DAQ/Telemetry testing

[BlueFirePony]

Any of you guys interested and willing to test our new DAQ/Telemetry system on track next year? If so, please PM me. I've got long lead times on some of the hardware so I am trying to plan ahead. Probably won't do any fitting etc. until late Jan/Feb.

Ideally someone in the DFW area so we can work out any details in advance, but we can do that virtually as well if you are comfortable working remotely over phone/internet.
A requirement is that you would be willing and able to run the LCD in place of whatever gauge cluster you have in place now.

We are spec'ing dual 5", single 7", 9" an 10" - so we'd need to chat in detail to get the right fit.

Plan would be two test weekends - Cresson in March and TWS in April.

Wanna know detail response data about your car's balance and reference that against your inputs turn by turn?
Wanna know your tire and brake temps for that one-and-done qual session (where is JK anyway)?
Wanna be that (other) guy that provides 6 cameras worth of video for the 2014 EOY video?

[MikeP99Z]

Interesting. Tell us more about the system.

[AI#97]

Tell me more, I have LOTS of questions.

Also, if it works out, I can sell them since I am expanding my shop into full builds and upgrades over the next 12 months. also we seem to live at the track and with multiple cars, standardization would be great!

[MikeP99Z]

PM sent with number.

[BlueFirePony]

Tell me more, I have LOTS of questions.

Also, if it works out, I can sell them since I am expanding my shop into full builds and upgrades over the next 12 months. also we seem to live at the track and with multiple cars, standardization would be great!

Essentially I envisioned this as a training system for my son and then we rolled in some specialized components and some software to make better use of the input from the sensors.
We still have work to do before rolling this out as a product but that is the plan for next year; now is definately an opportunity to help drive the direction :)


Here's what I wrote in another thread - pretty much all I want to say on the forum at the moment.:

The package is completely modular (so you can install one or more system units) and none of the system units affect engine, chassis, or aero performance, at this time. Essentially nothing that will take control away from the driver or modify the car's performance at any time. Not to say we can't or won't do that, but not our primary focus.

All of the system units are isolated, buffered and audited (by the master control system) so that they can be turned off or completely removed from the car individually without affecting the operation of the other units - so, for example, after dyno they can be sealed. Each system unit can be turned into a one-way car-> pit through software or if necessary by pulling it's telemetry component in which case the master system will just funnel data to the pit.

The diagnostic system(s) (there are four: chassis/steering, aero, engine/brake/driveline, competition/admin) are one-way and read current settings but make no changes. So, for example, the system reads info off CAN bus but does not update - reads brake temp, bias etc. but makes no changes, reads balance data from the chassis sensors but does not affect.

The diagnostic systems do save data locally in the event that telemetry is not available or needed. The telemetry system itself is not terribly expensive (well in hardware...lots of design and development involved)...most of the cost is the sensors.

The driver comfort system is one way (just pulls off the settings the driver has set for the air flow, cooling temp, etc.)

The safety control system is 2-way and uses a double challenge to keep from inadvertently triggering the fire suppression or master kill switch, for example. It is there in the event the driver (God forbid) is ever unable to activate the system.

The AV system is 2-way and allows control of any camera's fulcrum (if equipped) and can currently stream one camera (could stream more but the transmitters are expensive) at a time.

The admin system is two way - it is used for setting thresholds for the other systems and reporting back status but does not "see" any of the sensors of controllable items itself.

In our car we are replacing the OEM cluster with an 11" screen (edit: now looking at options for other cars including dual 5" for height restriction or 7/9/10" otherwise).
Screen defaults to a "performance" view that shows a simple set of key info - tire temp, brake temp, gear, throttle, brake, lap time, etc). Actually this one is going to be customizable because Kyri and I disagree on what and how to present the info - I like graphical rep and Kyri wants just a few numbers - so it will be changeable - key point is that what the driver WANTS to see is there.

Driver can select other info groups if needed with a touch of a button (e.g. map view, detailed tire/brake info, etc.).
Input is currently via a set of large arcade style buttons (big enough for wearing gloves and durable) that can be dynamically lit.

There are some more aspects to the package that we have not prototyped but plan to offer in the initial package - more on those in January timeframe.

[BlueFirePony]

Good news is all my design changes for the prototypes are coming in under my build cost (I think you will like the price point) and operating targets (weight, current draw).
I've sourced some replacement components for my re-designed boards that could drop sensor costs by a third (O_O) if they live up to testing.

Bad news is I have new boards to build which in turn means I need to re-do a lot of my bench testing :/

Good news is we are still on for March :)

Those of you have offered to test, could you PM me your email or just email me brian at bluefireracing dot com. I'll be putting together some templates for mounting measurements in the next couple weeks - I have good generic mounts on paper but want to see how they line up on the various cars.