Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="sleddog83" data-source="post: 707070" data-attributes="member: 29506">Here is the latest version of the arduino TCI.&nbsp; After my initial successes it stopped working.&nbsp; &nbsp; It ran flawlessly for about four bike runs, then became mostly intermittent if not dead.&nbsp; One of the main issues was that it would not run below a certain RPM.&nbsp; If the battery was a bit run down, the engine would not turn over quickly enough, and the ignitor would not kick in.&nbsp;&nbsp; at least that was what I think was happening.&nbsp;&nbsp; The other contributing problem was that my test jig would not function down in the low rpms.&nbsp; I had to rewrite the test jig software a few times.&nbsp; I have also reduced the chip count on the board.&nbsp; I went down a rabbit hole for a while trying to integrate a tach with the ignitor.&nbsp; I was trying to figure out how to measure the rpm of the engine at startup.&nbsp; My regular automotive meter wasn't helping much with engine speed measurement.&nbsp; Gave up on the tach project for now.&nbsp; Eventually I had all of the software bugs worked out(hopefully), but it was still intermittent.&nbsp; Tried swapping out the output transistor (ST901T) with a oem output transistor.&nbsp; No difference.&nbsp; I think the solution was in the selection of components i had for the inputs.&nbsp; They weren't quite right, but since my test jig was pushing in really strong simulated pickup pulses, it worked well on the bench.&nbsp; As soon as I plugged the board into the bike, it would only work maybe 10% of the tries.&nbsp; I replaced some crappy capacitors and refined some of the resistances at the input and it started working better.&nbsp; Like the 3rd version of the hitachi ignitor, the input transistor are on all the time.&nbsp; When the negative half of the pickup waveform comes into the board, the transistors shut off.&nbsp; If you don't have the biasing quite right on the input transistors, you run into problems.&nbsp; I still think I could do a better job of writing the code.&nbsp; I will continue to work on it.&nbsp; Don't pay attention to the audio on this recording.&nbsp; My bike actually sounds better than that.&nbsp; Here is the link to the video.[MEDIA=youtube]uNlKOTHnTts[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="sleddog83, post: 707070, member: 29506"] Here is the latest version of the arduino TCI. After my initial successes it stopped working. It ran flawlessly for about four bike runs, then became mostly intermittent if not dead. One of the main issues was that it would not run below a certain RPM. If the battery was a bit run down, the engine would not turn over quickly enough, and the ignitor would not kick in. at least that was what I think was happening. The other contributing problem was that my test jig would not function down in the low rpms. I had to rewrite the test jig software a few times. I have also reduced the chip count on the board. I went down a rabbit hole for a while trying to integrate a tach with the ignitor. I was trying to figure out how to measure the rpm of the engine at startup. My regular automotive meter wasn't helping much with engine speed measurement. Gave up on the tach project for now. Eventually I had all of the software bugs worked out(hopefully), but it was still intermittent. Tried swapping out the output transistor (ST901T) with a oem output transistor. No difference. I think the solution was in the selection of components i had for the inputs. They weren't quite right, but since my test jig was pushing in really strong simulated pickup pulses, it worked well on the bench. As soon as I plugged the board into the bike, it would only work maybe 10% of the tries. I replaced some crappy capacitors and refined some of the resistances at the input and it started working better. Like the 3rd version of the hitachi ignitor, the input transistor are on all the time. When the negative half of the pickup waveform comes into the board, the transistors shut off. If you don't have the biasing quite right on the input transistors, you run into problems. I still think I could do a better job of writing the code. I will continue to work on it. Don't pay attention to the audio on this recording. My bike actually sounds better than that. Here is the link to the video. [MEDIA=youtube]uNlKOTHnTts[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]

Verification