Megasquirt owners thread

[Red_Bullet]

Here is a bit of info about scatter plots. Some time back I put up a photo that showed two distinct bands. It turns out that the left band is caused by Acell Enrich. Here are two photos 1 with AE enrich on and another with AE off. With AE off there is only one distinct fueling band.

Scatter plot AFR CROPPED 2 by Keith Wade, on Flickr

scatter plot afr off filters on by Keith Wade, on Flickr

[Red_Bullet]

Well, after yesterday's run at QR where I revved it a bit harder up to 7000rpm according to the logs. (although the in dash tacho was indicating 7600 rpm) I'm seeing injector duty cycle up to 94. This makes me nervous. I'm running RX-8 yellow injectors at 440 flow rate. I'd like more headroom, I only run 98 fuel, rotrex c94 supercharger, peak MAP was 170KPA. Thinking about Injector dynamics ID 725. Any recommendations on injectors?

[ManiacLachy]

I run Flow Force 640s, they're EV14s like the IDs, they're decently cheaper as well (available from our good friend Beavis Motorsport).

However, I don't think their published deadtime and related information is the best, I'd probably spend the extra and go IDs if I had my time again. Nothing catastrophic about the FFs, they're working well and they certainly represent value, but I'd go with the better known item next time.

If you think you'll ever want to run E85 fuel and beyond say 14-15psi, which is where I am and I'm nearing their max DC, I would suggest sizing up to the ID1050x or FF940 injectors. At your current spec though, the ID750/FF640 are perfect. I don't think there's much difference in price between 740s and 1050s, might be better to just get the bigger ones and run with it, they'll idle just fine.

[Red_Bullet]

Decided to support Beavis and got the FF640's. I just gotta get more fuel into it to feel safe. Very reasonable price too.

[ManiacLachy]

Yep, can't beat them for the price!

[Red_Bullet]

Yeah, I read up on them on the big forum, lot's of people seem happy enough with them, some are sceptical. But you get that.

[Red_Bullet]

Battery Voltage on MS3Pro FW 1.41

I've noticed in my logs that the batt Volt is always at 12.7 volts. It never varies, this can't be accurate. I assume this would affect injector dead time voltage curve among other stuff like dwell time and so on.

So I figured I could put a volt meter on the dashboard in Tuner studio. Can't figure out how to do that either. Any suggestions as to what might be set up incorrectly to see a constant 12.7 volts in the logs?

[Lokiel]

Creating a simple Battery Gauge:

Open Tuner Studio

Right click on a free area in the gauge section
Check the Designer Mode box from the pop-up window options (2nd-last option for me)

Right click on a free area in the gauge section
Dashboard Designer -> New -> Add Gauge
Select one of the digital gauges from the pop-up window displayed (eg. "Basic Readout White.gauge")
Click the Add Gauge button (bottom right)
Click the Done button (to close the gauge selection window)

Drag your new gauge where you want it and resize it (by default the gauge is huge)

Right click on the new gauge and drag the mouse pointer down the list that pops up, all the way down to the "Sensor InputsN" values.
Hover the mouse pointer over each of these to find "Battery Voltage - voltmeter" and select it; when you hover over these a new menu will appear with a list of sensor inputs. The order will depend on your MS .ini file.

This creates the default meter.
You can change its title and appearance/propertie by right clicking on it and selecting Dashboard Designer -> Properties Dialog (eg. you can define High/Low Warning/Critical ranges, change the title, etc)


MS Configuration notes:

The MS .ini configuration file is dependent of the firmware version you are using since it defines where in memory the MS data is defined and its units in many cases (annoyingly they're not metric by default).

Ensure that your .ini file is compatible with your firmware, otherwise you may be reading the wrong data.

All firmware releases come with matching .ini configuration files so when you upgrade the firmware, you should specify the NEW .ini configuration file so that it can translate your existing maps and configuration to the new configuration.

Ensure that you save your existing configuration before upgrading your firmware so that you fall back to it if an upgrade fails.

Ensure that you save your existing configuration before upgrading your firmware so that you fall back to it if an upgrade fails.

Ensure that you save your existing configuration before upgrading your firmware so that you fall back to it if an upgrade fails.

Don't panic if your GUI firmware upgrade failed because you can do it via the command line and you still have your original configuration saved that you can revert to (hey, I told you 3 times to do it!).

While you can upgrade firmware via the TunerStudio GUI, sometimes it does not work successfully and you need to install the firmware via the command line. When upgrading to the latest beta firmware the GUI failed for me but the command line did not.

There can be issues upgrading between non-consecutive firmware versions and a pop-up window displays these mismatches.
Try and correct them if possible but they will get sensible defaults that SHOULD not have a critical impact (usually differences are that older features have been deleted and no longer exist, existing features have been improved so new parameters need to be defined for them, or new features have been introduced).

[Red_Bullet]

Thanks Lokiel for your detailed and educational answer, much appreciated! Obviously a software guru!

I got a volts gauge up on TS and it reckons 13.1 volts, it pretty much stays put, you can turn lights on, fans and so on and the regulator keeps it firmly planted! If you kill the engine then it reckons 11.8 volts. So yes the voltage monitoring does work. I measured the voltage at the injector 1, measured 13.83 volts running, with a fluke metre. I figure this is close enough because I was measuring to the engine block for the GND lead. I figure there would be some voltage drop across the injector switch wire and across the output IGBT or FET (circa 0.6 volts). So 13.83 - 0.6 -0.1 = 13.11 estimated volts at the injector solenoid, which is what the ECU is reading by lucky coincidence! I adjusted the ADC and it calibrated the on screen volt meter.

However for reasons outlined above regarding voltage drop in the return path I reset it to the default which was 19.7 IIRC. I guess the correct way to measure the injector voltage at the injector would be with an oscilloscope which sadly, as I've retired I don't have access to anymore. Changing the ADC for scaling certainly leaned the AFR out at idle a lot!

I'm about to stick some new FF640 injectors in it, so decided to do a bit of research before putting them in.

[ManiacLachy]

It looks like HPAcademy.com are starting to do some Megasquirt courses. HP Academy are basically an online tuning school, they do a whole bunch of platforms and have courses you can subscribe to and learn from. I think they're a Kiwi outfit.

One of their guys has an MS3 Pro on his MX-5 and has begun doing "webinars" and should have a course soon I think. The first one (only one so far) is linked below, you need to pay/subscribe for the video, but there's a transcript of it below to read through.

https://www.hpacademy.com/previous-webinars/216-introduction-to-megasquirt/

I haven't' subscribed yet, but might do in time when the offerings are expanded a bit, for now I'll be monitoring it.

[Red_Bullet]

Have you looked at Andy Whittle's website and Youtube videos? This guy is a guru and discusses some really advanced stuff.

http://howefiworks.com/

[ManiacLachy]

I've watched some of his stuff but find it very dry and very technical/theoretical. These guys seem to be a little more practical to the act of tuning the car.

But, I find information from many sources to be helpful, and re-visiting explanations again and again helps it to sink in, I should try Andy's stuff again, can't beat his price!

[StanTheMan]

well I'd say is money very well invested.

while its all out there a tune is in the vicinity of $1000 currenty this is $500 could also be in US$

if I wasn't as broke as Iam currently I would serioulsy consider it. I looked at thier site a few months ago and there is stuff they use is probably pretty hard to find. but then I've not been involved with Dynos & what technology they have or come with. Hopefully some of you Qlders atre attending a part in Coolnangatta this weekend. would love to share some ideas.

[ManiacLachy]

Do you mean a particular party in Coolnangatta? Will you be in attendance, it's a little outside your stomping grounds isn't it? I will be there for a time, be great to meet you in person.

[StanTheMan]

yes cool. I'm the guy with the white hair