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DIYAutoTune.com Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Updated 10/09/2008 A couple of updates made to
the Innovate section...
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Technical Articles that should really be a part
of this FAQ, but would make it too huge!
FAQ
Understanding the MegaSquirt Engine Management System and
choosing one that is right for you:
What the heck is a MegaSquirt?
| The MegaSquirt line of Engine Management Systems
are Do It Yourself (DIY)
systems capable of full standalone engine management a a fraction of the cost of
the what the 'big dogs' charge. They were designed with education and
performance in mind, so that the do it yourselfer could learn the in's and out's
of engine management and tuning, while learning a good bit about electronics in
the process. What you end up with is an incredibly performing EMS that you
built yourself for ultimate bragging rights when you leave your buddies behind
as a speck in your rearview mirror. And you did this for a quarter to a
tenth of
the cost of a retail standalone ECU.
Building and installing a MegaSquirt EMS will require that you do some
homework. Some of the questions and answers below will help to guide you
on where to start this and how to go about it. You will learn alot in the
process and if you so choose you will come out of it with the knowledge to
properly tune your car for the current configuration you have now, and for any
future power combo you can dream up and implement. There is no limit to
what you can do or to how much power you can make with this engine management
system. I know right now of a MS user running low 10's (10.08) in a 5000lb
4x4 truck making over 1000hp and 1000lbs/torque to the wheels (turbo/nitrous)
who took first place in his class at Hot Rod's Drag Week 2005 and won a high
dollar ($2400+) big-name EMS system in the contest, he quickly traded it away to
stick with his MegaSquirt, which he has a total of around $200 invested in.
I've got another customer making about the same level of power now on one of
these units, still tuning and aiming for close to 1200whp. Preparing for
Bonneville this year for two 245MPH runs. (Check
out Gary Hart's car out at this link). This MegaSquirt thing is no joke. |
Where do I start?
| Read. Then read some more. If you skip this step you will be
asking questions later that you could already know the answers to. I'm
always glad to help though as this is a DIY based system some of the burden
does fall on the user to do their homework, the big dogs charge an extra $2000+
for their systems to do some of the homework for you. I'll help you with
your homework for free, but you've got to come up with the final answer.
Start with the MegaSquirt FAQ at
www.megamanual.com
Then read, cover to cover, The MegaManual at that same link:
http://www.megasquirt.info/
(Note this focuses mainly on the MS-I, you can skim the assembly section)
Then read the MS-II pages that were added to the MegaManual:
http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/index.htm
Then read about MegaSquirt-N-Spark Extra (MSnS-E). This is a free
firmware update for the MS-I that allows for fuel and spark control as well as a
ton of other features. It also supports some stock ignition systems that
the MS-II is not currently able to support. It is often a bit more of a
technical path to travel with mods required in some cases for different features
and ignition systems, but supports some ignitions systems and certain features
that the MS2 doesn't yet such at boost control, launch control, knock retard,
etc. Check out this link for more info:
http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms1extra/MS_Extra_Manual_Index.htm
Now that you've read up on things start lurking around and/or asking any
remaining questions on the MegaSquirt Support Forums at
www.msefi.com, there is so much helpful information here that it's insane.
The search feature is your friend though it doesn't seem to like more than
single word searches right now (I'll look into that). Try searching for
your vehicle or engine, 'RX7', or 'Subaru', or '4AGE' and then go through the
threads that are returned. There are a ton of very helpful people on these
forums that will bend over backwards to make sure your project is successful, IF
they can tell you've 'done your homework' and you're not expecting them to do
all of it for you. Questions like, "My car has an optical crank sensor in
the distributor with one hole for each cylinder, spaced evenly apart. Will
the MegaSquirt-II work with this signal?" will usually get very quick and
helpful responses. On the other hand, questions like "What do I need to
make my 1993 Sooper Dooper Pooper Scooper go faster?" generally get ignored
because it's obvious the person didn't put much effort into helping themselves
and that they are hoping someone will just pour out a magical answer for them to
help their Sooper Dooper Scoop Poop faster.
You can also
Contact Us and I'll
do my best to assist you. Please see the list of questions below that will
help me to help you. The more prepared you are and the more you know about
your car and your ignition system the better off we'll all be and the faster
we'll be able to get you up and running! |
What do I need?
| Another question that doesn't have a quick short answer... but the quick short
answer is: An ECU (there are a few options), a stimulator (95% required),
and a tuning cable. Optionally you may need a USB-Serial Converter if your
laptop doesn't have a DB9 serial port, and/or a Wideband O2 system such as the
Innovate LC-1 or LM-1 (with or without a dash mount gauge) which will make tuning
your Air/Fuel Ratio SO much easier and more accurate that you'll be glad you
spent the couple of bills to do it. Click Here to see a page I put
together to assist people in these decisions-- It doesn't cover all of
our products but
it does cover some of the more commonly needed ones at a high level and provides
pricing current as of today (08-17-07). For a complete product list, to
validate current pricing and/or to place an order go to
http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog. |
How difficult is it to assemble a MegaSquirt
myself?
| It
takes most people new to electronics assembly 6-10 hours for their first
time assembly of a PCBv3 ECU, a bit less for a PCB2.2, and the
stimulator (which you should do first) is very simple and takes maybe an
hour to assemble for a first-timer. I'd recommend going to
www.google.com and querying for 'Soldering
Technique' and reading up a bit, and maybe pickup up a cheapo practice
kit if you want to practice your technique a bit before starting in on
the MegaSquirt. I do highly recommend you build your own at least the
first time around as it will familiarize you with the hardware
particularly if mods are going to be required for your
implementation.
This way it's not all new to you when you get to the mods which in some
cases aren't laid out quite as step by step as the main assembly. |
I have a (insert year, make and model here), what exactly do I need to order
for my car?
| I'll be glad to help you spec a system for your car but I'll first need some
information from you as I unfortunately don't have hands on experience with
every car out there. Below is a list of the questions I will generally
need answers to in order to assist with this. You can find this
information in service manuals for your car/engine, on message boards and
enthusiast sites, or sometimes by tearing into your ride and looking. It
will be a big help if you've followed the steps in the 'Where do I start?'
section above so that you have a pretty thorough understanding of the MegaSquirt
line of Engine Management Systems and you may find that you've answered your own
questions by the time you've done this. At any rate these are some of the
questions you will need to ask yourself, and that I would need to know the
answers to in order to be able to assist you: (Please try and answer all questions as the two most people skip (3&4) are
the most important for ignition control!)
- What year/make/model/engine/tranny? (Pretend your at the parts store,
ordering a starter.) If this isn't the original engine/electronics
let me know that too.
- Are you looking to control fuel only, ignition only, or fuel and ignition?
Is there anything beyond these features that you are looking to
control - fans or boost, for example?
- What are the engine details (type, number of cylinders, previously fuel
injected or carb'd?)
- What type of ignition system does your car run- where is the crank angle
sensor (CAS) or distributor trigger wheel, and what type is it (Optical/LED Sensor? Hall Sensor? VR Sensor?)
- How many teeth/windows/slots and what orientation does the CAS,
crank trigger, and/or distributor wheel have? (any
missing?
all evenly spaced?)
- Is there a distributor? Single/Multiple Coils? Coil on Plug?
- Does this engine have a fast idle valve (IAC)?
If so, how many wires are connected to it?
- Rate yourself 1-5 on technical confidence in yourself. 1 being "I
can't paint by numbers" and 5 being "I can probably build a car from scratch
if I have the right documentation, and I'm resourceful enough to do some
research and find some of my own answers." I need to know this as some
of the 'less traveled' roads will require you to make modifications that in
some cases I haven't performed myself yet and based on this response it will
help me to know whether this type of solution is for you or not. I
challenge you to 'stretch yourself' a little bit. You won't ever learn
anything (about yourself and your abilities) if you don't try to do things
that you're not quite sure you can do... and then find that you can.
- Are you looking to build your own ECU from a kit or buy a pre-assembled
ECU?
- Are you open to retrofitting a different ignition system such as the Ford
EDIS distributorless system or one of our crank trigger kits if it is determined that the MegaSquirt will not
properly (or easily) control your factory ignition system? Many factory
systems MegaSquirt can simply take control of, some it cannot. EDIS to
the rescue! It's cheap, simple and works great!
If you can cut and paste the above list into an email and answer all
questions it would be very helpful to me-- otherwise I'll just have to ask you
the same questions more than likely in order to best be able to assist you.
Also-- Here is a
page we maintain with links to installation documentation for various different
vehicles that I've found around the web-- If you find or write install docs
that we can add here please let us know. This is a good place to check for
information that just might help you 'squirt your ride. Even if it's not
an exact match there is much to learn by looking over other's installations and
notes. |
What is the difference between the MegaSquirt PCB 2.2
/ PCB 3.0 / PCB 3.57?
| They are
all three able to use the MegaSquirt-I CPU or the MegaSquirt-II
daughterboard, but they are based on different versions of the circuit board.
You can click on any of the headings to view an example of the product
with pictures.
PCBv2.2
The v2.2 board dates back several years, it's
the least expensive of the currently available options, and the least
developed. It's a great low budget solution that has served many people well
(and continues to).
PCBv3.0
The v3.0 board has a lot of improvements made to
it to reduce electrical noise and increase robustness, as well as make
the board easier to expand.
All of the improvements with the V3.0 board are listed here.
The main high level differences are that the uprated flyback circuitry is
included so you can run low or high impedance injectors, there are several
improvements to make the board more robust and harder to damage in the event of
a mis-wire or overload event. A prototyping area was adding to the PCB, and
several changes were made to prepare the board for the future including the now
available MegaSquirt-II CPU and upcoming releases such as the GPIO and Router
boards.
PCBv3.57
The v3.57 board's major claim to fame is it's
'surface mount (SMT)' design. Otherwise it is almost
identical to the v3.0 board and the above information on the v3.0 board
fully applies. The only other major differences are:
A) the addition of a PWM capable idle control
transistor allowing control of a PWM idle valve or a standard on/off type
FIDLE valve without need for modification. This was a common
modification applied to the v3.0 board and is no longer needed on the
v3.57.
B) the addition of a DB15 connector next to the
DB9. By default this doesn't do anything, but is there to allow
for extra I/O for modifications. It takes the place of the
externally viewable LEDs, which are now internally surface mounted on
the PCB.
C) Several signal pads have been added making
common modifications easier.
D) The prototype area was sacrificed (removed)
to make all of the above possible.
|
I want a MegaSquirt-III but the newest thing I see on your site is the
MS-II. What gives?
| The MegaSquirt-III
exists, but is in limited release. You can learn more about it at
www.ms3efi.com In the past, there has
sometimes been confusion coming from
the circuit board (PCB) versions which are now 3.0 or 3.57. The latest
processor currently available is still the MS-II. Hence the latest, greatest hardware
available is the MegaSquirt-II, with PCBv3.0 or 3.57.
Everything is versioned to help keep track of things, and it
gets a little confusing at times... The MS-I firmware is at version 3.0,
the MS-II firmware is only at version 2.88. Does that mean the MS-II
firmware is older? No way, it just hasn't been around as long, therefore not as
many versions have been released. |
How big is the MegaSquirt case?
| The
box is 6.2” x 4” x 1.75” with mounting flanges on each end that are
about .5” long, so total length including flanges is about 7.2”.
This applies for the MS-I and MS-II, with either
PCB. |
MegaSquirt Tech:
How does a MegaSquirt compare to having my car 'Chipped'?
| It is possible to get many of the same performance benefits of the MegaSquirt
by having your car chipped IF the tuner chipping your car has your car
onsite and custom tunes the map for your specific configuration on a steady
state/load bearing dyno.
If you are not the hands on type, or you don't plan to EVER modify your
car/engine again, then this is not a bad option. If you do ever mod your
car again it will likely need to be re-chipped, on a dyno by a qualified tuner,
to get the maximum performance out of it. If you simply send your ECU off
to a chipping company who is supposed to load a map on your car that was NOT
designed specifically for your car on a dyno by a qualified tuner then you
are simply not going to get the maximum performance possible out of the engine.
They simply can't do it-- they have to make alot of assumptions with no
scientific testing on YOUR car.
However, if you really want to take control of things, if you do have plans
to further modify your car and you don't want to have to pay someone to rechip
it every time you mod it, and if you want to learn something in the process then
by all means a standalone EMS is the way to go. And there is no more
powerful system per dollar spent than the MegaSquirt, in fact even with the
affordable price out of the picture the MegaSquirt line of Engine Management
Systems rival the featureset of many
aftermarket 'high dollar' systems. |
Don't I need sequential injection to make big
power? Does the MegaSquirt offer this?
Sequential injection attempts to only spray fuel while the intake valve
is open for the cylinder that is about to fire, which in most cases is
only possible at very low engine speeds between idle and low speed
cruising. It can have minor benefits in emissions and fuel economy at
these low engine speeds.
Batch injection (which is what the current gen MS does) does not attempt to spray
only when the valve is open as it's nearly pointless, particularly for
more performance oriented applications. The fact is that at higher
engine speeds 99% of sequential systems (exceptions being race only
systems with super massive injectors) cannot spray all of the fuel
needed while the valve is open anyways, and sprays it both while the
valve is opened and closed, very much like a batch system such as the
MS.
There is no significant performance difference with a sequential system
over a batch system, there can be minor emissions and fuel economy
benefits at very low speeds though.... As you'll see in the next
couple of questions though you can do very well with emissions and fuel
economy with the MegaSquirt as well, it's all in what you tune for.
|
Is the MegaSquirt Engine Management System just for making more power?
Or can I get better gas mileage out of it too? What about emissions?
|
MegaSquirt Engine Management Systems are most often installed in the pursuit of
power gains, but often economy gains are just a possible. In fact due to the
nature of programmable fuel injection usually you can achieve some of both,
power when you are on the throttle, economy when you are lightly cruising around
town. It’s really all in the tune. The factory will have tuned your engine to
run around at 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio (AFR). This is the ‘chemically correct’ or
‘stoicheometric’ (stoich for short) AFR which basically means this is the
air/fuel mixture at which the most complete burn of the fuel will occur. It’s
also the proper mixture for the catalytic converter to best be able to do it’s
job, in other words, you car comes tuned from the factory for reduced
emissions. If your goal is power, you’ll be tuning a somewhat ‘richer’ mixture
than this, for a naturally aspirated car this is usually in the 12-13:1 range
under throttle. For economy you’ll tune somewhat leaner than this, some say the
magic number is as lean as 16.5:1, or maybe even a bit leaner when lightly
cruising on the highway. That can lead to quite an improvement in highway
mileage over the factory 14.7:1 tune. Not all engines like to cruise this lean
so your ‘mileage’ may vary, my MR2 doesn’t seems to love 16:1 on the highway-- I
was able to get 34.5 MPG on a recent 1100 mile trip at an average speed of 70 MPH,
a decent increase over stock for sure! And one of the great things about
EFI is you don't have to sacrifice WOT power to do this-- my MR2 that's getting
better mileage than stock on the highway, also makes more power than stock when
I step on it-- it an entirely separate part of the EFI map!
That said, if tuning for emissions is your goal you actually may be able to do a
better job than the factory did as well though your task will be tougher as
that's at the top of the factory's priority list. Areas you may be able to
improve: Often factory cars idle richer than 14.7:1,
and under power are again richer than 14.7:1, though they may need to be
depending on usage of the vehicle. Don't lean out your tow vehicle and
then try to drag your boat up a steep hill-- bad things can happen! (Of
course you could always tune a map for when you're towing, and a map for when
you're not...)
Note-- You'll need to check your federal/state/local regulations on whether
it's legal to modify the EMS on a street driven vehicle.
|
More on using the the MegaSquirt to tune for better fuel economy
and/or emissions....
| While the MegaSquirt Engine Management Systems
we offer are most often
installed in the pursuit of power gains, often economy or even emissions
improvements are just as possible as well. In fact due to the nature of programmable fuel
injection usually you can achieve all three to some degree, power when you are on the
throttle, and a blend of economy and improved emissions when you are lightly cruising around
town. It’s really all in the tune. The factory will have tuned your engine to
run around at 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio (AFR) when cruising and at light load. This is the ‘chemically correct’ or
‘stoicheometric’ (stoich for short) AFR which basically means this is the
air/fuel mixture at which the most complete burn of the fuel will occur. It’s
also the proper mixture for the catalytic converter to best be able to do it’s
job, in other words, you car comes tuned from the factory for reduced emissions.
Note at wide-open-throttle (WOT), if your goal is power, you’ll be tuning a somewhat ‘richer’ mixture than this ,
for a naturally aspirated car this is usually in the 12.5-13:1 range under WOT.
But if chasing better fuel economy while cruising you may tune somewhat leaner than 14.7:1, some say the
magic number is as lean as 15.5:1, or maybe even a bit leaner when lightly
cruising at highway-like speeds/loads. That can lead to quite an improvement in
mileage over the factory 14.7:1 tune. Not all engines like to
cruise this lean so your ‘mileage’ may vary. Note this can also
negatively effect emissions.
That said, if tuning for emissions were your goal you actually may be able to do
a better job than the factory did. Often factory cars idle richer than 14.7:1,
and under power are again richer than 14.7:1, though they may need to be
depending on usage of the vehicle. Ignition advance plays a key role in
emissions as well, though that's another topic for another day. Do your homework and
first/foremost pay attention to
your emissions laws as depending on your vehicle/state/county/etc. it may
or may not even be legal for you to play with your tune even if you're
making it burn cleaner! |
The MegaSquirt ECUs seem to have only four injector output pins (or
terminals on the relay board) but they are labeled as pairs so this is even more
confusing, do I have two or four injector outputs? And how does either two
or four outputs allow me to run 6, 8, or 12 injectors?
| You've got two 'banks' of injectors. Or two 'groups' if you will. You
can use one or both of them. With 1-6 cylinders one is fine, though you can use
both. With more than six you should probably share the load across both banks.
Each bank
has two terminals that you bring together to a nice fat (like 14ga) wire that
then goes out to all of the injectors on that bank. So for an 8cyl for example
you might choose to run two banks of 4 injectors each. You'll run 12v to one
side of all eight injectors in the 'crank' and 'run' positions. Then you'll run
the 14ga wire out from one pair of terminals (one injector bank output) nearby
the injectors where you'll split that 14ga off into 4 smaller gauge (18ga
probably) short wire runs to the individual injectors. Do the same thing for the
other bank.
The MegaManual's 'Sensors and Wiring' section has a wiring diagram that shows
an example of this for a 4cyl car. Same principle for an 8cyl or even a 12cyl.
And actually for a 1-6 cyl car you can just use a single bank and run all of the
injectors from there if you want to. There are different reasons and theories
for doing it different ways.
Here's
a link to the wiring diagram I mentioned.
|
Is there a central place where I can download maps that others have shared?
| Maps can sometimes be found on the MSEFI.COM
or MSEXTRA.COM forums that are similar enough
to be used as a base map for your vehicle but it’s generally not encouraged to just grab
someone’s map and run with it, there are a few things to consider. You want to
ensure their setup is as similar to yours as possible, and more importantly you’ll want to make
sure they were running the same firmware version you are running. If not then
you can copy the information from their map manually, but don’t import it into
your ECU as it’s very possible some of the data won’t import properly into a
different firmware version.
Another thing to consider, especially if the
ECU setup you're using required modification to control your vehicle's
ignition system, is are the mods you're using identical to the mods used
by the person that created the map? Their ignition settings could
be different from what you need, and could damage your coil or ignitor.
Things to watch out for are the SPARK OUTPUT setting (inverted or non)
and the DWELL settings.
The most important thing to remember is that
no matter how good so-and-so told you thier map would work on your car, you are
still ultimately responsible for making sure your ECU is properly setup for your
car, and that your car is properly tuned.
That means looking over the maps setting BEFORE you start the car, do the
ignition settings look right and does the ignition table look logical? Is there 60 degree of timing at WOT, if so,
that's probably not right.... Then when you start the car you should
still treat it like you need to tune it yourself from scratch, you've just
hopefully got a really good headstart. Tune the idle first, then slow
speed VE and ignition, cruise VE and ignition, and then work on up to higher
loads and finally WOT VE
and ignition. Read the MegaManual cover to cover.... again....AGAIN!!!
There are good books out there on tuning as well. This stuff is fun... but you do have to do
some homework. Best homework I've ever done though. |
Idle Air Control valves versus Fast Idle Valves--- What does my car have and
how can I tell?
| Here's a way to figure it out-- on a cold morning, when
you start your car it idles higher than normal right? That's because this valve
is open letting more air in to idle the car up to it warms up faster. Now... if
you sit there until it warms up, does the idle drop back down to normal all of a
sudden? If so it's a FIDLE valve (two wires, ground and 12v+). Or does it
slowly idle back down to normal a little at a time? If so it's either a PWM or
stepper motor valve. So now you have to look at the valve. How many wires does
it have? Generally a PWM valve will have 2 wires, sometimes 3, and a MS-2 compatible stepper
motor IAC will have 4 wires (MS2 has been tested with GM and Jeep IAC valves).
|
I'm considering converting my car from carbs to EFI-- what do I need to
consider?
|
Starting with the fuel system it will
need to be converted to a high pressure system suitable for fuel injection
(around 43.5 psi for MPI, less for TBI if you go that route), if you can get a
TBI unit (with TPS) that bolts to your manifold that may be the simplest route
(though their may be more power in a good MPI setup), otherwise you’ll need to
buy or fab up an intake manifold and throttle body with TPS, fuel rails, etc.
I don't carry the manifold and fuel system bits at this time, just the engine
management systems and accessories, so I'll move on to that....
FOR FUEL AND IGNITION CONTROL-- We’d
suggest running a MegaSquirt-II PCBv3 or v3.57 unit and you’ll need a compatible Crank
Angle Sensor to determine engine position and RPM from as well as some way to
fire the ignition—with the MS2 this is generally a distributor based solution or
the Ford EDIS or GM DIS distributorless solutions which could be adapted to your
engine (most adaptations use EDIS which also uses it’s own 36-1 Crank Angle
wheel which can be mounted on the crank pulley). You can read more about
ignition options in the MegaManual at
www.megasquirt.info in the MS2 section.
FOR FUEL ONLY-- You could run any of
the MegaSquirt ECUs, the MS1 or the MS2, PCB version doesn't matter so much, the
later version are the best of course as there has been continual improvement. Pickup up
your ignition signal from the negative terminal of the coil, run your IAT, CLT,
TPS, and O2 sensor inputs to the MegaSquirt, calibrate the MS to the sensors if
they are not GM sensors and start tuning.
If you haven’t yet I’d suggest taking
a look through the ‘MegaManual’ over at
www.megasquirt.info as it will go into detail about
most aspects of the conversion/installation/configuration/tuning and help to
make things clearer.
Here’s a list of what most people
would commonly pick up—I’ll list what I deem as ‘required’ and then some 'recommmended'
and ‘optional’ components. Then I’ll provide a link that goes into some
detail on why I made these selections and that will also help you to decide on
the optional components.
‘Required’
(Note you can substitute DIY kits for the below to
save some cash and learn a lot in the process)
MegaSquirt-II EMS System - SMD PCB3.57 - Assembled Unit [MS2357-C]
MegaSquirt Stimulator - Assembled Unit (Truthfully
not required, but most who decide not to get one regret it...)
MegaSquirt Tuning Cable (DB9 Straight Thru)
'Highly Recommended'
Innovate LC-1 Digital Wideband Controller with Sensor
12' MegaSquirt Wiring Harness (MS1 / MS2 Ready)
‘Optional’
MegaSquirt Relay Board - Assembled Unit
MegaSquirt-I Relay Cable
GM Open Element IAT Sensor with Pigtail
GM Closed Element CLT / IAT Sensor with Pigtail
USB to Serial Adapter - Works with MegaTune!
Here’s the link I mentioned with more
info on each of the above--
http://www.diyautotune.com/faq/megasquirt_what_do_I_need.htm
|
Where can I find the MegaSquirt Schematics?
Using the Relay Board with the PCBv3, what do
terminals S1-S5 do?
This is the best way to go about this-- You can use the
schematics for the PCBv3 ECU and the Relay board to trace it back. Here are the
Relay Board schematics and here are the
PCBv3 schematics.
Here’s the quick answer though mapping these terminals back to the corresponding
pin on the PCBv3 ECU’s DB37:
S1 = 25
S2 = 27
S3 = 29
S4 = 31
S5 = 36
With the MS-I these were unused by default, available as spare inputs/outputs.
With the MS-II S1-S4 are used for the stepper motor IAC, and S5 is the ignition
output.
For more information on the Relay Board check out this
page:
http://www.bgsoflex.com/mspower/mspower.html
Note you can do the same cross reference for
the PCB2.2 ECU and the Relay Board, just use the
PCB2.2 Schematics. Though the pinout is of course the same... |
Will the
MegaSquirt work with my stock ignition system???
| This is the most important thing to determine when attempting to control both
fuel and spark. In an ideal situation, you can take control of your stock
ignition system and call it a day. That is most common on
distributor based vehicles. If you're willing to do a bit of
modification to the MegaSquirt in the way of adding coil drivers it
makes this a valid option for many more ignition systems. We've
begun a process of documenting this rather large subject, and we're going
to go ahead and make our work in progress available as what we've gotten
together at this point will be helpful to many. We'll
continue to add to it and cover the various other types of ignition
systems as well.
Tech Article:
Will
the MegaSquirt and MegaSquirt-II work with my
Stock Ignition System?
If you do need to adapt a different ignition system to your vehicle:
Ford EDIS is a distributorless ignition system that’s very easy to adapt to
just about any internal combustion piston engine out there—you just need to
mount (weld) a 36-1 trigger wheel to your crank pulley and build a bracket for
the VR sensor to locate it next to the trigger wheel. That’s the hardest part
and the only fab work. The rest is a bit of wiring. The EDIS system has an EDIS
module and a coil pack. The module is wired to the VR sensor and the MegaSquirt,
and also the coil pack. The MegaSquirt-II is what I would recommend for EDIS
control and will take full control of an EDIS ignition system easily.
Here are some links with more info:
Here’s all the parts that are needed and where they can be found if you wanted
to dig them up yourself:
MS1/Extra EDIS manual
Here’s the MS2 manual:
http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/index.htm Which has an EDIS specific section at:
http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/EDIS.htm |
Can I leave my stock ECU in place to control
non-EMS related gadgetry, while letting the MegaSquirt control the engine?
| Yes
you can-- This is what is known as a 'Parallel Install' and on some newer cars where the OEM is putting more and more
responsibility on the ECU (more than just an Engine Management role) you
may need to go this route. Some of the other responsibilities that OEM's are
putting on the stock ECU are gauge control, cruise control, auto tranny
lockup, etc.
You’d basically leave the stock ECU in place, and leave the stock sensor
inputs connected to it. Then you’d run a new CLT and IAT sensor for the
MegaSquirt, and then share the TPS and O2 signals between the stock ECU
and the MegaSquirt. You’ll disconnect the spark output(s) from the stock
computer and wire the spark input to the MegaSquirt (pin24). You should
be able to share that signal in most cases. Next wire the MS spark
output (pin36 usually, depends on model and mods)to the stock igniter or
directly to the coil if modded for direct coil control. Then
disconnect the fuel injectors from the stock ECU and wire them to the
MegaSquirt. This will basically give your factory ECU control of
everything but the engine, and give the MegaSquirt control of the
engine.
Note that's just a quick rundown, and not
necessarily in the order you might go about things. For example,
you might prefer to start with fuel control, go ahead and do all of the
above EXCEPT the spark output change (you do need the spark input shared
with the MS at this point). This way you've got full fuel control,
but the stock ECU is still controlling ignition. You can dial in
your fuel map and get the car running good, and then move spark over as
well with this transition being much smaller than taking it all on at
once. Not to mention you'll know the MS ECU and the tuning
software MUCH better. Note
some may call this 'running the MS as a piggyback' though it's not.
A piggyback ECU simply manipulates the stock sensor signals to 'trick'
the stock ECU into performing differently. There is no trickery
going on with an install as described here, this is a full
standalone EMS implementation, we're just leaving the stock ECU around
to control the NON-EMS stuff. Call it a 'Parallel Install' as the
two computers are working in parallel each playing their part, not
tricking each other. |
Can I use the stock IAT and CLT sensors
with the MegaSquirt?
| Yes
you can in almost every case-- the exception is that you sometimes
remove your stock IAT sensor as it's a part of the stock MAF or AFM on
many cars. If this is the case then you'll need to add another IAT
sensor to the intake tube, usually just before the throttle body, and
after the intercooler if you have one. The idea is to measure the
air temp as it enters the engine. Here's
an article that shows how to measure the resistance curve of your stock
(or any really) sensors so that you can input these values into MegaTune
for the MS-II, or EasyTherm for the MS-I, to calibrate your ECU for your
sensors.
Measuring and Calibrating your Coolant (CLT) and Intake
Air Temp (IAT) sensors
|
Help! I broke the pins on my MS-II
Daughterboard!
| The
pins are Digikey Part# ED7764-ND. We may try to order some in and
carry them if needed but we don't have them at this point. |
DIYAutoTune.com's MegaSquirt
Assembled Units MS130-C and MS230-C
There are several 'optional' or 'choice required' steps during assembly of
the PCBv3 MegaSquirt units, how are the DIYAutoTune ECU's configured?
The MS130-C MegaSquirt-I PCBv3.0 is by default a fuel only EFI controller
running B&G's default MegaSquirt firmware. These are configured to be
triggered from the (-) negative terminal of the coil by default. It is
fairly easy to convert them to be triggered from a Hall/Optical/Points trigger
if you prefer. Here are the steps to take:
- Cut out C12 and C30. Don't jumper them or anything, just clip the
leads and leave them out. (Assembly steps 50h and 50d)
- Jumper D1. You can remove the diode first, but you don't have to.
It's easier to just solder a little lead shorting both of it's legs together.
The MS230-C MegaSquirt-II PCBv3 is by default configured for fuel and
ignition control running the current release of B&G's MegaSquirt-II firmware.
These are configured to be triggered from a Hall/Optical/Points trigger by
default. The IGBT High Current Ignition Coil Driver circuitry is
installed, but not jumpered to be enabled. |
WideBand o2 / Oxygen Sensor Systems from
Innovate Motorsports
Why is a wideband o2 sensor better for tuning AFR than a narrowband o2
sensor? Isn't my 1/2/3/4/5 wire stock o2 sensor good enough?
| A wideband o2 sensor system will give you far greater tuning ability than a
narrowband sensor. The problem with a narrowband sensor is that it is only
truly accurate at 14.7:1 AFR. The factory will have tuned your engine to
run around at 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio (AFR) at cruise and light load conditions. This is the ‘chemically correct’ or
‘stoicheometric’ (stoich for short) AFR which basically means this is the
air/fuel mixture at which the most complete burn of the fuel will occur. It’s
also the proper mixture for the catalytic converter to best be able to do it’s
job, in other words, you car comes tuned from the factory for reduced emissions
and that's why that narrowband sensor is there. Therefore it will be
useful for tuning cruise Air/Fuel Ratio (AFR) only as long as you’re tuning for
14.7:1 air/fuel ratio. However under Wide Open Throttle you’ll want to
tune for somewhere between 12 and 13:1 (NA) or richer (FI) most likely and the
narrowband won’t tell you anything useful at that range. Likewise at
cruise you may not want to tune for 14.7:1, maybe you want better fuel economy
at cruise and you want to tune to 15.5:1 or even a bit leaner possibly. Only a wideband can give you accurate feedback outside of the stoich
14.7:1 reading that NB sensors are designed for, and allow you to tune for best
power and best economy. |
Do I have the newer or older style LC-1?
Should I get it replaced if it's older?
|
First... the issue is that if there is a
voltage differential or any other cause that would pull your 5v output
to anything above 5v it could burn out the DAC on the older model LC-1.
Wired properly most people never had a problem with them but Innovate
decided to make the circuit infinitely more robust now and provided an
updated version of the product, and RMA'd any units that were damaged
due to the 'issue'. They were truly a class act in how they
handled this.
The 'older model' LC-1's were up until about June
2006, in white/beige box. The new models were sold since then and
Innovate updated the packaging at about the same time to a blue/black
box and later still to a white/red box. The more definitive way is to determine which model you have
is to check the serial number.
The serial for the LC-1s
with the analog output fix are LC11188 forward and all LC-1s that start
with CLC. Note that in fall 2007 Innovate started using a
white/red box, still the new LC-1's just a different box design.
Bottom Line: Wiring it according to the docs is the most important
thing. Not just for longevity but for accuracy as well. You don't want a
voltage differential in your readings so you definitely want to ground
your LC-1 at the same point as your ECU (assuming you're feeding the
output back into the ECU) or datalogger if that's what you're using.
Then ground the heater ground to a separate point as per the docs. This
will make even the old LC-1's last forever in my experience....
See the FAQ entry below for more info on this. |
How should I wire up my Innovate LC-1?
| For
the most part you'll follow the 'Quick Start Guide' that comes with the
LC-1 to the letter. If you lost that or need a copy of it for some
reason you can download it here:
LC-1 Quick Start Guide for the LC-1 or here:
LC-1/XD-1 Standalone Gauge Kit if you have the combo kit.
Here is what we'd like to add:
- Ground the LC-1 and the MegaSquirt
together. This is to prevent a voltage differential and will
ensure accurate readings.
- The factory EFI system's fuel pump relay
often makes a good source for 12v switched power. This is a
required source for 12v, but often a good one...
For any LC-1 purchased after June2006, that
should be all you need to be concerned with when wiring it up.
- THIS STEP IS ONLY ON 'older model' LC-1'S
as defined above (and below actually)!
Use a 470 ohm, 1/4watt resistor in between
the analog output of the LC-1, and the o2 input of the MegaSquirt.
So you'll wire the analog output from the LC-1 to one side of the
resistor, and then you'll wire the MegaSquirt 02 input to the other
side of the resistor, forcing the signal to pass through it.
- Blue Box or White/Red box LC-1's (started
shipping around mid-June '06) have an updated DAC that does not
require the 470 ohm resistor when used with MegaSquirt.
Another way to identify if you have this updated LC-1 that doesn't
need the resistor
is the serial number will be LC11188
or above, or the serial number will start with CLC on new models.
|
How should I wire up my Innovate LM-1 or LM-2?
| For
the most part you'll follow the 'Quick Start Guide' that comes with the
LM-1 / LM-2 to the letter. If you lost that or need a copy of it for some
reason you can download it here:
LM-1 Quick Start Guide Here is what
we'd like to add:
- If you are simply using the LCD display on
the LM-1 / LM-2 to tune your car you have nothing different to do.
However, if you are routing an analog output from the LM-1 / LM-2 into the
MegaSquirt you should ground the LM-1 / LM-2 and the MegaSquirt at the same
point. This is to prevent a voltage differential and will
ensure accurate readings. I've been know to clip the cig
lighter connector wire that comes with the LM-1 / LM-2 and put quick
disconnects on it, and install the same type of quick disconnect
connectors on the MS Harness so I can pull power and ground from the
same source it pulls from, ensuring the MegaSquirt gets an accurate
sensor reading.
Note-- You don't ever need the 470 ohm
resistor with the LM-1. |
How do I configure MegaTune for the Innovate
LC-1 or LM-1 / LM-2?
For a
long time we guided customers on how to re-program their LC-1 / LM-1 /
LM-2 to output a slightly different signal from default. The goal
of this was to increase the resolution of the signal in the range of AFR
most users will spend their time in. What we had recommended was
to program the output you were using to send a signal that represented a
10-20:1 AFR from 0-5v. While in theory this is great and does
increase resolution a bit, in practice it's not really needed and is
probably more trouble than it's worth for most users. The benefit
of this is almost immeasurable, so going forward we recommend leaving
the analog outputs on your LC-1 / LM-1 / LM-2 at their default settings.
Then to configure your MegaSquirt to talk to your LC-1 / LM-1 / LM-2 do
the following:
- First in the MegaTune Configurator you
need to select Innovate Default.
- Then in the MegaTune EGO settings select
'wideband sensor'. Later you can come back and use the
MegaManual to tune the rest of the settings on this page.
- Lastly (and only for MS-II users, MS-I can
skip this) you’ll want to go to TOOLS>Calibrate AFR Table and choose
the Innovate Default setting and click OK, this will
calibrate your MS2 to read the LC-1 / LM-1 / LM-2 properly.
|
Shipping / Customs:
Will you reduce the value of my order on the customs paperwork
or mark it as a 'gift' so I pay less
in customs duties/taxes/import fees?
| We do get asked this all the time and
we wish
there was some way to avoid these taxes and fees for our international customers
but unfortunately there isn't. We must properly fill out all customs paperwork
and include a receipt with your order. We made a commitment early on in
running our business to be 100% straightforward and honest in all of our dealings,
with our customers, vendors, and even the tax-man. We hope you understand
and even find comfort in knowing that we're committed in being 100%
straightforward with you as well. We do appreciate your business and will
continue to strive to keep our prices affordable. Thanks! |
Other FAQs
Main MegaSquirt FAQ
This is the main MegaSquirt FAQ, as well as the MegaManual. You will do
well to become one with the MegaManual. Let it flow through you. Use
the farce!
Matt Cramer's MegaSquirt FAQs Tons of other information Matt has
gathered up. A good addition to the Main MegaSquirt FAQ and the above!
Innovate Motorsports FAQ Frequently Asked Questions on Innovate's
Wideband Products straight from the pros at Innovate.
|
