Boost Sensing with Direct Scan

Acknowledgment: MANY thanks to Mark Clute for turning me on to this.


The lack of boost sensing was the biggest deficit I saw with DirectScan compared to Turbo Link.  It is more complex to use than TL, but at least it can be done.  Rather than trying to reiterate what Mark said, I have simply cut & pasted (with minor editing) the pertinent parts of our e-mail conversations here.  Enjoy, and good luck!



Mark, I was just reading http://www.turbobuick.com threadid 52751 , and you mentioned you had your WBO2 logging in directscan and being reported as MAT.  Was it an involved process to do this?  Can a similar thing be done for boost sensing??  (BTW, electronics are something I know little about, except how to plug 'em in and use them, so please excuse my ignorance. :-D )

Regards,

Dean Nelson


Mark Clute wrote:

Hi Dean,

Logging boost isn't too difficult, all the plug and play hardware is already out there.  You just need to purchase the turbolink boost harness, along with a 3 bar map sensor, and plug it all in.  It converts the map signal and sends it into the mat harness then you can read the temperature change as boost once you build a lookup conversion table.

I created a table, using a high quality gauge like a Mac or Snap-On and one of those Mityvac hand pumps, and for each psi I put on the map sensor I recorded the temp on DS.  That's all there is to it, except for accounting for barometric changes in which case you need to turn the key on and engine off and verify your zero reading from time to time.

Hope that helps,

Mark


Dean Nelson wrote:

Thanks for your time, Mark.  This is a tremendous help!

I already have the boost sensing harness (though I never used it) and 3 bar map, as TL is what I had before getting DS.  It is building the lookup conversion table that I have (had) no clue about, until now.  I do have two VDO 30-0-25 gauges (one is in the car) that track virtually identically, though honestly, I can't vouch for their accuracy.  But perhaps it is to those gauges that I should build the table, since that would be my "cockpit" reference?  I'll check with some friends and see who has what as far as high quality gauges are concerned.  i wouldn't be opposed to just buying one.

I also do have a Mityvac hand pump (pressure and vacuum), so I should be pretty good there, though as I recall when testing my WG actuator, it kinda petered out at ~23-24 PSI.  For that barometric pressure differences, I don't have a barometer anyway, but again, I wouldn't be opposed to picking up one of those small weather station kit kinda things.  I wonder about the accuracy of the more "cost effective" ones though.  Ya get whatcha pay for? :-)

BTW, what does turning the key on and engine off do, and how is the zero verified?


Regards,

Dean




Mark Clute wrote:

No problem on the info. Let em see if I can answer the rest of your questions. If you feel your VDO's are accurate then go with them.  I just found that my 0-30 VDO was reading low by 1 psi, and a friend with the hand pump had a Snap-On, so I used it.

Since the Mityvac only goes to about 24 then I guess you'd need to find someone with a compressor and regulator.  Maybe you could adjust down that low and get the higher readings.  That's the only way I'd know to go about it.

For the conversion table you do this, write down boost in one column from 1 to 23 (or wherever you want to stop), then as you apply each psi with your Mityvac, with DS running, you look to see what MAT temp is showing. When your done, you have your lookup table.  I printed the table I built in real small print, and then taped it next to my laptop screen so I can easily reference it when I'm looking at the DS file.

The barometric pressure thing is this.  You don't need any gauge, you just have to be aware that on any given day the barometric pressure may be higher or lower than the day you made your table, and this will throw off your numbers a bit as the map sensor only knows that zero is the temp reported by DS when the key is on and the engine is off.  If its a high pressure day then the DS temp reading my be higher and on a low pressure day it may be lower but I'm not sure it it works that way or the reverse. Hopefully that's a better explanation.

Another way to look at is this.  Lets say your running 18 psi (gauge pressure), and the barometric pressure is 29.5 inches of mercury as reported by the weather channel for your area, and DS shows a MAT temp of 65 degrees. Now lets say the next day a high pressure front comes in and the barometric pressure is 30.5, your still running 18 psi on the gauge, but DS may now show 67 degrees.  This because the map sensor has no way to compensate for the pressure change.  Ken's Turbo Link has a feature where you turn the key on, and in the TL software you can zero the boost sensing.  That's the same thing you'd have to do with DS.  Turn the key on engine off and see what the MAT temp is so this would be your zero psi starting point if you wanted to maintain comparability between runs on different days.

Well, I'm typed out for now, hopefully that will get ya going.

Mark



So there you have it.  It has only been a few days since I received all of this info, but I'll get to doing it eventually.  Once I do, I'll post some more information on what my table looks like, along with the applicable weather information.  Again, thank you, Mark, for your time.  Man, I love this Buick community.  :-)


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