Anyone get the Boost control to work??

TurboDirect S.A

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone could assist with using a GPIO with a boost control solenoid -- i have connected this up to the Orange with Red stripe wire as the ground wire of the solenoid, and directed a +12V feed to the other side of the connector. In thw Wintec4 software i setup GPIO 8 to use 'FULL TABLE' and configured to use 30HZ or 60HZ and table 1 or 2, and then in the table, I input a number (in percentage) 20, or 50, or 100 --

When connected to the ECU, the GPIO shows the percentage pulse output in percent but no pulsing on the solenoid itself??? Any ideas why?

Another thing i noticed was that depending on which table you choose (1 or 2) and/or frequency (30Hz or 60Hz) the output percentage is halved...??

Please help, need to get this sorted asap

Cheers

**Jon@EMI** · EMI Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 144 Location: Manassas, VA

Which table you use can be easily changed on the fly, but changing the frequncy whent he ECu is on will cause it to behave incorrectly. I won't damage anything (unless it results in overboost), but it's not going to do what you really want until you save the change (making it permanant on the unit and cycle the power to the unit. Some boost solenoids will work at 60hz, but all of them will work at 30Hz. I'd stick with 30Hz for that.

As for not getting the pulsing on the solenoid; unless you're hooked to the wrong pin (which could be if you have version 1 of the manual), I'm not sure what could be wrong. It seems like the solenoid is wired correctly. Try changing GPIO 9 to the Full table setting and see if the solenoid starts working.

You could also do a resistance check on the solenoid and make sure it doesn't have a diode in it. If it does, it will read very low resistance in one direction and a much more normal 50-75ohms in the other. If this is the case, the 12v supply needs to go to the pin you had your positive lead from the ohmmeter touching when you read some resistance. If the solenoid was hooked up backward, the driver would be forced to shutdown because of excessive current draw.

My money says the problem is the function is setup on the wrong channel.
_________________
Jon
Project Engineer
Electromotive, Inc
jon at emi.cc
www.distributorless.com

TurboDirect S.A · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject: Almost there...

Hey Jon,

Thanks for the advice -- looks like your manal is miss-printed, it says that the Orange with red stripe wire is GPIO 8 ... the table works on GPIO 9 , not 8.

Here are the results of the measurements you suggested:-

1) Measured 53 ohms across the solenoid both ways - no diode.
2) Used 40HZ, Table1, and it works fine - BUT ...

The solenoid starts adjusting from around 3% - which is fine, then get louder and louder as the number increases, but start quietening down again around the 40% mark, and it seems that the solenoid cannot handle more than around 47/48 % anything more than this is fully opened, and the solenoid starts warming up ....

Any ideas?

Its not a problem as i will tune this on the dyno anyways, just thought it would be interesting for the rest ....

Thanks again for the help -- problem solved!

**Jon@EMI** · EMI Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 144 Location: Manassas, VA

The low maximum dutycycle is a little strange. I knew you woldn't be able to use the whole range but 47% seems a little low. PWM Idle control valves use a diode in the circuit to help with that very problem. You could try using one of GPIO channels 3,4,5 or 6 (that is 3,4,5 or 6 according to the GPIO screen, it will be 2,3,4,5 in the manual you have) which has that diode installed to see if the reponse improves.

You could also download the manual we have on our website, it has the GPIO corrections (and a few other improvements) in it.
_________________
Jon
Project Engineer
Electromotive, Inc
jon at emi.cc
www.distributorless.com

TurboDirect S.A · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: GPIO - wiring?

Jon,

Tell me, if i choose the other channels, i would obviously have to re-wire the solenoid??

**Jon@EMI** · EMI Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 144 Location: Manassas, VA

Nah, just pull the wire for the GPO you're using now and move it to the new location at the 35 pin connector at the unit. Obviously you'll need to pull out the wire for the new GPO to make room for the one coming in. It messes with the wire colors according to the wiring diagrams in the manual, but it takes 5 seconds instead of 5 minutes.
_________________
Jon
Project Engineer
Electromotive, Inc
jon at emi.cc
www.distributorless.com

Kool · Newly Aquired Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 7

What solenoid is recommended for use. I know electromotive sells one. Is that the only one that can be used or will others work?

**Jon@EMI** · EMI Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 144 Location: Manassas, VA

Most boost control solenoids work I think. I've heard of people using AEM's solenoid. I'm not that familiar with the choices. But pretty much any 2-pin, 3-way solenoid valve should work.
_________________
Jon
Project Engineer
Electromotive, Inc
jon at emi.cc
www.distributorless.com

rdeaner · Stage 2 Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 72 Location: Lubbock Tx

Is there a way to subscribe to a thread w/o posting? This is good info and therefore want to quickly reference it later but would rather not clutter up the thread with non-related info/questions..
_________________
The non-import "import"