Starting out...

curado

I have a car project that involves either a carputer or a basic stamp. My assumption is that I need both a stamp and a developer board. I need a minimum of 3 serial ports but all the PICs I have seen only support 1. It will need to drive 2 LCD displays (or work in conjunction with another pic), accept input from the car's OBD-II port via serial, and accept an array of·both 12 and 0 volt inputs from the car.

I'm looking for a beefy stamp that can do this, and I've never dabbled in PIC's before. I don't really know what to order. Is there a beginners guide?

andreas6583

hi curado,

I think any BS2 will provide you with what you need ! Just check the User Manual for the BS (free @ parallax download area !).
You can have as many serial ports as there are I/O ports on the BS and if you choose a serial LCD, there will be no trouble to connect it ! It´s absolutely easy !!! And they even have some examples in their manual !

Best thing: The software to write the programs is free and can be downloaded @ parallax and you can even put together a more· "complex" system with just a few components on a simple board (see the Missouri-Bot pictures in my multi-cpu thread...

I would really recommend using the BS2 !!!

All the best,
Andreas

Paul Baker

Curado, I think you maybe a little confused, some of the Stamps use PIC microprocessors as thier brains, but you are not directly programming the PIC, you are writing BASIC code that is interpreted by the PIC. Its like calling your Dell computer an Intel. PBASIC permits using SEROUT and SERIN on any of it's pins so you are not limited to just using the single serial port that comes with the development board. Also if you purchase 2 serial LCDs you will be able to hook both of them up to the stamp at the same time. The beginers guide is "What's a Microcontroller".

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
·1+1=10

KenLem

Just to reinforce what Paul said... The manual he linked to is a great introduction.···If you're interested in getting your hands on·a micro to start, I recommend·The "What's a Microcontroller" kit.· It·is perfect for an introduction to the Basic Stamp and embedded control. It contains a Basic Stamp 2, excellant documentation and good selection of parts to get started with. For $79, I can't think of anything even remotely close.

It's even available at your near by Radio Shack.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2117994&cp=&kw=parallax&parentPage=search


▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
www.speechchips.com

Speech & Video IC's for BasicStamps

Post Edited (KenLem) : 12/16/2005 3:30:00 PM GMT

Kevin Wood

You might also want to check out the PowerPoint tutorials on the Educational downloads page. One tutorial is based directly on WAM, the other sort of follows WAM, but goes into more in-depth concepts. If you prefer a more interactive approach to learning, these are very good. If you need the PowerPoint viewer, it can be downloaded from Microsoft.

curado

Thanks for the quick replies. I've been kind of busy but I have this thread on email notification. I'm going to spring for the Radioshack one for starters. I've got tons of other electronics stuff like DB9 connectors that will come in handy. I had the option of buying the LCD's with or without the serial controllers but I figured I'd keep it simple and do it this way.

One LCD will replace the one that came in my car's head up display. It shines on the windshield using a mirror in the dash. I'm redoing it with more information than the car originally provided. This crosses over into programming also, in order to be able to read from the car's networks. The other LCD will replace the one in the cabin that shows trip and fuel economy info. Instead I want it to also show GPS and navigating info. There will be several things going on at once being fed into the stamp.

The only thing I haven't touched yet is the car's proprietary serial format. I read that there are at least 2 serial standards I could be looking at, and it doesn't seem to be the PC standard. I haven't found anyone else who has attempted this and I don't know of anyone more equipped than I am yet so here I am asking questions :P

Paul Baker

I have tried to find info on the OBDII protocol, and couldn't come up with much info at all. You are correct that there are two main standards, and each manufacturer defines the commands within the protocol differently. If you give your make and model I can see if I can come up with some vehicle specific info. A good starting place is http://www.obdii.com/

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
·1+1=10

curado

It's a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. I got the GM-VPW supporting cable for reading from the car's bus. That's supposed to be an open standard, but each car manufacturer adds their own extended set of PID's that let you read some advanced sensors. I haven't found info on that yet inspite of the fact that companies like autotap seem to have it. My car has about 5 other serial lines besides the OBD-II that carry info from the PCM / BCM to the accesories like the hud box or trip display. One even carries the radio station from the stereo. I found pinouts on all the connectors at alldatadiy.com with a subscription to my car. I'm even going to get rid of the sounds from the BCM and replace them with some more discreet tones :P when I'm done I want to be driving the real life knight rider.

Mike Cook

Take a look at:

http://www.elmelectronics.com/obdindex.html

They have chips to convert various OBDII busses to RS-232

You will probably need to purchase the SAE specification J1979 to determine what codes to send to the PCM.

Some free information can be found at www.scantool.net

Mike

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
"OEM NMEA GPS Module" Now available on ebay for only $19.99, FREE shipping until 2006!

Product web site: http://www.allsurplus.net/Axiom/