[Sudarshan]

Dear all , I am driving since 18 years of my age ( officially ) & now I am just short of 44 . Years of driving gave me few Ideas .This one came to my mind many years back but recently executed ( 6 months back )

About this : I needed a Meter to show me the exact position of the Accelerator pedal. One can sence 0 & full ( pedal to metal ) but what about 1/4 or 3/4 etc . So I looked for it in market but didn't find anything .There are RPM meters , ok but no Accelerator pedal travel meter.
So I decided to make one for my Landy

A fuel tank (level ) Sender unit is linked with the accelerator pedal & a fuel gauge is used to give reading ( had to calibrate it for actual pedal travel )

Have a look

[gsferrari]

Ingenious! But why would you need that information?

I love what you've done but I have never wondered about the position of my throttle. My Yamaha MT01 has a TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) for the ECU. Most Traction Control devices also use a TPS.

Why?

[Sudarshan]

Originally Posted by gsferrari

Ingenious! But why would you need that information?

I love what you've done but I have never wondered about the position of my throttle. My Yamaha MT01 has a TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) for the ECU. Most Traction Control devices also use a TPS.

Why?

Guruji , pardon me but I still drive stone age vehicles

I tried it with my Yezdi first for some 23 years back BUT it was simple ,just pasted a tape on the handle side ( fixed ) of the grip made 4 marks & then painted a mark on accelerator grip . believe me it helped me get bettter economy ( believe me ) With its help I found a point of max vehicle road speed which was achived with minimum of accelerator .In other words a point/equation of minimum of accelerator & max road speed in top gear

When I used the 540 diesel ( peugeot 2112 cc ) I wanted to check how much accelerator I was giving & also trying to find/achive the above equation .

Now I use the landy more ,fuel is really costlier thease days ( compared to 15/20 years back ) so to keep check on FE I find this suitable

In simple words you can actually see how much accelerator you are giving

Sudarshan

[anilisanil]

Now thats interesting, is this meter in addition to a fuel gauge or have you turned your fuel gauge into a pedal travel meter, and have you observed any fuel savings post this installation?

Just another doubt- can OBD gauge read TPS?

P.S: If you have an OBD gauge you will have instant mileage so you would not require this set up

[Sudarshan]

@ Anil . this gauge is not the vehicles own fuel gauge , this is fitted extra . Also chose the fuel gauge(meter ) only to work with the sender unit ( linked with the pedal )

Now whats the OBD to read TPS ? Pl explain ( went over head actually )

Sudarshan

[kaushikr]

Originally Posted by gsferrari

Ingenious! But why would you need that information?

+1 to that. Pedal position is an interesting information to have, but you should be able to get consistent fuel economy by looking at the rpm meter. Is there not one in your vehicle?

Innovative to use the fuel level sensors and meters to sense and receive the position .

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan

Now whats the OBD to read TPS ? Pl explain ( went over head actually )

On Board Diagnostics to read Throttle Position Sensor.

OBD is new gen tech-wizardy to read and report various parameters on your vehicle, data collected through various sensors.

Which equals to:

Too much electronics == too much money == Too much care to be taken + water gets in it then its bye bye all the money.

Not for the DIYers.

Nice setup there. You could have calibrated actual speed at various marks on that meter. I know it would vary but would give a sense of how much speed with how much accelerator and fuel is being drunk.

Reminds me of the potentiometer based throttle I tried on the Kinetic Honda with the help of pulleys. LOL!! I gave up midway... Didnt make sense. In today's time it could have been called throttle-by-wire.

[Sudarshan]

Originally Posted by kaushikr

+1 to that. Pedal position is an interesting information to have, but you should be able to get consistent fuel economy by looking at the rpm meter. Is there not one in your vehicle?

Innovative to use the fuel level sensors and meters to sense and receive the position .

Nope this is a vehicle probably of my own age . & Thanks for compliments

Originally Posted by Spitfire

On Board Diagnostics to read Throttle Position Sensor.

thanks ( another 'new' gen term for 'me' )

OBD is new gen tech-wizardy to read and report various parameters on your vehicle, data collected through various sensors.

Which equals to:

Too much electronics == too much money == Too much care to be taken + water gets in it then its bye bye all the money.

Not for the DIYers.

nice one

Nice setup there. You could have calibrated actual speed at various marks on that meter. I know it would vary but would give a sense of how much speed with how much accelerator and fuel is being drunk.

Thanks for compliments , Measuring RPM is only possible when stand still ,with help of non contact RPM meter ( there is no other way here )
I am going to do that ( keepng the accelerator fixed at steps )

Sudarshan

[svsantosh]

If possible do a RPM DIY meter and map it with this TPS... then read the manufac specs and hand mark the RPM Vs torque figures - in that way you will never be in the torque-down curve, instead stay in the sweet spot always...

Edit - If you do the above then you can confirm yourselves 'last 1/4 is waste or not'.

Edit 2 - As an afterthought you cannot say the last 1/4 in a waste of fuel at all. unless you have reached the peak torque in each gear, the vehicle is still accelerating and making good use of the fuel. Once the RPM/torque meter is dont and it shows you are over the peak Torque-RPM, only then it is a pure waste of fuel... Am i right?

[thedreamcatcher]

Hmmm. Intersting, but certainly throws up a lot of questions.

Very innovative indeed, but am trying to figure out the application. Basically, you are trying to use this to figure out at what level of throttle pressure what fuel you could possibly be wasting

But we rarely get to floor the accelerator. What inference do you take from this.

[Sudarshan]

@ Santosh , I will sure think on what you have said . I will need to do it from scratch as long as electronics is concerned /involved .

& about wasting fuel in particularly in last 1/4 th travel , well for years I have noticed that the engine ( specially diesel old types ) dosent quite respond to the last 1/3 rd of pedal travel as it responds to the first 1/2 travel .One gets less power but more of smoke in the last 1/3 ( or precisely 1/4 th ) . this happens in hill climbing where you are climbing with load in 2nd or 3rd gear & the route is a long continues one ( in excess of 5/6 km ) where you need to keep momentum in a sustained manner . In this case the Harder you floor the pedal the chances are of more smoke behind & more engine tempreture .

@ Dreamcatcher , both of my vehicles are 60/65 bhp , max of 2.3 litre & having a kerb weight of 1800 kgs minimum , So there comes a need where pedal to metal situation arises . But I have observed the above quite often

Another observation : I sometimes discovered myself driving full accelerator in the hill climbs , may be in the heat of the moment there I needed this meter for my own feedback of my driving

Sudarshan

[autoholic]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan

& about wasting fuel in particularly in last 1/4 th travel , well for years I have noticed that the engine ( specially diesel old types ) dosent quite respond to the last 1/3 rd of pedal travel as it responds to the first 1/2 travel .One gets less power but more of smoke in the last 1/3 ( or precisely 1/4 th ) . this happens in hill climbing where you are climbing with load in 2nd or 3rd gear & the route is a long continues one ( in excess of 5/6 km ) where you need to keep momentum in a sustained manner . In this case the Harder you floor the pedal the chances are of more smoke behind & more engine tempreture .

Sudarshan

I have an Octavia 1.8TP, it shows the fuel consumption real time in the display panel. Its a pain to get good FE from her. You have to have a feather light right foot to get FE of 8-9 in delhi traffic.

On highways to get good FE I use the same method described here. After reaching a desired speed, I raise my foot off the throttle and repress it immediately trying to find the least throttle point to maintain that speed. And the computer confirms in real time how much more FE i m getting.

[thedreamcatcher]

Thanks for the explanation Sudarshan. Think I understand it better now.

Again, It is definetely a nice addition indeed and could be useful. Even I have been forced to floor the pedal several times when going up a hill, especially when i had been to yearcaud, as it was quite hot at the time, and we needed the ac. Could only move up in 1st or 2nd gear at the most

[Rahulkool]

I think a simple RPM meter can be useful in this case, as you are getting the same thing as a throttle position sensor. Sorry i meant meter

[anilisanil]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan

@ Anil . this gauge is not the vehicles own fuel gauge , this is fitted extra . Also chose the fuel gauge(meter ) only to work with the sender unit ( linked with the pedal )

Now whats the OBD to read TPS ? Pl explain ( went over head actually )

Sudarshan

Originally Posted by Spitfire

On Board Diagnostics to read Throttle Position Sensor.

OBD is new gen tech-wizardy to read and report various parameters on your vehicle, data collected through various sensors.

Which equals to:

Too much electronics == too much money == Too much care to be taken + water gets in it then its bye bye all the money.

Not for the DIYers.

Nice setup there. You could have calibrated actual speed at various marks on that meter. I know it would vary but would give a sense of how much speed with how much accelerator and fuel is being drunk.

Reminds me of the potentiometer based throttle I tried on the Kinetic Honda with the help of pulleys. LOL!! I gave up midway... Didnt make sense. In today's time it could have been called throttle-by-wire.

Spitfire already explained and he is right too, too many electronics could be pain!!

And a nice set up there from you!!