thekyguy11
New Member
Hello.
My father and I are doing a project. We are building a vegetable oil setup to be used in his diesel truck. If you are unfamiliar with the idea, here is a link... https://www.greasecar.com/ . The basic idea is that there are two tanks on the truck. one for diesel, and one for veg oil. To run a diesel on straight veg oil, the engine must be warmed up and the oil must be above a certain temp. To keep the oil warm in winter, the veg oil tank on his truck will have coolant lines from the engine routed through a coil in or under the tank.
The reason I come to these boards is because I am trying to build an electronic device that will monitor and display the veg oil temp and level, automatically switch to the oil tank when temp has been reached, and act as a turbo timer when the vehicle is shut off. This way when my father shuts off the vehicle, the truck will actually remain idling for x amount of time and switch back to the diesel fuel to purge the fuel lines of any vegetable oil. After the time runs out, it will shut off. This prevents any oil from solidifying in the lines while the vehicle is off.
My knowledge of electronics is very basic, but I have taken an automotive electronics class at school. I have been experimenting with a 555 timer and I can get it to do almost everything I need, but not everything. I have another thread going of how I was going to do it... https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/555-timer-help.35460/
So, should I give up on making it work using the 555 timer etc, or should I use a micro controller? I don't know much about them, so I would definitely need to be pointed in the right direction. From what I understand i would need to select an appropriate chip, program it on the computer, burn it and solder away.
Now, from what I was reading, I would need a voltage divider to power the (2) 10-LED bars for the oil temp and level. Is this something a micro controller can also handle itself?
Also, I might add that I have done a lot of DIY tuning of Honda ECU's and I already have a Willem Burner that I use to burn 28 pin AT29256 chips. It looks like I could burn just about anything with this burner though.
I apologize for such a long post, but I felt all the information is necessary for someone to help out. To sum it up here is what I'm after.....
Should I use a micro controller to do all this? If so, which one, and where do I get information about it?
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read and reply.
My father and I are doing a project. We are building a vegetable oil setup to be used in his diesel truck. If you are unfamiliar with the idea, here is a link... https://www.greasecar.com/ . The basic idea is that there are two tanks on the truck. one for diesel, and one for veg oil. To run a diesel on straight veg oil, the engine must be warmed up and the oil must be above a certain temp. To keep the oil warm in winter, the veg oil tank on his truck will have coolant lines from the engine routed through a coil in or under the tank.
The reason I come to these boards is because I am trying to build an electronic device that will monitor and display the veg oil temp and level, automatically switch to the oil tank when temp has been reached, and act as a turbo timer when the vehicle is shut off. This way when my father shuts off the vehicle, the truck will actually remain idling for x amount of time and switch back to the diesel fuel to purge the fuel lines of any vegetable oil. After the time runs out, it will shut off. This prevents any oil from solidifying in the lines while the vehicle is off.
My knowledge of electronics is very basic, but I have taken an automotive electronics class at school. I have been experimenting with a 555 timer and I can get it to do almost everything I need, but not everything. I have another thread going of how I was going to do it... https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/555-timer-help.35460/
So, should I give up on making it work using the 555 timer etc, or should I use a micro controller? I don't know much about them, so I would definitely need to be pointed in the right direction. From what I understand i would need to select an appropriate chip, program it on the computer, burn it and solder away.
Now, from what I was reading, I would need a voltage divider to power the (2) 10-LED bars for the oil temp and level. Is this something a micro controller can also handle itself?
Also, I might add that I have done a lot of DIY tuning of Honda ECU's and I already have a Willem Burner that I use to burn 28 pin AT29256 chips. It looks like I could burn just about anything with this burner though.
I apologize for such a long post, but I felt all the information is necessary for someone to help out. To sum it up here is what I'm after.....
Should I use a micro controller to do all this? If so, which one, and where do I get information about it?
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read and reply.
Last edited:
. This everything should be far more than the everything obtained from the 555.
