Speeduino ECU - Any experiences?
Discussion
Hi all, I am about to receive a "Speeduino 0.4.3" ECU.
I have installed 3 Microsquirts previously so am well versed in setting these sort of things up, but wondered if anyone has any direct experience on here?
Why have I gone for one? a few reasons:
- it's 1/4 the price of a Microsquirt
- it had 4 injector channels vs the MS's 2
- I like to play :-)
I intend to attach it to an ST170 engine'ed Midget project.
I have installed 3 Microsquirts previously so am well versed in setting these sort of things up, but wondered if anyone has any direct experience on here?
Why have I gone for one? a few reasons:
- it's 1/4 the price of a Microsquirt
- it had 4 injector channels vs the MS's 2
- I like to play :-)
I intend to attach it to an ST170 engine'ed Midget project.
My main concern would be the platform, the avr 8 bit platform isn't really designed for hard real-time control and certainly not safety critical systems.
Your main issues will be thermal management and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
I'd recommend something like the ARM Cortex R4.
It's available in a dev board for comparable money and is more suited to the task.
Your main issues will be thermal management and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
I'd recommend something like the ARM Cortex R4.
It's available in a dev board for comparable money and is more suited to the task.
annodomini2 said:
My main concern would be the platform, the avr 8 bit platform isn't really designed for hard real-time control and certainly not safety critical systems.
Your main issues will be thermal management and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
I'd recommend something like the ARM Cortex R4.
It's available in a dev board for comparable money and is more suited to the task.
Its running 100% successfully in over 100 applications so far, doesnt seem to be an issue.Your main issues will be thermal management and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
I'd recommend something like the ARM Cortex R4.
It's available in a dev board for comparable money and is more suited to the task.
particularly as the firmware/os are optimised for the purpose.
Flat-6 said:
the firmware/os are optimised for the purpose.
It's not based on the Arduino runtime framework, is it? I remember being unimpressed by the API design when I was using that a few years ago. It's fine as an easy path for hobbyist programmers to implement embedded projects, which is all it was designed for.annodomini2 said:
My main concern would be the platform, the avr 8 bit platform isn't really designed for hard real-time control and certainly not safety critical systems.
er, what? An 8 bit deterministic 1 op per clock tick uC with a fixed (hardwired) peripheral set is pretty much targeted at (simple) nRT control applications! It's not rated "safety critical" because an engine ecu failure does not directly lead to a life threatening situation. I'd suggest that precisely non of the aftermarket controllers are developed or designed to OEM levels of safety (AutoSars etc)annodomini2 said:
Your main issues will be thermal management and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
Again, no aftermarket ecu's are very good in this area. How many aftermarket engine controllers are Reg10 approved for example? If the ecu is not engine bay mounted and uses coils with built in drivers (most coils these days) then thermal management is not a big issue really. AVRs are available with the automotive temp rating (125degC) so no issues there (in fact, for an non engine bay aftermarket application, extended industrial (105degC) will also be fine in my experienceThe main issue with an AVR as an engine control is that it is relatively slow (in terms of clock frequency, but counters with a 1MIPS per Mhz rating) and having non floating point 8bit wide registers cannot do much complex maths (certainly not a lot of FP calcs for example). But, and baisc engine controller is actually a simple application. If you have a realtively lax tolerance for the accuracy of the Crank Angle Clock (+- 1 degCA is more than good enough, which at 7krpm with a 20Mhz clock gives you 476 ticks/degree) and run batch fired injectors and basic ignition control with dwell then a typical AVR is more than capable of running a basic engine, making good enough power in the aftermarket field.
In all cases, ime, it's the strategy and software that makes or breaks such a project, as the number of people who actually understand how an engine works, and can write good s/w is extremely limited. And here, it's a lot easier to write say 32k of basic code to run an AVR based ecu, than the 100 to 300k worth of code to properly set up and control the average ARM processor (at that level, you almost certainly are going to be relying on "external" libraries for the basic setup and peripheral control, and it's those where the issues lie (and very few that you won't have to pay for will be "safety" rated)
I've used one on recently a Triumph 6 cylinder. Absolutely fine. Uses Tunerstudio (same as megasquirt) so loads of info out there. Worth bearing in mind that you will need enclosure, cabling, ecu connector etc so realistically another £100 on top of the basic kit price.
Personally having used both I would probably go microsquirt simply due to the neat packaging, harness etc but you're into a couple of hundred £ more.
Personally having used both I would probably go microsquirt simply due to the neat packaging, harness etc but you're into a couple of hundred £ more.
Head over to the FB group and the speeduino forum, lots of information and lots of helpful people in the community.
There are fancier versions available aswell, if you want of the shelf solutions.
https://diy-efi.co.uk/product/speeduino_ua4c_ecu
There are fancier versions available aswell, if you want of the shelf solutions.
https://diy-efi.co.uk/product/speeduino_ua4c_ecu
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