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Kaiser Engineering Digital Dash

32K views 120 replies 39 participants last post by  phillofoc 
#1 ·
It looks like the Digital Dash will be up for sale for $585 as of this Saturday 4/10 on their website:

I've been following their progress on this for a long time and I'm glad it's finally here.
 
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#24 ·
It reads the canbus data, so that data that is calculated/estimated there will be read as is. That said, they're working on support for real 3rd party sensor data. In the meantime you can display anything devices such as the Cobb AP can display (currently 3 PIDs at a time, but more logging capability than an AP.

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The heat sink picture they posted today looked pretty big.
Fan cooled as well.

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Interesting......
That kinda sux in a way......
Might be a deal breaker for those that use the Accessport regularly, like myself.
I wonder if thats something they can or will address?
This is now said to be working with the AP without issues. It can also display anything an AP can, and has better logging possibilities.

What do they offer that OEM gauges don't?
Aren't they displaying the same values?

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It's also dynamic, meaning it can display different parameters (PIDs) that change depending on a set of conditions.
For example, you could display tire pressures, battery voltage, and, IDK, maybe steering wheel angle or whatever PID value you prefer, when in ACC mode (just before startup). Then swap steering wheel angle for any other PID for the first 90 seconds of start up. Then, maybe, EGT oil temperature, and coolant temperature until those values hit a certain threshold, then the standard gauges. You could also set it up to change the display when changing the various modes, or display the RDU and PTU temperature. The whole thing could even be set up as a giant flashing shift light for a period of time after launch control, or some other trigger.

Basically, it could display anything the Cobb AP can display, in addition to whatever the AP displays, but also in a dynamic way. You could also have any of the 3 spots be static in a certain mode, and any dynamic. So, you could have oil temp and coolant temp displayed constantly in track mode, and have the third be RDU temp, unless tire temperature or pressure hit some threshold. Then, that could take the place of RDU temp. You could also have a two or three display positions taken by one PID. So, you could make the whole thing one big boost gauge, or split it to see unique information, during launch control. There's a ton of things that could be done, and being open source means the community can implement whatever they desire, with a bit of effort.

Beyond that it could be integrated, to read, display, and inject even more data. It could, for example, display secondary fuel delivery information. It could also display certain information with more granularity than the Cobb AP. On top of this it could make logging much easier by logging and automatically tagging and organizing logs based on preset conditions, and without the restrictive number of slots Cobb (and other devices) allow for. It could be set up to automatically upload these logs, via WiFi, to cloud based storage.

It could be set up to sniff GPS data, and report vehicle data such as location, MPH, RPM, etc., to you when the vehicle wasn't in your possession, either directly in semi real time via WiFi or logged.

Yes, if you only have stock sensors this won't give you information you can't see now, somehow, but it can definitely display (and record) information in a way that is unique.

I’m guessing you’re referring to the heat sink for the pi. Heat sinks work at normal temps, but won’t be very effective in high ambient temps.

I’m more concerned with the LCD screen and any components installed under the gauge pod, which probably includes the pi 🤷‍♂️. The dash area gets extremely hot in the sun.

I’ve had LCD gauges mounted in a dash pod on a previous car. The LCD screens eventually started failing due to the extreme heat on the dash.

Hopefully they’ve already worked out any heat issues. I’m definitely interested.
I hope so too. They seem to taken some care in the design, pushing the LCD as far back as possible to minimize direct exposure to sun for legibility, and heat control. Seeing the heatsink and fan I'm hoping for the best. Some folks, of FB, have already started joking about liquid cooling.

When you drive how often are you actually watching those gauges?
Very rarely, but then the data displayed is very rarely relevant to my concerns. Dynamic display capabilities could make the space much more valuable, and relevant to my concerns in a given circumstance.

Help me with this. Is this purely for aesthetics? Does it pull data from the ECU meaning you can have other gauges there with accurate information?
Not just the ECU, but other modules as well. You could display any PID there, with min/max value capture and have what is displayed change dynamically.

I'm hoping @Kacper and/or other's might be able to dig into this and develop some cool ideas for it.
 
#5 ·
$600 is reasonable for a customizable plug and play gauge cluster. Definitely interesting. Curious to see how well it holds up in the heat.
 
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#13 ·
What do they offer that OEM gauges don't?
Aren't they displaying the same values?

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They are digital and........



  • Screen brightness mirrors the vehicle's settings
  • CAN bus data
  • Expansion port
  • Up to 3 digital gauges
  • Customizable themes
  • Min/max tracking
  • Background PID monitoring
  • Dynamic gauges
  • Pop up warnings
  • Auto-on/off
  • Firmware update support
 
#28 ·
Idk why someone can’t make an Ap screen extender to replicator for a double din or iPad. I emailed Cobb and they said thanks. Lol


16 Ford Focus RS Grey
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#36 ·
@Kacper The Kaiser Engineering Digital Dash uses a STM32F microcontroller; would it be possible to move the drift device code onto the Digital Dash?

I'm not asking you to do it, I'm just wondering if it's possible.
 
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#40 ·
Anything programmable that connects to the CAN bus could monitor the proper data (mostly to discover the ESC is off and the drive mode is not Normal) and send the proper command to the ABS firmware when seeing the handbrake switch flag. The MCU has nothing to do with that, but the Kaiser guys would have to incorporate that feature in their code, and of course it would only work if the Ford Driftstick ABS firmware was flashed to the ABS module.
 
#38 ·
Man! This is so tempting! I'd be all over it if we weren't saving up for a house... Maybe I'll wait for people to get their units and see what kinds of guides come out. Then, I might be able to convince myself to pull the trigger.
 
#39 ·
I wanna to see if this can be set up like a traditional "mechanical" sweep gauge- VAC to 15 psig BOOST...
Where I can see "the needle" at full vacuum during idle and can read, in detail, the PSI boost... versus the "dummy gauge" look of the OE one where I can't read the boost exactly...
 
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