megasquirt lcd display factory

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.

Since this display is based on the can bus, it can also be programmed to handle from Haltech, Link, EMS, FuelTech, ECUMaster, Motec, Syvecs, Emtron, and more.

In my case, the purpose is to have the LED strip mounted above the LCD panel so that it can be easily hidden behind the mounting board/border with holes to see the LED.

Mount the LCD module, place the LED strip on the top edge of the LCD and keep it horizontal with the LCD glass, and weld it in place using some male pin to make up for the gap, and for connection of 5 v, ground and data

If you have more devices on the can bus network than the Megasquirt ECU and dash display, you need to read elsewhere how to connect a multi-node can bus system.

If everything is OK, you should now be able to touch the screen twice, switch to the data list screen and display UpT, voltage and other information correctly.

The DD-EFI 7" Digital Dash is the 1st fullyPlug-N-PlayDigital Dash that can be installed using any Megasquirt equipped vehicle.  The main focal point is the 7" High Resolution LCD Screen giving you fantastic display of your custom dashboard/gauges.  This is an all-in-one enclosure for direct installation into your vehicle.

The custom enclosure has been completed for the test vehicle 87-93 Foxbody Mustang as it has a custom bezel designed for direct bolt-in. This was setup to utilize the factory bezel to replace the factory instrument cluster totally. As you can see the 12.3" Display fits nicely side-to-side of the bezel providing ample amount of room for the dashboard.

The new 12.3" is now officially completed... A couple additional updates were added including modifying a couple items on the firmware of the LCD Screen.

There’s no shortage of drop-in digital dashes, data logging units, and other displays on the market for race cars that are designed to get their data from the engine management system. A growing number of them support MegaSquirt. Here, we present a roundup of units known to work with the MegaSquirt, as well as various smart phone and tablet apps that provide a similar function.  If you know of one that works with MegaSquirt that we didn’t list, send us an email and we’ll get it added.  If you are a programmer looking for the information needed to add MegaSquirt support to your data logging system, you’ll also find it here.

AEM’s CD series racing dashes connect to the MS2 and MS3 over the CAN bus as long as you are running the latest firmware on the ECU. AEM has a predefined setting which they have tested in house on MegaSquirt hardware to make setting this up straightforward. The only extra parts needed would be a 2 pin DTM style connector for the dash’s CAN bus wiring.

Auto Meter’s LCD Competition Dash supports CAN input for use with an MS2 or MS3. Currently they do not have a preconfigured definition file, but the software is very flexible in setting up definition files.

Autosport Labs offers the Podium Connect and RaceCapture data logging and telemetry systems. These connect to MS2 and MS3 over the CAN bus. Autosport Labs offers several models with various data acquisition and cell phone based telemetry capabilities. They also have an Android display app which connects to their own hardware.

The iDash fits in a 52 mm gauge pod, connects over CAN, and can display up to eight separate readings. Up to four units can be daisy chained together. Supports MS2 and MS3 ECUs. This uses the CAN broadcasting protocol and requires MS2/Extra 3.4.0 or later, or MS3 1.4.0 or later firmware.

Perfect Tuning makes a display that fits in a 52 mm gauge hole and can display up to eight channels. This unit can connect to the MS2 and MS3 over CAN. Works with all standard firmware variants. In addition, the gauge can monitor up to three analog sensors on its own and transmit the data back to an MS3. Requires MS2/Extra 3.4.0 or later, or MS3 1.4.0 or later firmware.

MS2 (firmware 3.4.x and newer)  and MS3 (firmware 1.4.x and newer) are compatible with Racepak VNet via the RACEPAK-CAN interface module, or on some newer models It uses the simplified dash broadcasting mode — section 1 of this pdf shows what fields are transmitted and how to set up the MegaSquirt to broadcast the data: http://www.msextra.com/doc/pdf/Megasquirt_CAN_Broadcast.pdf

mobiSQUIRT is available for the iPhone and iPad.  Current versions support MS1 and MS2, with MS3 support planned.  Connecting to MegaSquirt requires a serial to WiFi adapter.

RealDash is a display and data logging app that can run on several platforms. The Android version can connect using a Bluetooth or WiFi adapter, while the iPhone / iPad version is WiFi only.

The latest smartphone program from Phil Tobin at EFI Analytics. As the name implies, this permits using a phone or tablet as a dash display. This one has a TunerStudio-style dash display, data logging, and can also load and save tunes, so you can carry around tunes for different fuels or different setups in your phone without using a laptop. Connects over USB or Bluetooth.

Shadow Logger is an Android logging program from Phil Tobin, the same programmer who brought you TunerStudio and MegaLogViewer.  It supports MS1, MS2, and MS3.  Connecting to MegaSquirt requires a serial to Bluetooth adapter. Note that Phil also has a newer program out, Shadow Dash (above).

Current laptop tuning software uses RS232 exclusively, so a CAN based display device would be able to keep running with a laptop connected, while an RS232 based one would not.

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.

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.

PowerTune Digital is a digital dash display that shows real-time ECU data from any vehicle with a supported aftermarket ECU or that has a supported standard ECU that is CANbus capable. We can display real-time ECU data such as speed, RPM, temperatures, sensor states and more. The PowerTune Digital dash uses CAN and not OBD2! Read high speed CANbus data to monitor your vehicle, getting the ability to see vehicle performance and statistics in real-time without the OBD2 lag!

This is NOT hard to utilize in your Miata, it"s our personal favorite. The AiM MXG dash logger showcases the future of in-car logger systems! The full-color, high-contrast, extra-wide 7" TFT LCD display features fully customizable pages, allowing the user to choose from a vast library of page styles and define exactly which data to be shown. Moving through the pages is easy through the push button selectors on the side of the dash. 8 alarm LED"s are also user configurable with custom colors, flashes and accompanying messages, as is the advanced multicolor shift light.

In the Miata application we"ve successfully used this with a factory OBD management system, our ME221 ECU"s, AEM EMS4, AEM Infinity, MegaSquirt and older ECU"s with aftermarket sensor acquisition.

In the fast-growing display market, we bring our know-how and many years of industry experience to bear. By covering the entire value chain, we can offer our customers a complete service package

The RacePak IQ3s Display Dash can be utilized with MS3-Pro, all MSPNP Gen 2 and MSPNP Pro model, MS3, MS2 and MicroSquirt to provide a compact, fully programmable LCD digital dash for use in a variety of motorsports. Optional CAN Interface mating connector cablemakes extending the 2-wires to the ECU a snap! More than a digital dash, the IQ3s is a complete replacement for your factory dash cluster, providing visuals for standard road functions such as speed, turn signals, fuel level, high beam, parking brake, time, odometer, trip and much more.

Information can be displayed on four user-programmable dash pages, and the IQ3s also features four internal warning lights, internal progressive shift light, along with external warning light and fan outputs. With our CAN interface, you can run this dash without any additional V-Net sensors in many applications. The V-Net can gather as many as 20 sensor readings from your engine management.

A single V-Net cable is routed to the rear of the dash, providing power and access to all sensor information transmitted to the ECU. Up to 24 different sensor inputs may be displayed on a total of four programmable pages. The blue backlight provides excellent viewing for both daylight and nighttime usage, while the low luster display screen provides excellent protection against scratches.

The RacePak IQ3 Logger Dash can be utilized with MS3-Pro, all MSPNP Gen 2 or MSPNP Pro versions, MS3, MS2 and MicroSquirt providing a compact, fully programmable LCD digital dash for use in a variety of motorsports. Requires MegaSquirt CAN Interface Module (not included).

The IQ3 data logger dash is designed to be a complete data center. Contained inside the fully programmable dash is a 32 channel data logger, 512 MB memory card, GPS board and 3 axis G meter. The programmable shift lights are protected from sunlight by a molded shield above the lights, while the low glare LCD display is well recessed in the housing in order to provide viewing in all light conditions.

This gauge is compatible with all the Megasquirt based ECU"s except the Megasquirt 1. The billet anodized aluminum enclosure and the real carbon face plate give an incredible look. The color OLED display allows to display more information than a standard gauge and the colors are configurable. You can replace an entire dash full of gauges with this single gauge. Actually there are 7 different screens and others will come. 24x multicolor LED gives a quick way to see what"s happening. The screen brightness and LEDs adjust itself automatically with the luminosity sensor. This is a display/gauge, it is not a wideband o2 controller. If you want it to display AFR, you need a wideband o2 controller (see our AEM and Spartan Wideband options).

There are two buttons on the gauge to change the displayed screen and change basic settings. Advanced configuration of the alarms are made through a webpage with a built-in Wi-Fi connection to a smart phone, tablet or laptop.

The gauge can also be connected to up to 3 sensors with the 3x 0-5v analog inputs and can be used as an expansion board. This means that if there is a sensor connected to the gauge, the ECU can read it over CANBus and display it in TunerStudio and datalog the value.