anyone played with boxster gauge cluster? Options

[skeates]

Hey guys - I'm not sure if this is a subject that has been beaten to death before (I certainly wasn't able to find any threads on it), but has anyone here ever attempted to make use of the boxster or cousin 996 gauge clusters in a conversion? I was able to find a pin-out diagram for the boxster cluster which makes it look doable. Just curious if there was any fancy shmancy communications between the cluster and the ECU that would need to be worked around?

[timothy_nd28]

It would be difficult to defeat the ECU communication for the 1/4-0 tank status. The gas gauge should be a standard air core motor. By opening up the gauge cluster, it would easy to sever the tracks on the circuit board to the air core motor, then wire up the aircore wire directly, like a 1967 Camaro. What do you think?

[skeates]

It would be difficult to defeat the ECU communication for the 1/4-0 tank status. The gas gauge should be a standard air core motor. By opening up the gauge cluster, it would easy to sever the tracks on the circuit board to the air core motor, then wire up the aircore wire directly, like a 1967 Camaro. What do you think?

I had some time this afternoon to tear into the gauge cluster and look at it's internals. The first pic shows each piece of the assembly: 1) The lens covers, 2) The air-core motors and gauge lights, and 3) the circuit board driving it all. (Sorry for the blurry pic)



Looking at the connections, it's next to impossible (for me anyways) to try and trace the circuits driving the fuel gauge air-core motor, however; they've made it pretty easy to tap into the circuit through some header pins on the edge of the circuit board. Pics 2 and three show this connection, and I've already traced out which pins go to the two coils on the fuel gauge motor. My next question is: what's the best way to generate this signal? From what I understand it takes two PWM signals shifted by 90 degrees? This is my first time playing with air-core motors.