Removing clocks in favour of a race/custom Dash

[Black_Potato]

Hi,

I'm looking to remove the standard clock set and replace them with a mixture of a Racetechnology Dash3 and some standard guages such as Smiths 80Tach, Oil Temp, Pressure etc.

1st Question is what systems will fail as a result of the dash not being there, will the car run, will the ABS work etc.. if not what can be done to bypass those systems safely.

2nd, I would like to keep the coolant temp, oil pressure switch, fuel guages as they work fine for what I need. Any ideas on how to do that as well would be appreciated.

Cheers

Richard

[milescook]

Apologies if this is blinding obvious, but ill chip in anyway...

Battery light must - well the circuit - be connected otherwise the alternator won't charge, and you end up chasing alternator failures! Learnt this the hard way.

Also, i seem to remember grrmachine playing with voltage meters and resistor.he done very similar

[Grrrmachine]

Ah, but I didn't remove the old clocks; I just built a secondary screen in the tunnel (and it works!)

Depending on the system you use, you could possibly butcher a set of clocks by removing the speedo and rev counter and fitting a similar-sized LCD screen in their place. But the main issue would be... what for?

If you're going to completely rebuild the dash as a digital equivalent then don't do it half-arsed. Get rid of the fuel and coolant temp as well and build them all into your digital screen.

[Black_Potato]

Thanks. I seem to recall something about the ABS system as well ?

JFYI.. The reason for the change is the clocks have never worked well and as this is a race car I dont really need all that weight, speedo, odometer, service info etc... I just need a reliable Tacho, my race data and warnings if the engine isnt happy.

[Black_Potato]

thanks again.

any way to extract the fuel and coolant? or maybe the senders can be used to drive my digi dash..........

[Grrrmachine]

I took tacho, fuel, speed and coolant directly from the wiring that drives the gauges, and I added my own oil temp and pressure sensors. The wiring was simple enough, although it all depends on what input method drives your digi-dash. Will it read voltage, or resistance, or frequency pulses?

[Black_Potato]

Sounds good.

The main thing is to be able to drive the data logger as the dash can pickup anything it can and it is far more flexible.

This is the interface spec, each line being an input channel.

Analg 1 [5v] Analogue input 1, for use with external sensors maximum input 5v.
Analg 2 [5v] Analogue input 2, for use with external sensors maximum input 5v.
Analg 3 [5v] Analogue input 3, for use with external sensors maximum input 5v.
Analg 4 [5v] Analogue input 4, for use with external sensors maximum input 5v.
Analg 5 [12v] Analogue input 5, for use with external sensors maximum input 12v.
Analg 6 [12v] Analogue input 6, for use with external sensors maximum input 12v.
Analg 7 [12v] Analogue input 7, for use with external sensors maximum input 12v.
Ground Ground, recommended for grounding analogue sensors.
Ground Ground, recommended for grounding analogue sensors.
+5v Ref out +5v output, maximum current output 100mA. This can be used for
powering external sensors
+12v Power ESSENTIAL! This is the power supply for the DL1, it needs 10v-15v
and about 150mA minimum. Details here.
Power
Ground
ESSENTIAL! This is the ground for the power supply to the DL1.
Details here.
RPM [5v] This is the "low level" rpm input that triggers about 5v - this MUST
NOT be connected to the ignition coil. Details here.
Spark In This is the "high level" rpm input that connects to an HT lead or the
low voltage side of the coil. Details here.
Spark
Ground
This is the ground for the "high level" rpm input that connects to an HT
lead or the low voltage side of the coil. Details here.
Start Logging Grounding this pin has the same effect as pressing the start/stop logging
button on the front of the DL1.
Lap Beacon This input can be used with our "yet to be released" lap beacon product
for specialist applications.
Log Status This pin is switched by the DL1 at the same time as the sample light on
the front of the DL1.
Frequency 1 Frequency input 1, for connection to an external shaft or wheel speed.
Triggers at 5v. Details here.
Frequency 2 Frequency input 2, for connection to an external shaft or wheel speed.
Triggers at 5v. Details here.
Frequency 3 Frequency input 3, for connection to an external shaft or wheel speed.
Triggers at 5v. Details here.
Frequency 4 Frequency input 4, for connection to an external shaft or wheel speed.
Triggers at 5v. Details here.
GPS rf +3.3v GPS antenna connection (gold SMA type). This feeds 3.3v out to the
active GPS antenna and takes in the GPS rf signal.
Rear
Serial Port This single connector actually connects to 2 serial ports. The first port
allows access to the DL1 processor for upgrading the internal firmware
and streaming data. The second serial port allows direct access to the
GPS module for either updating it's firmware or monitoring it's output
directly either for the purposes of checking the GPS functionality or for
3rd party applications e.g. navigation software.

[Grrrmachine]

You've just cut and pasted something from the manual. It means nothing to me without some sort of info on what the product is or does. But if you just want a data-logger then keep the original dash. It'll save a lot of calibration headaches later.

Anyway, have a read of this thread; it should clear things up a bit for you:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=226864