Member Since: 02 Jan 2005
Location: A bit there, a bit over there and sometime at home, France
Posts: 1006
Hi Colin
Would you have any news for us about this please?
Thanksl=Oo\________/oO=l l:Ool======loO:l
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8th Feb 2013 4:11 pm
robbo770
Member Since: 29 Jan 2013
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 2294
Hi Colin,
I would firstly like to thank you for the masive eforts in working this Mass requested upgrade for the D3's
I too would like to register my name for a complete including airbag RRS steering wheel for my manual D3 SE.
can you advise if there is a version for manual cars available now as we don't have the paddleshift issue to resolve?
this would at least let you get some out there and csh in for supporting the work done and remaining for the auto guys.
thanks Rob
from the FFRR site also where I did a write up and photo's on a similar upgrade for pre 2009 rangey's with Matt and couple of others.FFRR SC 4.2
Member Since: 30 Aug 2010
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 1051
Is there any news on this at all Colin?
CheersMY15 D4 SDV6 HSE Corris Grey - Gone
MY05 D3 TDV6 SE Zambezi silver Auto Alpaca leather - Gone
MY02' Seat Leon 1.6s Metallic Black cloth trim with a hint of mould
Club Sandwich
Women... Can't live with em, can't kill em...
24th May 2013 10:37 am
ids
Member Since: 12 May 2009
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 384
+1 for this also
Did your new guy (spose he is not so new now) work on this ?
Seems a shame not to finish it especially as you even had PCB's made. Think we all realise its a low volume, low priority bit of work but certainly a nice thing to do
Ids
25th May 2013 6:37 am
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Hiya Guys
I must aplogize for not responding before to the many requests for an update on progress.
TBH i have been burying my head in the sand in respect of this project and thread because i am somewhere between too ashamed and constantly ever hoping that by some miricle i might find some free time to put to this or the now not so new guy i was hoping might finish this would suddenly feel inspired and leap in. But sadly I have had no end of other stuff to deal with over the months that have passed.
Beyond the new competitors in the market place that we have to now work extra hard to compete with, and our updating the MSV-2 and nanocom, some will also know about some other distractions, Camo and Poppie, the Mercedes overspray, the extensive repairs my humble home has required and not least of all the financial problems we currently have here in Cyprus, and that is just the tip of the ice berg.
I guess the new guy feels this is something he currently does not feel he knows enough about or is confident to take on. And to be fair to him, he also pretty much has his hands full on a day by day basis.
All i can really say or add at this point is that i feel bad that i have not been able to make some progress on this and that i still remain determined to complete this project as soon as i can possibly find the time.
ATB
Colin
26th May 2013 4:40 pm
JDB
Member Since: 25 Mar 2010
Location: NW Hampshire
Posts: 2486
Colin, if anyone can make this work it's you, your dedication is appreciated and we all wait with great anticipation.
Thanks for all the MSV work too.
26th May 2013 5:21 pm
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Cheers JDB
Feeling bad about having had to post up such disappointing news about this project, prompted me to have a little chat about this with the guy i hoped would help me get it finished. We have scheduled an Hour tomorrow to review this with a view to getting it back on track.
It is not like he has no existing experience with this, in fact it was he who reworked the last PCB's i had designed to add flood plains in the hope that we could use these to dissipate the heat, which was unsuccessful.
The only problem left to solve is simply the LED back lighting. This is really annoying considering the massive difficulties i have had solving everything else.
One of my biggest problems was in finding a way to power the RF transmitter when there is no power supply in the Steering wheel. It took quite some ingenuity and trial and error to come up with a solution that parasitically draws the required
amount of power from the horn relay circuit.
I remember having gone through tons of different LED's and figuring out their spectral color values to find the correct shade of Green. I did eventually find one that matched, but it's intensity is way too bright, even when fed with the variable PWM feed from the Lighting switch that provides dimming. This can be fixed by adding current limiting resistors in series but then if you have to lower the Current too much, these run hot, and that's before we put the rubber keypad membrane over the PCB and then encase it in the plastic casings.
As we last left it, i had ordered a range of external high powered resistors, but what rating and resistance we should use is going to be a lot of trial and effort and these would likely also get quite hot.
I have however had some other new ideas of a possible ways to solve this that should avoid generating any heat.
One way or another i am determined to get this last silly problem sorted.
28th May 2013 4:48 pm
aljo
Member Since: 20 May 2007
Location: west sussex
Posts: 804
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where,s the f**king ceiling!!
28th May 2013 5:09 pm
radders89
Member Since: 30 Aug 2010
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 1051
Fingers crossed Colin. Thanks for the update. MY15 D4 SDV6 HSE Corris Grey - Gone
MY05 D3 TDV6 SE Zambezi silver Auto Alpaca leather - Gone
MY02' Seat Leon 1.6s Metallic Black cloth trim with a hint of mould
Club Sandwich
Women... Can't live with em, can't kill em...
28th May 2013 5:22 pm
JDB
Member Since: 25 Mar 2010
Location: NW Hampshire
Posts: 2486
Colin - keep up the good work - I will be first in the queue for a module when its done please!
28th May 2013 6:34 pm
ids
Member Since: 12 May 2009
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 384
Colin
That's great news as its something we have all been interested in for a long time.
If its a funding issue, how about having a mini kickstarter type scheme whereby we can pledge various amounts of cash for the final product that can help fund the R&D?
As a side issue as the new D4 wheel has more buttons than the old D3 one (including the left hand cursor style pad) I'm assuming these will have extra resistance values which get presented to the audio head unit. If they do then that's great news for me as I have tapped this feed to pass into my Carputer via a K8055 board that feeds Centrafuse.
Also which module did you think works best for the paddles. I know there are a couple mentioned on here that wigs and Pete Bell have tried.....
Wishing you success!
Ids
Last edited by ids on 29th May 2013 4:09 pm. Edited 1 time in total
29th May 2013 5:48 am
radders89
Member Since: 30 Aug 2010
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 1051
Im up for putting down a deposit if that helps any...... MY15 D4 SDV6 HSE Corris Grey - Gone
MY05 D3 TDV6 SE Zambezi silver Auto Alpaca leather - Gone
MY02' Seat Leon 1.6s Metallic Black cloth trim with a hint of mould
Club Sandwich
Women... Can't live with em, can't kill em...
29th May 2013 6:51 am
JDB
Member Since: 25 Mar 2010
Location: NW Hampshire
Posts: 2486
and me!
29th May 2013 7:44 am
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Cheers Guys,
Although i very much appreciate the offers, there is certainly no funding issue.
Indeed i have already invested many thousands of Euros into this project.
As I have stated, i have spent quite some time today revisiting this with the new guy.
Frankly, seeing the dev hardware that shows just how far this project has already progressed is quite amazing.
I will try to take some pictures of all the bits for you.
We do now have an extra element in actually having a late 2010 sport / D4 test rig we can use to see the illumination level natively provided and so directly compare this with what we are trying to provide.
We also have quite a few ideas on some possible ways to solve this final problem.
29th May 2013 5:50 pm
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Guys
Recently i have been blessed with having quite a few epiphanies.
Today i was gathering up the vast pile of all the different prototype PCB's and stuff i have developed in the past including the 2 main replacement Boards, heated Steering wheel and ACC sub boards, the transmitter board and the receiver boards to take a picture to post up here for you.
Even although we believe we have sorted most everything out using many conveluted means, and are now down to what seems like just one a final problem, in looking at all the parts involved it is now really very complicated full of potential pitfalls including the Back lighting.
The main problem is that while the D3 Wheel controls are quite simple, the D4 wheel has its own microcontroller and other stuff that allows it to handle everything intelligently and is connected to the vehicle by data connections.
My epiphany in this case is to realise that instead of trying to just directly replace all the gubbins in the D4 Wheel switch boards with physical replacements that need to work at a Raw electronics level, but to instead create an external microcontroller based interface that will work at a data level on the Wheel side to intellegently communicate with the existing boards and their built in microcontroller just like the D4 systems do, but on the vehicle side to replicate everything the D3 provides and needs.
As i have stated, i now have a full late 2010 sport / D4 test rig that i can use to monitor, capture and understand the Data going back and fourth to and from the D4 Wheel microcontroller, and frankly this is the sort of thing we already do on a day by day basis and are far more competent at doing this kind of thing than handling stuff at the raw electronics level.
It will ultimatel be easier, cheaper, more flexible and updateable.
In short, Today we are chucking everything i have already done in the Bin and starting afresh. And i could certainly not be happier.
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