Help with building your Speeduino, installing it, getting it to run etc.
User avatar
By Razorbeam
#50721
Got the crank trigger wheel and sensor mounted up this weekend. It required a little bit of custom fabrication with the grinder, but overall everything went pretty smoothly. The hardest part was removing the mechanical fan, which resulted in me boogering up the water pulley bolts.
I definitely had to remove my fan and fan shroud, but after those were out of the way I had tons of room. Also, I didn't need to drain the oil or coolant as the timing cover bolts didn't protrude into the water jacket or oil passages. Also, I did not need to use longer bolts on the crank pulley once the trigger wheel was installed. There were enough threads on the stock bolts.
I ended up with about a 1mm gap between the wheel and the sensor. I haven't been able to test if everything is working because I need to get new water pump pulley bolts.
With the engine at TDC, there are 17 teeth between the sensor and the gap (36-1 wheel) so I'm setting my base timing at 170 deg ATDC.
This was a big step, as everything else needed for Speeduino is just wiring everything up and building out the relay/fuse board. Oh, and I need to weld the bung in for my o2 sensor, but that won't be a major undertaking.

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User avatar
By Razorbeam
#50756
Ok, so I got new water pulley bolts and got everything put back together. I had a chance to hook up the board and the laptop and confirm that the sensor is working! Such a huge relief. I know it's not a big deal to most, but all of this is so new to me that I'm amazed that I was able to even get this far.
I clipped the connector off the BMW sensor and used a generic 3 wire pigtail from Amazon to connect to the rest of the loom. I also bought some fancy Holley shielded cable for the Crank and TPS sensor. Question on this stuff: do I need to ground the shielding in this wire? I've read conflicting things. Some people say no grounding needed, and some say it needs to be grounded near the ECU. Any insights here?

Also, I don't think I need to include a tach output from the Speeduino as the stock tach signal comes from the alternator. However, if I wanted to use the signal from the Speeduino, can someone explain how I would go about that? ric355 noted in his project that he used a coil from a relay and some transistors to drive the tach. I can locate the tach wire, is there any way I can test it to see what output it's looking for?

Thanks to everyone who's chimed in to help me with this. I really appreciate it.
By ric355
#50763
Razorbeam wrote: Tue Jun 01, 2021 11:54 pm Also, I don't think I need to include a tach output from the Speeduino as the stock tach signal comes from the alternator. However, if I wanted to use the signal from the Speeduino, can someone explain how I would go about that? ric355 noted in his project that he used a coil from a relay and some transistors to drive the tach. I can locate the tach wire, is there any way I can test it to see what output it's looking for?
Are you sure it comes form the alternator? It usually comes from the single coil. Usually a black/white stripe wire into the tacho. My car is a later engine but it comes from the coil through a 6.8k resistor into the tacho.
User avatar
By Razorbeam
#51005
My ignition side of things is starting to come together. I got a set of used D585 LS2 coils for a good deal on eBay. I’ve found this wiring diagram for them and have verified the wiring with my multimeter.
http://www.megamanual.com/seq/coils.htm

This guide suggests using a capacitor to ground on the 12v supply. Is this necessary? If so, where do I find one of these?

Also, I’ve read a lot of posts about how to power on the o2 controller. It seems that some people opt for just using the fuel pump relay output as the input for the o2 relay, and some go through the trouble of setting up an output from the speedy based on certain conditions.
I’m thinking I will just use the former option as it’s simpler, but is there any reasons why I should consider a separate output for the o2 relay?
By LPG2CV
#51009
it's about avoiding blowing cold condensation in the exhaust, over a hot O2 sensor as it can break them.

The FP relay is a convenient way of turning the O2 controller off (and hence the heater in the sensor) off, when the engine is not running, but the ignition is on.

When you key on, the FP prime runs for whatever duration you configure, so the controller would also turn on for the same duration if wired to the FP relay. It depends on the controller you have, as to how fast it heats the sensor. So a sensor that heats quickly, and a long FP prime, could, when you crank, cause condensation on a hot sensor. It also depends on the position and orientation of the sensor in the exhaust.

If a criteria is added, then you can say don't power the sensor until I have the engine running, or what ever criteria you want to implement.
User avatar
By PSIG
#51022
Most WBO2 controllers today have heating programs, so special consideration is not needed. If you have an older or simpler controller, it still isn't a large concern (for me), and I had few if any direct failures 10 and 20 years ago with old full-on heating controllers. Likewise, the newer sensors (especially 4.9 and up) are much more shock resistant, which is good, as thermal shock isn't only at startup but sometimes under conditions such as rev-limiting spark-cut under load.

That said, I'd check your controller, or just go simple for now and make changes if you experience unusual issues. Sometimes the best solution isn't what you're first thinking. I don't tend to make extra work for myself unless I know I have an actual problem, know the benefit, and if I'll actually see it. That's me, do your thing. 8-)
User avatar
By PSIG
#51029
Razorbeam wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:08 amThis guide suggests using a capacitor to ground on the 12v supply. Is this necessary? If so, where do I find one of these?
Sorry, I forgot to address this question. The coil capacitor is often termed a "noise" capacitor, as it is not for increased spark energy, but rather to short the strong firing pulse back to the coil (+). A simplified description would be that when you use electrical power (such as a spark discharge), it can only happen if the circuit is complete. Duh, right? So, when you fire a coil, the energy from the coil discharges, separately from the battery. The coil is its own energy source at that point, and the circuit needs to complete to itself.

The capacitor (placed as close as possible to the coil terminals) works to "short" that return path. Else, the pulse has to travel back through your wiring loom to the (+) coil terminal. At several hundred volts through wiring (acting as a transmitter antenna of-sorts), the pulse can cause havoc with electronics and sensors. You can see how the capacitor would help a lot in shunting pulses through the wiring loom.

Do you need them? Maybe or probably, except in the simplest and most robust of systems. You can try without them and see if you have weird electronic issues in any devices or functions. If you do want or need them, they are typically metallized film capacitors usually matched to coil spec's, with (generally) older points and early electronic coils using 0.22 to 0.33uF, and later or high-performance coils 0.47 to 1uF. I buy mine rated 450V minimum or higher. Another option is to raid the wrecking yard for a handful of them, saving assembly effort.

Trivia: The condenser used in points systems is actually one of these, intended to reduce arcing in the mechanical point contacts. Arcing from what? Ah, there's that pulse racing around the wiring and jumping the contacts while they are close, if it can. A condenser (even from your lawn mower) may be used as a handy coil capacitor to test for effects, before investing in a series of capacitors for each coil.
User avatar
By Razorbeam
#51130
ric355 wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 9:54 am
Razorbeam wrote: Tue Jun 01, 2021 11:54 pm Also, I don't think I need to include a tach output from the Speeduino as the stock tach signal comes from the alternator. However, if I wanted to use the signal from the Speeduino, can someone explain how I would go about that? ric355 noted in his project that he used a coil from a relay and some transistors to drive the tach. I can locate the tach wire, is there any way I can test it to see what output it's looking for?
Are you sure it comes form the alternator? It usually comes from the single coil. Usually a black/white stripe wire into the tacho. My car is a later engine but it comes from the coil through a 6.8k resistor into the tacho.
Yes, you are correct it does come through the coil. I found the resistor shown on the wiring diagram here.
Capture_tacho resistor.PNG
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Can I connect this through a spare output on the Speeduino without using the ULN, or is there more to it than that?
By ric355
#51144
Razorbeam wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 3:40 pm
ric355 wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 9:54 am
Razorbeam wrote: Tue Jun 01, 2021 11:54 pm Also, I don't think I need to include a tach output from the Speeduino as the stock tach signal comes from the alternator. However, if I wanted to use the signal from the Speeduino, can someone explain how I would go about that? ric355 noted in his project that he used a coil from a relay and some transistors to drive the tach. I can locate the tach wire, is there any way I can test it to see what output it's looking for?
Are you sure it comes form the alternator? It usually comes from the single coil. Usually a black/white stripe wire into the tacho. My car is a later engine but it comes from the coil through a 6.8k resistor into the tacho.
Yes, you are correct it does come through the coil. I found the resistor shown on the wiring diagram here.
Capture_tacho resistor.PNG

Can I connect this through a spare output on the Speeduino without using the ULN, or is there more to it than that?
You need to replicate the high voltage pulse that comes from the coil if you want to drive your original tachometer. The circuit shown on this page is the one I used, using the coil from a relay;

https://www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopi ... 01&t=69602

Note the TVR's tacho is a caerbont instrument so not the same as your RR but I imagine driving it will be the same given the loom is the same.

I don't have it installed anymore as my digital dash doesn't need it, but it worked without issue for all the time I used it. I was driving it via the tacho wire on the 14CUX's loom connector so strictly speaking it was bypassing the 6.8k resistor and effectively using what used to be an ECU input as an output to the tacho.

Using the above circuit you don't need a ULN; you can just connect the tacho pulse pin directly to the 1k resistor (the transistor takes the place of the ULN I suppose).

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