Hurt Alert - Performance Gauge

Rezo

Well-known member
Thought it was time to share this project-turned-product with the community

A small, personal gauge project of mine that started in 2019 when I had begun engine modifications on my Golf GTI brought me to realize that there was no plug and play gauge on the market back then that didn’t cost a fortune, had an ugly outdated layout was was just not responsive enough - couldn’t find myself investing hundreds of dollars on something that has the design of a 1980’s alarm clock.

A few months into the 1st prototype and I crossed paths with @Dogbone06 on another platform - he was doing something similar for his highly modified Skoda Superb ST, but using ESP32s
I quickly got him over to the Teensy and so started our shared project - researching, designing, building and testing together - we built a very strong friendship since then.

Fast forward to 2021, we partnered with someone in Australia who has a lot of ties into the local car communities and he took over sales and marketing - this is where the name “Hurt Alert” was born with the smart algorithms - a true Plug&Play Performance Display for the VW-Audi MQB based petrol-engine cars.


The purpose of this device is to alert the driver of any critical engine/transmission stats while driving.
We implemented smart algorithms that can take data from multiple sensors over a window of time and pop up a visual/audible alert when too many parameters are out of their acceptable range.

We utilized the Teensy MicroMod as the basis, high grade 4 layer PCBs, automotive grade power supply, and custom high brightness IPS LCD.
All that in extra strong MJF printed cases

We utilized several peripherals here:
  • FlexCAN for CAN BUS communication
  • FlexIO 8080 emulation with DMA for the LCD communication
  • FrequencyMeasure for the Ethanol Content Sensor readings
  • SDIO for fast data logging to the uSD card
  • AnalogWrite to drive the Piezo Buzzer
The UI is built on LVGL V8.x and has 4 gauge style layout, supports different temperature & pressure units, and has a set of menus built in to easily navigate through other system/device settings.



Many people on this forum educated, helped with code examples and directed us to the right resources to make this project a working thing - from library contributors to the coding experts - so a big thanks to anyone who contributed in their own way - it’s was a HUGE learning curve for us.

 
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What a great project. The UI is a work of art and the idea is stellar.

I was about to do the same for my car--capture performance parameter and GPS and log to an SD card so driving/racing can be played back. I was going to build and sell.

Then...

The thought of plugging some test hardware into the ODB port on my Corvette and risking damaging the computer is where the dream stopped.

Full marks for doing this.

If you ever get it working with a C7, let me know

Kris
 
Thanks Kris!

I can understand the fear plugging in some wires and homemade PCBs into an expensive car.
But with the CAN transceiver in place and using the universal OBD CANH/CANL signals, there is not much place to go wrong, and the possibility of damaging the CAN Gateways is very low.

The hardware was the easy part, it was reverse engineering the VW CAN protocol and cracking formulas which was the hard part!
Just before we launched in Australia in 2022, @Dogbone06 and I sent a CAN Sniffer sketch to load on the Hurt Alert, and on a live zoom session we got our business partner to plug in a diagnostic tool with the CAN Sniffer, and with remote access we took over the diagnostics tool and found the relevant PIDs to request from the (back then) new Audio RS3 8Y model’s ECU. Its a really fun and satisfying experience!!
 
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