UTCOMP-3 availability issues and possible solution

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ArT
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UTCOMP-3 availability issues and possible solution

Postby ArT » Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:31 pm

Hi, as you probably noticed we do not have on stock UTCOMP-3 for a quite long time, only UTCOMP-PRO. Unfortunately, this is due to current market situation (availability problems of electronic components). Covid has messed up the market so much that first there were no key elements at all, and now, as they are, some of them are at horrendously high prices. We were hoping that the situation would return to normal, but unfortunately it has not happened so far and now the cost of producing UTCOMP-3 is economically unjustified when UTCOMP-PRO is available at the same time. Therefore, we were forced to stop selling UTCOMP-3. UTCOMP-PRO is still offered.

This led to absurd situations, when the used UTCOMP-3 modules on ebay from 2nd hand were more expensive than new ones. I was wondering why - UTCOMP-PRO is a better version of UTCOMP-3 - it has more inputs, better display, built-in data logger, output control, higher accuracy of analog inputs etc. I have consulted with customers and I know that there are mainly two key factors why UTCOMP-3 is in their case more desirable than UTCOMP-PRO - and it is not about the fact that UTCOMP-3 was simply cheaper. The main reason mentioned is a smaller display - many of you have limited space for assembling the display (e.g. in instrument cluster) and OLED 2.3" from UTCOMP-3 is the maximum you can fit (sometimes there is also a visual aspect - the car is an oldtimer and the old type LCD display fits better car's style than modern OLED). The second reason is physical size of the UTCOMP-3 module - it's smaller than UTCOMP-PRO (90x60x25mm vs 120x83x29mm). Unfortunately I do not have great solution today, but possible workaround.

It's possible to modify UTCOMP-PRO in such way that it will work with a smaller display from UTCOMP-3 (LCD 2.5 "or OLED 2.3"). One thing is the software - modifing the UTCOMP-PRO firmware so it will work with smaller displays. The second is a hardware - adding a 40-pin display connector from UTCOMP-3 (UTCOMP-PRO has 16-pin connector for OLED) and few additional elements for LCD contrast adjustments. Housing also should be modified (additional hole for bigger connector). As a result, there will be a mix between UTCOMP-3 and UTCOMP-PRO, ie UTCOMP-3 with additional inputs from UTCOMP-PRO and a built-in data-logger. The price is less attractive than UTCOMP-PRO (because it's cost of UTCOMP-PRO + cost of hardware mods), but it's workaround how to get smaller display. Unfortunately, I do not have solution to second issue (smaller dimensions of module) but you can try to install UTCOMP-PRO without a housing.

If anyone is interested in such option, please contact me by PM on forum or by email (https://www.reveltronics.com/en/contact-us) - we can make such modifications for individuals.

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