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I 'm looking to use an arduino for my dune buggy to control my lights and set up some gauges


G+_Wayne Flittner
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I'm looking to use an arduino for my dune buggy to control my lights and set up some gauges. I'm going to use a relay for the lights and have some ideas for gauges like oil pressure, oil temp, and Volt meter. I don't have a LCD screen yet to use for an interface to all these gauges. I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion as to what kind of LCD screen to use. Possibly one that is a touch screen so I can turn on lights etc. Is is possible to use a screen from an old iphone. I'd like to use a screen about the size of an iphone 6 plus. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Iphone screen? how would you interface to it? Apple doesn't give out that information.

 

Arduino runs on 5v (or 3.3v) and your dune buggy probably runs on 12 v. So anything you do will have to be converted. You will need a step down converter ("buck" converter) to power the Arduino. arduino.cc - Arduino - Home has tutorials about interfacing the Arduino with a potentiometer, which is basically what you are doing with pressure and temperature sensors. The Volt meter part can be done with two resistors.

 

A KH episode about a month or two ago shows how to interface to an LCD screen via i2c.

 

But I wouldn't bother making something ... just go into an auto parts store, motorcycle shop (or online) and see what they have for add-on digital readouts for pressure, temp, volts.

 

Using a digital touch screen to turn on/off lights might sound cool, but seems like too much work for what you get. Want something you can touch to turn on a light? how about a physical switch?

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Thanks John, yes I am aware both this would need 5v, and that I would need to step down from 12v. I wasn't sure about the iphone screen, I was just using that as an example. I'm sure I could get something easier from Pep Boys or whatever. I'm looking to do this more for fun and to see if I can do it. Thanks for the suggestions on the screen and the KH episode.

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