LC-1 (wideband O2) and PC install

[Moby]

Last spring I installed a full PC and 7" touchscreen in my FJ-62. I'm a software engineer at Microsoft so a PC install was a natural choice. It is a dual core Duo with 4GB RAM and a 90GB SSD (the only way to go for off road, I can cruise down logging road with the music and GPS running without any harddrive worries). It is fanless with a heatpump cooling system. The machine and monitor are from www.mo-co-so.com. I have GPS maps with Garmin Mobile PC and I run Centrafuse as a front end. Radio is via an HDRadio module from mp3car.com. OS ins win7 ultimate

Anyway I had been running an Innovate LM-1 wideband for ever since building my hotrod 2FE. The box for this is unfortunately quite large. With the PC I decided to switch to a permanent install LC-1 and run display through the PC. This thread is for the LC-1 install (and a coupled of teaser pics at the end for my next project - a Split Second MAF conversion).

First pics are the exhaust - the wideband O2 is mounted in the front of my dual entry/single exit cat. Both pipes run inside the frame. Last pic is the LC-1 unit itself. This is ruggized and mounts outside the vehicle.

 

[Moby]

I'm kind of a tool nut. I jump on the chance a couple of years ago to buy some chassis punches. These make beautiful holes in sheetmetal. Here are some pics of the tool and punching the firewall hole (below the master cylinder):

 

[Moby]

The LC-1 mounts outside. I stuck it under the cat gravel gaurd since there is no longer a cat outside of the frame. The second pic is the LED that indicates status and the momentary pushbuttom used to perform periodic calibration of the LC-1 to the wideband O2.

 

[Moby]

And here is what the computer monitor looks like. The first is the front end program that I run, Centrafuse, that controls music, radio, maps/gps and other functionality. This software is extensible so you can write plug ins (custom buttons and programs that do whatever you want). The LC-1 has an SDK (software developers kit) that allows you to pull the data from the LC-1 and display it in your own application. My plan is to write a Centrafuse plug in and display wideband data in the lower right of the screen at all times. The second pic is the default software for the LC-1. Currently I just have windows launch this on start up.

 

[Moby]

And here is the teaser for my next project. The first photo is the programmable control unit by Split Second for a conversion from the stock airflow meter (AFM) to a modern MAF. I sprung for the extra that allows data logging so as I program the unit I'll be able to log wideband data from the LC-1 (it has two analog outputs) and knock data from my J&S Safeguard (the blue unit on top). You can also see the HDRadio control box (smaller box on the left with blue and yellow wires). The 2nd and 3rd photos are the MAF itself (it's a stock Ford piece for easy parts availability).

 

[mikeob1]

You are my hero. Awesome idea! That looks pretty cool. How does the innovate box interface to the PC? Serial or USB?

I was thinking of this type of setup with Linux / MP3Car and some sort of standard Analog I/O capture card to eliminate the other boxes.

Gumstix linux box with a an anolog breakout box would be cool. But I'm psyched your doing it in windows. Prolly need that external capture HW to buffer the data in real time, no? 2500 RPM is about 41.6 revolutions per second making each crank rev around 2.5 mS? Should be able to sample that easy in some sort of realtime mode. Ideally everything is clocked off the crank. I just remember old win32 stuff could only guarantee around 25 - 50 ms or something. You would know more than I what windows 7 internals are capable of. Just don't want to miss some samples when the MP3 is changing or the map is scrolling!

My drag race buddy showed me the data capture stuff on NHRA Top Fuel cars. They log everything and pop it up on the PC in the trailer after each run. That is slightly different use case....i'd rather have it in the dash in Real Time with some cool GUI widgetry like you're doing.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

 

[disassociative]

Awesome to see someone doing this! I have thought about putting a computer in my rig, mostly for the GPS, music, and internet access. I hadn't thought of computerizing the engine itself.

Do you plan to eliminate the fuel injection computer? As far as tuning the engine electronically, what are you planning to accomplish? Not being a smart-ass, just trying to understand the capabilities of your system.

Also, can you ballpark your costs so far? I haven't looked into this materially, and it would be nice to have an idea before I try to explain to my CFO that I need a computer for the truck now...

Subscribed.

 

[Moby]

You are my hero. Awesome idea! That looks pretty cool. How does the innovate box interface to the PC? Serial or USB?

I was thinking of this type of setup with Linux / MP3Car and some sort of standard Analog I/O capture card to eliminate the other boxes.

Gumstix linux box with a an anolog breakout box would be cool. But I'm psyched your doing it in windows. Prolly need that external capture HW to buffer the data in real time, no? 2500 RPM is about 41.6 revolutions per second making each crank rev around 2.5 mS? Should be able to sample that easy in some sort of realtime mode. Ideally everything is clocked off the crank. I just remember old win32 stuff could only guarantee around 25 - 50 ms or something. You would know more than I what windows 7 internals are capable of. Just don't want to miss some samples when the MP3 is changing or the map is scrolling!

My drag race buddy showed me the data capture stuff on NHRA Top Fuel cars. They log everything and pop it up on the PC in the trailer after each run. That is slightly different use case....i'd rather have it in the dash in Real Time with some cool GUI widgetry like you're doing.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

Gumstix are very cool, I looked at them a few years ago. They would be ideal for an always on system with low power draw. Then you could run a web server and send commands to the care via http. I wanted a full PC, but there are definitely pros and cons.

I'm under no illusions about Windows real time capabilities, or lack thereof (I'm considering moving to win7 embedded though). The default LogWork software for the LC1 is so fast on my PC though that I have trouble following the GUI. It is way faster than my old LM1 that has dedicated hardware (control box). Logging is the only way to go. The LC1 itself is supposedly fast enough to measure individual pockets of gas. But frankly neither the lack of real time or the speed of the LC1 is really an issue for what I'm doing. I'm not tuning so close to the edge that I need per revolution precision.

The interface to the PC is serial, I run it through a serial to USB cable. I'll be programming against their SDK but I did brush off my bit shifting/unpacking skills to work through their serial protocol. Frankly for a small shop dedicated to hardware they did a good job with both their serial protocol and their SDK.

 

[Moby]

Awesome to see someone doing this! I have thought about putting a computer in my rig, mostly for the GPS, music, and internet access. I hadn't thought of computerizing the engine itself.

Do you plan to eliminate the fuel injection computer? As far as tuning the engine electronically, what are you planning to accomplish? Not being a smart-ass, just trying to understand the capabilities of your system.

Also, can you ballpark your costs so far? I haven't looked into this materially, and it would be nice to have an idea before I try to explain to my CFO that I need a computer for the truck now...

Subscribed.

I'm not replacing the ECU. ECUs/PCMs are specific pieces of hardware dedicated to running your engine (and transmission and other functions, including multiplexed control systems in more modern cars). A modern PC, and particularly when running Windows, is a general purpose platform. Both are very good at what they do, but they do different things and trying to make one do the other's job isn't a good idea.

I installed a PC for all the reasons that you mentioned, but also with the goal of having a "better" system than the money that we spent on the nav unit in my wife's Lexus RX450h (couldn't get the car without the nav system). I'm also using mine for things like the wideband display and AFM conversion tuning (instead of a laptop). I'm also going to be converting my aftermarket analog oil pressure, oil temp, transmission temp and water temp guages to display on the computer using a Fusion Brain (analog to digital converter component). So basically it's just a fun project for me

In terms of how much I have invested - less than the Lexus's nav system, but not much less. You could certainly do it cheaper than I have, but I wanted strong concurrency support (hence the dual core chip), lots of memory for buffering without hitting the disk, an SSD for offroad stability, lots of USB ports (and I've already fill up the 7 or 8 that the machine has), etc, etc.

 

[Spook50]

Very cool Joel. I'm eagerly waiting to see how your results are with the MAF conversion. If you notice a marked improvement, I'll do the conversion myself at the same time I send my extra throttle body out to be bored out.

 

[Callahan Offroad]

I was wondering if there was anymore progress? I come from the import racing scene so something like this would be almost expected to keep tabs on your car, its weird to see that most people aren't running anything like this, in this day in age. Any ways looks great! I'll be doing a similar set-up for my truck simply to monitor everything even though its a carb'ed 2f. Its amazing how knowing exactly what is going on inside the motor makes such a difference in problem diagnosis and in tuning.

What have you found to be your average running a/f ratio?

 

[Moby]

I haven't made more progress on the AFM to MAF conversion. It got an H55F conversion, I've been tuning a set of Bilstein 7100 shocks for it and for the past couple of weeks the truck has been at a resto shop getting the rust cut out.

A/F ratios seem to be on the conservative side. In closed loop I see 14.1-14.7 swings. So I would say that the stock settings have these trucks running a little bit on the rich side (and I fly through smog - very low in all categories at idle and drive).

 

[Callahan Offroad]

thats good to hear, any progress is good progress.

I'd think they let them run a little rich given the head design, and to keep the knock down. Who knows though.

 

[Moby]

Did a little more work on the PC install over the past month. I recently install remote door locks. I've owned this truck since '97 and not having a remote never really bothered me until we had a kid. Now being able to unlock the truck from the passenger side with a remote is a huge help. It was a pretty simple install and the remote unit works well and was easy to wire in.

The unit that I used however has a bunch of extra features. I got to thinking and decided that what I really wanted was to have the PC boot when I unlocked the truck. But I didn't want it to stay on unless I put the key in the ignition.

What I ended up with is a solution that uses a second signal from the remote (i.e. you push unlock a second time within three seconds from the first push) to trigger a timer based latch relay. When the timer relay sees the signal it sends power to the ignition signal on the PC's power supply for 90 seconds. If I put the key in the ignition the "real" ignition signal kicks in and keeps the PC on (or if I didn't use the remote to start the PC it just boots the PC). If I don't put the key in the timer relay drops the signal after 90 seconds and the PC automatically shuts down.

I mounted the remote controller, the timer relay and a new power distribution block to the driver's kick panel. I already had an aux fuse block mounted there. I used nutserts (rivnuts) to mount all of the components. All of the wiring is through Deutsch connections so all I have to do is pull the connectors to pull the kick panel off. Deutsch connectors are overkill for this (these don't need to be waterproof) but I standardized on using these throughput the truck a long time ago so I just use them everywhere I need a connector.

Whew, that was wordy How about a pic?

 

[Spook50]

Dude, that's awesome.

I've been wanting a remote door lock/unlock function for a long time. I take it you did the power lock relay mod before you did this?

 

[Moby]

Nope didn't do any mods other than cut the stock wires from the unlock/lock switch and wired it into the remote controller. It has onboard relays so that the stock switch routes through the 87a path and the remote triggers the 87 path. Because the stock path goes through the normally closed path in the relays (87a) if the unit or the relays ever fail the stock switch continues to work just fine.

The hardest thing about the install was finding the wiring diagrams on the manufacture's website. But they had a wiring diagram that matches the '62s grounded lock circuit perfectly (you can't just apply voltage to the stock wiring because the path is grounded while the switch is in the default state, so you'd blow the fuse). I kind of got lucky on that, I ordered the thing without knowing exactly how I would wire it, just thinking that I had the stock wiring diagrams so I figured I could come up with something...

 

[Spook50]

Nope didn't do any mods other than cut the stock wires from the unlock/lock switch and wired it into the remote controller. It has onboard relays so that the stock switch routes through the 87a path and the remote triggers the 87 path. Because the stock path goes through the normally closed path in the relays (87a) if the unit or the relays ever fail the stock switch continues to work just fine.

The hardest thing about the install was finding the wiring diagrams on the manufacture's website. But they had a wiring diagram that matches the '62s grounded lock circuit perfectly (you can't just apply voltage to the stock wiring because the path is grounded while the switch is in the default state, so you'd blow the fuse). I kind of got lucky on that, I ordered the thing without knowing exactly how I would wire it, just thinking that I had the stock wiring diagrams so I figured I could come up with something...

Not quite sure I follow with the relay part. You wired it so that when the doors are unlocked with the controller, a relay is used and the lock solenoids get full voltage; and if you use the stock switch on the door, the current will still pass through the switch? If I'm correct, I wonder if remote setup you're using will work in conjunction with the lock relay mod, since I've done that (freakin love it) and you have to modify the switch for it to work right. Now that I have a kid myself, I have a feeling I'm going to very much want a remote now

 

[Moby]

The current to the lock solenoids always passes through the remote controller. The remote has an integrated relay. What I did was cut the stock wires and run them to the 87a input on the controller. The 30 terminal on the control relay runs back to the stock wires that were cut. If I use the stock switch the current flows from the switch to the 87a terminal (which is normally closed) and out the 30 terminal back to the stock wiring. If I trigger the remote the controller applies voltage to the relay which closes the relay and sends current from the 87 terminal to the 30 terminal and out to the stock wiring.

I'll dig up the pointer to the wiring diagrams that I used. That will be easier than my explanation I'll find it tonight.

Do you have a link to the door lock mod that you did? I'll take a look at the wiring for that versus what I did.

 

[Spook50]

The current to the lock solenoids always passes through the remote controller. The remote has an integrted relay. What I did was cut the stock wires and ran them to the 87a input on the controller. The 30 relay on the control runs back to the stock wires that were cut. If I use the stock switch the current flows from the switch to the 87a terminal (which is normally closed) and out the 30 back to the stock wiring. If I trigger the remote the controller applies voltage to the relay which closes the relay and sends current from the 87 terminal to the 30 terminal and out to the stock wiring.

I'll dig up the pointer to the wiring diagrams that I used. That will be easier than my explanation I'll find it tonight.

Do you have a link to the door lock mod that you did? I'll take a look at the wiring for that versus what I did.

Here's the thread detailing the lock relay fix. Also details a window motor relay mod that I have yet to try, but will be once I replace my window channels and lube the mechanisms:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/261058-power-windows-door-locks-permanent-fix.html

The way you explained it, it sounds like the remote module you used might work as an easier way to accomplish the same results as the lock relay mod. Sounds like FAQ material

 

[brokenparts]

very cool.