In-Car Installation

In-Car Installation

Connect power to the display.

Wire Colors

Red +12v

Black Ground

Connect the serial cable to the MegaSquirt.

Upon powering on the display, the screen will flicker and/or be very bright. This is normal and expected for about 1 second. This is because the bootloader is waiting for a firmware update signal.

Within 1 second or so, the display’s logo will come up, and it will adjust its settings back the previously saved state.

Contrast Adjustment

Contrast adjustment can help with LCD readability if your viewing angle is on the extremes. Contrast is easily adjustable by the following procedure.

If contrast adjustment is needed, remove the four screws from the back. Remove the cover and you will find a white, plastic, Philips head potentiometer. Twist the pot while looking at the display to get the desired contrast.

Button Descriptions

Button descriptions from top to bottom:

Down

Enter / Freeze Frame

Setup Wizard

** This step is critical for your display to accurately display your sensor values.

If different firmware is found on your MegaSquirt than from the previously stored signature in memory, the display will automatically run the setup Wizard. This will help setup the display for your particular hardware setup.

If you are not taken to the Wizard on the FIRST bootup and you have the MegaSquirt communications cable attached, you can run the setup Wizard manually at the Home screen by pressing Menu, then choosing MSnS-Extra Wizard.

Software Updates

You will find that many new features and bug fixes by updating the display’s firmware. Firmware updates are found at:

http://digidash.sourceforge.net

1. Power your device with some 12v source.

2. Connect the supplied short crossover cable to the display’s serial cable.

3. Plug the other end of the crossover cable into a serial cable or directly into the port of your laptop/desktop.

4. Grab the updated firmware and download: Screen shots and instructions below:

Download the newest firmware revision:

Unzip entire contents of the .zip file to your desired location:

BLIPS is the name of the program which updates your firmware. You will find that program packaged inside of the directory you just unzipped.

Run setup.exe.

**If during the setup the program complains about a file that is in-use, just ignore the error.

Start BLIPS, you will notice that there is an area to load the Flash (.hex) file. The file you are interested in is digidash-v1.xx.hex. Click it, and browse to the location of the digidash-v1.xx.hex which is in the base directory of the files you just unzipped.

Next you need to set the “Change Folder For AVR Data in XML”

This button is located in the bottom right corner of the BLIPS window

Set the directory folder to the folder called “DigiDash-v1.0x”

**Set the comm port and baud rate to 56700

Now, here comes the update. It’s really an easy process once you get the hang of the timing (basically it is a pain in the ass). The display will be sitting in a loop waiting for either MegaSquirt communications or a firmware update button to be pressed by YOU.

Get ready to press the Menu button on the display and right after, press the ‘Flash erase, write’ button in BLIPS. If BLIPS sends the command within 1 second of Menu pressed, the firmware will be updated.

Pressing the Menu button here resets the display manually. During that 1 second window of the reset, you need to have BLIPS send the appropriate command. Basically, what you are trying to do is time the update command with the reset. It might take you a couple of tries, but you’ll get the timing.

I use one hand to press the Menu button, and the other to press the ‘Flash Erase, Write’ button

Good luck!

Any Questions:

Christopher Ladden (christopher.ladden@gmail.com)

Mike Gionfriddo (mike.gionfriddo@gmail.com)