megasquirt lcd display pricelist

Here’s a page with info on my recommendations for a complete system: https://www.diyautotune.com/support/faq/which-megasquirt/  This would be good to review first and would help you to make sure you get the right system to meet your needs.

Most of us decided to upgrade to a Megasquirt ECU due to either exceeding the capabilities or needed additional features that our stock system just wasn’t capable of doing.  With the installation of the DD-EFI Digital Dash you can now take your vehicle to the next level by getting rid of all of those inaccurate stock analog and aftermarket gauges.

The problem I’m working on is the need to log data off of the Exocet’s MegaSquirt ECU without having to cart cumbersome laptop everywhere or upgrading to an MS3 ECU. (Not yet, anyway.) A tablet running ShadowDash would work but not without issues. Having speed/position data is nice for some derived data fields, cheap tablets usually don’t come with GPS chipsets in them. Bluetooth GPS dongles are a possible solution but I’ve not had great success getting reliable data from them. (I’ve tried several makes/models.) Tablets also suffer a significant lack of physical inputs, usually charging through their one USB port. That leaves you the option of charging the tablet while slurping data from Bluetooth/WiFi serial ECU dongle or slurping data from an RS-232 to USB dongle on the ECU while burning battery. The former blows for data rate and reliability, the latter sucks for long-term logging.

Hypothetically a Raspberry Pi resolves some of these issues. It’s powered by micro USB (2 amps @ 5vdc) input with four normal USB 2.0 ports for accessories. It runs Linux (Raspbian) and Java so it can run TunerStudio. (Henceforth to be called TS) The Pi that you want to use is the Pi 3 since it has 1GB of RAM and both Bluetooth and WiFi onboard, you won’t need to jam up any of the USB ports with extra transceivers for these functions. I’ve got mine set up with with a 7” 800x420 LCD touch screen panel and USB GPS dongle. Works pretty well. I played around with it all afternoon yesterday driving it (and the attached display) from a 26,000mAh Anker USB battery.

While I’m only using it (for now) to log ECU data and display a few gauges for funsies with TS MS, it should be able to handle live VE analysis if I throw a TS Ultra licenses on it. I’m not going to get too ahead of myself, tho, simply logging is just fine for now. I’ve set TS to log when RPM is greater than 500 and to stop when they fall below 499. You can get much more complicated with trigger conditions.

This is a digital dashboard display project intended to be used with a MegaSquirt2-Extra or MegaSquirt3 ECU (engine control unit). It"s 5-inch high-brightness LCD panel and LED strip makes viewing vital car/engine information quick and easy.

The firmware currently only has the option of displaying three different screens. One demo screen, and two screen showing some live information from the Megasquirt. The screens are flipped by touching the LCD screen (it"s a capacitive touch panel).

It"s not a simple project but the result is well worth the effort! The parts are relativity cheap to buy and you end up with a completely customizable digital dashboard display that rivals $1000+ commercial units.

As this display is CANbus based, it could also be programmed to work with data from many other aftermarket ECUs from manufacturers like Haltech, Link, EMS, FuelTech, ECUMaster, Motec, Syvecs, Emtron, etc, etc. It could also be programmed to support later model factory cars via a OBDII CANbus interface.

In my case, I have a 1990 Toyota Celica GT4 (aka Alltrac) that is used as a weekend club / race car. It has been running a MegaSquirt3 + MS3X ECU for about 6 years now. Previously I have used Android tablets/phones and RaspberryPi Linux devices to view ECU information, but these devices have proven to be slow to boot, unreliable and generally not fit for use in a harsh automotive environment no matter how much they are modified.

This project however was developed for my own use. I needed a better digital dash display for my Celica, and the new Crystalfontz high brightness accelerated display was absolutely perfect for this use.

The particular Crystalfontz LCD panel (CFAF800480E0-050SC-A1-1) is perfect for this because:It"s 5-inch size, and 800x480 resolution is a good middle-ground for a dash display.

Most of the embedded graphics firmware I have personally written in the past has required rendering of graphics in a micro-controller/micro-processor display buffer, which is then pushed out to the LCD panel one whole screen at a time. This requires quite a powerful processor, a lot of graphics rendering code, and careful timing.

The EVE2 graphics accelerator does a lot of this for us. We (using the ESP32) give a list of graphic objects to display (text, lines, circles, bitmaps, etc) to the EVE2, which it then renders on the LCD for us. It"s relativity easy to use, yet surprisingly powerful.

CANbus is very flexible, simple, fast and robust. While this project could have supported the Megasquirt serial interface (and may do in the future), using the CANbus interface just makes more sense here. There is less programming needed for obtaining data from the MegaSquirt when using CANbus. The MegaSquirt ECU is set up to blindly send the data out over the CANbus; we just suck it up and display it.

We use the ESP32 to obtain Megasquirt information from the CANbus, decode it, then create a display-list (graphics objects) which we send to the EVE2 accelerated LCD panel via the SPI interface. The ESP32 also sends color/brightness data to the WS2812b LEDs via a PWM (pulse-width modulated) interface.

The ESP32 contains a CANbus interface, but extra interfacing is required between it and the actual CANbus wires that go off to the MegaSquirt. The MCP2551 CANbus transceiver chip/module does this for us.

5 volt supply is required for most of the circuitry in this project, so we need a voltage regulator to take the normal 9V to 16V present in a car (car batteries are 12V, but when a car is running its normally around 14V), down to 5V. It needs to supply up to 2 amps (the LCD backlight and WS2812b can use a decent amount of power).

This is not the quickest or simplest project around, actually it"s somewhat the opposite. You"ll need a decent amount of electronics experience to build the display, and some C programming experience to customise the display.

Megasquirt - This is arguably the cheapest, most extensively used aftermarket FI systems around. You purchase the central controller or brain, but have to supply the other components for the system to work(injectors, harness, pump, sensors, manifolds, etc.). The system works on inputs from a MAP or MAF sensor along with temperature, throttle position(TPS), ignition, and you have the option of using an oxygen sensor. The newer version 3.0+ (MS Extra) you can also utilize a hotwire sensor or MAP sensor or both, along with knock sensing ignition control a variety of ignition configurations (distributor, EDIS, MSD, COP, or CNP). You can control up to 16 injectors with odd cylinder combinations(such as 3 or 5 cylinders), as well as boosted engines(up to 21psi). All programming is done from a computer, the software used to program is freeware downloadable from the MS website or Tunerstudio (recommended). You can control how long the pulse duration is, how many times the injector fires per second, where in the power band(rev range), along with start up(richer) sequences as well as the ignition with more advanced kits. The setup and support are extensive http://www.megasquirt.info Costwise, the controller is only a little over $100 unassembled (if you don"t mind soldering) and a little over $200 for a basic system assembled. All other components could be bought new(injectors, pump, wiring harness, etc.) but if you"re on a budget you have the option of using the components from a junkyard car. Powerwise, the limiting factor will be manifold and throttle body size as performance of the engine is increased. BE ADVISED, even if you buy a fully-assembly kit or DIY kit, due to the nature of megasquirt usage you WILL be heavily involved in a lot of research and reading to find answers and instructions because this is one of the lower priced systems on the market.

Simple Digital Systems(SDS) - This is a very straightforward pre-assembled system for different cars (including VWs) which doesn"t require a computer to program, but offers the same extensive tuning of an aftermarket system. These systems utilize a MAP sensor and TPS along with a temp. sensor(oxy sensor optional), are able to control ignition up to 9750 rpm with the option of crank-trigger, work on boosted engines, and you have the option of knock sensing, fan control, supercharger clutch, etc. Their complete systems are supplied with the brain, LCD dash module for programming, injector and sensor a pre-assembled harnesse for your car and plug in cables, dash module for extra lean rich control, and they sell any other the necessary components if need be(sensors, relays, even injector bungs). Their connections are designed to work with Bosch injectors. Their website is very extensive and straightforward, http://www.sdsefi.com A typical system can cost just under $1000 to $1700, but this system is more complete compared to an Megasquirt system(i.e. you get what you pay for and this will save you vast amounts of time and potentially headaches). Their website is a good read, funny at times too. A lot of the info. and setup they give is geared toward using the factory Bosch FI stuff(e.g. if you had an L-jet equipped bus or something, this system would be pretty much plug and play after mounting the TPS on the TB).

Haltech - This was one of the first programmable aftermarket systems on the market, an Australian made FI system with a range of different ECUs controlling 1-6, 8, 10 or 12 cylinders and ignition control up to 16K RPM using MAP, temp., oxygen, and TPS sensor inputs on N/A or boosted engines. The ECU is capable of sequential injector firing, direct or wasted spark ignition firing, boost control, data logging of the engine, and an optional digital dash display/control which is really neat. The ignition pickup is either through a pointless distributor or crank trigger sensor. These systems are complete with harness, throttle bodies, injectors, etc. available through Gene Berg http://www.geneberg.com

The Racing Dash2 digital dashboard display can obtain data from a Megasquirt MS2 and MS3 ECU easily through CAN bus or serial port. Additionaly, it serves as an input extender by supplying Fuel / OIL pressure sensor data, EGT and temperature back to the Megasquirt.

The connection between Megasquirt and Racing Dash2 is through CAN bus which essentially means you need to connect two wires: CANH and CANL. They are usually found here on an MS3:

If there is no CAN bus termination resistor inside the Megasquirt it has to be added externally. Just connect a 120 ohm resistor between CANH and CANL wires somewhere close to the ECU.