<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by V8MeatHead &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What's your degree? Where have you worked?

How do you manage to use SMD's? Do you etch your own Printed Circuit Boards? Did you design it on your own use circuits used in others as a model? Im just really impressed that's awesome. Not trying to be all snoopy or anything. </TD></TR></TABLE>

No problem, no secrets here.

I graduated from purdue with a BS in Electrical Engineering Technology. I have my PCB's professionally manufactured using SMOBC, two sided silk screens, tin plating, etc, the usual stuff. I have done as many as 6 layer boards, so this one is a cakewalk in comparision. I hand solder all the SMD parts which is a PITA but with the right tools it goes faster than through hole in some cases. I dream of being able to outsource this board to a board house but unless im building more than 1000 of them, it wouldn't be economical.

As for the circuit design, I designed it myself. There's nothing revolutionary about it, some signal conditioning, some switching circuits, some protection, and lots of firmware to make it all work. It uses a 20Mhz 8bit RISC processor and a real time operating system to manage it all. In comparision, at my full time job, we built a board that uses a 32bit 150Mhz processor with 32Megs of ram, very similar to what a PDA from a few years ago may have. We have also ported a version of linux to run on it. I do all the mixed signal work for that project which includes switching, interfacing, power management, and lots of linux driver modules and kernel hacks.

Really what makes this product less expensive is the fact that it has no-frills. Its got an average joe, old school, inexpensive display. The enclosure is a COTS type along with the boost solenoid (GM). This week I hope to be experimenting with my own 3Bar map sensor and enclosure for it in hopes of finding a more affordable pressure sensing solution.

My test vehicle just got sold and I'm in the process of moving so things won't be going as quickly as I'd hoped in the next few weeks. I'm going to keep working on it but i won't be able to conduct real-life testing for about a month when my car gets put back together. I still have pleanty of other things to do until then.

Any other questions, suggestions, comments, im all ears. Thanks for the kind words everyone

 

i'd be very interested in that diy parts kit
what kind of price range are we looking at here?

 

I cant wait to see this thing in action

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wdwalker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'd be very interested in that diy parts kit
what kind of price range are we looking at here?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't know if you'll ever see a diy kit because of all the things that would need to be done by me anyway. I'm not sure on the price because its not even done yet. Really, the price will be reflected in how much interest i can drum up and how i go about assembling the boards, i.e. if i do them by hand or outsource it. Another thing that'll effect it is what I end up using for a pressure sensor. I'll know more as time goes.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by White Smoke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I cant wait to see this thing in action </TD></TR></TABLE>
Me either lol! Now i just need a local turbo car thats not already broken or sold, doh!

 

Wow man props go out to you for putting in all this hard work

I wish i had the knowledge to do this kind of stuff.

 

Any chance you could put the buttons on the front?

 

Or maybe you could make remote inputs for the two switches, and we could just use 2 momentary pushbuttons mounted in one of our oem knock out panels (or whatever) and it could be a little more "stealth".

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dustin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or maybe you could make remote inputs for the two switches, and we could just use 2 momentary pushbuttons mounted in one of our oem knock out panels (or whatever) and it could be a little more "stealth".</TD></TR></TABLE>

This may be possible and / or they could be some sort of high-boost enable or something.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b16sedan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any chance you could put the buttons on the front?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Probably not, the board the display mounts to is pretty full but i will definately look into and consider it on the next revision!

Thanks everyone!

 

i'll buy one depending on price

 

any updates? (yes im impatient)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SSBPGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">any updates? (yes im impatient)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea, got half of my office moved to the new place....

oh you meant on the boost controller

No updates, gotta get settled into my place before i can make much more progress.

 

any chance we could get like a 4x3 or so lcd readout, displaying air/fuel, boost/vac, and max boost all at the same time? maybe like a serial connection controlled by a pic chip or something that would be killer, instead of having to switch between modes being able to see it all at the same time

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wdwalker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">any chance we could get like a 4x3 or so lcd readout, displaying air/fuel, boost/vac, and max boost all at the same time? maybe like a serial connection controlled by a pic chip or something that would be killer, instead of having to switch between modes being able to see it all at the same time</TD></TR></TABLE>

That would be a major design change increasing price and straying away from my goal of simplicity. The only two ways I could see that happening is in the future, an add on display which would plug into the controllers serial port. The other way which will happen much sooner is through a PC, like a laptop. You would also use the serial connection on the controller and the software will display all the information that the controller has available to it. This is also the same software you'd use to change your rpm/speed controlled boost settings and other specialty items.

 

either way...i want one

 

Still really sweet! Dudes a genius.

 

Keep up the good work. Im interested in seeing where this all ends up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jamartin0519 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Keep up the good work. Im interested in seeing where this all ends up. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Subscribed....

I intend to keep an eye on this thread and hopefully get my hands on one when they are released... Reading all of this has me very interested....

 

Nice man very nice work any more info or progress??

More pics and info

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nice man very nice work any more info or progress??

More pics and info</TD></TR></TABLE>

I got some smoked plexi covering the front of the unit, it looks sick off AND on, pictures to come.

I received my parts to build the pressure sensor but wasn't able to find a part to make it all work together so back to the drawing board on that one, i have something else in mind however.

Also, i've been thinking about the buttons on the unit. If you wanted to put it in the little cubby hole below the radio you'd have to pull it out to get to the buttons which is annoying. I'm CONSIDERING and trying to spec out building a wireless remote control keyfob thingy. I envision it looking like an alarm remote with 4 buttons and a little battery. You would just velcro it to your console, attach it to your keychain, or whatever you want. This would make the actual boost controller and display VERY VERY clean and sleek, all black with a tinted black display. It may raise the price very very slightly but i think it'd be worth it.

Opinions?

As soon as i finish moving my house, err the stuff inside my house, to the new place i'll be able to do more. Until then its just going to be a thing here and a thing there.
I'm glad to see all this interest, its very inspiring and motivating! Thanks everyone!

 

Very impressive work and great thoughts on the wireless remote idea... I like it alot! I am very intrested to see the outcome of this... thanks so much for embarking on such an great project and letting us in on it!

 

any updates?

 

Very nice. My car said she would be a test bunny for it... lol

 

Any updates?

 

Updates please.