*eurospeed951*

<a href="http://www.mechtech-ms.com/html/dak.html" target="_blank">http://www.mechtech-ms.com/html/dak.html</a>


I have no idea what it costs, but I will try and call them.

Jonathan Martini

If all you want to do is monitor your signals it seems to me it would be much more convenient to catch them at the computer, they are all right there. If you want it to be pretty you could make a piggy-back connector that allows you to hook a probe into whatever signal you wanted.

Find out how much they are asking. I'd be curious to see how much a serious laptop PC-based oscilliscope card compares. The oscilliscope card would be much more general purpose to your electrical automotive needs as well. Maybe not as pretty with dials and what not, but the real information is in the signal, not the dials.

Of course I'm and engineer, and I know most people don't feel so fondly about looking at a scope and converting on the fly to RPM/temp/whatnot.

--Jonathan

*eurospeed951*

It is $995 <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

Jonathan Martini

Give me a week or so... I may have something more to say then. $1000 for this kind of system seems steep to me.

This problem intrigues me.

--Jonathan

bs

hmmm.... automotive data aquisition...

i've been wanting to set something like this up for awhile, but i've been waiting on getting a national instruments data aquisition (daq, pronounced the same as 'dak') card for much less than it's worth.

one grand for a 14 channel A/D isn't a bad deal, however it would be nice to see some specs and know how much bandwidth that thing has. for all i know it could be sampling asynchronously at 1Hz.

i've never looked at "oscilloscope cards" but i think this would be better for automotive use... with a scope card you'd probably have a lot less analog channels, no integrated pressure sensor, no thermocouple inputs and you'd be paying for a lot of bandwidth you don't need.

if anyone is actually interested in this product and wants a better idea of whether it's a good deal, get a spec sheet and send it to me... i've actually built some decently sophisticated automotive data logging systems based on PC data aquisition hardware, not to mention a throttle-by-wire control system.

Jonathan Martini

I looked at the o-scope cards. Most are even steeper. $1400 is the low end I saw in a quick search. Your right about the bandwidth, you don't need GHz sampling. I'm thinking I might be able to use PICs or some other embedded processors and get good enough resolution for automotive. PICs are like $4 a piece for ones with ADC's and you can string as many together as you need. Add in a USB or other interface to the computer and some software and there you go.

While I'm researching this, what is the most resolution you need? I'm thinking most automotive timing issuses are about on the millisecond level at best. A MHz or even GHz scope is by far overkill. Voltage swing is another area of concern. What is the highest/lowest voltage these sensors put out?
Most auto is 0-5v these days. Maybe its in my manuals (have to check when I get home).

--Jonathan

Thaddeus

One thing I'm looking to see in the next couple of years is the ability to tie in an ordinary PC laptop into a car's computer and change settings. You'd buy your Ford or Honda or whatever and get a CDRom with the config software, just like when you buy a Cisco router or whatever. I'd love it if I could read engine diagnoses, reprogram locks, change A/F mixtures, modify the way the power locks work, etc etc.

One of these days...

Thaddeus

Danno

You can already do that with some of the Honda computers...