We would either need a display with mirrored image, or another mirror, and I cannot see how could reflection from windshield fail to be rather distorted. Depends on geometry, of course....

We would either need a display with mirrored image, or another mirror, and I cannot see how could reflection from windshield fail to be rather distorted. Depends on geometry, of course....

As for the mirroring, why not just flip the image as needed in software?

Distortion is a problem, but aren't there ways to minimize that? If nothing else, maybe some special kind of "screen" that you attach to your winshield? Takes away from some of the neatness of having it projected right onto the windshield, but might minimize distortion...

As for the mirroring, why not just flip the image as needed in software?

I assumed we are talking display that only accepts ASCII. With graphical display, of course, we do that in SW.

Distortion is a problem, but aren't there ways to minimize that? If nothing else, maybe some special kind of "screen" that you attach to your winshield? Takes away from some of the neatness of having it projected right onto the windshield, but might minimize distortion...

The reflective surfase just has to be flat.

I assumed we are talking display that only accepts ASCII. With graphical display, of course, we do that in SW.

Ah, hrmmm.. Yeah. A mirror, I guess.

The reflective surfase just has to be flat.

Hmm. I don't think a little bit of distortion would be a problem, on my windshield at least, the center area is flat enough that I think it'd be very legible.

The question is, would a VFD put out the light in enough of a... umm... direct manner (?) that it wouldn't be fuzzy when projected onto the windshield... This is where we need our physics PhD's to step up and join the fun...

VFD won't be projecting anything; your windshield simply acts as a mirror. Now, aditional problem is that you will probalby get reflection from several wintdshield's layers...

Try simple test with bright drawing on white piece of paper (or perhaps better, little pieces of tinfoil or similar bright bits on something dark) on sunny day with the car turned into the sun. Place it under the windshield and more around to see posibilities for placement and resulting image quality.

Hm, small display like this would perhaps benefit from a Fresnel lens...

While I really like this idea, wouldn't it be hard to see the projected display on the windshield in bright daylight? (or even worse, in direct sunlight?)

Yeah, and in my original thoughts on this, I said "at least for night time driving." Obviously something like this would be constrained by ambient light and especially by direct sunlight.

The use of some kind of tinted or translucent screen might help this somewhat, I'm not sure... But I wasn't thinking of this as very useful for day driving... But if someone can prove me wrong...

Paul,

I'd also be interested in one.

If any VFD is going to work for a HUD in the day it's going to be the tiny one (K610a).. it's several times brighter than all their other displays because each pixel is directly driven.

It is really, really tiny though.. before ordering one I would strongly suggest you print out a screengrab of the Empeg display at 39.3 x 9.7mm and put it where you want in your car and see if you can read the display without squinting and staring at it (always a good idea when driving).

Ooh, no, you're right. I just posted where I didn't think it had a command like this, and you bring that up. Thanks.
It's still not AS highly optimized as sending jule 4096 woth of info (still goitta send headers) but it's somewhat better than 4 frames.

The headers are only 6 bytes, 0.15% overhead, vs drawing pixels, 300% overhead.. The K610a being only 19,200bps ( = 4.6fps unoptimized ) is far more significant.

We need someone to buy one of these (scroll down) for experimental purposes!

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We need someone to buy one of these (scroll down) for experimental purposes!

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OMG that would be too cool for words.

This whole project has got me pretty excited. I'm suprised this thread length isnt up to the hundreds by now.

Hasn't had time. I JUST posted it friday! :>

Me.

Just as a note for the 'HUD' angle: if you take a small piece of stick-on window film and place it where you'd like to see the image, you'll have greatly improved image quality and good daylight visibility.
If you visit http://hud.cz28.com, you'll see the progress I made with a home-made HUD, and some of the bits I used.
In any instance, it's possible and doable.

Hope you folks get it working. I can recommend the products from www.controlanything.com - they're RS-232 connected VFDs (using a small daughterboard), and you can load your own graphics and fonts. I reversed my fonts and they reflected just fine off of the window/tint combination.

Anyway, just my USD$0.02, adjusted for inflation.

Dan (and since I haven't adjusted my profile in a long time, the correct e-mail address is dang@www.dangentry.com)

Wow, looks promising... I knew *someone* had to have tried it at some point. Great stuff!

So am I right in surmising that it's pretty worthless during the daytime in any kind of sunlight?

Well, here in Western Washington, strong direct sunlight usually isn't an issue. :-) I actually did make a trip or three in the day and it worked just fine, provided the tint patch on the windshield provided some shade for the VFD. I was actually thinking of playing with some polarizing materials to filter out some light, but never got that far.
I would theorize that in an area of strong sunlight - say Tucson, Arizona in August - the image would get washed out.

I did also get a smaller, pre-built HUD from a company called 'Defi' (http://www.defi-shop.com), which came with a similar but much lighter tint-strip for the windshield. I had it in my Talon for a long time, and it had absolutely no issues in direct sunlight.

Dan (and I really will go change my sig *right now*)

Hey guys! Just a price update, now that I got the PCB quote back. First, the parts list and prices from Digikey..
[IC1] MAX233 MAX233CPP-ND (50x4.32)
[SW1 DPDT Switch CKN5003-ND (25x6.168)
[DB1] DB-9 Header A2096-ND (25x2.4388)
[J1] 10-pin Header A26267-ND $0.44
[J2] Power Jack CP-102A-ND (10x0.33)
[VR1] +5V Reg. 296-13996-5-ND (25x0.39)
[D1] 1N4001 Diode 1N4001GCT-ND (10x0.22)
[C1] 1uf Cap. P993-ND (10x0.14)
[C2] .1uf Cap. P984-ND (10x0.14)
[C3] .33uf Cap. P988-ND (10x0.14)

PCB price is, based on an order of 50, $12 per board. Prices for parts & PCB, above, again based on 50qty, is roughly $25.00.
This does not include shipping, nor my timely fee for assembling it for you.. (No worry. I'm cheap.)

Right now I have 32 orders. I/m guessing I'll have 50 by the time I actually have to order parts, so I'm not worried. Plan on that being the final amount (again. + shipping).

Thanks!
Me.

Greetings!

A follow-up. I did not hear anything back from Noritake, so I got back in touch with the sales rep. He has been on the road, but gave me an alternative contact. I just wanted to get a reality check, since these units are too expensive for me to randomly buy and (possibly) get stuck with leftovers.

Anyone interested in getting one of the mini-VFDs, model GW128x32C-K610A, knowing that they are tiny, send me email or a PM. I am looking at getting 20 units, but I just want to make certain there is interest to support this. Thanks!

Do you have a link to the screen? Maybe a guess as to how much they will be? I maybe be interested in getting one.

Greetings!

The estimate, based on 20 units, would be about $105. As to the dimensions, I think they are in this thread. There is very little documentation (that I am aware of) for this model on the web.

There is very little documentation (that I am aware of) for this model on the web.

The PDF spec sheet for the K610a is attached to one of my posts above (direct link). It has sizes, the command set, font samples, etc.. everything you need, and it's all that's available AFAIK. One non-obvious note in there is that it runs on TTL-level (0-5v) serial, which is one reason why you need something like foxtrot's board.

Cool! Sorry, I had forgotten about that. But I am still interested in trying for a bulk order. I am also trying to see if they can be bundled with the board as an assembled unit. More to follow...

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Anyone interested in getting one of the mini-VFDs, model GW128x32C-K610A

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would the size of this display be suited to the head up display setup ?