Speeduino (and a little rusefi)

Has anyone messed with one of these? https://speeduino.com/wiki/index.php/Speeduino

I found it doing a random Megasquirt search on the bay of e's last night.  Looks interesting, thanks to a pretty low cost, but also pretty basic.  Not that anyone needs more than that.

And it's more open source than MS is, so if I wanted to privately put in code that I know works well, I could.  Assuming that I could code it (which is a rather big assumption).  

I remember that there was a build thread for the rusefi project, but I've not kept track of it, other than seeing that they are able to run endurance races.  

It's interesting to note that the speeduino is considerably cheaper than rusefi, too...  Not sure why, unless it's more about the integration of the arduino to do a lot of the heavy lifting (which is a very cheap module).

I have not, but thanks for posting! I'm very interested.

So why does it seem like most of the diy efi knowledge is coming from Australia? Speeduino, FreeEMS, HP Academy (ok New Zealand).

Just interesting to me that there seems to be so much dev there on this kind of stuff.

Maybe because everything else is so expensive there?

In reply to Robbie :

MS came from the US.  And it's been around for a LOOOONG time.  it's so stable and usable, the need to develop something different is pretty muted.

You could develop a new Arduino or even Rhasberry Pi version with a lot of time and effort, or just use a proven and reasonably priced system.

When you add shipping of those kits half way around the world, the cost-benefit ratio changes a lot.

For a US developed one- I wish I knew this person a few years ago, since it happened in my back yard- https://hackaday.com/2015/01/28/raspberry-pi-learns-how-to-control-a-combustion-engine/

It's a Raspberry Pi system that uses in cylinder pressure to optimize the control.  Pretty bad ass.

If you're interested in open-source ECUs, check this out:

http://freeems.org/

One of the developers came to last year's Challenge from New Zealand.

In reply to alfadriver :

Holy carp... That last one is pretty astonishing.

Although it's still very much at the daydream level (as it has been for so long), maybe running a MultiAir doesn't necessarily mean dumping $INDUSTRIAL on a Motec or something else just to get enough power (electrical and processing) to run the solenoids. Maybe if attempting that it makes more sense to use something like a Raspberry Pi as a starting point, or look at how to expand an existing system.

Setting aside the giant heebie-jeebies of DBW (I'm thinking cable butterfly is a failsafe worth having), I'm still getting  my head around the fact that cheap, readily available computational power has more than eclipsed the power needed to run fairly complex code at real-time engine management speeds, even though it's old news. It's really neat.

I have. I was not able to get it to work very well. I was trying to put it on to an LS engine. I could hook a signal generator to it on the bench, and it would work great. As soon as I hooked it to the car, it would not recognize the crank signal. 

I recently fixed an issue where the voltage drops pretty low when cranking. I might try it again. It can be put together CHEAP.

Ransom said:

Setting aside the giant heebie-jeebies of DBW (I'm thinking cable butterfly is a failsafe worth having), I'm still getting  my head around the fact that cheap, readily available computational power has more than eclipsed the power needed to run fairly complex code at real-time engine management speeds, even though it's old news. It's really neat.

That has really impacted code in the industry, too.  IMHO, in a really bad way.

TheV8Kid said:

I have. I was not able to get it to work very well. I was trying to put it on to an LS engine. I could hook an signal generator to it on the bench, and it would work great. As soon as I hooked it to the car, it would not recognize the crank signal. 

I recently fixed an issue where the voltage drops pretty low when cranking. I might try it again. It can be put together CHEAP.

 

In terms of the voltage drop out, do you know what it was?  I know there's a big battery voltage drop during cranking, so if the arduino is powered from a battery source, that could be a problem.  So I wonder if the USB power system could be used since it can filter out the voltage drops better.

As for the crank signal- when I read the wiki last night, I noticed that it really wanted a hall effect sensor, and it didn't seem to have a decent VR signal solution.  How did you end up solving that?

alfadriver said:

That has really impacted code in the industry, too.  IMHO, in a really bad way.

I believe you a lot.

alfadriver said:

TheV8Kid said:

I have. I was not able to get it to work very well. I was trying to put it on to an LS engine. I could hook an signal generator to it on the bench, and it would work great. As soon as I hooked it to the car, it would not recognize the crank signal. 

I recently fixed an issue where the voltage drops pretty low when cranking. I might try it again. It can be put together CHEAP.

 

In terms of the voltage drop out, do you know what it was?  I know there's a big battery voltage drop during cranking, so if the arduino is powered from a battery source, that could be a problem.  So I wonder if the USB power system could be used since it can filter out the voltage drops better.

As for the crank signal- when I read the wiki last night, I noticed that it really wanted a hall effect sensor, and it didn't seem to have a decent VR signal solution.  How did you end up solving that?

The LS engine uses a hall effect sensor. I had it hooked to my laptop, so that was supplying power when I tried it.

In reply to TheV8Kid :

Do most GM's use a hall effect?  It seems as if it leans to a GM based system.

alfadriver said:

In reply to TheV8Kid :

Do most GM's use a hall effect?  It seems as if it leans to a GM based system.

The LS series do. Not sure about others. You have to do some special things with pull up resisters and such. I followed a guide of someone that already did it.

I find this really interesting. DIY tuning is something I have wanted play around with for a long time. I never needed to, so I never spent the money on everything required to make it happen. At this kind of price point I could definitely see myself buying in. 

Are these stand alone, or used in conjunction with a factory pcm?

gearheadmb said:

I find this really interesting. DIY tuning is something I have wanted play around with for a long time. I never needed to, so I never spent the money on everything required to make it happen. At this kind of price point I could definitely see myself buying in. 

Are these stand alone, or used in conjunction with a factory pcm?

Stand alone. Honestly, I would recommend a microsquirt especially for your first time. It's about double the price, but there is way more support for it. 

TheV8Kid said:

gearheadmb said:

I find this really interesting. DIY tuning is something I have wanted play around with for a long time. I never needed to, so I never spent the money on everything required to make it happen. At this kind of price point I could definitely see myself buying in. 

Are these stand alone, or used in conjunction with a factory pcm?

Stand alone. Honestly, I would recommend a microsquirt especially for your first time. It's about double the price, but there is way more support for it. 

Or buy something that has been 'cracked'. For example anything with an LS, or a Saab, etc. Then it's just a software download and a connection with the ecu and you're tuning!

Doing the hardware and the software just makes the first time that much bigger of a project.

In reply to Robbie :

I agree. The stock PCMs are very powerful.

In reply to TheV8Kid :

The micro squirt can control a v8 right? But it’s only batch injection due to outputs? How about spark? 

I mean, look at this: https://www.diyautotune.com/product/microsquirt-engine-management-system-w-30-wiring-harness/

$360. For a basic engine controller to learn your stuff on, its pre assembled. All you have to do is wire it into your existing harness! 

Trackmouse said:

In reply to TheV8Kid :

The micro squirt can control a v8 right? But it’s only batch injection due to outputs? How about spark? 

I mean, look at this: https://www.diyautotune.com/product/microsquirt-engine-management-system-w-30-wiring-harness/

$360. For a basic engine controller to learn your stuff on, its pre assembled. All you have to do is wire it into your existing harness! 

It would be wasted spark. Another consideration is it cannot drive a stepper IAC valve. On a race car, this is fine. On a street car however, IAC valves are a really nice thing to have.

Of course if you are upgrading from a carburetor, you would be used to a high idle.

For the LS guys you can get a plug and play solution for $800

https://www.efisource.com/wp/shop/microsquirt-for-ls-composite/#harness-options

I'm running a Rusefi in my Volvo.  I've put probably 3500 miles on it so far, including a 1000 mile road trip.  Rusefi is slightly more expensive than speeduino, but for good reason.  It has quite a bit more processing power, which means running sequential fuel/ignition on a V12, in addition to much larger maps for fuel/ignition.    The board also has a bunch of the things that are add-ons for speeduino built in to the board, like VR sensor interfaces, 12 analog input channels, CAN, etc.

The speeduino seems like a great alternative for a Megasquirt 1/2/micro.

That's funny. I haven't heard of Rusefi. I need to look into that.

TheV8Kid said:

That's funny. I haven't heard of Rusefi. I need to look into that.

There was a running project thread for it, but when I do a search, it doesn't find the thread.

Found it- looking for the wrong words- https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/diy-ecu-build-thread/79518/page1/