came to 65$ including 3 sets of all small components (not boards).

You can find the 9-axis sensor on eBay if you're willing to wait. (11$)
(http://www.ebay.com/itm/271037780497?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649)

I'm basing my build on an Arduino Nano for smaller package size. OP's final printed board will probably be smaller than this, but I don't want to wait and my Uno is too large. (7$)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181188897618?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I've gone with a different LCD than OP. I want my finished package to fit inside the stock temp/compass display. The 5V LCD OP chose is too long to fit, so i've gone with an amber 3V version with a serial enabled backpack. It should fit - just barely. (25$)
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9069

I'll be trying to use the stock temperature sensor to display outside temperature as well as all the other goodies, but we'll see how that goes. My coding isn't even half decent.

My components won't arrive until the end of November , but i'll build my 3.3 and 5V regulators and fit the LCD in the meantime. I hope to squeeze the entire package in the same space as the stock temp sensor display, but if that's too tight i'll mount the LCD there and run the comm wires through to my sunglasses holder where the board would sit.

Stock board: (keys for size)

 

Awesome! It's gonna be neat to see if someone can use my stuff to replicate this from scratch. I think you may still be missing a part or two, though. I just send a PM with details.

 

Can't wait to beta this