Greetings All,
After months of dithering around, including several sessions of beating
my head against the wall trying to work bugs out of the system, I have
finally completed development of version 5 of my Europa fuel gauge and
the chip sets are now in production.
Version 5 introduces some new features...
Addition of a capacitance gauge emulation mode. This mode
presents a 0-5v voltage on one of the display chip pins which is
directly proportional to the fuel level. This output is can be used
to feed into the likes of the Dynon Flightdek.
A change to the setup routine which now has separate routines
for full tank calibration and setting of individual tank levels. This
simplifies setup for those using the default lookup table or
running in capacitance gauge emulation mode.
Ability to keep the default lookup table (copied from Paul
McAllister's Europa installation) as well as define a custom lookup
table. This allows switching between the two tables at any time if
required.
A change to the display chip which removes the external
oscillator thus reducing cost and component count. In addition, the
output pin positioning of this chip allows this chip to be mounted
directly onto the back of the bar graph display thus removing the
requirement to have a printed circuit board for the display
processor. Details showing how this can be achieved is provided within
the circuit diagrams.
The addition of an activity LED on the display chip for those
wishing to run in capacitance gauge mode without installing the bar
graph display.
Addition of a routine within the display processor that flashes
all of the bars in the event that no input is received from the fuel
processor chip. In capacitance gauge mode the fuel level displayed
will drop to zero and the activity LED will go off in the event that no
input is received from the fuel processor chip.
A change to the serial driver chip on the fuel processor board
to reduce component count.
A circuit diagram for version 5 is available upon request from me.
Those with the original chip set wishing to upgrade can exchange their
original chips with me at a cost of USD5 per set. I am happy to despatch
the new chipset prior to receiving the old set in return, though do ask
that the old set is returned to me within eight weeks.
The cost of the two processor chip set for new installations is USD25,
AUD40, GBP18, EU20, NZD50. All other components need to be sourced
locally.
Regards
Tony
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