Thanks. I would like to produce it, but we ran into a platform problem. The microcontroller that I chose for the prototype included a really nice C development environment. I went into the project knowing that this microcontroller would be cost prohibitive for a production platform, but figured we would work that out later. After the prototype was complete, marcucci found a great production microcontroller at a good price, but it only has an Assembly development environment. I haven't been able to force myself to go through the overwhelming process of rewriting the code in Assembly.

 

lol gawd! i'm a computer science major atm and taking an assembly class. i know what you're talking about. but, if you're smart, you won't have to write it in assembly. simply turn on the option in your compiler to save its assembly code as it goes step by step through the compiling process. i've done it a few times to see what my C code looks like in assembly for education purposes. there's no reason you can't do the same for your production unit. any unix environment should have such a function.

back to the VAFC deal. harness... no. there's not one included there. it's not impossible to do or that difficult to do w/o a harness, but here's the thing. without the harness, you have to ensure you're splicing the right wire (which there are MANY!!), then cut the insulation, solder it on, move to the next. with the harness, you match up the color coded harness wires with the VAFC wires of the same color. and you get to do all this on a work bench instead of under the dash. you then unplug the current plugs from your computer, put the harness ones in, and put the old computer plugs into the connectors on the bottom of the harness. and you're done. so if you ever need to remove it, all you do is remove the harness and plug your stuff back into the ECU.

for a new one, go to www.vtecfrog.com but if you want a lower price, hit up the FS boards and look for a used harness. it'll be a bit cheaper, and used or not, it works.

 

My C development kit does show the ASM code, but it is almost 10,000 lines! This wouldn't be a big deal if the assembly for both cores were the same, but they aren't.

Anybody know of someone that would want to gain part ownership in this product in exchange for completing the development of the production unit?

 

[QUOTE=gernby,Jul 28 2004, 12:12 PM] My C development kit does show the ASM code, but it is almost 10,000 lines!

 

Honestly, I think the C compiler was just extremely inefficient. If I remember correctly, the whole C code will fit on one printed page.

 

holy crap gernby that dyno plot looks awesome! did your prototype end up being a plug and play unit?

 

What microcontroller did you select as your platform?

 

I grew up on Intel 8085 HP microprocessor trainer. Experience with Motorola as well. Microcontroller 'stuff' in house, but not used in years. I work with a group of guys that build their own machines to manufacture automotive parts for a living now. I do not have much time (Sundays), but can write code and have interfaced to the outside world. If you have the auto inteface components worked out and have stable analog/digital signals and such, maybe the code wouldn't take that long... I really don't know how deep your c code is.

I used to teach microprocessors at a university, have 2 yr electrical, 4 yr comp sci and masters in manufacutring. This project sounds like a pleasant distraction for me. Let me know what you think.

 

1.21 jiggawatts
above my head now.

 

I apologize to the thread author for going so far off topic...

The prototype is a development board based on the Rabbit 2000 processor. I can't find it on the internet right now, but it is similar to this. The biggest difference between the dev board and the one in the link is that the dev board has all the A/D and D/A channels built in. Since none of the RabbitCore boards include any analog ports, they couldn't be used for the production unit. The platform we were going to use for the production model was the 8051 (I think) since it has analog I/O built in.

The prototype that is installed in my car is hard wired in, just like my V-AFC was. Production units would wire in just like a eManage or V-AFC either directly, or with a plug and play harness.