Alternative ECUs

The MicroSquirt lacks Pulse Width Modulation. There is no way to feed it separate temperature readings for the two heads. The MegaSquirt V3 costs eleven hundred dollars. There is a storm of SoC (System on Chip) single board micro-computers out now. A few are: the Arduino Mega, the Banana Pi, the Raspberry Pi 2, the Cubieboard 4, and other, more difficult to acquire models. All these units have numerous add-ons, sensors, and expanders. Sadly, they all run on 5 volts (the USB standard), and some of the outputs must be 12 volts. All inputs run zero to five volts, so there is no problem on that side, but -- fuel pumps, ignition coils, and injectors all run on twelve volts. I study up while I can and hope to develop my own "step-up" board to run these. Most of these boards can tolerate 2 amperes and that's okay with the ignition we wish to run, but injectors need as much as 5 amps, and the fuel pump needs a mechanical relay to run it. Any advice on electronic five volt to twelve volt "relays" is solicited.

I did find a company that makes fuel injection systems to order. A V Twin system complete runs from twenty five hundred to four thousand USD, depending on expectations. Their system utilizes the stock ignition and they deride the idea of altering timing or ignition curves. They say the intricacies are too complicated and technical. Well what about EFI itself? That requires some amount of thought.

More to come . . .

Topics