Gauges Displayed In Icc

[wicksy]

jar a in fart

[Pretzel]

Hey guys,

Sorry I've been a bit quiet about this (I have been playing with it further, and I have it doing more that what you've seen)

I don't know how many of you would be really interested in this, but I am now at the point of deciding whether I develop it further than it just being a mod in my own car !

I have been looking into what is involved in making it something others can have, and it is not a cheap solution !

Mine currently is able to display the following:

RPM

Inlet Temp

Water Temp

Boost/Vacuum

Battery Voltage

A/F ratio

Ignition Timing

Injector Pulse

I need convincing that there is a real market for this type of solution, yes it can be made to display in any form (Bars or dials etc..) If there is enough interest anything is possible to be monitored.

How many of you would not baulk at say a $1500 - $2000 price tag ? I'm not saying that's what it would cost, but until I have a final (Non development) solution I won't know !

The final solution may end up possibly doing other things in addition to guages (Like DVD player etc..)

So now it's back to you ..... who is serious about it ?

Pretzel

[Cro]

I'm out at that price.

Good job though

[NYOPA]

It all looks great, but for me $1500 is too much, I would really only want boost, oil and water temp.

I hope you have enough interest as it looks awesome what you are doing.

Maybe you could sell it to Ford??

[mickey_gee]

I would want boost, oil temp, trans temp (auto). is that possible?

[leonb]

I think if you could keep the price below $1000 you would have a fair few takers.

anything over that and I doubt many would b interested.

[Turbofalke]

Whats driving up the price? Hardware?

Some of these problems may be overcome with a little help from your forum buddies

Edited 27/04/05 09:58 PM by Turbofalke

[cobrav8]

I agree - great job, but I would see this as a $200 type sale personally, and at that level - you would sell heaps of them! For $500 and up I would be spending my money on making the car go faster.

How is it loaded into the car? Is it a plug in unit, or somehow modded on your computer? I guess that determines the cost to you to produce the product.

Also - personally I wouldnt want to play DVDs etc, if I want to watch telly, I will stay at home! The idea of the display is great, especially as you start modding things.

0-100 readings would be good. I am sure you can pick up when a car starts moving and when it hits 100, maybe go 0-100-0 as well? That would allow for some fun competition.

What are chances of providing to NZ customers? I am happy to be your agent if you need one?

Cheers.

[Pretzel]

It is basically hardware that is the expensive bit (and depending on what the final hardware solution is, I will know what sort of software costs I will have from the guy doing the software for me !)

The problem is that you need the following:

Some sort of brain to control it (Read here expensive custom hardware, or PC based solution) Neither are really cheap and to have a reliable PC based solution in a car requires a bit of crap !

Then you have to interface it to the Factory ECU (Or whatever ECU you are running)

Then it needs to be interfaced into the ICC to be displayed on the screen (Or add an aftermarket pop out screen to non Premium equipped vehicles)

So that is where the majority of the expense is !

In addition to this, for additional gauges that are not already monitored via ECU will need another interface between new sensors and PC, hey this is not a problem, just adds a bit more expense !

Let's throw in rough prices:

PC based solution (Small and reliable hopefully) anything up to $1000 (ish) Must be small, have no moving parts (Which will cause premature failure in a car) run reliably with the variances in supply voltage without resetting etc.. Needs to have I/O ports to be able to communicate to the rest of the vehicle etc..

Interface to ECU (Let's say around $200) the end solution is not finalised at this stage so this is a guess

Interface to ICC (Blaupunkt one is what? over $500?? I know I can do that for say $200-$300 though as well not using Blaupunkt equipment !) NOTE None of the Blaupunkt dealers I rang were interested in selling me their interface even though I had part numbers etc.. thanks to TurboCorty !

This doesn't include something for the software guy (I figure we'll have to pay an amount per unit sold to him like a royalty) Especially if units are custom and give people exactly what they want.

Then there's installation bits and pieces (Which we don't know until all the hardware is finalised) say another $100 or so for plugs, wiring etc..

Now you see where my dilemma is..... It will be an expensive product, and as such is it worth me investing a lot more time and money to make it something that will only sell say 3 or 4 units.... I'm not wanting to live off these units.... but I'd like to recover costs at least if I go further !

I agree a $200 solution would sell like hotcakes....... that is not possible ! $1000 may not even be possible to keep it under (Without compromising the unit's reliability)

The suggestion of DVD etc.... is more than anything to help offset the cost by giving the product more features that may be required by people

Pretzel

[cobrav8]

Cool - thanks Pretzel - good to know where you are coming from, and the possible costs.

My gut feel - you will get a few hard core guys with lots of spare money, but that may unfortunately be it.

Great to see someone doing something a bit different, I hope you can make a bit of money of it (not just break even).