LeafDD - Dash Display for Leaf

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You could easily do something similar with the LeafDD, but I'm concerned about theft of ANY device that is readily visible from outside the car. It just so happens that the LeafDD was narrow enough to fit inside the steering wheel (and small in general). :cool:
 
Having already had my original Gid meter stolen, I was concerned about this. Where I mounted mine it actually is surprisingly non-visible from outside. It probably helps that my side windows are tinted... And it also helps that the display turns off when the car EV buss is inactive.

Stanton said:
You could easily do something similar with the LeafDD, but I'm concerned about theft of ANY device that is readily visible from outside the car. It just so happens that the LeafDD was narrow enough to fit inside the steering wheel (and small in general). :cool:
Click to expand...
 
Stanton said:
Got my LeafDD today, and thought I'd post a pic of my (unique) installation. You know that plastic piece covering what would be the ignition "hole" on an ICE car? Well, it makes a great storage location for the LeafDD! If I really want to see/access it, I just let it dangle from the steering wheel...
Click to expand...
Ha! I didn't even notice the hole there!
Thanks for the kind words Danny and Gary :D
A few other items.. The rectangular cut outs in the upper part of the enclosure are intended for future mounting or "hood/shade" options down the line. The bigger hole on the right side was for the programming dongle which in retrospect was unnecessary as the enclosure pops on and off (perhaps a little too easily) and it's unclear how easy it will be to reflash these in the field. I'll need to look at options for that if/when the need arises.
I'll have a few more units later this week but believe they are all spoken for. Unfortunately the OLED screens are backordered with the manufacturer and I don't anticipate getting more until mid/late July :(
The current design has a few known quirks which will not be an issue for the July shipments. Item 2 is only a potential issue on the units that have already shipped.
1. The enclosure, manufactured with an FDM 3D printer locally, is somewhat lower resolution than the white shapeways.com prototype I was first playing with. The little posts and hooks that hold the PCB in place are more fragile than expected.. Although I do kinda like the funky texture of the lo-res printing. Either way the posts will need to be strengthened and the hooks redesigned for the next batch to make it more robust. For the first wave of customers I recommend being careful with it and perhaps adding a drop of glue on the four hooks to help secure the PCB. Sorry about that.. We'll have more enclosures with the new design (any interest in black vs gray?) in July... And of course there's always shapeways.com if you don't mind white and would like to order your own for about $16.
2. The 20pin header between the OLED board and the main PCB was not soldered well on the first 10 units (despite much effort). It seems the OLED board is not really well through plated on the contact holes so pins with traces on the back of the OLED don't make a good connection. lame. From here on out we'll be using a different technique to allow proper solder flow on both sides of the OLED board to assure a good connection. All of the first round units were tested multiple times but some needed touch ups and they may not be as robust as I would have preferred. If your screen looks good then you don't have this problem! If you had the problem.. you'd know it... If so, please contact me and we'll figure out a way to resolve it.
 
I mounted my GID meter in the sunglass holder.

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Received my unit as well, but haven't figured out yet how to mount it. The OBDII connector makes the cable point towards the pedal area (is this a 2013 thing?), which is somewhat of a waste/danger, but would like it either above the mirror or near the tiny window, similar to what TomT did (but looks like this might pinch the cable).

Greg has been extremely responsive helping me figure out some issues, so just need to figure out a spot.
 
Actually, the one on mine does too and I find it to be an advantage. If it faces the opposite direction (toward the rear of the car), it is much messier... I was able to wrap it up very neatly and tie-wrap it out of the way. It's safe that way, out of harms way, invisible, and secure.

lion said:
The OBDII connector makes the cable point towards the pedal area (is this a 2013 thing?), which is somewhat of a waste/danger
Click to expand...
 
I'll have to take another look at it, when I took a quick look at the layout, it looked like I might accidentally catch the cable with my feet.
 
lion said:
I'll have to take another look at it, when I took a quick look at the layout, it looked like I might accidentally catch the cable with my feet.
Click to expand...
I think the method learned by the early Gidmeter pioneers of wrapping the thick cable around the steering column and kindof tucking it in between the column and main display works pretty well to secure (and hide.. at least on top) the cable. So coming out of the connector facing away from the driver, the cable turns 180 degrees under the dashboard then comes up along the underside of the dashboard then wraps around the steering column.. From there where you put it is up to you, but at least that keeps the cables away from your feet.
 
GregH said:
lion said:
I'll have to take another look at it, when I took a quick look at the layout, it looked like I might accidentally catch the cable with my feet.
Click to expand...
I think the method learned by the early Gidmeter pioneers of wrapping the thick cable around the steering column and kindof tucking it in between the column and main display works pretty well to secure (and hide.. at least on top) the cable. So coming out of the connector facing away from the driver, the cable turns 180 degrees under the dashboard then comes up along the underside of the dashboard then wraps around the steering column.. From there where you put it is up to you, but at least that keeps the cables away from your feet.
Click to expand...

When I had my LEAF SGII, I didn't wrap the extra around the steering column where it could be seen, but stuffed the extra into the steering wheel space which worked very well. I ran the cable down alongside the console and mounted the gauge with Velcro on top of the console (on the dash).
 
Received by LeafDD today, can't wait to try it out. The LeafDD joins my original Gid meter and the Leaf Battery App (which can't report true Gids yet, of course), so I will have multiple backups.
 
Initial impressions of LeafDD:

1) I love the OLED display, very easy to read even with polaroid sunglasses on which is my main requirement for a meter
2) Having Gid% and battery pack temp on the same screen and sized large enough that they are easy to read at a distance - fantastic
3) After watching the brief video earlier in the thread I was able to change settings without any kind of manual - very intuitive
4) I may have to retire my original Gid Meter

One oddity: the temperature shown (degrees F.) does not quite match the temperature shown on the Leaf Battery App. Reads about 0.4 degrees lower than the Leaf Battery App maximum temp. I am assuming that the displayed temperature is the maximum temp. If so, either the Leaf Battery App or the LeafDD is slightly off.
 
The LeafDD saved my a** tonight: I hit LBW and the LeafDD said I had almost 30% left. I made it home easily and I would have been worried otherwise. Why are these cars starting to 'squirrel away' capacity under LBW (like I read about last year)? I'm hoping the (new) software update "fixes" that problem, because it's obvious I have a lot more range left than the gauges are showing me.
 
Stanton said:
The LeafDD saved my a** tonight: I hit LBW and the LeafDD said I had almost 30% left. I made it home easily and I would have been worried otherwise. Why are these cars starting to 'squirrel away' capacity under LBW (like I read about last year)? I'm hoping the (new) software update "fixes" that problem, because it's obvious I have a lot more range left than the gauges are showing me.
Click to expand...
I assume you mean 30% SOC, because LBW happens at 49 Gids = 17.4% Gids. I would not consider % SOC to be a good guide to how much energy is still available in the battery pack. On the LeafDD, the % Gids shows a small G below the % sign, the % SOC does not. Be sure you have % Gids set to see how much juice your Leaf has left for the trip home.
 
Since reporters and other delberts were running out of battery and giving the car bad press early on, Nissan changed the battery gauge to hide about 1.5 bars of capacity under the last bar as a "reserve." This "update" happened in early 2011 and it has been this way on all cars since. I don't see it changing at any time in the near future...

Stanton said:
The LeafDD saved my a** tonight: I hit LBW and the LeafDD said I had almost 30% left. I made it home easily and I would have been worried otherwise. Why are these cars starting to 'squirrel away' capacity under LBW (like I read about last year)? I'm hoping the (new) software update "fixes" that problem, because it's obvious I have a lot more range left than the gauges are showing me.
Click to expand...
 
TomT said:
Since reporters and other delberts were running out of battery and giving the car bad press early on, Nissan changed the battery gauge to hide about 1.5 bars of capacity under the last bar as a "reserve." This "update" happened in early 2011 and it has been this way on all cars since. I don't see it changing at any time in the near future...

It already has in the 2013.

Stanton said:
The LeafDD saved my a** tonight: I hit LBW and the LeafDD said I had almost 30% left. I made it home easily and I would have been worried otherwise. Why are these cars starting to 'squirrel away' capacity under LBW (like I read about last year)? I'm hoping the (new) software update "fixes" that problem, because it's obvious I have a lot more range left than the gauges are showing me.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Based on the 2013 I drove that belongs to a friend, and his gid meter, I saw pretty much the same reserve battery capacity after the last bar extinguished as on my car... What makes you think that it has changed?

LEAFfan said:
It already has in the 2013.
Click to expand...
 
I'd recommend starting with raw Gids.. We know LBW is 50->49 and VLBW is 25->24.. I wouldn't count on having anything under 5 Gids but YMMV. Honestly if you're under 25 Gids you're probably better off watching the little battery voltage dot.. As long as its not pegged on the right (330V) you've still got a little juice left. I get nervous when I get down to 345V. The true SOC is fun to watch but I don't know really where the bottom is.. Same for Ah*SOC. None of the energy display options on LeafDD will get down to zero... In all cases the car will be dead before then. When you get down to single digits on Gids you might even be better off on the 3rd page where you can see the lowest cell voltage..

Not sure what to make of the temperature descrepency.. I should hope I could handle 32+1.8x!!
Page 1 shows the max, but also graphs the relative temps of all 4 relative to max. Page 2 shows all 4 temps in Celsius.. Also note the LeafDD shows temps down to 0.1 degrees Celsius. If the android app is just taking the raw data from the car it's only 1 degree Celsius resolution.. That probably accounts for the difference. LeafDD interpolates tenths of a degree based on the raw thermistor A/D values.
 

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