Gauging interest on knock gauge
 

Hey guys,

A friend of mine has been building these knock lights that work really, really well. They are programmable, to use ANY knock sensor. The only down side of this unit is that you have to wire in your own knock sensor, and you have to do some testing on it. Not a big deal. It comes with everything you need including the the USB cable for programming.

It comes with 5-6 ft of shielded wire ready to go as well too.

Features:
LEDs to show intensity of the knock
It has a HEADPHONE jack (my favorite feature. One wire to the knock gauge, and the other in to the Aux in of a radio).
It supports both digital and analog out.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1450894229
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1450894229

He sales these units at 109 a pop, but obviously there is a discount as units sell.

But I just wanted to gauge interest to see if anyone else would be interested.

I think this is pretty damn cool, assuming it works as advertised. How much would the price come down with a group buy or something?

It would be really cool if we bought a couple and shared them among forum members, since I can't really see it being useful except during dyno testing.

Having the visual aid to confirm with audible noise is a neat feature :bigtu:

Maybe a small batch to test the waters? Possibly for those whom know knock a little better and/or can get some dyno time with one of these for review.

Sure, if you're serious I can talk to him about making a small initial batch. Just need to have some money.

Sounds cool - might be worth a try.

wouldn't you want to wire your knock gauge into your ecu. so it can pull timing?

It has an analog and a digital output for that as well.

Yes it is a big deal. The single most important part of any knock control system is knock filtration and knock windowing to get rid of a ton of false "knock" as well as trigger the specific areas that need to be triggered.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for doing stuff like this so I'm not knocking (pun? lol) his product, but the difference between a generic knock system and one developed to a specific engine is night and day.

I would also be curious why wouldn't you just use the OEM knock sensor and the MS3 knock system and set that up to do this same thing, for free? It's already all wired in and set up, you'd just have to do similar "testing" with it to fine tune it. This product kinda seems redundant.

*edit: you can even wire in an output to a blinking light for the "visual" effect. It would cost like $5 in hardware.

If you don't have a MSPRO, or MSLABS MS3, the knock module is an extra $80 or something, totally worth the cost. I also don't really get the point of this device.

It's really aimed for dyno use. I made some det cans that don't work very well at all. As far as the tuning goes, it is preset for a few knock sensors already, namely honda, nissan, and a few three wire bosch units.

So if you ran one of those instead, there would be no testing involved.

This is pretty much the feedback we wanted, we wanted to see back and forth to see both sides of the coin. I have mine getting sent, and I will gladly make a video showcasing the unit.

One other use of this, is if you tune a lot of cars.

it's not just the sensor that needs testing. It's the whole setup's ability to filter the different noises. If it doesn't filter, it's no different from a generic $15 set of homemade det cans. The noises/sound, is engine specific, not just sensor specific. Heck, you will even get different readings depending on where on the block you attach the sensor.

Most pro tuners don't use something like this because without filtration you might as well just use headphones and let your brain try to differentiate the different noise, because picking up all of it is counter-productive just like missing some of it, when really tuning spark. With one you won't really find limits because you'll run into noise that might not be knock and stop, with the other you might miss the knock and splooge the engine.

but I'm glad you're gonna try it, and share your experience. it's always cool to try new things, for science :party:

How does this handle noise filtering? Filtering must vary with RPM to be effective.

http://nebula.wsimg.com/724d82e1fbc9...&alloworigin=1

I forgot to attach this earlier. Here's the instructions. I'm sorry I don't know the technical data of it. I will find out though

Still costs more than the megasquirt knock module. Which can be programmed to flash lights if you want it to. And also pull timing.

Well for me, there's a very specific use. My wife now uses the miata, which runs MS3. My car uses an Ecumasters EMU (standalone). So it allows me to swap back and forth. Granted you guys are right, the correct way is to configure the knock sensors to actually work on each vehicle. But as of now, I'm slowly branching out on helping people tune their cars, so it's a tool that I can use.

It's like how certain people only trust their wideband, even though you already have one installed. They just feel more comfortable with their own stuff. I had a guy with a SRT4 that had a bad tune, and was actually knocking (bent a rod), and he never threw a knock code on the stock ECU (uses a flashing unit), and that's what I'd like to avoid.

So what I plan to do is this, get the unit here, wire it up to a cigarette lighter plug, and play with it to see what I can find. Is there any specific things you fellas want me to ask/try when I get my unit?

While you guys are right, for the most part this unit may not be for everyone, but for me, I have a clear use for it. To be able to use this unit, from car to car.

Sure Virtual Dyno is useful for seeing your torque curve, but it's not perfectly accurate, any shifts in head wind or even going downhill can effect the reading. The biggest thing for me, is I'd like to be able to dial it in as much as possible on the street before I spend hours and hours on the dyno.

Does your Miata have stock pistons? Because they will melt if you test this.

Yes, care to elaborate?

configuring a detonation identification device will require running into frequent and various detonation.

basically he's right too - I hope you're willing to sacrifice the engine....for science

Stock Miata pistons are cast. And are very very non-det resistant.

The knock module for MS3 is more advanced and can be configured with tunerstudio. It allows you to set all sorts of parameters.

Wire up a big LED to an output and use the megasquirt to trigger it.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Lol no. You guys thought I was going to disable the stock knock sensors??

My plan is as follows;
Wire up honda Knock sensor to unit, find some way to fasten to block (maybe even try varying places), and compare it to the data of the stock unit.

This is more of a backup than anything.

I also looked into wiring up a LED for it. I tried to use my CEL but always get a configuration error. Never really went back to look at it.

But how will you know if its working if you never knock...

Knock sensors are just microphones, its all about filtering and magnifying the noise.

Good point. I suppose there's only one way to find out! For SCIENCE!

No, but seriously, the miata had some knock on lean tip in. I saved a lot of my logs/tunes so i could go back and use them for analysis. So i guess I'll load up that tune, and recreate the lean tip and see how they compare.

Figure that would be good for a light test.

Looks like this thing uses the same chip used by the MS3 and the Enhanced MS2.

Got it in today, pretty well made, and a lot smaller than what it looks like in the other pics. I forgot, but the usb wiring inside the box, there's a removable plate (think of a battery cover for a remote or something), that's right next to the dash pot for Hz.

So the next thing for me is to pick up a few things, one being a cigarette ligther plug, and a couple of knock sensor plugs and see how this all works.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452100034


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452100034


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452100034