Cerbera Electrical Diagnostics

[Hawkeye1922]

I'm getting a few general sporadic issues with ignition/fuelling control which are difficult to trap using the MBE logged channels. I'm thinking of a couple of different routes to trap and diagnose:

1. Is there an aftermarket ECU out there which has really good electrical diagnostics onboard (like you get in a modern volume car ECU)? And any that have onboard real-time datalogging?

2. I'm considering rigging up a logging oscilloscpe to log all electrical parameters in the engine control loom, but that would require a breakout board to intervene in the ECU harness - has anyone ever made one / know who could?

cheers

Paul

[Juddder]

Greg Scullard (LeFrog) wrote an MBE -> ODBII converter for monitoring his car on track which was something he shared with Aide and I when we were all working on various MBE reading projects.

It would allow you to monitor the car I think with lots of readily available ODBII monitors and get graphs of how your car performs

From Greg's repo

"Arduino-TvrECUOBD

Arduino project - connects to MBE ECU and converts to OBD

This project was created to retrieve data from a TVR Cerbera MBE ECU (should work with all MBE ECUs in TVRs), and convert the data to an OBD compliant output for use in OBD applications on a smartphone, more particularly Harry's Lap Timer application for video overlay purposes.

It is by no means complete in that it mostly gathers data necessary for the lapTimer application, however the basics are there for it to be improved upon and made more generic for OBD (e.g. fault codes, etc...).

The hardware this was build and tested on is as follows: -Freeduino Serial v2.0 -Seeed CAN BUS Shield V1.2 -PLX Kiwi3 CanBus to Bluetooth OBD -Homemade serial shield for debugging (https://arduinodiy.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/max232.jpg)

Note: OBD.xlsm is a summary of request/responses from the MBE ECU, the translation of the HEX responses to actual values, as well as translation to OBD values where appropriate. There is also some other useful reference information on the MBE ECU responses for faults, etc..."

https://github.com/gregscullard/Arduino-TvrECUOBD

HTH Alex

[sgree02]

How about this MBE ECU? Data logger & ODB scan tool. You also get launch control, you'd have to disable the traction control cos that just wouldn't be right.

https://sbdmotorsport.co.uk/product/mbe9a9-mbe9a9-...

[Hawkeye1922]

Juddder said:

Arduino project - connects to MBE ECU and converts to OBD

Alex this looks like it could be very useful - just need to find time to delve into it!

[Hawkeye1922]

sgree02 said:

How about this MBE ECU? Data logger & ODB scan tool. You also get launch control, you'd have to disable the traction control cos that just wouldn't be right.

https://sbdmotorsport.co.uk/product/mbe9a9-mbe9a9-...

Onboard logging will be hugely valuable in trapping these issues. I haven't got wheel speed sensors (yet ) so no launch control or traction possible. It's about £1k more than an Emerald - just got to decide if the onboard logging capability is worth it.

[ukkid35]

Also worth bearing in mind that Joolz has lots of experience with Emerald, so that would likely be a much easier upgrade

[Hawkeye1922]

ukkid35 said:

Also worth bearing in mind that Joolz has lots of experience with Emerald, so that would likely be a much easier upgrade

Kits and Classics Joolz?

I'm in touch directly with Emerald - I've asked them to provide specs on diagnostic capabilities etc for the K6+ - they've gone a bit quiet

[ukkid35]

Hawkeye1922 said:

Kits and Classics Joolz?

I'm in touch directly with Emerald - I've asked them to provide specs on diagnostic capabilities etc for the K6+ - they've gone a bit quiet

Yes, there are some details on his website, the PX option looks particularly good value

[Hawkeye1922]

Now this looks really interesting, and probably the only way of creating comprehensive diagnostics and troubleshooting manuals - DIY!

RusEFI Website