Electronic boost controllers

[paulg23]

Just been looking at EBCs to see what functionality they have and I am shocked at the price!! :o What a rip off!! Blitz want £25 just for a T piece!!:rolleyes4

So, what functionality do people need from an EBC? I'm going to look into making some.

Oh, a bit of advanced, bull**** marketing... it will have a 64MHz RISC processor in it./Banana

[Nutter_John]

Ah that will be no good then Paul as CISC is far better :D , well thats what Intel will have you believe

Will give you a call this evening buddy and describe the ultimate boost controller to you ;)

[orionn2o]

The logic behind making a boost controller isn't that difficult, however unless you have a mass market base, I can't see you would make much money, or infact save much either.

If you want super simple then you just want a PWM source and change the duty cycle from a uChip and then run it through an amp to supply you with enough current to driver a 16 ohm impedance (cant remember the impedance to be honest, its been a while).

However by the time you fiddle around giving it an interface thats easily configurable in the car, plus rpm feed, plus read the vaccuum pressure, plus display, plus buying a solenoid etc. You spend enough money just playing about.

On top of that, you will want to build in a fail safe on the micro incase you end up with a stuck output giving you max boost while driving.

[Kenneth]

Any reason why you are not wanting to use the standard ECU boost control?

The standard ECU boost control is pretty good. It is load and RPM based with compensation for various things.

With the ability to modify all the ECU boost control tables I quit my own boost controller project as I couldn't justify the effort to produce something which was less capable or only as capable as the standard ECU.

[paulg23]

I have a '96 PFL auto with a 7201 ECU in it. As far as I can see it's not easy to modify this.

[Kenneth]

Yeah, that is an issue. What would a facelift ECU be worth these days? It might be a bit more expensive but if you have the inclination the possibilities are just about endless.

That aside, I feel a useful boost controller would pretty much do what the standard one does. RPM mapped Load targets with compensation for things such as temperature and knock, some form of correction and the ability to switch boost maps.

My idea of a perfect boost controller

Mapped by turbine speed and pressure ratio (requires turbine speed monitoring and 2 sensors to calculate pressure ratio) targets at specific RPM
Electronic wastegate control. (High torque motor with rotary encoder would do it)
Additional output toggles to activate various accessories (such as bits and bobs to improve spool)
Integrated MAF converter (So you can go to hotwire MAF or MAP)