Digital Dashbord

I reckon you could do this, unless your car is like the one on the Peugeot advert :)

If it has an ECU with some kind of engine diagnostics port, there's no reason why you can't create some kind of interface to display stuff on the screen. Speedo might be a problem though as these are still cable operated so you'd need some kind of transducer for that.

DervMan was asking about some diagnostic port on a Ford KA with a view to extracting the info to some kind of display.

Hindustan Ambassador / Morris Oxford isn't it? I like the way it gets magical new 206 headlamps and changes from RHD to LHD :).

He did it, and posted about it. ISTR it read from the EEC-V port (which is pretty much standard) and displayed on a Palm, though it could be rigged up to a PC. Probably the easiest way to get this kind of data as the only alternative seems to be writing your own software and getting hold of / building some sort of interface hardware. Dervman probably has a page about it on his site

fishman ( snipped-for-privacy@eyesbigfoot.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Very rarely. Most cars have had electronic speedo heads for years.

My '96 XM certainly has, and the live diagnostic readout certainly tells you the road speed.

It's no way a rapid enough change for use as a dash, though.

I take it your using a pc to power this, so just take the speed from the GPS and incorporate it into your main screen. GPS speed is really accurate except when you go under a bridge :)

Ron

Many modern speedos run from a transducer in the gearbox, and the speed is transmitted digitally.

The speedo then has a stepper motor on the back.

Pete.

Many have moved on to using an ABS sensor - saves the need for one in the 'box.

Bollox, anything reasonably modern and certainly 2000MY onwards will have a electronic speedo.

Tim..

Not seen a car using one of the ABS sensors as a source for VSS, but BeeM's may do.. Whatever the source, most run the signal direct to the fuel injection ECU first and thence onto speedo, stereo auto volume, climate control etc etc...

Tim..

Vectra's have always used the N/S/F ABS sensor output as a speed signal.

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I meant to say, all cars 2000MY onwards will have an electronic speedo AFAIK.

Tim..

Ooooo well you learn something new everyday!

Cheers tim..

Rover SD1s from the late '70s had electronic speedos, and very accurate they are too. Pity about the trip counter...

Well, what car, and does it have an OBD-II (or similar) port?

Nissan stepper motor driven trip and mileage counter can have issues too. Like forgeting to record one or more 10 mile trips to work each week. 120K recorded but lots of miles are just missing. Totally buggers up any attempt to check fuel consumption.

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I thought there was a delay on GPS speed of around 2/3 seconds. Obviously if you are driving at a constant speed it will give an accurate reading but if you are accelerating/ deccelerating then its going to be a bit out.

Only at the beginning :)

LOL ! The finished article really is a bashed up 206 :)

So ?

Er your are having a bit of fun, accelerating quite hard, speed up until the speedo says 70mph and stop but oh s*it that was 2 seconds ago. If you have just done 0-60 in lets say 6 seconds, after 8 you could well be doing 80+ and so are actually speeding.