I'm sure someone can come up with an electronic module that links to the petrol light, that will beep for a second or two as soon as the light comes on, whether it is when you just start the car up, or while driving.

Go!

(Oh and while you're at it, if you switch the engine off, would be nice to have the interior light go on, and not just when you open a door.)

mine does

I thought someone would say that.

the alarm on my porto used to go off - whilst still driving, when the petrol was REALLY low!

work that one out!

What's wrong with the petrol light? You do know it's illegal for blind people to drive don't you?

Yeah, just tend to keep my eyes on the temp and pressure gaugs.

But on long trips, steady driving, I often forget to check my petrol gauge. Or if it's low and I start off in the morning, if I don't remember that the tank is low (been driving with beeps for 7 years now) I'm stuck on a long piece of motorway with no petrol stations for quite some time.

More to the point of answering your question though: yes I'm getting old. Want to swap knees?

My VW Golf does exactly this if thats any help

It also beeps to tell me i have about a mouthfull of winsdcreen washer fluid left

I think that a beep when the temp gauge gets too high would be a much more awesome idea!!

I would say, one also for when the oil pressure gets too low but I have heard the car makes it's own rumbling and knocking sound when that happens

i've checked it and it doesn't come on, sorry Klaas - it's my espace that does

Happy chappy again. Although I also remembered from my first one it doesn't go on before you open the door. Good excuse to let the engine running for cooldown though.

Now... beeps? Anyone who can design a circuit?

My Grande Punto's interior light comes on when the ignition is turned off.

On the visual and audible warnings, when I was playing rally cars 15+ years ago, we had a warning system for low oil pressure, low water level and high engine temperature which lit up the three respective LEDs and one buzzer. If you missed the LED, the Buzzer would remind one to check them.

I remember once we slid off a corner and into a tree, was about to get out and check the damage, when my driver said no lights showing so we reversed off the tree and kept going to "clean sheet" this section. We checked the front after getting the Bull Bar off the bonnet and only had a slight leak in the radiator which we fixed with 5 minute araldite. Thank goodness for good instrumentation!

Consider it designed:



Oh, you want the software too? Ah... ask me later!

Cool. I was hoping it wouldn't need a chup, just a capacitor somewhere, a relay somewhere and a buzzing thingy somewhere (bee, wasp or mosquito that gets electrocuted and starts buzzing?). But then I know nothing about electronics (anymore).

It could be, but I'm guessing you want a little more functionality: beep on ignition if the level is low, beep when the level *gets* low, beep every five minutes while it stays low?

Actually, I forgot a resistor, but no significant difference. About 1 inch by 1.5 inches.

Neil, I was hoping something really really simple: taking the signal from the fuel light, would start beeping 5 seconds after the light went 'on' (as I presume when you start the car, the light will also be temporarily on for a 'check all systems'), it would beep for 2 seconds and then stay off until the light goes out and comes on again (normally after ignition off or probably sometimes when doing some corners). No continuous beeping required every 5 minutes.

Even easier.

Do you like 'bip bip bip' or 'beeeeeeeeeeeeep' or even 'bipidy bip bip'?

Beeeeeeeeeep. (As I said, 2 seconds.) Which makes it even more simpler! 2KHz tone please.

Great stuff, can you design one to beep at 6000 revs too

You'd need some additional logic....

If you have it so that it only beeps once when the light comes on, it would work fine if the light came on AND stayed on. But, as we all know, the light can come on and go off again several times before it actually stays on

It would need to beep just once, when the light FIRST comes on and wouldn't beep again if the light re-lit until the ignition had been turned off and back on again

Why 6,000? You need to trust the rev limiter - that's what it's there for

In fact Patch, Barnacle should be able to modify his widget to do that.

Recalling one of my older 'DIY' friends who saw this on rally cars he made his own beeper, which involved him putting a sensor on the speedo (whether that was a light sensor, magnetic switch or actual physical 'hair' sensor I don't remember) and off he went.

Yeah Nigel: "or probably sometimes when doing some corners". I guess if you use a capacitor that 'charges' thanks to the current through the light, and remote-triggers a relay that stays closed, charging yet another capacitor that will beep the buzzer for 2 seconds...

Although as said, I might be totally wrong and saying things that don't exist cause it's been 13 years since I made my last electronics exam and that was a straight fail.

In fact I get a headache just writing 'capacitor'.

The traditional way to do it would be with a couple of capacitors and a delay chip - something like the NE556 or the CMOS equivalent. I've done variable speed windscreen delays that way; it works and it's robust. But it's a one-shot design, and it's not cheap. Buzzers and relays cost. A piezo sounder is a lot cheaper but needs driving with a fast square wave. Hence the micro - cheaper than the 556 and capable of complex programming. Or simple.

It could be appended to the widget but it's not going to be; I don't want to mess around with the software without good cause.

I think it would be better to design a random warning beep machine that forces you to look at all the gauges, dials, lights, widgets, whatever (and for Klaas, forces you to look at the road every once in a while) but I really struggle to see the sense in a low petrol warning buzzer, that's what the light is for, or failing that, the gauge needle, or even the trip counter. But we'll let Klass off since he's a "newbie"

But the best low petrol warning noise is usually provided my the nagging wife...

Yeah, Anita *hates* it when I say 'surely we can get to the next service station?'...

lol

So - how many of us have actually ran out of fuel?

I did it once in a Citroen BX about twenty years ago and again in Wifey's Mk1 Polo (I blamed the gauge - it was still showing a quarter of a tank)

However, I've never run a Coupe dry - when the light comes on, I look for a petrol station (or at least I work out whether I can get to a station of my choice on the 8-9 litres left in the tank)

I've sometimes driven further than I thought wise with the light on, but even then, I still only managed to put in about 62 litres

Lee, on the other hand, put 65 litres in his VIS the other day.....

I think the older the Coupe gets the lower it indicates on the fuel gauge. In fact we've had major discussions on this where I said I once tanked 68 litres and everybody else said that when they ran to the last line and filled it, they'd get 58 or so in.

Now with Jurgen's Coupe indeed I must admit: when it's run to the last line, it only takes 56 or so litres. So something must be wearing out I'm pretty sure. Likewise when I fill it up to the brim, my first one would stick to 'really full' for 80 kilometers, this one starts dropping immediately.

I've run the Coupe dry at least twice with no apparent ill effects, largest volume I've squeezed in there is a little over 66 litres IIRC (or was it 68, not sure). Each Coupe seems to have its own fuel gauge/light idiosyncracies, over time you just get used to them: I remember Flea complaining about my gauge but it worked just the same after as before the remap. When completely full, it takes 50 miles to reach the "full" mark, then 3/4 is reached after 100 miles, 175 miles for 1/2, then about 250 miles to 1/4 full, etc., so highly irregular, but then you only have to look at the shape of the tank to realise why.