LEAF SOC gauge with Nokia 6610 LCD display

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evnow

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
11,480
Location
Seattle, WA
Finally I was able to get the LCD to work. Turned out the soldering job was inadequate rather than software problem. But I did have to compile & pickout 3 separate set of drivers to get the large fonts we need.

leaf-can%252520013.png


This is an LCD which is a clone of "Nokia 6610" LCD i.e. the color LCDs Nokia used in 6610 and other mobile phones. You can get them quite cheaply from various sources including SparkFun. I got it from e-bay (search for "Nokia 6100 / 6610 Color LCD (PCF8833) Module"). It lists for $23 shipped now. The one I bought has a breakout board that makes it easier to connect and also handles 5V supply. Don't buy the plain LCD.

$(KGrHqEOKpYE4lE6w24qBOOi!ydk,!~~0_12.JPG


My current software shows the SOC% and in brackets actual raw SOC.

leaf-can%252520008.png


It also shows for the current SOC, what the estimated range is - for different speeds - 40, 50, 60 & 70. This is based on the charts Tony has put up (though not the latest changes from today). The algorithm is same as the one I use in my Windows Phone 7 App.

The size of the letters I'm using is 8x18 pixels. It looks similar in size to the smaller letters you see in the center console (say in the energy usage screen). We can show about 8 lines of text - about 15 letters per line.

Except for the LCD the hardware is just like the kit Gary put together (except you don't need the 2 push buttons).

Nokia 6610 clones come in 2 or 3 flavors - mainly Philips or Epson controller based. The one I got was Philips - with some header & intialization changes, the same code will work for Epson.

leaf-can%252520014.png


To connect we need 6 lines. I got some "Single Row Rt Angle Pin Headers" from Frys and soldered them to the LCD.

leaf-can%252520016.png


From LCD to the AVR I just used pre-crimped male-to-male single wires. You can buy them from from various places including e-bay (search for "30 x Arduino 30cm jumper cables for Shield or EQUIV"). Very easy to use and just $5 for 30.

!Bjuh46QB2k~$(KGrHqEOKkEEsmgUWJChBLUyibRfH!~~_12.JPG


The LCD comes with mounting holes on the board - so it should be easy enough to cut out the needed portion (3.3 x 3.3 cm) and mount the LCD to the project box. I'm yet to do that - as you can see from the photos.

I can send the hex file if some wants to try this out. Once Gary publishes the software, you should be able to make any changes yo want, too.
 
I bow down in reverence to your collective awesomeness.. :D
I just wrote a "letter to the editor" of a motorcycle magazine stating that there's still plenty of tweaking that can be done with EVs; this little project proves the point!
 
Now we are talking! That is the kind of display I would want and it makes the project look MUCH more elegant and sophisticated, as well as greatly increasing the useability. Nice job! Maybe this could be an option for Gary's kit?

evnow said:
Finally I was able to get the LCD to work. Turned out the soldering job was inadequate rather than software problem. But I did have to compile & pickout 3 separate set of drivers to get the large fonts we need.
 
mogur said:
Now we are talking! That is the kind of display I would want and it makes the project look MUCH more elegant and sophisticated, as well as greatly increasing the useability. Nice job! Maybe this could be an option for Gary's kit?

Yes - once a couple of people try this out. We also need to figure out the right housing for this and a way to mount the LCD, so that it looks good.
 
Excellent. I want one!
Are looking to/can you add "power in and out" to the display? I'd like to see a numerical representation of what is done with the dash white balls and the graphic presentation of kWh in and out found on the center console. Have you found that information?

Marc Geller

Red 2011
3000+ miles
I want my SOC!!!
 
Great Progress.

1. Is this the place you got the display, and is this the display that you ordered?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nokia-6100-6610-Color-LCD-PCF8833-Module-/160553758987

2. Is this the same display, or one without the serial interface?
http://www.wide.hk/products.php?product=Nokia-6100-%7B47%7D-6610-Color-LCD-(PCF8833)

3. Do you have it programmed to display along the long axis of the card?
So that it might fit into the Project box?
What are the board's outside dimensions (excludig the rigt-angle 6-pin
header that you added)?

4. Yes, please email the source and necessary subroutines/libraries.
I will try to check a conection or "jumper" and possibly have the
firmware support both display modes ... maybe.

5. It is not a touch screen, right?
So, I still need some user input to select different screens.
Thus, I still need the push-buttons?

6. The Physical conection looks easy:
Ground, 5v power, and 4 others.

7. How does it look in daytime conditions, or in the sun?

8. How much 5v power does it need (amps)?

9. Please remember that any low-end mileage estimates might be
good for average LEAFs in average conditions, but it seems that the
car can be in some state where the SOC value SEEMS to indicate
"plenty" of remaining energy, but it is just NOT there to use
.

Again, Great Work.
 
garygid said:
Great Progress.

1. Is this the place you got the display, and is this the display that you ordered?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nokia-6100-6610-Color-LCD-PCF8833-Module-/160553758987
Yes.

2. Is this the same display, or one without the serial interface?
http://www.wide.hk/products.php?product=Nokia-6100-%7B47%7D-6610-Color-LCD-(PCF8833)

Should be - but I'm getting "no info on this product".

3. Do you have it programmed to display along the long axis of the card?
So that it might fit into the Project box?
What are the board's outside dimensions (excludig the rigt-angle 6-pin
header that you added)?
Right - I've set the memory control to get exactly that. Otherwise it won't fit in the box I've now as well.

4. Yes, please email the source and necessary subroutines/libraries.
I will try to check a conection or "jumper" and possibly have the
firmware support both display modes ... maybe.
Will do. The way I've changed your program is to add the necessary routines, files based on a #define. It will support both displays. We do need to cleanup so that it doesn't go thr' the LED stuff if it is not used.

5. It is not a touch screen, right?
So, I still need some user input to select different screens.
Thus, I still need the push-buttons?

Might come in handy at some point - currently ofcourse there is only one screen.

6. The Physical conection looks easy:
Ground, 5v power, and 4 others.

Right. Instead of 3 lines to LED, this is 6 lines.

7. How does it look in daytime conditions, or in the sun?
Will try it out this weekend.


8. How much 5v power does it need (amps)?

It is supposed to consume about 150 mA. How much does the LED consume ?

I'm still looking at one more OLED character display that consumes just 40 mA.
 
One suggestion for a slight change in the data displayed. Since mileage at different speeds is such a large variable, I'd prefer to see range expressed at a function of M/KwH which is much more of an absolute. Perhaps you could add that in parentheses after the speed if you wanted to display both...
 
mogur said:
One suggestion for a slight change in the data displayed. Since mileage at different speeds is such a large variable, I'd prefer to see range expressed at a function of M/KwH which is much more of an absolute. Perhaps you could add that in parentheses after the speed if you anted to display both...
The reason for miles instead of m/kwh is that it is easier to control speed than m/kwh directly. Essentially, one can figure out what speed they could use to reach their destination given the SOC - with all the relevent disclaimers added.

Still, I can add the m/kwh - I'd have to find the real estate somewhere. May be remove the "mph".
 
evnow said:
The reason for miles instead of m/kwh is that it is easier to control speed than m/kwh directly. Essentially, one can figure out what speed they could use to reach their destination given the SOC - with all the relevent disclaimers added.


I was strongly in that camp... but, both pieces of data have useful functions, particularly for the "around town" driving with so many variables, nobody could ever guess what the range might be. Except, to look and see that they were averaging 3.9m/kWh; well, then, assuming similar driving around town, the car will go about 81 miles.

The hills might be tough to figure with this device. Could we have an input that said that my destination is XXXX feet about/below my departure point? Then a subroutine that inflated / deflated the mileage based on whatever criteria seems most logical?

Awesome work, by the way!!! I'm super pumped about getting this in my car :mrgreen:
 
TonyWilliams said:
The hills might be tough to figure with this device. Could we have an input that said that my destination is XXXX feet about/below my departure point? Then a subroutine that inflated / deflated the mileage based on whatever criteria seems most logical?
Something like that would need to be a phone app. There isn't an easy way to take any inputs.

Unless we adopt a serial LCD with numeric pad like this ... "I2C & Serial LCD 20x4 + keypad contr Arduino Microchip" on e-bay.
 
Stoaty said:
Outstanding! The exact information you need, all in one place and elegantly displayed. Sure would like to own one of these.

+1. Add me to that list. I'm not "electrically inclined"; but I surely would like to have this type of information available in the cockpit.
 
Using the 4-character display, I can show basically the same information:

The Red Button (unused in vF1.07) will be a "Mode" button, selecting different types (or groups) of information to display.

One tap on the Red button could change to Battery Pack mode, with the Black button cycling through Volts (roughly 300.0 to 400.0 volts), Amps (roughly 199.9 "out" to -99.9 "in" amps), and possibly Pack Power (-P99 to P99 in kW).

Another press of the Red button could be Range-Table Mode (NOT to be believed):

Then, MM:RR might show MM as your current mph (and/or perhaps 10 to 70 in steps of 5 or 10), and RR being the ESTIMATED (not DEPENDABLE) remaining range, based on the car's current SOC and your actual/selected speed.

Etc. ... so, even the 4-digit display can be useful.
 
Sweet! Enjoying the progress by all. Last Saturday night, the SOC gauge went from "nice to have" to "must have". Keep up the good work. Maybe you'll have on-board memory (or SD card) at some point so we can do trip recording?
 
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