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Some wicked ideas here. I'm intrigued about (41) NonStarter. The starter in a cars engine is massive considering its relatively simplistic purpose. Did you elab

• jacquesm 16y ago
  I think I have non-starter worked out to the point where you could try it. That's the reason why there is an 'open ecu' somewhere else in the list, most ECU's are sealed tighter than a gnats arse to avoid liability. There has been some work on an open ECU though. Another advantage of this would be retrofit start-stop trickery on existing cars while removing parts :) Fuel saver as well as an emissions boost. And I always thought it was a great name :)
  • KoZeN 16y ago
    I'm genuinely interested in hearing more about the non-starter. I've stripped hundreds of starters over the years and every time I thought, there must be an easier way of doing this! I think you would seriously struggle with an open ECU. There are multiple reasons for this but the two main ones would be: 1) Manufacturers charge a ton for mechanics to use their software to acces their ECU and there is a recurring subscription charge for said software so you would be competing against a very monopolistic market. 2) Every car is drasticly different. A universal ECU would need to be a remarkable feat of engineering for it to be able to handle a honda civic as efficiently as it handles a Ford F150. Considering the amount of responsibility ECU's now hold in a vehicle, creating one which can handle parameters for all cars would be almost impossible and probably ridiculously expensive.
    • jacquesm 16y ago
      re (1), there are actually some movements against this, most notably in the EU where such monopolistic practices are actively targeted re (2), yes, but there is less variation than you may think
      • KoZeN 16y ago
        yes, but there is less variation than you may think Is there though? Valve timing, fuel injection, emission control, idle. All of these factors are vastly different from vehicle to vehicle and the majority are variable dependant on how other elements of the engine are performing.
        • jacquesm 16y ago
          Those are all variables though. A well written piece of software would have those as presets that you could choose from a long long list of makes, models and engine codes. Personalize the ecu to the car and you'd have an adapter problem left to deal with. (voltage levels and pinout).
        • dfox 16y ago
          Most of these parameters are not even part of the ECU's firmware, but field-modifiable configuration even in original ECUs.
  • user24 16y ago
    non-starter. I wonder if the car manufacturers aren't interested because starter motors are a nice little consumable?
    • jacquesm 16y ago
      Unlikely, they'd jump on the weight and cost savings. Most starter motors are re-wound, not replaced so the manufacturers don't see a dime of the secondary market.
      • user24 16y ago
        fair enough, I'm not a driver so it was just a thought.
  • dfox 16y ago
    Retrofitting this might prove challenging, because many motors do not have crankshaft position sensor and instead only rotation sensor and ECU interpolates actual crankshaft position while motor is running. Also you probably need individual control of spark plugs, which also often is not the case (for example they might be connected in pairs to save cost of individual inverters).
    • jacquesm 16y ago
      For motors without an encoder it would be difficult, that's true. As for the spark plugs, that's true, but usually the injector rails are 'crossed' from the spark plugs so only one cylinder will actually fire.
• AntiRush 16y ago
  A few (an AMG v8 and a Toyota? at least) direct injection motors already choose the correct piston to start firing. I think they all still use a starter but it would be much less of a stretch to implement this on one of them.