Arduino smart boost control project

[TGP37]

Wanting to build an effective and reliable boost controller. Oh and it's gotta be over the top! My goal is to use touch screen interfacing w/ the option of monitoring PWM, amps and position if servo actuated.

Other possibilities, adding SD card to data log, dynamic boost amounts per rpm/throttle, boost ramp adjustment for traction in 1st gear. Most of which would need an SD card to store the maps and other variables.

Also considering tapping the IAT to trigger an intercooler fan, boost reduction at high temps....and display IAT's

I know it is a LOT to do and will take some time, but we don't do this stuff because it is quick and easy!



Hardware (so far)
Arduino Uno
Seeed Relay Shield
Seeed Motor Shield
Arduino Kit (solder less breadboards, blank shield kits, leds, sensors, etc)
Lots of wire, capacitors, resistors, buttons, switches, fuses

Will get.....
touch screen
SD card shield
CAN bus shield (optional)
strong 12-16v servo (could use a voltage multiplier if needed to power more)
Solenoid for boost pressure to WG
* figured I could use both pressure and servo actuation to fine tune


I made sure to get a good 60w soldering iron.

I believe it would be wise to also build a separate simulation board to test the device before it goes on the car. Or at least have a failsafe in place.


This is literally the very beginning of the project. Lots of resources on the web, lets see where this goes.

The goal is over the top, revolutionary smart boost control.

[pocket-rocket]

Just a small suggestion. Instead of having it run off the IAT sensor that your PCM uses I would just get another IAT and pigtail next time you are at the yard. Some sensors don't behave well when the signal is split, or should I say the electronics don't like to share some sensors.

[Jonpro03]

How do you plan on interfacing a touchscreen? Not with the Arduino I hope.

If it were me, I'd get a hold of an old Android phone and use bluetooth for comms to Arduino. Although, I know some Android phones implement serial over headphone jack, that would be easier.

Datalogging and playback could be done on the Android too...

Oh the possibilities.

EDIT: http://hackaday.com/2013/05/30/givin...a-serial-port/

[caffeine]

I've always thought it would be cool to use the ALDL data to make a sort of digital gauge cluster. You could have pretty much any gauge you could want on it.

[pocket-rocket]

I've always thought it would be cool to use the ALDL data to make a sort of digital gauge cluster. You could have pretty much any gauge you could want on it.

Car-puter.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[Jonpro03]

LOL, been down that road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QQNQ9Uu9qY

[TGP37]

Arduino has touch screen shields. Though will probably be best on the larger version and utilize external power for the screen. Pretty easy to set up too, as far as I can tell.

I have the relay shield to drive up to 30A 120V (way to much for the servo) so it should last a while. Considering the normal boost control setup w/ the solenoid valve and have the servo nudge at certain points. To help close, open faster or create a curve.

Full on servo control would be interesting. Imagine the fine tuning ability. and design isn't to complicated either.


Procket, I thought about that and wondered if multiplying the sensor out voltage by 2x would work to keep the PCM happy. I believe tapping in two lines would half the voltage output....but not 100% sure about that. Otherwise I gotta weld another threaded IAT bung....or not mess w/ the IAT at all...haha.


Pretty much open to ideas, opinions. Brainstorming concepts and avoiding potential walls ahead of time.

[TGP37]

LOL, been down that road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QQNQ9Uu9qY

That's cool!

Though I won't be running windows. Straight up Arduino based controllers, display. and a 3.5" touch screen which is way smaller then in the vid.

I'm hoping to package this project into a convenient project box to be as close to a professional device as possible.

[robertisaar]

Procket, I thought about that and wondered if multiplying the sensor out voltage by 2x would work to keep the PCM happy. I believe tapping in two lines would half the voltage output....but not 100% sure about that. Otherwise I gotta weld another threaded IAT bung....or not mess w/ the IAT at all...haha.

and stop right there.

the way the IAT works, there is(IIRC) a 1K resistor used to pull the circuit up to 5 volts, with the sensor connected, actual voltage the PCM's A/D converter sees is a well-known curve.

if you want to tap into that signal, you'll need a lot of impedance on your A/D sample circuit to prevent the voltage the PCM sees from being modified much if at all. would need to do some hand calculations to see what kind of resistor would be acceptable. certain microcontrollers don't want to see above a certain resistance otherwise accuracy is effected. that point on a 68HC11 is around 10K, but you may want to check your processor's recommendations.

otherwise, i think you could get away with an op-amp, since those have so high of impedance that signal voltage is not effected at all. this is actually what was done for the 89-90 TGPs and their boost guage(it piggybacks the stock 2BAR MAP sensor).

[Guest]

The Turbo Sunbird's boost gauge was also just tapped off the MAP sensor signal.

Personally I don't see why you want to over complicate boost control like this.

[caffeine]

Looks like this is similar to what you're wanting to do:

https://code.google.com/p/multidisplay/

[AleroB888]

I think a 60 watt soldering iron is a bit of overkill....

[TGP37]

Robert, I agree. After thinking 2 seconds about it I realized there might be issues I had not anticipated and said F-IT....about tapping the IAT anyways. I didn't realize the PCM altered voltage like that. Learned something today. Plus I don't want voltage from one board flowing into another if the two are slightly off.

The Raven, because it is fun. No more complicated then the vehicles PCM itself.\

I have a spare 2 bar sensor to measure the boost. And a few POT knobs to adjust certain variables (which I will have on the main box hidden from cab control). The variables like how fast the Arduino commands the WG open.


Best part is......a typical WG opens and closes often during the boost run. The flow is stopped and started often.

The plan is to open the WG just enough to keep a balanced flow. And scale that amount according to MAF in versus EGT (to get a rough idea of exhaust flow amount). Versus pulsing the WG open/closed.

I would need some form of feedback. Like close the WG X mm if boost goes to low.



I'm not doing this out of necessity, doing it because it is hard and I like to make things.

[TGP37]

Looks like this is similar to what you're wanting to do:
https://code.google.com/p/multidisplay/

I thought about it but I do want control w/o having to drill and mount the buttons, switches. Touch screen solves that. Though I am not 100% on that yet, the first sign of any moderate++ complication and it is back to the simple screen.

I think a 60 watt soldering iron is a bit of overkill....

Yeah, a weak solder makes the tip stay longer heating up the equipment. I like to tap the solder as fast as possible to avoid excessive heat. I even blast it with compressed air after the hit, if I am soldering circuits.

Plus, it is good to have if I need to solder some heavier ga wire.

[robertisaar]

i use a 45 watt for nearly everything without issue.