The VeeCU

[WesRagle]

Junk again.

China seems to always disappoint. I wish Amazon would clearly identify the country of origin on products they promote so I could avoid this type of stuff.

Do you see a male connector?



Wes

[GordonTurner]

Chinese stuff, including the plague itself, is a plague of awful stuff. I try really hard to avoid it but it’s not always possible.

Amazon is really not a source for stuff that’s not made in China.

[WesRagle]

Amazon is really not a source for stuff that’s not made in China.

Yea, I know. It's so easy to get seduced with a kit that's cheap and will be on your doorstep tomorrow, free shipping. I'm just anxious to get past setting up the environment so I can move on to the fun stuff.

Found this: https://www.displaythisway.com/Middle-Atlantic-UCP-Module-4DB9.aspx. Thought I would be past this quickly.

Wes

[WesRagle]

Hi Guys,

I've been away for a while and will be away for a while longer but ..., I intend to get back to this project as soon as I finish with another long over due project.

In the meantime I've been trying to plot a path forward with the VeeCU. When I last worked on the project I was getting somewhat depressed. I was trying to cover every failure mode and the solutions always added complexity, cost, weight, current draw, ... I know that the AeroInjector is supposed to be the ultimate backup and mitigate a lot of my concerns but imagining a failure on initial climb out from a short strip kept bothering me. In fact, air restarts in general bother me.

Long story short, while considering per cylinder fuel trimming, it occurred to me that per cylinder trimming is just making adjustments to the base fuel map on a cylinder by cylinder basis. Then it occurred to me that the AeroInjector supplies a base fuel map that just needs some per cylinder trimming. You can probably see where this is heading. Why not just run the two systems in parallel?

The tuning process would consist of adding fuel to lean cylinders to bring them in line with the rich cylinders. I can imagine this working with the results of an EFI/Fuel Pump failure being a momentary lean condition which could be corrected by manual mixture control.

Anyway, If this is a workable approach a lot of good things happen. No redundancy needed, no reversionary modes needed, no complex control head needed, smaller fuel pump (less current) required. Can't wait to finish what I'm working on so I can get back to this project and explore this approach.

I don't know, The Veequalizer ;-)

Happy New Year to All,

Wes

[Area 51%]

Do you see a male connector?

I see a couple that possibly "identify" as male.

[WesRagle]

Just a snippet of information archived here so it won't get lost.

I contacted Dynatek and asked:

I have a pair of 5 Ohm (black) and a pair of 3 Ohm (green) dual fire coils I am testing. What I would like to know is: What is the ideal dwell (~12 V) for these coils? Any advice appreciated.

I received this response:

Dear Mr. Ragle,

Thank you for your interest in Dynatek ignitions. We would recommend a dwell time of 8-10ms for the 3 ohm coils and 10-12ms for the 5 ohm coils. If we can be of any future assistance please feel free to contact us anytime.

Regards,

Technical Support
Toll Free: 800-928-3962

[WesRagle]

HI Guys,

After spending time on other projects, I find myself with some slack time. I've been using the spare time to advance the VeeCU project. I wired the evaluation board for the CPU and the MC33810 "Automotive Engine Control IC" together to make sure the IC performed as advertised. Everything worked fine, including being able to shut down the coils without a spark (soft shutdown). I felt I needed that so I could allow for prop start and still shut down the coils (after a 10 second delay) without a puff, pop, or fire. Don't want to make a dangerous task even more dangerous.

For those interested, the CPU will be an STM32L476RGT3 and the Engine Control IC will be an MCZ33810EKR2.





IMHO, for this to be a viable solution for VW efi, power/current consumption has to be controlled. Especially at idle.
Toward that end, the dwell time for the ignition coils has to be controlled.

I tested both the 5 Ohm and the 3 Ohm coils. Both had similar spark duration and fired down to about 5-6 volts with a 12 mSec dwell (see previous post). I had no way of measuring spark current but I assume the 3 Ohm coil has a "hotter" spark. I did a rough measurement of the ignition current at 1000 RPM and 12 mSec dwell. It was below 1 amp for 3 Ohm and about 1/2 amp for the 5 Ohm.

Other than the fuel injectors, which shouldn't draw much current at idle and not more than 3 amps at WOT, the other high power device is the fuel pump. I wore Google out looking for a good candidate. After days of searching it occurred to me to search for "motorcycle fuel injector pumps". One popped up that looks like it's in the sweet spot for this application. Name brand, proper size, and readily available. Walbro GSL414.

Ref. https://jdtracing.com/products/walbro-gsl414-external-fuel-pump-for-1999-2001-victory-v92c-v92sc





So, about 3 amps for the pump, 1 amp for the ignition, and less than one amp for the injectors and you're at less than 5 amps for an EFII system at Idle. That's much less than the stock secondary ignition with 3 Ohm coils that I currently run on the Hummel.

Wes

[WesRagle]

Hi Guys,

Another problem you run into while considering fuel injection is finding injectors with the proper flow rate, impedance, form factor, ...

For a four cylinder engine generating about 80 HP, the automobile market isn't a lot of help. I finally found a web site that gives you most of the information you need, allowing you to search by flow rate, form factor, etc.

Ref. https://www.injectorplanet.com/

This one for a Polaris Rzr might be about right.



Ref. https://www.injectorplanet.com/products/bosch-0280156208-polaris-1202863

Wes

[lakespookie]

I would order from digikey for any component/electronics needs you will have all the details and country of origin but no free shipping.

[WesRagle]

I would order from digikey for any component/electronics needs you will have all the details and country of origin but no free shipping.

I would but Mouser's global headquarters and distribution center is one county east of me and UPS Ground arrives next day.

Wes