It is Alive!!!

I have been working on the electrical and data system for several days now. Mike Janis supplied me with an awesome data collection system by Racepak.  It is one of their high end units that links to your PC by Bluetooth so cables and memory stick file transfer is not necessary.

I decided to take it to the next level and purchased one of Racepak's digital electronic control systems called "Smartwire" It is basically a Programmable Logic Controller  (PLC) for race cars. It eliminates having to have relays and other electrical switching devices. It also allows you to program conditional switching parameters to make functions happen. For instance, you can program a function to require multiple conditions to be met before the circuit will energize. A function may be programmed to require that a manual switch be activated as well as some other condition (engine rpm, oil pressure, fuel pressure, etc.)

The system is also fully integrated into the Racepak data gathering system so all events can be recorded and viewed with all of the other data. I will be running all of my electrical events through this system so I can verify that each event happens when it is supposed to. This includes the shifting of the transmission. This is possible because the system allows external triggers to pass through the PLC and be used as a part of the switching logic. I will be taking a sign from The MSD ignition system shifting function and passing it through the Smartwire system to actually perform the shift.

I powered everything up yesterday and started programming all of the functions today and it is really cool. There are a million things you can program into the system.

Here are some screen shots showing how you log data and build functionality logic.

This is the main Racepak page showing all of the channels being monitored and all of the devices that are present in the system. As you can see, there are a lot of things going on in this car!!!

This screen is where you program the digital dash to display the key data that you need to see when you are making a run.

On this page, I have set up a circuit to perform the 1st to 2nd gear shift. I will create multiple conditions for this shift to occur.

This page is where you build the switching logic. Here I have built two methods of making the shift occur. The first method is to take a signal from the MSD ignition system where I have set up my specific conditions to make an automatic shift.

The second method uses the manual shift buttons in the cockpit. These manual buttons will be used during the burnout when the ignition system shift commands are not enabled.

This page is where I set up the lights and brake lights when I am running the Midwest ProMod series. That series runs mostly at night and tail lights are required. Here I am setting up the brake lights (which operate when the brake lines have pressure on them) to only work when I have manually switched on the lighting circuit.

In this screen I have applied the two conditions that make the lights function the way I want them too.

Here are a couple of pictures of all of the wires forming the central nervous system of the car. It was all a mess here but now it is all cleaned up and organized. I will get some final pictures when I get everything done.

It was pretty awesome when I powered everything up for the first time. When the central nervous system came to life, "It is Alive"