T-leg Piggyback ECU R&D

[free5ty1e]

Quick update: Hurricane Dennis passed Orlando by without too much damage, and I'm back to work again on the new prototype. I now am utilizing the production model's display, which required an interface change - which is now done.

The latest thinking here is:
Each boost level will require a slightly different pulse width to the solenoid to regulate. I have tested my logic in the car and have successfully used a closed loop with error-based adjustments to lock on and regulate boost tightly. Now I am adding a menu selection for saving all settings to EEPROM/Flash memory, which will store all boost levels, the TPS threshold, and now each boost level's last known good pulse width value. This way, once the user has driven the car and locked onto the partial, full, and over boost levels he or she will just save the settings. Then, until the boost levels are adjusted, the car should not require any further locking or saving. Locking seems to take about a second or so initially, but I believe I can improve that.

The mounting has been decided upon for the first production run. The board will mount at a slightly-greater-than-90-degree angle from the LCD. The board will mount directly to the dash, and the LCD hangs down off the dash surface about 1". It works out quite nicely, sitting where nothing obstructs its view where both passenger and driver can easily see it - and it doesn't get in the way of my vent-mounted Pocket PC. I know I've said this a few times now but I'll get some new photos soon. Promise.

[azn2nr]

so whats the eta on this. im getting really itchy for some tunnin.

[free5ty1e]

I'm hoping another week or so before I'm ready to try laying out a production circuitboard. Then it'll be another week before we get the 'boards back, and after assembling one and testing it, I'll offer the first few up for sale. So hopefully by the end of this month, if I hit no snags.

This is the LegacEBC we're talking about, I will get back to the LegaCU piggyback tuner after I've got this done. (as it will be built on the platform I'm developing)

[Flip_x]

Yay. that stuff will be pretty fun to play with..

[free5ty1e]

Big update:

Got the new prototype finished and installed in the car! Barely had time to get some photos of it before I had to entertain some company, have not had a chance to drive it yet, but wow this new display looks GOOD:



Lots more screenshots as well as mounting shots in my car available in the gallery, high res and all - you can even make out the reflection of my fingers holding the camera in the display's glass.

http://www.thawa.net/gallery/LegaCU-Prototyping

Tomorrow I will have an opportunity to take a test drive and perhaps tweak a few settings, and hopefully I'll have something functional to layout onto a printed circuit board and get production started.

Looks like the minimum I can sell an assembled unit for will end up around the $150 - $200 range, so of course I will offer the lowest possible price to Legacy Central board members. My friend intends to market the unit as a universal electronic boost controller in a slightly different configuration and sell it for more than twice that, but don't worry, you guys can always get them direct from me just a little over my cost (just payin' me for the labor of assembling and testing them).

Those who have donated parts and assisted with the general research (off the top of my head, I can think of Vikash and Jason) can get units at parts cost, I will return your favors by giving away my labor.

I also plan to offer a lower-cost kit that just includes a programmed control chip, printed circuit board, schematic diagrams, parts list, and online supplier list for those who wish to assemble their own parts and units. (a different 4x20 LCD or different buttons can be selected, for example) Most people will probably end up just getting assembled units though.

This product will have serial datalogging for laptops, and I will write Windows software to gather and assist in analyzing it. This may not all be in the first revision, however the hardware will all be in place. This means that, when I get the datalogger done and have software available for download, I can sell an upgrade chip for like $20 to those who wish to add the new capabilities.

Whew! I'm tired. Good night!

Edit: Oh yeah - I forgot... coming soon, the option of vertical bar graphs! These screen shots ought to be food for thought as far as how you guys think this stuff ought to be displayed. If you have any suggestions by all means post them here, otherwise I'll keep adding to and refining my interface, which I believe will be quite intuitive and user-friendly.

Oh oh oh and I did get the settings saving to EEPROM/Flash memory successfully now. I can now set my three boost levels, throttle threshold, etc, and save the settings, then next time I turn on the unit they're still there.

I have also worked out the button readings to happen in such a way that most of the button combinations can easily be separate functions or shortcuts, and I already have 6 buttons (up/down/left/right/overboost toggle/reset peaks). This all only takes up a single input pin on the PSoC, too. This is VERY expandable...

[Binford]

I so want one of these! Sign me up and I'll buy one as soon as production starts! Lookin' great, nice job!

[IronMonkeyL255]

That looks sweet as hell.

[THAWA]

Wow, you weren't kidding about the last pics not doing the VFD justice. That looks awesome. I think that's a good setup, maybe take out the comma after Peak CFM? Good stuff.

[azn2nr]

is this gonna be plug and play or is there sodering involved.

also will purchasers of the legacebc be able to buy a non intergrated legacu for an equaly less amount than one that has the ebc intergrated into it?

[free5ty1e]

This will be pretty much plug and play, especially so for Legacy owners. The only soldering you should need to do is for the connections under the hood, and that's just to ensure that you've got good connections.

The LegaCU, when I finally get to that, will probably end up with around the same pricing (that I can offer to this board), and I'm sure I'll figure out how to share certain resources and connections for those who want to have both products in the car.

Oh and the VFD (vaccuum-flourescent display) is no longer in use here. It was used on the first prototype, and it looked really cool, but when I looked it up to purchase I discovered it was like $150-$160 for another one! The display pictured in the new shots is, in fact, the $35 LCD that I found for the production model. I still am amazed at how GOOD the new display looks, I never thought it'd be as bright or brighter than the VFD but it is. And like I said, the new display gives me the ability to use vertical bar graphs, which may help save display real-estate.

The bottom line on the display shows peak readings in one of two forms (peak airflow / peak boost, or peak airflow at what boost), or will briefly display status messages, such as "Boost Locked" or "Overboost On" at appropriate times.

Think I should change that comma between the separate peaks to a slash or something, to separate them? Or maybe you had another idea?

Anyway, you all know what it looks like now, its got 4 lines and 20 characters per line -- plenty of room. Any suggestions for features or readings or settings, just post 'em up here.

[IronMonkeyL255]

I think the slash would look a bit better.

This is awesome, but I think I'll be waiting for the full LegaCU due to my current lack of cash and college student status

[free5ty1e]

...Slash it is. It does look better.

[93forestpearl]

Diggin the new LCD.

I'm glad you are toking no shortcuts with the boost control. What I am really interested in the the LegaCU. I'm looking at the Zeitronix wideband, and that with full control of fuel and timing will be cash money for any mods damn near. Zeitronix has a nice setup with the dataoggind wideband, egt, boost, and display for about 6 bills. That coupled with the LegaCU will be all one needs to go the distance. Keep up the good work.

[free5ty1e]

Thanks. But you won't need the specialty wideband kit, the way I envision the LegaCU's development.....

Before its release I'll be sure to have a good inexpensive wideband o2 sensor sourced.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get another chance to test the bug fixes from last night's programming in the LegacEBC. It's getting very close, I can taste it. Tastes like electronic boost control. (mmm... silicon wafers... low fat)

Coming soon - intercooler inlet/outlet temps and efficiency calculations. With logging

[free5ty1e]

Diggin the new LCD.

I'm glad you are toking....

Who told you?!

(best typo ever)

[NICO]

can i have a toke.

[IronMonkeyL255]

bump

Get back up there.

[93forestpearl]

oops...

I wish I was tokin right now.....

Anyways, if you can integrate a reasonable wideband into the LegaCU that would be pretty sweet. An auto tune function probably wouldn't be that big of deal, I'm guesing. THe reason I like Zeitronixs setup is the datalogging that can be done. How hard would it be to also integrate an EGT sensor? Do you have anymore inputs?

I definately do not want to cut any corners when it comes to tuning.

[free5ty1e]

But, of course. I've got plenty of inputs. And... if I need more, I can always select a more capable PSoC model. I have an EGT as well, and plan to look at the thermocouple's signal and the converter box's signal, see what I can do about that. Then yes, it's all datalogged.

So, update: Added lots of menus for debugging and advanced settings, as I've been hunting down bugs until this thing works right. Got distracted briefly with one of the pay projects, had to focus on that for a bit before I got back to the LegacEBC. I also had to have an exhaust pipe made to replace the one that fell off my Saturn (yep just up'n fell off while driving). But luckily, the piece that fell was the catalytic converter and the mid-resonator. So thats all just a straight pipe now, as I figured the cat was long dead anyway and there's no way I'm springing for a new one for that crapbucket

[ej22t]

Hi Chris, I am interesting on your LegaCU but I have an EJ20G swap with AVC-R boost control. Will your LegaCU could also work with my setup?
Ben

[free5ty1e]

Hi Ben,

If you are using a MAF sensor to calculate fueling, sure it should work. No ETA on the LegaCU right now, however, as I've been busy with the LegacEBC. I'm not going to try to tune before I have rock solid electronically-controlled and logged boost.

[THAWA]

Hi Chris, I am interesting on your LegaCU but I have an EJ20G swap with AVC-R boost control. Will your LegaCU could also work with my setup?
Ben

You should look into a VOSChip. They work pretty well and go right in.

[free5ty1e]

Hey, I've got a general question for the potential users of my products (LegacEBC, LegaCU)...

For the laptop interface, would you rather have a standard RS-232 DB9 serial connection or a USB connection? USB ports are so common nowadays it seems rather pointless to me to use RS-232, as most laptops no longer have these ports anyway. It would require at least Windows '98 anyway to run the software that I will be writing to interface to the unit and process the data - so any laptop capable of that should have at least one USB port.

What do you guys think? I like USB. Anyone out there prefer serial/RS-232? If so, please 'splain why. It is possible to put both but that gets a bit ridiculous and would increase costs significantly (more board space, larger package, more parts, etc).

[vrg3]

I prefer RS-232. I'll give you my reasons:

I like using my Toshiba Libretto 50CT for tuning; it's very small and handy but doesn't even have a PCI bus, let alone USB. When it's not running OpenBSD or Linux, it's running Windows 98SE. Also, some potential users who don't have a laptop may just want to buy the cheapest used laptop they can find, which may well be an older one without USB.

There exist adapters to connect RS-232 devices to laptops without serial ports using either a PCMCIA slot or a USB port. The latter is actually pretty cheaply available, too (i.e. look here or here). As long as the peripheral doesn't act weird these devices should work fine. So using RS-232 instead of USB should create strictly greater compatibility.

Should the need to connect another embedded device arise, it's generally more common to find a microcontroller that talks RS232 than one that talks USB.

Are you serious that you're going to require Windows for the tuning software?

[THAWA]

Aren't there USB to Serial adaptors and Serial to USB adaptors? So either way one could use it with whatever they have.