Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Uhm, can you imagine what a 70A linear regulator stuck to the side of the alternator would look like?

Every automotive alternator I've seen was "regulated" by a feedback mechanism- adjusting the field coil intensity to achieve the desired output- rather than what we'd consider a true series regulator- it's hugely more efficient, and sufficiently accurate for the degree of precision required. It's just that the controller for said mechanism is usually either internal to the alternator or, at most, a small external box. This business of having the PCM do it is relatively new, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why the PCM cares how warm it is outside, unless they're trying to eke an extra 0.01% out of the battery or something...


I don't think it'd be any harder than the NA A/C. If you've got a '99-'00 diagram in front of you, take the LG/B wire coming from the pressure switch after the "A/C Amplifier" that goes to 1P, gate it with an output that goes true when TPS = WOT, and use it to control either a DPST relay or a pair of open-collector NPNs that ground the "A/C Relay" (L/B wire at 1S) and the "Condenser Fan Relay" (L/W wire at 1I). I freely release that concept to the public domain for all uses commercial or non-commercial.


Technically, I'm not a EE. 100% hands-on training. Started working at a radio station when I was 16 years old- you learn really fast when you're working on a device with filter caps the size of your leg, vacuum tubes that weigh 20 lbs and measure 10" in diameter, and front-panel meters scaled in kV and 100s of amps (though not on the same circuit, thankfully).

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

I'd be more than happy to test out one of these boards for a 94/95 for ya.

yertnamreg1218

Those caps and tubes sound exciting, thats something I've always been interested in but never gotten a chance to mess with. Although next year for my senior design project I think my department is going to let my team build a continuous wave audio modulated tesla coil. Should be a good time.

As for the regulator, I was sure it wouldn't be linear, but thought there might be some switching regulator of some sort. (I'm a computer engineer and I have been exposed to much power stuff)



As for every one who has volunteered to be guinea pigs, I'm doing the 90-93 first cause thats what I have and I will test it myself and maybe on one turbo car. Then I think I'll try to tackle the NB's cause DIY doesn't have a solution for ya'll and I think it would be mildly humorous to beat them to a semi-plug and play solution for the NB's. I will definitely need volunteers for this. The rest will be last. I'm in Terre Haute, Indiana. I would prefer volunteers to be semi close by.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves though, I'm really busy with school so this will be done in what little spare time I have.

Matt Cramer

Hondas have the only ECU-controlled regulator I've been able to study in depth so far. They did this not for the battery but for fuel economy. Honda set up their ECU so it would drop the alternator output from 14.something volts to the 12's during cranking and under certain cruising conditions.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Like I said, I should have the ability to get the circuit boards printed on the cheap...

Something I'd suggest would be to put all the outputs to the 16 pin connector, like the fuel pump, o2, AIC outputs, spares, etc. This way if anyone build custom circuits like (knock or ebc) they just use a plug to simply plug them into the connector and not have wires all over the place...

a few things may want to be in two locations, like the 02 / WB signal....

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Toyota is doing it as well, at least on the Sienna. Discovered this fact while helping a friend install a trailer connection on one to power & recharge a camper.

Although nearly all AM transmitters are solid-state nowadays (and some of them are actually direct digital synthesized- no linear amps at all), high-power FM transmitters are surprisingly primitive. Up until the mid '90s, pretty much all of them were tube-based, mostly big ceramic ones like the 4CX and 5CX series. Even today, the biggest solid-state model that we build is a 10 kilowatt, and it uses about a hundred discrete power amps packed into 16 modular blocks. That particular model (the Z10-CD) runs the PA at about 48-52VDC, and uses multi-tap transformers rather than any kind of direct regulation.

The big FM transmitters, everything from 20 to 70 kilowatts, still use good old-fashioned pentodes and tetrodes in their final amps, though most of the IPAs (the drivers) have gone solid-state.

The first transmitter I ever worked on was a Harris FM20K. It used a 4CX15000A final tube, which ran at about 9.45 kV on the plate. The filament circuit drew about 160A at 6.1 - 6.2 volts, and that was not even the biggest tube in that family. The mega-VHF rigs use a 4CV100,000 tube- 17.5 kV @ 16A, with a 215A @ 15.5V filament.

And the UHF transmitters are even freakier. Most of 'em use either Klystrons or IOTs- yeah, the same stuff they build linear particle accelerators out of. Pure inductive devices with magnetically focused beamlines- we're talking 50 to 100 kV, and they're water-cooled!

[/hijack]

yertnamreg1218

"4CV100,000 tube- 17.5 kV @ 16A, with a 215A @ 15.5V filament."

That is amazing. I want power supplies that can do that.

The_Pipefather

iTrader: (5)

Here's a guy who offers something similar for motorcycles:

http://turbobikes.org/forum/index.php/topic,175.0.html

Maybe we all can take this one step further and include all the MS hardware onto the same board? So we dont have a mass of wires (and the corresponding number of failure modes) sticking out from the board? I dont know the legal issues involved in this though, but MS being open source they should have no problem?

The_Pipefather

iTrader: (5)

Or, alternatively, stack the adapter board on top of the v3.0 board using the DB37, and mount the whole thing in a bigger case.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

That is exactly what I was talking about in the "Rev 4.0" thread. Make one board that had both the MS itself, plus all the "mod" hardware that normally winds up being a mess of jumper wires.

As to "legal issues", that's the sticking point. The Extra code is open-source, but the 3.0 schematic and board layout are copyrighted B&G. I have not approached them (since quite honestly I don't have time to do this myself) but I wonder what their response might be?

yertnamreg1218

I think taking their schematics and redo'ing it specifically for the miata would be legit because we would only use their schematics for reference. I'm pretty sure that isn't illegal.

This however is not what I will be doing. It seems you guys are complaining about the jumpers and resistors we have to add to the MS. Its like 4 wires, how hard can it be. What I aim to do with my board is effectively replace the wiring harness (which has like ~50000 wires to screw up on). Making a new MS is definitely doable, but I don't think I want to tackle it.

If anyone is interested though I do have a footprint for the yellow female ECU connector in an orcad library file (*.olb), and let me say you should be very thankful for it cause making the footprint was a bitch. PM me with an email address if you want it.

Also I'm honing in on a final design for the 90-93 board. I'm going to mill a prototype next week and test it on the car as soon as possible.

Finally I think I figured out why my MS isn't working. Originally I was trying to get it to run with the stock AFM until I got my intake drilled and tapped. The car ran once before I got the GM IAT in. Then I switched to the GM IAT (WITHOUT RUNNING THE FUEL PUMP WIRE). The car would fire up, but would always die (because it wasn't getting fuel). Well after looking through all these schematics it is now clear to me. I'm pretty sure my maps are close to correct (and its warm outside so no coldstart to deal with), so hopefully I will finally be megasquirted tonight!!! I can't wait!

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

at least comment on my "can get them printed on the cheap" comment..... :(

yertnamreg1218

No, I don't have a board place. I've been looking around online, but they are all pretty expensive. The only capability I have is 2 sided small-medium sized boards not silk screen or solder masked. This is enough for testing out the design to make sure the layout is good and everything works. The only thing I pay is the cost of the blank copper board itself.

If you have a good board place for cheap, I am definitely interested. The final board will need to be 2 side silk screened and solder masked.

I'm going to keep it small (no proto area on actual adapter), but I'll bring all the signals out on a pin header. Then we can make a board will a female header bring out the signals and have a proto area on it. We can have that header common to all the adapters so that "mods" are interchangeable.

Finally, I turned on the fuel pump using the diagnostic connector and sure it enough it fired up and ran this time!!! I should be running on the MS using my boomslang by the end of the weekend!

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

tell me exactly how it needs to be printed and ill see (IE, dad is general manager at a plant that makes telecommunications circuit boards)

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Uhm... when I get back home I'll find a picture of the backside of my MS. It's a forest of green wire.

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

Mine is nuts too and i'm about to add EGT and shift light to it.....

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

4 jumper wires my ***...

The_Pipefather

iTrader: (5)

I gotz mo wirez than yall:

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

I'll defiantly admit yours is much much cooler than mine! I'm only using the stock case for my boomslang harness..

sotaku

iTrader: (4)

Rose Hulman or ISU?