If you’re a car lover, or simply someone who is bothered by not knowing what’s going on in your “machine” at all times, you might be interested in having a customizable diagnostics display. If so, you would probably like it to look as close to a stock part as possible. Instructables user JustinN1 decided to do just that by replacing the internal clock with a selectable display that shows an assortment of car data. After all, you’ve already got the time on your phone!
The video below shows the user scrolling through several engine statistics, and how it starts up by saying “Not A Clock.” Good to know.
Various components are used to make this display, like the ubiquitous Arduino, but what I thought was extremely interesting was the OBD-II UART board from Adafruit. This allows one to plug into any car made after 1996 and display engine data. You can then feed this into your microcontroller or computer of choice and do whatever you want with this data. JustinN1 naturally encourages experimentation his creation, even linking up more code that he wrote for something he refers to as the “robot meter.”
It’s always cool to see various “maker” disciplines come together. Sure, more horsepower can be fun, but being able to hack the electronics and computer code involved can lead to something truly unique!
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