FreeEMS & ELiTH Racing @ FSAE Silverstone 2013

FreeEMS topics that aren't specific to hardware development or firmware development.
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Fred
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FreeEMS & ELiTH Racing @ FSAE Silverstone 2013

Post by Fred »

For those of you who don't know, and hadn't figured it out until you saw this topic, one of my longest running secrets was that an FSAE team had chosen to use FreeEMS on their car:

<pic of car in linkoping>

Way back on the 25th of November 2012, at 2:20pm, Jonas entered the #freeems IRC channel and started asking some questions.

(14:40:41) jonkan_swe [~Adium@dhcp-36-250.iei.liu.se] entered the room.

I answered some questions and told him that it wasn't well suited to his application at this time because:
  1. 6 channel limitation means use wasted spark OR semi sequential (they had pencil COPs and 12- 14k redline)
  2. Using Sean's XG code to bypass this would mean not having access to timely updates and support from me
I then took the discussion private in IRC to swap skype details:

Conversation with jonkan_swe at Sun 25 Nov 2012 15:45:55 CET

And proceeded to explain how rough the system was/is to both him and Martin and basically discouraged them from using it at all. Not too long later they came back and said "we're going to use it anyway." at which point I knew I was going to need to be pretty involved to make it a success on such an international and high-profile stage. I encouraged them to keep it on the quiet and secret for a few reasons:
  1. I didn't know them then but did know that FSAE teams often set lofty goals and fail to meet them.
  2. In the event of problems with the system (real or perceived) hindering them, I didn't want to have advertised it.
  3. In the event of everything going well I could write this thread with pics/vids and give everyone a great surprise.
Over the following months I worked with Jonas and Martin answering questions and giving them advice on a near-daily basis. Eventually, on the Thursday 28th March 2013 they ran engine number 19, their old CBR600F engine pulled from their old 2012 car. They ran it using COPs and full sequential with the help of Sean's XG code. It never ran well due to sync losses and multiple wiring issues that we fixed later. I strongly urged them to switch over to vanilla code and wire up their old wasted spark coils such that I could support them. They eventually did that and on the 6th of May got the new engine running with Peter's J-Series V6 code and a custom cam wheel:

<pic of cam wheel>

It still had lots of issues, however fortunately I had booked tickets on April 8th to go and help them in Sweden. In fact, I was a little annoyed that they forged ahead without me and I missed the first start of engine number 20! :-p
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
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The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
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Fred
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Re: FreeEMS & ELiTH Racing @ FSAE Silverstone 2013

Post by Fred »

Way back in November 2012, just after the initial contact, I thought that Dan might like to do them a custom board for their car. I got Dan on skype and he agreed to do that as a small private team effort between himself, me, the Swedes and a couple of others. Unfortunately due to real life, over commitment, and perhaps some disorganisation, Dan totally dropped the ball on that, not only failing to complete it sufficiently early (or at all), but failing to let us know that he wasn't going to be able to. He already feels suitably bad about this, so no need to further abuse him for it :-p A couple of screenies of the now-dead FSAE board that he nearly finished:

<pics>

Fortunately though, I have a crystal ball and saw this coming a mile away. It was at that point that I involved Andy and put some pressure on for a new spin of the Jaguar design which resulted in 0.4-alpha. Timing was tight but through an awesome and outstanding effort by Andy the day was saved and a package of Jaguar bits and pieces arrived in Sweden just in time, IE, just before I did!

<pics>

This earned Andy his second FreeEMSer of the month award: <link>

Thank you once again Andy! Never before has a Jaguar flown so high :-)
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
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Fred
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Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
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Re: FreeEMS & ELiTH Racing @ FSAE Silverstone 2013

Post by Fred »

My first ever ryanair flight carried me safely and on time <link> to Sweden on the evening of 9th May
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
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Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
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Re: FreeEMS & ELiTH Racing @ FSAE Silverstone 2013

Post by Fred »

This thread needs some updates for all the place holders, and various extra posts added, but for now, I'll just add this post to bump it and move it to FreeEMS general. I'll lock it temporarily until the story is complete, and then unlock it so everyone can comment inline. Apologies for not doing this sooner! Two more threads coming out of the woodwork related to this, too. Both require more updates than this one, so are further away.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
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