BCM Gauge Battery Data Display

[faxe]

I have timed mine with a stopwatch 5 times today, and from i turn of the ignition until there is a "click" from behind & the BCM display turns off, is
12 sec.

[retepsnikrep]

Thanks 10 seconds sound reasonably safe then.

If data is saved into eeprom every ten seconds then should not lose any

As EEprom has over a million write cycles that means a fair while before we need to worry.

[Artric]

So I had a fun time assembling the boards last week, while I waited for my SparkFun LCD to arrive (also with some Arduino stuff - time to get creative!).

Everything went pretty smoothly. My biggest mistake was using 18GA power supply wire, as it was far too big, even with cutting back a bit of the wire. I used Cat5e wire for the run to the rear of the car, and that was a great gauge for the project.

The only thing that I'm not sure about was the connection of the joystick. I followed the instructions in the PDF, but they don't match up with what I've been seeing in the pictures - they seem to show all items being connected to the ICSP connectors. It's acting a little funny (but I only played for it with a minute), so could someone confirm how the joystick should be connected?

Anyway, I kept the main board pretty close, as it was advised to keep it out of the battery compartment. I found that it fit perfectly on top of my MIMA distribution board, and to get access, I just need to remove a few screws and my shift knob. I used some ultra-heavy-duty double-sided tape to hold it in place and insulate.


Peter Perkins' BCM Gauge Board Installed by Artric, on Flickr

I liked the idea of using a CD player faceplate box, but I didn't have one on hand, plus they're a little bulky, so for now, I found that with the cable holding it in place, it's a great fit behind the black area at the rear edge of the cupholder and the gap between that piece and the upper plastic part that is removed to access the CD player. That was the one good part about using the 18GA wire - it was stiff enough to hold it in place.

I actually like the look as is pretty well. I just wish I would have thought ahead and put some heatshrink tubing over it, but I'd have to resolder everything to make that work.

Here you can see it sitting in the approximate position - of course I didn't take a picture during the day of the completed project... d'oh!


BCM Gauge LCD & Joystick by Artric, on Flickr

I forgot how much work was required to get a cable to the battery compartment. Luckily, I took out the driver's seat early. I didn't hesitate to remove the rear brace. Having installed MIMA before made things a lot more easy. I ended up using scotch locks for the BCM connections - maybe not the best, but I was very careful to make sure everything was secure and all connections were solid. The Cat5 twisted pairs were a little light to be fully penetrated by them, so I had to give them help.


BCM Scotch Lock Connections by Artric, on Flickr

I didn't get much of a chance to play with it today, but confirmed functionality. It's nice to not have to plug in my multimeter anymore when checking my charging status!

Tomorrow, I'll go for a whirl and get some pics taken of the gauge installed in its current home. I couldn't fit another image on this post anyway.

I can already tell that I'm going to wonder how I ever lived without this before - great job on this, Peter!

[retepsnikrep]

Nice job Art thanks for the update.

The switch board has three connections. Ground, +5v, and signal.

You can connect the gnd and +5v wires to the spare lcd pads VDD (+5v) & GND if you are careful. Or you can route wires back to the gauge board and use terminals 1 & 3 on the lcd connector.

1 = +5v 3 = gnd

The switch signal wire goes to the ICSP connector pin 5 (J2)

Or you can use a push on 4 pin connector for the icsp pins as per the photo using pins 2,3,5. Note i used 3 single pin connectors. Don't solder to the ICSP pins or you won't be able to update the software later.

Hope that helps.

[Artric]

Thanks!

I actually soldered to the underside of the board for the power and also on the ICSP pin (so the pins are free for programming). Did I make a mistake there?

It's been working great, but the first digit of the voltage seems to want to flicker. Has anyone run into that?

My joystick seems to be a little finicky, but I think it's either my connections or understanding - I need to read this thread again.

Honestly though, I haven't really needed the menu, as it's been giving me everything I need. It was interesting to learn that when I hit three bars after a grid charge, I still have half of my usable charge left. I find my recals coming at about 25% though, and I had expected 20, but at least now I know.

It's been really interesting to see voltage differences from headlights on, radio, etc, but the biggest and most annoying story is that the DC-DC converter pulls about 2A when I go into FAS. I hadn't noticed if it was doing so in regular autostop.

I also found downshifting for regen at low speeds less necessary than I had previously thought. Of course, this is only with a few trips under my belt. On that note, it really proved its worth on a 55 mile round trip today, allowing me to conserve when necessary and just use the pack up at the right time. 96MPG with rush hour traffic and not trying too hard isn't too shabby! Same with about 115 for about 10 miles to the gym and run some errands.

It's been much more convenient to check my voltages up front, vs the multimeter in the trunk. I finally did get a little shock the other day when being a little careless, so over
the course of ownership, you've probably saved me about 10 lives!

Still need a daytime pic. It's working well in my spot, and the wires hold it in place. The only problem is with my stupid polarized sunglasses. For the record, I think polarization has too many downsides and not enough upsides...

Cheers!

[retepsnikrep]

You have to press the joystick for at least a second to activate the various menus.

The flickering digit may be a software glitch, which version are you using?
You may well need the programmer to flash to a newer one if it is an error.

Anyone else with a flickering digit?

I have the sunglasses issue as well, LCD not visible when wearing them!

Make sure you are on the OEM soc display which is signified by "%" sign.
If you are on XTRSOC you will see "x"

[joecvt]

Originally Posted by Artric

I actually soldered to the underside of the board for the power and also on the ICSP pin (so the pins are free for programming). Did I make a mistake there?

I think so....I think I remember awhile back reading from Peter's post that at least one of the pins is dual purpose and if there was a soldered connection to it, programming mode will not work....I don't remember what pin though.....

I may be way off but I'm sure Peter will chime in

JoeCVT = Just your average CVT onwer

[uhtrinity]

Originally Posted by joecvt

I think so....I think I remember awhile back reading from Peter's post that at least one of the pins is dual purpose and if there was a soldered connection to it, programming mode will not work....I don't remember what pin though.....

I may be way off but I'm sure Peter will chime in

JoeCVT = Just your average CVT onwer

I used a CD-ROM audio cable for the joystick board. I can easily unplug it to program the PIC.

[retepsnikrep]

Originally Posted by joecvt

I think so....I think I remember awhile back reading from Peter's post that at least one of the pins is dual purpose and if there was a soldered connection to it, programming mode will not work....I don't remember what pin though.....

I may be way off but I'm sure Peter will chime in

JoeCVT = Just your average CVT onwer

If you solder the switch to the icsp pins bases on underside of board then that's probably ok. It will still progarm if switch is connected I believe. If you solder to the pins themselves then the programmer plug won't go on the pins. That's the issue.

The old cdrom audio connectors are just the job!

I'm working on V3.05 at the moment which has a few changes to make the spreadsheet data gathering I'm doing for the power mods a bit easier.

It now displays the max/min data for 5 seconds if you just push joybutton down. You don't have to go through menus now and it returns to main display after 5 seconds.

If you push button up you get a BCM data checksum error count which tells you how many data packets have been corrupted since unit turned on. Lower = better.

Pushing button in as now goes to the menus.

[retepsnikrep]

For those who want to try it here is V3.05.

Improvements include better button sensitivity and more organised max/min displays.
Better hex dumping mode, both data packets on same line now so you can see changes more easily.

XTRSOC still needs a little more work. I'm now counting the BCM data packets and using that for the one second timing.

Please report findings