<<<I've been struggling a lot this season.>>>
The first step to getting better is realizing there is a problem.
<big snip>
<<<So it was with great interest that I examined GEEZ! GEEZ! was
designed by an autocrosser, it pays contingency money, and it was fairly
cheap. Should have been a done deal.
...except that I had a chance to play with it in the field at the
Virginia Pro, and it suffered from the same sort of laptop-related
problems that OBDTool did. Logging was a little better with the
AutoStart feature, but you still needed to navigate program screens to
get to the logging section, the laptop had to be in the car and on to
log, and battery life was an issue - not to mention laptop
fragility issues.
What's more, the software was... clunky. Not _bad_, or "wrong" but... it
was
harder to do the things I wanted to do than it should have been. I
couldn't find
a way to overlay runs for comparision purposes. The obvious keyboard
shortcuts
for data navigation (the arrow keys) weren't mapped. All little things
to be
sure, but annoying little things. My first impression was "Wow, look at
all the
neat things this can do", but my second impression was "Wow, it's way
tougher to
get the information I want out of this than it should be">>>
<another big snip>
<<<Installing the system was straightforward. Edelbrock supplies a
pre-made wiring
harness that is intended for use in dragsters. You have to open the box
and flip
a jumper to enable the second accelerometer, and the wiring harness
needed a bit
of editing (instructions for adding or removing wires to the harness are
included, as are extra connector pins) Once I sorted out which wires
went were,
I used 3M "vampire" taps to tap into the OEM sensor wires as they
entered the
ECU. When done, I had lateral G, long G, vehicle speed, throttle
position, O2
sensor, injector duty cycle, airflow sensor, air inlet temperature,
engine RPM,
coolant temperature, brake on/off and battery voltage, plus 2 wires
reserved for
steering angle and boost pressure for when I actually buy the sensors.
The unit can auto-start and auto-stop on user-definable criteria, just
like
GEEZ!, but I chose to hook up a start/stop switch - press the button, it
logs.
Press it again, it stops. Driver proof.>>>
>From your comments it is obvious you are more comfortable with hardware
than software. Any product that requires you to go inside the "black
box" to enable the other accelerometer is way too difficult for most end
users. I have the opposite perspective since I am a software developer
but I do have a background in realtime computer systems. So I have a
very great appreciation for what Byron has done with GEEZ. The analysis
software is the key. I personally believe that Edelbrock will NEVER
match the software you get with GEEZ. Not next year, not next decade,
never!
<<<I also got the suprise of my life. Firstly, I was getting repeated
peaks of 1.7G
lateral, with averages in the sweepers of 1.4G. Braking was 1.4G
sustained, and
acceleration was 0.6G sustained. Those are fantastic numbers, if they
are
accurate.>>>
Fanstastic is not the word for these figure. Bogus would be much more
accurate. As an engineer who works for a car vendor you should know
that.
Paul Foster
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