Schlagwort: Gear Shifter

  • DIY shifter knob gets a beautiful integrated LED gear indicator

    DIY shifter knob gets a beautiful integrated LED gear indicator

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    We recently covered Vaclav Krejci’s stick shift project, in which he designed a board that surrounds the shift lever and uses Hall effect sensors to detect its position. It then displayed the current gear on a small OLED screen. The idea was that the user could mount that screen wherever they wanted on the dashboard or center console. But now Krejci is back with a more satisfying solution: an LED display built into the shifter knob itself.

    The rest of the hardware, aside from the display, is the same. A custom PCB surrounds the shift lever and contains the Hall effect sensors. Jumper cables connect those to a shield on an Arduino UNO Rev3, which looks at the signals from the sensors and calculates the approximate position of a permanent magnet attached to the shift lever. That position tells the Arduino the current gear.

    The difference is in how it displays the gear to the user. Before, it was a loose OLED screen. Now, it is a bright Pimoroni 7×11 LED matrix display integrated into the shifter knob. The knob is an inexpensive aftermarket model that Krejci modified for this project. He removed the top half of the knob and replaced it with a 3D-printed version with a cavity where the LED matrix can sit. A sheet of tinted translucent plastic helps to diffuse the light and hide everything else.

    This looks absolutely fantastic and would be really cool to see in a car.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcP48uCBzDQ?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post DIY shifter knob gets a beautiful integrated LED gear indicator appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK

  • DIY sequential gear shifter for sim racing

    DIY sequential gear shifter for sim racing

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    A sequential transmission is one that only allows you to move up or down by a single gear at a time. They’ve always been the norm for motorcycles, because they’re lightweight and compact. And Formula One cars have sequential transmissions for the same reasons. But unlike motorcycles, which require manual shifting, Formula One cars have lightning-fast electronic systems. To recreate that for racing sims, Carlos Almeida designed this sequential gear shift controller.

    Real Formula One cars have paddle shifters, so that drivers can shift while keeping their hands on their steering wheels. This is a little bit different and looks more like a conventional shifter at first glance. It is a large lever that the user can push forward to move up a gear, or pull back to move down a gear. A seven-segment display shows the current gear number.

    Most of the mechanical components are 3D-printable and an Arduino MKR1000 WiFi board is the primary component. Moving the shift lever pushes a switch, which the Arduino registers. Almeida developed the sketch using PlatformIO. It sets the Arduino up as a standard USB HID that will work with any racing sim or game, because it sends key presses like any keyboard or gamepad. It doesn’t receive feedback from the PC, so it has to keep track of the current gear and let the user set the number of gears available using small buttons below the readout display.

    If you want a physical sequential shifter for racing sims, this will make a great weekend project.

    The post DIY sequential gear shifter for sim racing appeared first on Arduino Blog.

    Website: LINK