Well, I'm in for any reasonable amount! And if you sell an unassembled kit that would be good too...

 

Did you see the April 2010 Spectrum article on small-volume printed circuit boards?

Refers to a company that combines a lot of small orders on a large board and the then cuts them apart for shipment. http://batchpcb.com

 

actually yes that's where i had my prototypes made

 

This looks awesome, count me in as soon as they're for sale. Not that you're lacking buyers, but I'll point it out for my brother's MPS 6 too.

I'm in Australia, so keep us informed on how it will work for non-US models, as has been brought up earlier.

As a quick question, where does it get boost and AFR information from? Would I need to purchase additional sensors as well as the unit? What about oil temp?
I ask because I've been looking at DashHawks recently and people have said that they have trouble with these crucial outputs.

Interested in your responses and definately getting at least one once they're off the conveyor belt!

 

Waiting... Please PM me when available.

So two external inputs...... how do they work? Dose one set voltage and parameters or is it easier then that? What kind of input trigger do these inputs accept and what are they looking for?

 

Very elegant device!

Too bad the Miatas don't use the display, or you could get a nice chunk of additional customers. If you built similar models for other car manufacturers, you could have a pretty sweet niche business. Good luck, dude! I'll be keeping my eye out for this thing!

 

Should work the same on non-US models. It gets AFR from the OEM computer. the RX8 has a wideband from the factory. Boost comes from a pressure sensor inside the GOODbox, you just need to run a vacuum line to it. The Renesis has no oil temp sensor, so you would need to get a Racing Beat oil temp sender or something equivalent and setup the GOODbox to read this.

The board has two extra pads for analog inputs. It can accept a 0-5V analog input. In the GOODbox menu, you will be able to see the raw data this reads as (0-1023). You then set a multiplier and offset to create your reading. So the final value becomes raw_val*multipler+offset. This way you can scale it to match any sensor. Also you can choose the letters/symbols for the units and description.

 

So the GOODbox's enclosure is a plastic box that I dremeled to make my prototype. The production ones will have custom machined boxes with nice edges, no ragged dremel cuts.

Today, the company that is custom CNCing these enclosures sent me their first attempt after I sent them the drawing with the dimensions of the cuts. They totally nailed it, fits and looks perfect! So 1 down (enclosure), 2 to go (harness & logic board). Slowly but surely getting production going.

 

Awesome news pieter3d...
Have you received more purchase requests than the quantity of manufactured components to be sent out in this first batch yet?

 

Yes Pieter, You are a very clever guy...

Can you please put me down for one, BUT I am not sure if it will work on a Series II, their display is a little different (slightly wider left to right), but then again if your invention will work on other model Mazda's I can't see why not with the S2 RX-8's?

So, please put me down on your list...as a customer.

Can't wait to put that section to better use than just Radio/CD information.

 

Pieter3d this is becoming far more interesting than the first prototype... Could you pm me with an approx. price?

 

Put me up for one too!

 

I'll take one, but when are they expected to be available?

 

Forgive me if these are silly questions, but I am confused as to how this would allow one to hook up a temperature sensor.

Firstly, I'm assuming the box reads the input voltage level (0V-5V) and normalises that into the 'raw' value - i.e. 0V = 0, 5V = 1023.

How are you supposed to calibrate the sensor readings, given that any conversion factors you might have for the sensor you're using will probably be for a given output voltage, and not your normalised value?

Also, as far as I am aware, don't temperature sensors work by having a constant input reference voltage (e.g. 5V), with the resistance change due to temperature then varying the output voltage? So, where is the reference voltage connection (and possibly ground also) going to come from if the box only has a 1-wire input connection?

 

My understanding is that a guage setup is normally setup as Switched Power >> Gauge >> Sensor >> Ground. So therefore only requiring only one wire to go from a GOODbox to a sensor as Switched power is already provided to the GOODbox/Gauge.

 

pieter3d: where came the idea for the name, GOODbox?

I'm curious because i have run across some software that i've used extensively that was named similarly see the wiki on it here. I've used at least 18 or 20 of those GOODtools

 

paul, I think he mentioned it earlier and the name came from what the device is intended to do.
I believe it stands for:

Gauges
On
OEM
Display
Box

pretty clever if you ask me.

 

With a 1-wire (and for all intents and purposes, a 2-wire) sensor, you would integrate it as part of a voltage divider circuit. Ex:

0V
|
|
[sensor]
|
|------------(this is sensor output)
|
|
[resistor]
|
|
+5v

 

Can you hook normal gauges to the Goodbox to gain access to the ECU's outputs?

 

that's kinda counter-productive...

 

There are no analog outputs, sorry.

 

All enclosures have arrived! The harnesses and 10 of the boards are in the mail... Getting there...

 

will this work if an aftermarket HU is installed. Like the metra or Corksport kit?

 

I haven't tried it, but I kind of doubt it.

 

they leave the stock LCD intact yes? i think it should be fine..