dcrasta

Wow, this is a very needed product and Im sure once you finish your QA and work out the bugs will be a 'Hot' item.

gwhinkel

Hi Volla, any updates on the prototype testing?

mickster

If we're voting for volunteers-I vote for Chris! I know he finds all the issues inside the electrics (and everywhere else)!

Alan would also be perfect.

Dude-this is amazing! Reverse engineering at this level is fantastic.

Volla

Hi everyone,

no updates on the testing yet. when my parents got back home the battery died and the tank was empty, and they are flying to canada to visit my sister later today, so its been quite busy for them so no proper time to test it for me.

Very very soon I will be shipping out the other two prototypes. Need to sort some admin before I can do that.

In the meantime I have already started working on the second revision of the PCB. I have redone the analog sensor part, its now more stable and robust. And I fixed the small mistakes I made so no more wire mods. Im not going to start producing the second revision until other people also tested the unit. In case I missed something and need to fix it, I want to fix it before I order the new PCBs (Avoiding wire mods).

The new layout will also work with the 25 pin version.

Will post a picture of the new layout soon.

The new revision is 90% the same as the prototypes and the coding should work without mods, so if it works on the prototypes, itll work immediately on the revised version.

Will keep everyone posted.

==================================================
19?? VW Baja Bug (Completely custom, Golf 1.8 motor, and many, many mods) - Currently my daily drive
1988 Porsche 928 S4 Euro/ROW (Black with Ivory interior) - Under ECU surgery
1982 Porsche 924 Euro (Silver with cream interior)- Gone
1982 Porsche 928 S (Manual) Euro (Petrol Blue with Blue with black and white chequered interior) - Gone
1983 Porsche 928 S (Auto, NA spec, Red, black interior) - Gone
1994 BMW 530i Manual (Maroon, grey interior) - Gone

Speedtoys

Me too..just had to do this last week when my NB out and out failed on me.

IMHO, the vendor that didnt want to, didnt consider a non linear interpretation of the WB output. Techedge works great like this.

Volla

Yay! Random updates on the progress a few months after my previous post!

(Sorry for being silent, I feel bad for not updating more regularly)

Just because I am not updating regularly does not mean that there is no progress. I am just slow with updating here!

Ok, so on to the updates.

So far I have shipped one of my other prototype units and it is in progress with testing on another car will give more feedback when more testing and feedback is received.

Also I have done major improvements in the firmware and interface software.

This is only a partial update. I will update here in a day or so with more updates. For the latest information you can go to my website (Yes, I finally have my own website, with a few pages dedicated to this ECU)

The address direct to the 928 ECU project page is
http://aeif.info/wiki/index.php?titl...eplacement_ECU

So far the build page there is a copy of the Rennlist updates, but when I have time I will clean up the posts there and will give more information.

I have done major work with the next revision of the PCB, only minor additions are needed now. In a later post I will give more information there.

As I imagine a video will show a bit more progress.
In this video is my porsche with my dad recording the video. Sorry for the soft sound, and the random glitches, Youtube refuses to upload the video without screwing it up.

Anyhow, in that video the USB interface shows nicely the engine feedback (thats basically the main purpose of the video)

So yeah, Last stages of development of a plug in replacement ECU with usb windows interface!

I have gotten a lot more done, will post that detail soon! (On my website I have a bit more detail)

Dont lose hope! This project is nearing production phase and will breathe more life into the awesomeness of the 928!

==================================================
19?? VW Baja Bug (Completely custom, Golf 1.8 motor, and many, many mods) - Currently my daily drive
1988 Porsche 928 S4 Euro/ROW (Black with Ivory interior) - Under ECU surgery
1982 Porsche 924 Euro (Silver with cream interior)- Gone
1982 Porsche 928 S (Manual) Euro (Petrol Blue with Blue with black and white chequered interior) - Gone
1983 Porsche 928 S (Auto, NA spec, Red, black interior) - Gone
1994 BMW 530i Manual (Maroon, grey interior) - Gone

Stromius

Great work Francois!

Curious about how work folks like Ken have done on S3 and now S4 tuning can be leveraged to optimize engine output on your platform versus stock. Apples to apples? Oranges? Or is it as simple as cut and paste Ken's findings onto your chip and platform?

jeff spahn

Keep it up. Great work so far.

Koenig-Specials 928

Subscribed. Thanks for the update too.

drwhosc

You Know I am interested in this project. Glad to see you are communicating and making this puppy come to life. Look forward to the final project. I think this will be a huge help. Awesome job as I said many times before.

Volla

Hmm, if you send me the link to the topic where they discuss that then I will definitely have a look. And if possible I will make my system compatible with other equipment out there.

Ok again a mini update on stuff that I have done to the system.

I added logging to the interface software. This allows real time logging of the engine readings and other information like injector time, EZK signal value etc. etc.

This is very basic at the moment, but can be exported in CSV format to Excel or other similar programs and can then be used to investigate possible problems or just have fun with plotting the data.

I also did major code cleanup in both the Interface software and the firmware. I was getting annoyed at my random variable naming and patchy cracks that I coded.

Now the code is more stable and looks cleaner

Thanks again for everyone for all the support, I am pushing hard to get this finished and get it into production!

Also I attached a small screenshot of the logging page


==================================================
19?? VW Baja Bug (Completely custom, Golf 1.8 motor, and many, many mods) - Currently my daily drive
1988 Porsche 928 S4 Euro/ROW (Black with Ivory interior) - Under ECU surgery
1982 Porsche 924 Euro (Silver with cream interior)- Gone
1982 Porsche 928 S (Manual) Euro (Petrol Blue with Blue with black and white chequered interior) - Gone
1983 Porsche 928 S (Auto, NA spec, Red, black interior) - Gone
1994 BMW 530i Manual (Maroon, grey interior) - Gone

Volla

Yay! Time for more updates!

Ok, Yet again I am a bit behind posting the stuff here on Rennlist. Hopefully I remember everything.

Major Code Cleanup
The code was a mess. Because of all the stuff I kept on adding on, my variable names were horrible, the layout of the code was bad, global variables littered the place. If someone worked for me and submitted this code I would fire him on the spot. But its all sorted out now and the code is readable and easier to debug.

User manual
Yes, I also need one of these. Its not complete, but it is a start, covers the basic stuff of updating the firmware and connecting the PC to the ECU. More will come when more of the Interface and firmware is finished.

Debug Mode
So I needed a way to override the calculated values for the injector open time, to aid with tuning and testing the car. The point of the debug page is to "force" the ECU into specific behaviour for fault finding. The debug page currently only has injector open time overriding, but can get more when more debugging is needed.

EZK Load Signal
So far my ECU has only been sending out a zero signal to the EZK for the load signal. That was good enough until now. I made a small 2D lookup table with RPM and MAF to give the EZK load value.

As far as my understanding of the EZK goes, is that the EZK uses the value sent by the LH to advance the timing. So by changing this map you can effectively change the engine timing. Maybe at some point in the future I can add a bit when the throttle is WOT then a different EZK signal is sent. But for now, this works!.

New USB Interface
Until now serial port emulation was used. This meant that when the ECU is plugged in a new serial port is found, and in the Interface software you need to select the correct COM port and then manually connect. While 100% functional, it is not very professional. So I updated the firmware to use the LibUSB generic interface, and I used LibUSB-win32 library to access the device. Now the Device manager shows a new device when you plug in the ECU and install drivers. Specific drivers are needed for this new setup, but the drivers are compatible with 32 and 64 bit windows without any problems. I have tested this with windows 7 and 8.

Here is a screenshot of the device manager with the new device


Now when the ECU is plugged in and the ignition is switched on the Interface software automatically connects to the ECU. It also handles disconnects and reconnects without any user input.

Yet again all the updates with a bit more detail can be found at my website (direct link to the LH Build page : http://aeif.info/wiki/index.php?titl...ment_Prototype)

Soon I will post update on the revised version of the PCB

==================================================
19?? VW Baja Bug (Completely custom, Golf 1.8 motor, and many, many mods) - Currently my daily drive
1988 Porsche 928 S4 Euro/ROW (Black with Ivory interior) - Under ECU surgery
1982 Porsche 924 Euro (Silver with cream interior)- Gone
1982 Porsche 928 S (Manual) Euro (Petrol Blue with Blue with black and white chequered interior) - Gone
1983 Porsche 928 S (Auto, NA spec, Red, black interior) - Gone
1994 BMW 530i Manual (Maroon, grey interior) - Gone

Niles

Wow, this is impressive. I just read all 14 pages. Are there any updates?

Volla

Yes, There are epically big updates, hold on for a week, busy doing long distance checking of the system

Volla

Turns out the big update is a month later and not a week.

Sorry for the long wait, lots of stuff happened, did not have that much time and needed to do more testing. But here we are, the major update. At the end of this update there is a youtube video showing the ECU (9 min - but good video)

I did a lot of updates and changes, most of them are discussed in more detail on my website with the build page of the ECU (http://aeif.info/wiki/index.php?titl...ment_Prototype)

Here is the short abridged version:
*Renamed to "LHR ECU" - Cannot legally use the Porsche name in my stuff
*Fixed bugs - many many bugs
*New Idling control - can adjust idling from 500-1000RPM in 25RPM increments
*New USB
*Better logging
*More Real Time Data begin shown
*Tuned the fuel map - still needs final testing on dyno, but works great

I went to South Africa for a holiday during February and March. This allowed me to do some major updates and testing. The result? A working and stable, reliable LHR ECU. I also went on a tour of South Africa with my girlfriend and this tour included a long road trip in the Porsche. Before I could do the road trip I did some changes.

One big change was that I installed a wideband exhaust sensor that tells me the exact air to fuel ratio. Without this tuning the car is impossible.

Some minor fixes, changes and optimisations were done. The result? One awesome car to drive! To test the car properly I drove 3800KM in the space of 2 weeks with the ECU on the road trip with zero modifications.

To show off I made a proper video of the entire ECU as it is at the moment. This includes the Interface software, logging, opening the log and plotting graphs and finally driving with the ECU in the original ECU location. This replacement ECU fits in the original housing. The only visible difference between the LHR and the original is the USB cable coming out of the side. This can be easily tucked away behind the carpet, making it invisible and just like new.

Stuff to do

Closed loop control. The closed loop control is not programmed, at the moment the ECU works only in open loop mode. I do not have a narrowband (option on my car was without the sensor) and the wideband is not connected. I will not be able to implement and test this on my car in the near future, but any volunteers are welcome that want to test it if they have the sensor.

Making revised PCB. I have started designing the revised board, it will be smaller and a lot more power efficient. I also added the option of enabling more sensors to be connected to allow for easy mods and cstomisation.

If people are interested I can make copies of this unit, post here or send PM and tell me how serious you are.

If I get at least 5 orders I can make a batch of the prototypes.


==================================================
19?? VW Baja Bug (Completely custom, Golf 1.8 motor, and many, many mods) - Currently my daily drive
1988 Porsche 928 S4 Euro/ROW (Black with Ivory interior) - Under ECU surgery
1982 Porsche 924 Euro (Silver with cream interior)- Gone
1982 Porsche 928 S (Manual) Euro (Petrol Blue with Blue with black and white chequered interior) - Gone
1983 Porsche 928 S (Auto, NA spec, Red, black interior) - Gone
1994 BMW 530i Manual (Maroon, grey interior) - Gone