oda Octavia MK1 Dashboard Project
​1. Hardware Progress
Mapped out the Skoda Octavia MK1 cluster pinout (K.13+, K.15+, EPC, ABS, etc.) and designed the circuit for the VID29-05/JD62C854F stepper motor driver ICs. Soldered the prototype onto a perfboard, separating the 12V motor power from the 5V logic control. Secured the critical connections with hot glue for vibration resistance.
​2. Software Development
Built a PC simulator and control panel in Python using tkinter.
​The Challenge: After streamlining the code, the gauge needles lost their continuous movement and started snapping instantly to new values.
​The Fix: Solved this by implementing an asynchronous loop using window.after(16, animation_loop). It now updates at ~60 FPS, smoothly easing the current position toward the target value (moving 8% of the remaining distance per frame). Also fixed a quick syntax error in the UI dictionary styling.