tmbryhn's daily driven VW Beetle
Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:22 am
Hi, and greetings from Norway! This is my first post on the FreeEMS forum, but hopefully won't be the last
First of all, I would like to thank Fred and the other developers for a fantastic open source platform.
I'm looking forward to become a part of this community.
So, what's my story?
I have run EFi (MS2) in one of my VW Beetles for a couple of years to this date. I drive V-dubs on a daily basis, all year round (even though Norwegian winters can be pretty harsh^^), and have been doing so for about seven years. you can say that I'm very affectionate about those cute old German cars <3
For about a year ago, after gathering some experience running the Megasquirt-platform providing both spark and fuel, I felt that the MS itself platform was of good value, but the hardware (ECU case and circuitry) was imo. inadequate and far from elegant enough for being a permanent installation in a reliable daily driver. I especially didn't like the DB37 and DB9-connectors, and also the fact that a lot of jumper wires have to be soldered from different points on the PCB for the ECU to suit the needs of the user...
I decided that I wanted to make my own ECU that would suit my 4-cylinder needs.
The idea that kick started the process, was that I wanted to design a PCB that would fit inside an original Bosch ECU case, using the stock main connector that would be de-soldered from the stock Bosch PCB. That way I would end up with a design that was water/splash proof, more robust with better connections and at the same time letting me design a PCB with more on-board features than what the MS v3.0-board have out of the box.
The Bosch case i chose to go with initially sports a skinny 25-pin connector. Although, in the beginning that was adequate for my 4-cyl. aircooled boxer-needs, running full-sequential CoP and injection with two tach-inputs (36-1 crank + single pulse/ 720 crank deg. distributor module) and idle control.
Preferring electronics and elimination of mechanical parts, I have also started developing a dual-DBW prototype that I would like to incorporate into the ECU.
In time, when all of this will be coming together, I will need a bigger case, bigger connector, and a controller with a lot more I/O's than my currently used freescale MCU has to offer.
This is where FreeEMS springs to mind.
First of all, I would like to thank Fred and the other developers for a fantastic open source platform.
I'm looking forward to become a part of this community.
So, what's my story?
I have run EFi (MS2) in one of my VW Beetles for a couple of years to this date. I drive V-dubs on a daily basis, all year round (even though Norwegian winters can be pretty harsh^^), and have been doing so for about seven years. you can say that I'm very affectionate about those cute old German cars <3
For about a year ago, after gathering some experience running the Megasquirt-platform providing both spark and fuel, I felt that the MS itself platform was of good value, but the hardware (ECU case and circuitry) was imo. inadequate and far from elegant enough for being a permanent installation in a reliable daily driver. I especially didn't like the DB37 and DB9-connectors, and also the fact that a lot of jumper wires have to be soldered from different points on the PCB for the ECU to suit the needs of the user...
I decided that I wanted to make my own ECU that would suit my 4-cylinder needs.
The idea that kick started the process, was that I wanted to design a PCB that would fit inside an original Bosch ECU case, using the stock main connector that would be de-soldered from the stock Bosch PCB. That way I would end up with a design that was water/splash proof, more robust with better connections and at the same time letting me design a PCB with more on-board features than what the MS v3.0-board have out of the box.
The Bosch case i chose to go with initially sports a skinny 25-pin connector. Although, in the beginning that was adequate for my 4-cyl. aircooled boxer-needs, running full-sequential CoP and injection with two tach-inputs (36-1 crank + single pulse/ 720 crank deg. distributor module) and idle control.
Preferring electronics and elimination of mechanical parts, I have also started developing a dual-DBW prototype that I would like to incorporate into the ECU.
In time, when all of this will be coming together, I will need a bigger case, bigger connector, and a controller with a lot more I/O's than my currently used freescale MCU has to offer.
This is where FreeEMS springs to mind.