JustRacing Racing Technology Forum

how to design a DAQ system to log temperature

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:11:43 GMT

Author: asfilala

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:11 pm

a DAQ system dat will log temerature chnges of a solar cooker over an interval of 15 mints and will include a data retirival system (obviously programmed on AVR microcontroller) is to be made.....what shud i do...assume i m a newbie to this discipline.what steps shud i take...wat components shall i use ..plz outline a flow diagram illustrating the working and design of such a ssytem..thank u ..have purchased thermocouple k type..and ad 595 also...

ECU Mods

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:31:20 GMT

Author: FullRaceGeek

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:31 pm

If you ar in Houston You are in luck. Get ahold of Esco at (832)798-0000 he owns and runs ECUMODS.com they specialize in Full Race and Street Setups.
He did my ass kicking Type-R and it now severely kicks some serious ass. I have had other do it and decided to give him a try (beast choice in tuners I made) If you are3 not local he will fly out and do your car.

Data questions

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:23:53 GMT

Author: speedsense

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:23 pm

As racers, must everybody is HARDWARE driven. Racers tend to be experts in hardware choices. So when it comes to data systems why would the choices be any different?
Well it should be. Data systems are recording voltmeters with some mixed controls and intelligence that seperates the companies. Everybody is making display units of assorted types. Niether of these items will win you a race, might keep your engine from blowing up, but winning it won't do. This one seems to top most people's list.

SUPPORT seems to also top most people's list. At the race track, there are more data support people then any other product in racing. The only product that racer's will pay for support help. Amazing that most of the time the support is to fix their own design/ programming problems.

EASE of use- What other product on a race car do people buy for the reason that it's easy to use? Do we buy shocks cause they are easy to revalve or adjust? The power of data and what it can do has nothing with how easy it is to use, only to the point that you can extract what you need to know, in a fashion a racer can understand. Just because you can operate a system without a manual does not make it a good system. There are plenty of badly written data analysis programs that are way more powerful in what they can deliver to average guy and what he can get out it, unless the time is invested to be taught how to use it. There is the same amount of really easy systems that anybody can get information out of, but beating the team with the more powerful data system that knows how to use it, is not based on reality but a dream. Easy to use, won't guarantee you'll win a race, you may be a little faster because of it but that's all you should expect. When considering a system the question SHOULD BE, Can the system present to the race team information that tracks and SEPERATES all the movements of the driver, car and the interaction of the race track in a method that is EASY to understand and manipulate? With the added : How long will it take to learn to operate?

What EVERYBODY else is using? If you bought everything that your competitior has will that guarantee you'll beat him. NO, you need much more information than that, all the things you don't or can't see. Same is true with data systems, it's what you don't see that is making them faster....the information and how they are using it.
Most of the PRO series currently spec the data systems. The teams can't chose what they want. They don't use the systems because they want to, but because they have to. That doesn't make the company good, just required.

COST- If I could sell a set of tires that would make your car 1 second faster, would you buy them? After you wore them out, would you buy them again? Sure you would, BUY the right data system and you could have that second last the rest of your racing career. Data systems are tools and should be regarded as such. Do you purchase tools because they are cheap?
In this day and age of computers we should be seeing cheap data logging systems. After all you can buy a top shelf dual-core desktop for less than a thousand dollars and the prices keep falling. Data logging systems pale in comparison as far as intelligence and processing power yet cost way more. For fun, take the back off your (or your friend's) Motec dash or your Aim dash (Careful this will void your warranty and don't touch the PC board, you can kill it with a static charge) find the largest black square on the board (this is the processor or the brains of the unit) . Note the Make and number on the chip, Google it. Are you pissed off? Are you amazed? Don't be, data logging systems are not intelligent and they don't have to be, they are just recording voltmeters nothing more nothing less.

...So far I have mention the items that seem to top most people lists. And so far I haven't mentioned one thing that will advance or impact a team to make them faster, yet they seem to be the most important choices. Far down this list lies the whole reason that data loggers have the impact that they do. The reason that in one session on a teams' home track, an good analysis of the session can give the team an instant increase in laptime and continue to do so in each of the following sessions. It's the software package that comes with the system. It is software that makes the difference yet most everybody overlooks it. This should always be number one on anybody's list.

Data analysis is the most powerful tool that a team can own. When used to it's full capablitiy it can effect the driver, crew chief, engineer, team owner, engine builder, shock tech. It is analysis that will win races, not the logger, not the sensors, not the wiring, not the display. Software design and the ample tools that it can provide to make analysis clear and EASY to see and understand, is where the power that a system's strength lies.
Unfortunately there are very few companies that have programs that address the needs and requirements of a race team's personnel and their racing programs. Most data companies are misinformed by their own lack of understanding of car setup, driving technique, track knowledge and the average general racing public's needs. Most companies software programs reflect ancient data logging techniques of data display: strip charts, (like- signal displays), Reports, exports to excell, Absolute numbers, averages, maximums, minimums, etc. Helpful even for logging an oil rig, helpful if you are an engineer, but not much more than that.
Sure most have track mapping, some have driver displays, bar graphs, video imprints, GPS, rainbow colors on their maps. Nice touch, but still leaves a lot of ground uncovered as far as analysis on all the moving parts including the driver and the importance of knowing the analysis of the interaction of the driver on the car, car on the driver, driver on the track, car on the track, the track on the car and finally the track on the driver. The defining and separation of these six points is missed by all but two companies out there. They are probably not who you think they are. One of them is the price of two sets of tires, the other the price of a race car. You guess who the other one is, don't be surpised if they look the same....

Look at the software and what it can do for you and the information it can give you, that's wants important. There's nothing else involved that's going to help your racing program advance.

George Main
Speedsense
Rep. for Competition Data Systems for 17 years.

Home-built data logger?

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:19:13 GMT

Author: speedsense

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:19 pm

I ran a similar set of sensors on an off road vehicle in 1998. We were testing a new shock technology, still being used today and nothing like you will see on a road race car. We outfitted the vehicle with four 50g sensors in vertical axis mounted on the uprights. In the Front and Rear of the chassis, we mounted 1 3axis (lateral ,vertical, long) 5 g sensor at each end in the vertical plane of the Left and Right wheel hubs. Also mounted four suspension sensors.
This car, ahemmm ..Truck, had 24" of wheel travel.
The accelerations at the hub were in the 30-40 g range (The car was capable of 160 mph on dirt). The arrangement of the G sensors allowed us to track the upright accleration vs. the chassis accleration and seperate the front and the rear of the vehicle. It greatly helped define the shock valving and adjustments. However once we found the best combination, the upright acclerometers weren't needed anymore and the suspension sensors were all that were used as our results directly correlated to the suspension sensor math channels. (shock velocity, pitch, roll (F&R), heave, warp and movement).
On a road race vehicle, the suspension sensors and one or two locations for the accelerometer will satisfy most answers. There is enough math that you can program to calculate most of want you need to know. About the only thing you can't figure out exactly is the actual ride height and tire deflection. You can get close enough for government work, but the actual number will escape.
As far as the logger, just about anybody can built a logger. But the IMPORTANCE of data logging isn't about the hardware. Hardware is only the vehicle to access the information. The power of data logging lies solely is the ability of the software and how the software program can provide the visual aids needed to reliablily track suspension movement. Unfortunately unless you are a programmer and can write your own programs you are pretty much stuck with what the popular systems give you. You can use outside programs like MATLAB and such, but they are not geared at race cars.
There are two system companies that deal with suspension logging (they all say they do) on the market and do it very well. Those are availiable from Pi and from CDS, (Competition Data Systems). The others have suspension channels but their programs are designed by people who don't understand how to setup a race car as well as they know how to program and build hardware.
I personally have used about every system out there, (I am a full time racing data consultant and sell and rep. CDS systems for the last 17 years) and the most popular systems out there currently fall very short when it comes to impacting a team's performance. Some of them are very cheap, but when it comes to the answers you'll get, well that will be cheap too!!!

George Main
Speedsense

New Racing Technology.

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:17:18 GMT

Author: SportyGuy

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:17 pm

Hello. Please send a private message if you can help me locate any team email addresses/info (legal, owner, PR, driver, or chief). I am seeking a partner for my software application in the racing industry. Before you disregard this post your contacts should know what a CMM Level II certified organization can do.(Thats us!) Then we can have a meaningful discussion. Oh, and your people should know I am NOT selling anything. I need know-how technical consulting, in exchange for the first version. See you on the track, see you on the podium. Thx.

Siemens/VDO Electronic Wedge Brakes

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:52:02 GMT

Author: mdadgar

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:52 pm

overmod wrote:

I think the brakes can be programmed to 'simulate' any less-precise braking system, probably right down to the effective pedal feel (via force feedback) -- in fact, I'd suspect there are a number of niche markets for controllers, retrofit applications, and specialty programming for the technology.

Good point. Probably true.

Quote:

The immediate SCCA question would be: if a level playing field is desirable, why stop just with disabling ABS -- why not handicap different braking systems on different vehicles so that effective characteristics are essentially the same qalong the general principle of those NASCAR restrictor plates?

They already effectively do that with minimum weight and maximum wheel/tire size combinations.

My guess is that the ABS thing is a side-effect of the respective race classes being composed of primarily low-end cars that don't all have ABS as standard equipment. Things like Civics and Miatas spring to mind.

- Mark

Tires - Super Slo Mo

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 20:14:09 GMT

Author: mdadgar

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:14 pm

This is just outrageously cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O0b90G8Yhg

- Mark

Optimum Ackerman

Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:41:28 GMT

Author: MPME

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:41 pm

Rather than giving a basic explanation, I found a great archived piece from Racer Engineering for you--gives a much better top to bottom overview.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/images/features/ackermannpt1.pdf

Check Engine Problem

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 05:08:56 GMT

Author: woadey_2002

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 5:08 am

Just curious if anybody knows why my check engine light would be coming on since I have put on my new full catback system.

Frequency Response of G-Force?

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 16:55:35 GMT

Author: Mr.PS

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:55 pm

Hey all,

This is my first post here.

I posted about this in other forums but didn't get too many replies. I have put together my own system that can monitor, data log and control devices. Currently I have a 3 axis G sensor, a few temp sensors, and pressure sensors etc. I have since tried it at the tracks and it works wonders.

I read through some of the threads here and gather there are a few professionals in data acquisition business. I am planning to perform a data acquisition on vertical G-load and using various spring and shock settings. Then perform an analysis of the frequency response.

Is this something you folks in the business do for real racing data? Feel free to post your comments or criticism. I am guessing that Milliken's RCVD book will cover this aspect but I am looking for some hands-on experiences.

Btw, I am first an engineer than a driver. So please gentle.

Thanks for reading.

Boost Control

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 22:54:06 GMT

Author: MR2Driv3r

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 10:54 pm

I have a 92 MR2 Turbo with a APEXi boost controller that was on the car when i got it so i dont have the manuel that comes with it. I just recently took my car to the track and did not run as i had expected to and thought it may be because the boost controller is not set yet and was wondering if anyone knew of a site or could just tell me how i should set everything on my boost control. Thank You

cylinder head 2.0 litre

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 07:25:57 GMT

Author: c4rip

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 7:25 am

Give us some more info. There is a lot of 2.0 engines out there some have great cylinder heads to start with and others don't. What make and model is the engine from, how many cams, how many valves per cylinder.

1600 hp / 3000 cc F 1 engine [] WIN by 2 - 20 Laps

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 23:21:37 GMT

Author: niraima

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2005 11:21 pm

BAHRAIN F 1 RACE

ALONSO RENAULT
57 LAPS 1 hr 29 mt 18.5 secs =5358.5 secs
AVE RACE TIME 5358.5/57 = 94.00878 secs/Lap
LAP TIME [1..30..659 ] = 1 mt 34.00878 secs

ANDY Design System SAVEs

I External Fitting cost : . $ 10,000 each15 days
Air bearing saves 4 secs / Lap
Thermal Jet saves 4 secs / Lap
II Internal Modification cost: $ 50,000.each..6 months
'O' Tyres saves 2 secs / Lap
Andy Engine saves 10 secs / Lap 1600hp/3000cc
III SPEED 300 kmph Now
By I 400 kmph
By I,II 500 kmph
By I,II,V 600 kmph
IV CALCULATE
A. Lead 8*57/60 = 456 s= 7 mt 36 s = 5.0 Laps
B. Lead 12*57/60 = 684 s= 11 mt 24 s = 7.6 Laps
C. Lead 20*57/60 =1140 s= 19 mt 0 s =12.6 Laps
V * NEW on FUEL, Tyre , Chassis , Breathing .
VI Hypothecated
I , II , V SAVEs 30 secs / Lap ' Lap-a-Minute '
Lead 30*57/60= 1710 s= 28 mt 30 secs= 19 Laps

Appan...M.91 098840 21610
..Ph91.044.5218 7716
..Fax..91 044 2371 7799
E mail : niraima@yahoo.com

AIM MXL in BMW E36 chassis

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 23:01:44 GMT

Author: mdadgar

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:01 pm

Anyone got installation tips on installing an AIM MXL in a BMW E36 chassis? How did get RPM readings? How about wheel speed?

Thanks!

- Mark

Best Technical Discussions

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 18:22:12 GMT

Author: MPME

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 6:22 pm

And/or JustRacing.com...