WattsLeft™ Monitor (Parallax SX28AC/DP SOC/CAN Project)

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lemketron said:
Here is what the "turtle" range screen looks like (though not on the new OLED display):
8093277667_3d6f059ac1.jpg
And here is what the "turtle" screen looks like on the (awesome) new OLED display:
8498625676_4a6a3a0d93_n.jpg


The difference is amazing, and (IMO) well worth the $30 upgrade.
Thanks, Jim!!
 
Here is a picture of my WattsLeft™ mounted up by the Rear View Mirror.
p1000972j.jpg

Privously I had used a metal hook to hold it in place. But now I use just the Industrial Strength Velcro I currently ship with WattsLeft™ units. But instead of placing it on the bottom and mounting it to the dash I just put it on the top and mount it to the head liner.

If you are going to try this I recommend first attaching just the hook side of the Velcro without the WattsLeft™ attached. Attach just the loop side to the WattsLeft™ by it self. Let both sit for 24 hours to let the glue set. After 24 hours you can attach the WattsLeft™ to the head liner. Of course you need to route the cable up inside the left side pillar and inside across the head liner.

If you want to remove the WattsLeft™ don't just pull it off. Use your finger between the two strips of Velcro and slide your finger back and forth unlocking the hooks and loops til the Velcro is fully released.

I can post more pictures if people are interested.

In this position the WattsLeft™ box can not be easily seen from out side the car and it is shielded from the sun by the dot pattern on the glass.

Jim
 
These OLED Newhaven NHD-0216KZW-AB5 or AY5...

At Digikey, $29, no blue stock, but yellow in stock.
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?FV=fff40008%2Cfff80095&k=+Newhaven+Display+OLED&vendor=0&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ptm=0&fid=0&quantity=0&PV38=227&PV38=228&PV67=43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At Newhaven, they all appear to be in stock..
http://www.newhavendisplay.com/oled-character-oled-c-119_576.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit: Yes, the blue APPEAR to be in stock, and they let you order them,
then email you later to tell you that they are WAY out of stock,
and to "help you"... that is, to try to sell you something else.
 
I just got the shipment of the Yellow OLED displays. The yellow looks nice and should be easier to read in the day time. This is what it looks like:
oledyellowconfig.jpg


Also got the shipment of Bluetooth modules this week so I have everything to start shipping units again.

Jim
 
Got my yellow OLED WattsLeft™ Monitor installed this evening and it looks great! Not too bright and distracting at night but is bright enough during the daylight.

Hopefully, now I can worry more about my driving instead of how many miles the GOM is displaying! :D
 
I got my WattLeft about a month ago & I love it! I live about 10 miles from the interstate where there is a quick charger & now when its late and I'm coming home I can actually KNOW how many gids I have and whether I need to stop for a couple of minutes or if I can just cruise home. :D

I had the meter start showing funny numbers a couple of days after installing, but Jim walked me through resetting the unit & it's been working perfectly every since.

It's helped me improve my efficiency (didn't think I was using that much energy pulling away from stops) & eliminated a lot of just wanting to know my true state of charge.

Thanks Jim!

Philip
 
I have finally had some time to work on the Bluetooth android app. Here is a screen shot of the very first working beta version.

p1010168k.jpg


For this test the WattsLeft with Bluetooth option was set to "CAN-DO Dbg" mode and the selector turned fully clockwise to the version number screen to allow broadcasting the EV-CAN data over Bluetooth. Pairing code is "1234" but I will be adding auto pairing code.

Top section will show most of the know data from the EV-CAN bus. It is dynamic and new items will be added as frames show up. These is one line for wheel speed that does not show right now since the car is parked.

The next section is a dump of the history data. The order right now is as it is stored in the WattsLeft memory. The letters indicate order of event with A being the newest and G the oldest. After the order letter is the duration of the event HH:MM:SS, starting gids number, ending gids number, gids difference (plus is charging, negative is driving), starting battery voltage and last ending battery voltage.

The bottom section is a live view of the EV-CAN frames in MsgID order (MsgID, eight bytes of data, count of frames received). The 1xx MsgIDs come in at around 100 per sec. I only update the screen 5 times per second right now but that will be user selectable.

I would like to add logging of history data where the current 7 events are merged into a file saved to the SD card. Maybe add plots of gids, voltage, SOC.

If you have a WattsLeft with the Bluetooth option and would like to beta test this App send me an email at [email protected]

All the data received from WattsLeft is checked for transmission errors with CRC so you only see good data on the screen even if the connection is poor due to range between you and the car. I can walk around my house and see where the data stops coming in then move closer to the garage and have it start up again. There is a 25-30 sec timeout if the link is down too long. Then you need to move closer and manually reconnect.

Although not the lowest price, Fry's has these Fusion 2 no contract phones on sale for $59.99. You can use them out of the box with the phone part off as an android device with Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS.

Jim
 
Gary,
The current version won't get past the "Search for WattsLeft" screen as it will only connect to a device with name "WattsLeft". I am thinking of adding a demo mode where, if it does not find any WattsLeft devices, it starts up with the fixed data I use for testing.

The data stream it accepts is your CAN-DO 11 byte stream (Sync, MM,NH,8 bytes data) with the two additional CRC bytes I get from the Leaf or create myself for the history data for a total of 13 bytes per frame.
 
Email sent! This meter is hot, especially with the OLED display.

Best thing about the meter: Now knowing how pessimistic Nissan is with the last 25% SOC.
Worst thing about the meter: Now knowing how pessimistic Nissan is with the last 25% SOC.
:D

I also love driving downhill while watching the SOC increase!
 
garygid said:
With a bluetooth USB dongle on a PC, doesn't CAN-Do send
a message data stream of selected MsgIDs in that format?

But, maybe it needs to be paired with that name?

Gary, Are you saying that CAN-DO can send a recorded stream out a Bluetooth dongle to make it look like the stream is coming from a WattsLeft? The stream would need to have the extra two CRC bytes and be valid for my app to accept them. My app will only connect to a device with the name "WattsLeft".

But perhaps I am not understand what you are trying to do with my app. Where is the stream coming from that you want to feed my app?
 
I just want to try the app, and getting a suitable stream of data from
a Log file might be relatively easy.

I think we modofied CAN-Do to accept your WattsLeft message format,
with the CRCs, and check them or ignore them, as an incoming message stream.

The bluetooth output options presently just emulate the ONDLink message
format, and one can select the MsgIDs that are included in the Playback
of any logged data.

But, I could easily add the CRC generation as an option to that data stream.

Since one has to pair the bluetooth with the PC first, I do not know how it could
appear to be a WattsLeft, do you?

Also, I think that I have one of your WattsLeft Bluetooth dongles, or ...
maybe it was from some other person, I have yet to try it.

I have just been too sick to play as much as I would like, and am way behind.
 
Well I did something new tonight.
With my new Wattsleft meter installed, I headed out for a 20 mile trip with 3 battery bars showing.
Normally I'm pretty range paranoid, and with 3 bars, I wouldn't drive to the end of the driveway for the mail.
But the Meter said I had 112GID, which sounded like I had plenty of E-fuel.
I was correct.
No problem.
Arrived home with NO bars left, but the meter showed 19% and 56GID still showing.

Which leads me to a couple questions for the group.
At what point (GID's) does the car stop rolling?
Stop performing in a normal manner?
(maybe should have asked that first?)

And.... is the battery indicator just full of it?
0 bars and 19% left?


 
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