Ford Focus ... V8

[Jaffman]

What are your plans , apart from red?

You going to do it?

Lexus infrared. I'm 95% sold on it lol. then black roof & spoiler and I have a few special ideas up my sleeve.

The 2020 Lexus RC F looks rad in red

Even with the giant grille, the Lexus RC F turns heads.

www.cnet.com

I'm not doing it. getting someone else to do it properly. being as I've come this far with it

 

[Barking Mat]

Do it proper like?

 

[Fastdruid]

In relation to your youtube questions....

I painted my inlet this graphite grey colour which I thought would look pretty nice...

(of course then I decided to go ITB and it has gathered dust ever since).

As for your second question...I would use a second arduino to generate the signal for the first. Real question is what voltage is it? If it's 5v then fine, if its 12v then you'll need way to generate that.

There is an example here of someone using an arduino to generate a PWM 12v signal (for a fuel gauge) http://www.greatoldone.co.uk/low-fuel-2 (basically only the right hand side).

 

[Jaffman]

In relation to your youtube questions....

I painted my inlet this graphite grey colour which I thought would look pretty nice...

(of course then I decided to go ITB and it has gathered dust ever since).

As for your second question...I would use a second arduino to generate the signal for the first. Real question is what voltage is it? If it's 5v then fine, if its 12v then you'll need way to generate that.

There is an example here of someone using an arduino to generate a PWM 12v signal (for a fuel gauge) http://www.greatoldone.co.uk/low-fuel-2 (basically only the right hand side).

I'm thinking a nice silver might be the way to go. its grey but shinier lol

I've been sent a link for a signal generator so I can replicate it using that and feed it into the arduino, the trouble I have is, what exactly am I replicating?

it seems like its a 12v square wave that gets pulled down with every pulse of a single (4 cylinder) ignitor then it gets doubled for the second bank of 4 cylinders to get the RPM of the 8 cylinders.
so if I'm getting a 100Hz frequency, that should mean 100 revolutions per second, 100x60 to get revolutions per minute gives me 6000 RPM if ive got my maths correct lol.

 

[Fastdruid]

I'm thinking a nice silver might be the way to go. its grey but shinier lol

I've been sent a link for a signal generator so I can replicate it using that and feed it into the arduino, the trouble I have is, what exactly am I replicating?

it seems like its a 12v square wave that gets pulled down with every pulse of a single (4 cylinder) ignitor then it gets doubled for the second bank of 4 cylinders to get the RPM of the 8 cylinders.
so if I'm getting a 100Hz frequency, that should mean 100 revolutions per second, 100x60 to get revolutions per minute gives me 6000 RPM if ive got my maths correct lol.

I presume you have the manual?

Essentially each bank is it's own 4-cylinder system so on the presumption it's not wasted spark there will be presumably be *2* pulses per revolution (because a 4-stroke has 1 ignition "event" per cylinder every *other* revolution). On that assumption it's going to need a 200Hz signal for 6k rpm [ (6000 / 60) * 2 ] . If it's wasted spark then double that to 400Hz [ (6000 / 60) * 4 ].

Looks like the tacho output is the feed to the coil, the ignitor is pulsed with a ~3.5ms pulse (at tickover anyway), that earths the coil and fires the sparkplug. So yes 12v driven low for ~3.5ms or so at 200Hz should be 6k. Essentially it'll be the *opposite* to the IGT waveform below....although that suggests on the basis of ~25ms between pulses at tickover that maybe it is 4 events per rev, 25ms is 40Hz, (40*60)/2 = 1200rpm, 40*60)/4 = 600rpm.

I would be tempted to be honest to stick an oscilloscope on the tacho output and see what it's actually giving. One of the little digital scopes is only £25-£30 and invaluable if you're messing with signals like this.

 

[PEZZER]

I'm thinking a nice silver might be the way to go. its grey but shinier lol

I've been sent a link for a signal generator so I can replicate it using that and feed it into the arduino, the trouble I have is, what exactly am I replicating?

it seems like its a 12v square wave that gets pulled down with every pulse of a single (4 cylinder) ignitor then it gets doubled for the second bank of 4 cylinders to get the RPM of the 8 cylinders.
so if I'm getting a 100Hz frequency, that should mean 100 revolutions per second, 100x60 to get revolutions per minute gives me 6000 RPM if ive got my maths correct lol.

If it's firing on all 4 cylinders, i'd expect 1 pulse per 2 rotations per cylinder. So if you're reading 100hz = 100 /4 * 2 *60= 3000rpm.

I'd just wire it to input via an optoisolator with a current limiting resistor speced for ~14v. That should still have enough current to work for 5v or similar if that's what it turns out to be.

Just use a simple 555 timer to simulate it. Assume a short pulse (so maybe 95% duty)

If you count pulses via an interrupt rather than sampling it should be fast enough and doesn't really matter what the wave looks like, it'll just trigger on the up or down slope

 

[arther dailey]

In relation to your youtube questions....

I painted my inlet this graphite grey colour which I thought would look pretty nice...

(of course then I decided to go ITB and it has gathered dust ever since).

As for your second question...I would use a second arduino to generate the signal for the first. Real question is what voltage is it? If it's 5v then fine, if its 12v then you'll need way to generate that.

There is an example here of someone using an arduino to generate a PWM 12v signal (for a fuel gauge) http://www.greatoldone.co.uk/low-fuel-2 (basically only the right hand side).

yup, prefer the graphite or steel grey to brighter , personal preferance as ever eh.

 

[Jaffman]

I presume you have the manual?

Essentially each bank is it's own 4-cylinder system so on the presumption it's not wasted spark there will be presumably be *2* pulses per revolution (because a 4-stroke has 1 ignition "event" per cylinder every *other* revolution). On that assumption it's going to need a 200Hz signal for 6k rpm [ (6000 / 60) * 2 ] . If it's wasted spark then double that to 400Hz [ (6000 / 60) * 4 ].

Looks like the tacho output is the feed to the coil, the ignitor is pulsed with a ~3.5ms pulse (at tickover anyway), that earths the coil and fires the sparkplug. So yes 12v driven low for ~3.5ms or so at 200Hz should be 6k. Essentially it'll be the *opposite* to the IGT waveform below....although that suggests on the basis of ~25ms between pulses at tickover that maybe it is 4 events per rev, 25ms is 40Hz, (40*60)/2 = 1200rpm, 40*60)/4 = 600rpm.

I would be tempted to be honest to stick an oscilloscope on the tacho output and see what it's actually giving. One of the little digital scopes is only £25-£30 and invaluable if you're messing with signals like this.

View attachment 276668
View attachment 276670

View attachment 276669

No I dont have the manual, but what youve posted is useful.
do you have a link to one of those cheaper scopes? ill buy one up and see what the score is.

I don't think its wasted spark but I do know that the signal is doubled to get a signal for both banks, so if the output is 100Hz for 100 revolutions each second then its actually 200 revolutions per second to cover the other bank that doesn't get a signal.

If it's firing on all 4 cylinders, i'd expect 1 pulse per 2 rotations per cylinder. So if you're reading 100hz = 100 /4 * 2 *60= 3000rpm.

I'd just wire it to input via an optoisolator with a current limiting resistor speced for ~14v. That should still have enough current to work for 5v or similar if that's what it turns out to be.

Just use a simple 555 timer to simulate it. Assume a short pulse (so maybe 95% duty)

If you count pulses via an interrupt rather than sampling it should be fast enough and doesn't really matter what the wave looks like, it'll just trigger on the up or down slope

Its been a while since I done my electronics degree so I'm gonna have to read up a little more because whilst I understand what your saying, doing it will be another challenge
Like I don't think I've ever come across an optoisolator

I've bought a wave generator to simulate it in the house on the test bench, when it comes to installing it in the car it'll be a different story though


so if I have a 12v pulsed low signal coming out of that wire at a frequency determined by the RPM of the engine, how do I feed that into an Arduino that can only (afaik) handle 5v?
should I run a transistor to pull up a 5v feed whenever the signal is pulled down (earthed)? I cant imagine a relay being fast enough?
then the Arduino reads every pulse, doubles it and that gives it an RPM

 

[PEZZER]

Its been a while since I done my electronics degree

Haha. Other than a bit of microcontroller stuff on comp sci degree, most of my electronics is self taught, so...

Like I don't think I've ever come across an optoisolator

Really simple device - has an LED and a photo transistor combined in a dip package (and probably smaller packages these days). So you can use the battery voltage with the signal (I think you said it's pulled low) to pulse the LED side, and the transistor side to pull up or down a 5v input. Gives you isolation between the two sides, and very rapid switching.

Take a look at:

Using Optoisolators to microcontroller inputs

How to use optoisolators for interfacing signals to microcontroller inputs

www.w9xt.com

opto isolated arduino input

I want to protect a pin with an opto isolator to get an external signal from an electrical meter (35VDC max, 50mA max, 240ms pulse width). The purpose is to count the pulses. Do you have some sche...

electronics.stackexchange.com

etc.

Here's a couple of examples for using interrupt inputs on arduino:

Using Interrupts on Arduino - Technical Articles

We've all been there - you've spent hours and hours trying to get that sketch working, but somehow, you're not reacting well to time critical events in your system. Maybe it's a wireless peripheral indicating when a packet is ready. Maybe it's an external Flash device signaling when data is...

www.allaboutcircuits.com

DC Motor Speed Measurement using Rotary Encoder

I have written the following code to measure the speed of a unidirectional DC Motor.I have attempted to measure the time between successive interrupts in order to calculate speed. boolean check; boolean start; unsigned int angle=5; //angle moved per encoder tick unsigned long volatile time1...

forum.arduino.cc

 

[Jaffman]

Your weekly dose.

Custom Diffuser, The Result - The Flexus Episode 57 - Ford Focus Twin Turbo V8 Project Car Build

It grows on me more and more whenever I look at it tbh

 

[Fastdruid]

Get soldering!

 

[RWD3M]

Your weekly dose.

Custom Diffuser, The Result - The Flexus Episode 57 - Ford Focus Twin Turbo V8 Project Car Build

It grows on me more and more whenever I look at it tbh

I did wonder how you were going to overcome the recess where the number plate sat. Nice solution!

 

[Jaffman]

I did wonder how you were going to overcome the recess where the number plate sat. Nice solution!

Where there is a will, there’s a way. I initially wanted a light bar there for the fog light. Not ruled that out yet either

 

[Jaffman]

Easy job this week finishing off the back bumper

 

[RWD3M]

Easy job this week finishing off the back bumper

You're early!

 

[RWD3M]

Easy job this week finishing off the back bumper

Ford didn't make them symmetrical for the same reason every other manufacturer doesn't.....Cost!

Sad iniit?!

Edit (16.45) It used to be that you got two reversing lights and two foglights. The motor manufacturers then realised they could save 3/6 (that about 17.5p) by just having a fog light on the O/S and a reversing light on the N/S.

 

[Fastdruid]

Ford didn't make them symmetrical for the same reason every other manufacturer doesn't.....Cost!

Sad iniit?!

Edit (16.45) It used to be that you got two reversing lights and two foglights. The motor manufacturers then realised they could save 3/6 (that about 17.5p) by just having a fog light on the O/S and a reversing light on the N/S.

Some they've literally just not bothered to fit a bulb. In annoying cases the actual space for a bulb is there but the contacts aren't.

Easy job this week finishing off the back bumper

On the assumption you do intend on actually getting it road legal to pass IVA (or even an MOT) you will need at least one fog light. The IVA manual gives all the required details (latest version is Oct 2020 btw if you'd missed they'd updated it, rear fogs locations etc are on page 206).

It's a shame on the layout on the bulbs on the Focus though, you are allowed to use the tail lights as fog lights if they are separate to (and far enough away from) the brake lights, eg replace a 5w bulb with a 5w/21w but IIRC the Focus only has two bulbs in the cluster anyway, brake lights and the indicators.

 

[Jaffman]

You're early!

youtube ******** me this week. I set the videos as unlisted for the patrons so they get it early and I can link to it, but within saving the video it made it public for about 5 seconds and it’s basically ruined the videos performance for a day, so I just made it

Ford didn't make them symmetrical for the same reason every other manufacturer doesn't.....Cost!

Sad iniit?!

Edit (16.45) It used to be that you got two reversing lights and two foglights. The motor manufacturers then realised they could save 3/6 (that about 17.5p) by just having a fog light on the O/S and a reversing light on the N/S.

drives me mad, at least on the focus there’s an option to fix it by looking European

Some they've literally just not bothered to fit a bulb. In annoying cases the actual space for a bulb is there but the contacts aren't.



On the assumption you do intend on actually getting it road legal to pass IVA (or even an MOT) you will need at least one fog light. The IVA manual gives all the required details (latest version is Oct 2020 btw if you'd missed they'd updated it, rear fogs locations etc are on page 206).

It's a shame on the layout on the bulbs on the Focus though, you are allowed to use the tail lights as fog lights if they are separate to (and far enough away from) the brake lights, eg replace a 5w bulb with a 5w/21w but IIRC the Focus only has two bulbs in the cluster anyway, brake lights and the indicators.

ive already got a solution, worry not
Everything I’ve done so far has the IVA rules in mind (separating the fuel cell from the cabin for example) so if it ever gets one it should pass without issue

 

[Jaffman]

Its Monday!!!
and I'm on time

 

[arther dailey]

looking good