megasquirt

[Locky]

A Few on this site are going the megasquirt route, and with brousing another forum I use I came across a guide.

http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111741

Its mainly for vauxhall engines but has loads of other links that may be of use. HTH

[baz-r]

megasquirt is the route im planing to go but if you dont think you can build an ecu yourself go for microsquirt

would advise ms2 if your planing on useing idle control etc and you can go without edis as well ;)

[baz-r]

well i have just finished putting my megasquirt ecu together and would just like to feed back to the members here how hard/easy it is to do

you need to work out what you actualy need as there are all sorts of varaitions on engine hardware like dizzy or no dizzy, edis etc this also effects what type of megasquirt you are using or need and version of pcb
and the input and ouputs you want (some can be added later if needed)
and you WILL need a thing called a stim (emulates engine in/outputs) jimstim is best to go for as it has vr signel output of almost every pattern you will ever need.

im going for a zetec so its a 36-1 vr trigger pickup and a wasted spark (two coil) direct out put so an extra coil driver is needed and v2.2 pcb has no circuit for vr it has to be made so v3.0 is what i needed this should be standerd fo almost all four pots that we are fitting to the roadster
(go for ms2 + extra coil driver on a v3.0 pcb for best results)

as you put it together you will need to add or remove parts from the build as you go use the msextra.com build guide and parts list called "BOM" and is the best place to look for any info or support read the guide twice first befor you start your build

most of the soldering is fairly easy for me but i have built loads of hobby eletronic kits in the past and if you have no idea i would say its best to have some experince and idea what all the diffrent components do.
there are a few small transistors that are tricky to do as the gaps are tiny
and dobble check every part as you fit it (i did make 1 stupid mistake)

then you will need to send the firmware into the chip this requires you to use programs and rs232 leads i had no trouble but this can also be tricky if you have no idea what you are doing

what i need to do now is do the engine settings bit have to see how that go's

[Davey]

Cheers Baz that's very helpful. I have been planning to use an Emerald ECU for mine but I have a background idea to use Megasquirt instead. As you have said it seems quite complicated to work out exactly what bits you need. I did find another interesting website the other day http://www.diyefi.org/ but this seems to be about building an ECU system from scratch:eek: . I think I'm leaning towards the Emerald still but the cost does make me wince a little.

D.

[mikemph]

I have used megasquirt before on my supercharged mini and mk2 golf gti. I am very pleased with the results and have had first hand experience mapping on the rolling road.

Although megasquirt will work with just about any sensors you can get your hands on, likewise with injectors and idle control valves etc it can be a little more tricky to setup beacause of this.

The software for mapping is also not as user friendly as more expensive systems but overall it can all be done with relative ease with research and planning. I have changed some of the code myself to make mapping easier. The steps for ignition setup are 0.1deg steps... In reality this is far too fine... So I made the steps 1deg which is easier to spot the power change on the rolling road.

I personally think they are great for the DIY minded person. Planning is the key to getting what you want from these. Plan for the correct injector size/coil type/idle control type. That way you can configure the ecu build at the building stage.

[AshG]

i built a V3 ms3 with ms3x board with on board sd card data logging, Usb support, fully sequential ignition and injection control. works very nicely and with the new tuner studio pro software and innovate lc1 wideband its very easy to tune.

[baz-r]

its harder to set up because it will do almost anything engine wise and using almost any form of sensors and pickups and as for the software there is more than one type.
if you look at the cost i dont think you can complain realy
i do think it is worth paying a little more and go for v3.0 pcb and its worth noting ms1 is a little slow on the prosessor side but should be fine for non cat setups (people are useing ms1 for track and rally cars)

[baz-r]

Cheers Baz that's very helpful. I have been planning to use an Emerald ECU for mine but I have a background idea to use Megasquirt instead. As you have said it seems quite complicated to work out exactly what bits you need. I did find another interesting website the other day http://www.diyefi.org/ but this seems to be about building an ECU system from scratch:eek: . I think I'm leaning towards the Emerald still but the cost does make me wince a little.

D.

diyefi is based on ms pcb anyway as far as i know. also watch out for the ms ripoffs (m-tech and kDfi) thease are just copy's and dont expect any form of support from the ms comuinty as thay are not paying for the rights to use ms code and copy the hardware.
B&G openly distubute all the info so people can adapt it to work for what thay want it to do (systems running auto box's, diesels, roterys and more) but some people have taken all the work and copyed it use the same software to program it and it isnt even cheaper! please dont support thease rip offs
looking at a few there isent ant heat sinks on the igbt's so i dont expect them to last that long!

what you planing on using engine wise davey and i could narrowing it down for you

im running a 1.8 zetec and have just got a bmw k100 set of throttles to mate up when i get them in the post
i have gon for no edis so 1 extra coil driver (bip373is best) and vr pickup witch is built in on a v3 pcb you just have to put the right links in and take a few components out you dont need
you could always get one pre built or use microsquirt!

[Davey]

diyefi is based on ms pcb anyway as far as i know. also watch out for the ms ripoffs (m-tech and kDfi) thease are just copy's and dont expect any form of support from the ms comuinty as thay are not paying for the rights to use ms code and copy the hardware.
B&G openly distubute all the info so people can adapt it to work for what thay want it to do (systems running auto box's, diesels, roterys and more) but some people have taken all the work and copyed it use the same software to program it and it isnt even cheaper! please dont support thease rip offs
looking at a few there isent ant heat sinks on the igbt's so i dont expect them to last that long!

what you planing on using engine wise davey and i could narrowing it down for you

im running a 1.8 zetec and have just got a bmw k100 set of throttles to mate up when i get them in the post
i have gon for no edis so 1 extra coil driver (bip373is best) and vr pickup witch is built in on a v3 pcb you just have to put the right links in and take a few components out you dont need
you could always get one pre built or use microsquirt!

Cheers Baz, I'm going to run a 2.9 V6 Cosworth with ITBs on a custom made manifold (by me:o ), exhausts yet to be sorted. I'd like eventually to go to fully sequential injection and ignition but to start off I'll be happy with lost spark and grouped injection, any help gratefully received.

D.

[baz-r]

do you need to run cats? and what did the motor orignaly have? dizzy?
reason i ask is the only benifit from sequential inj is emmissions from reports and your pickup (rpm/postion) from the engine
if you want each cyl to have its own spark this is called cop (coil on plug) i think wasted is better as the spark cleans the plug on the exaust stroke and easyer to install
i would go 6cyl wasted spark (3 coil drivers) off a trigger wheel and ms has two inj banks as std so you could have each bank running its own fueling mixture

[Davey]

Cosworth V6 already has wasted spark coil pack via EDIS 6 which I still have. Cats are not required and I'm happy to go with grouped injection for now.

D.

[baz-r]

Cosworth V6 already has wasted spark coil pack via EDIS 6 which I still have. Cats are not required and I'm happy to go with grouped injection for now.

D.

just run each bank as a group (left/inj1 right/inj2 or vice versa) could even stick with the edis if you want then you would need no ign drivers in the ms this would save you some work
if you want seqenshal you would need some kind of cam positon sensor so the ecu knows what cycle cyl1 is on. i know my zetec has one on the inlet cam.
to be honest i think it would be better to have a closed loop for each bank of cyl (two wideband sensors) plus the effort of adding extra inj channels spark channels and an extra pickup for the cam for minnmal power gains seems alot of time, money and effort to me
hope this helps :)