PLX Devices

[jimmcveigh]

Ant sort of interface possiable???

[Quick]

I don't think so. I think DS took the route of partnering with Innovate to merge the logging and not actually interface the wideband output into the predator itself. That means that Innovate outputs logging info, the Predator outputs logging info, and then you get an integrated log. They're still working on it.

[jimmcveigh]

It appers that they have FAILED! Innovate I mean. Why waste your and our time with a failure. I am suggesting looking at PLX as a solution. Not a problem.

An old 426 guy thanks you,
Jim

[Quick]

I don't think they "failed". They just "failed to implement" so far. I think all the pieces are there but the work keeps getting bumped down in the queue. Substituting PLX for Innovate wouldn't make much difference on that front.

Here is the problem as I see it (just guessing). The desired result is logging with OBDII parameters integrated with wideband sensor output. There are two basic ways to achieve that. The Predator does logging of OBDII parameters. Some/most wideband systems also do logging.

1) you take the scanned/monitored data from one device and feed it to the other as a parameter that can be logged/monitored. The feasible solution here is to take the wideband output and make it look like a OBDII parameter that can be polled by the OBDII scanner. This solution requires additional hardware or hardware modification. The advantage is that it can be made generic. DashHawk had planned to have a piece of hardware (HawkEye) that would sit between the DashHawk cable and the OBDII diagnostic port on the car. The HawkEye would accept 0v-5v wideband input and convert it into a "pid". To the DashHawk it would look just like any other OBDII pid that could be polled on the bus. The analog input could be from anything and you define a formula to convert that to a digital value for the parameter value. For example the PLX 0-5v analog out put represents an AFR value ranging from 10-20. The formula would be 2xV + 10.

1a) The OBDII scanner directly accepts a generic analog input (functionality described above) or a device specific serial input (Innovate's MTS, or PLX's serial, etc.). The scanner would have had to be made that way originally. The DashDAQ is an example of this.

2) Providing that both devices output log information, you can combine the information into an integrated log. No hardware or hardware modifications needed. The problem here is synchronizing the data. The real time clock for both information streams has to be the same. Logging output does not contain "wall clock" time stamps so you pretty much have to have both devices feeding information to a common log at the same time. I'm guessing here but I'm thinking what DS has planned would be to use the real time logging (to a PC) capabilities of the Predator and Innovate's controller. You would hook both devices to a PC. On the PC you would run the logging client that would accept both inputs and output it to a common log. The Predator uses a serial to USB cable and I don't know what Innovate supports.

I was looking forward to the HawkEye but it never happened. Using a PC in the car is not an option for me. What I'm doing now is using a DashDAQ that accepts up to 4 external device inputs. I have the analog output from my PLX SM-AFR running into the DashDAQ. I can monitor AFR on the DashDAQ like any other OBDII parameter. The DashDAQ logs to a SD card in either their proprietary format, Excel CSV format, or LogWorks format. I'm using LogWorks on my PC and it's just a matter of taking the SD card from the device to the PC.