Current State of the Art?

[WesBrooks]

Afternoon all,

Is the community preferred route still the tried and tested MS1 + EDIS-8? Just read through the mahoosive 48 page saga thread and have flashed through bits of some of the other threads on the pinned FAQ post. Not much activity on some of those threads since 2009/2010.

There were a few mentions of people going to try out MS2 and I can see an MS3 kit for in the 'for sale' forum so some must have tried that. I'd be especially interested to see if anyone has experience of swapping from MS1 to MS2, or MS2 to MS3 etc.

I completely understand that many of the features of for instance the MS3 are almost beyond 'marginal gains' for the RV8s but thought/hoped that some of the extra ECU space and hardware development may have been diverted to making the systems easier to setup, more capable of autotuning, more reliable etc...

As it happens cost could see me starting on MS1 or MS2 anyway and planning MS3 later! If that's in mind though I may wire my loom slightly differently to make allowances for sensors or devices I'd like to use on a later ECU upgrade.

Cheers,

Wes.

[WesBrooks]

I guess advice would not be MS1 now:

"The processor used within the Megasquirt-1 is now obsolete and will become unavailable once supplies are exhausted. It is strongly recommended that you consider Megasquirt-2, Microsquirt or Megasquirt-3 products instead."

http://megasquirt.info/products/ms-complete/ms1/

[FridgeFreezer]

MS1 can have the MS2 board plugged in in place of the old CPU, so that would be my choice. Hadn't heard of the CPU going extinct but I doubt the world supply will run out any time soon - also willing to bet there's a SMT version of the CPU that's a direct replacement given a small carrier PCB.

I guess the big question is what do you gain with the more complicated ones?

Given some R&D time I reckon the sweetest solution for the RV8 is MS2 driving LS-style coils or coil-on-plug with built-in coil driver, cuts down a lot of the issues with direct coil drive. But no-one's done that yet, and the V3.57 PCB is a bit of a pig to do the mods to.

Given free time & money I'd love to spin a plug-and-play-ish PCB that takes the MS2 CPU and has the necessary hardware to drive the setup described without lots of mods, would be much nicer. I'd kinda like to do the same for the firmware truth be told, but there's not enough time in the known universe for that to bubble to the top of my to-do list

[Bowie69]

Have to say I have got on very well with Microsquirt V3, it is MS2 based, and has 2 built-in coil igniter outputs now (though for a Rover V8, an EDIS8 unit is still needed).

Otherwise the loom you get with them is excellent, and get-you-started documentation is a lot better than the old MS Megamanual...

http://www.useasydocs.com/

Obviously not upgradable, but for something where you don't want to endlessly hack and have a fit and forget solution, it is very good value. Triggerwheels has also started setting it as part of their kits, given they only sold MegaJolt up until recently, that is quite telling....

[Dave W]

MS2 is a lot smoother running than MS1, everything runs at a higher resolution so fuelling and ignition values are incremented by smaller amounts making it less of a "best fit". I've run both on mine back to back and despite a lot more time being spent to set up the MS1 than the MS2 the MS2 runs noticeably better/smoother. You could possibly get an MS1 running similarly using the high-res variant of the code. I'm still using up v3 boards though which is easier to deal with.

On engines with a stepper motor idle control the MS2 is also a good option for that of course. Look at all the options and see what you can make of it yourself. Cookie cutter installations are all well and good but nothing advances if everyone sticks to the same old formula and never pushes the boundaries.

[Quagmire]

I have MS1 on my 90 running hr_11d code, and MS2 on my Rover P6 both using v3 boards - I have to say that I like the MS2 a lot better. Being able to drive the stock stepper is a big bonus for a start... The "Incorporate AFR" setting is also very handy - saves you endlessly retuning your VE table every time you want to try an AFR change.

The 90 will be getting an upgrade to MS2 when time and funds allow.

[WesBrooks]

Thanks for the feedback so far. The original threads have been really useful for an introduction and reinforcing the need to be methodical and thorough. I just wanted to see how things have been moving along since the threads went a bit quiet. I think the 2009/2010 area was about the same time petrol got really expensive!

[Cheesy]

I bet coil on plug or an LSx coil setup has been done on a RV8, just none on here, if someone wants to give me a set Ill run mine on them!. My 4.5 is on MS2-E and is running 4 low power ignition ouputs (really simple to add 6 resistors and 3 transistors to the proto area) with external igniters firing 4 double ended coils, its not really greatly different to COP of LSx coils, either setup would only require some minor wireing changes.

[Bowie69]

Yep, seen COP on a 1UZ which looked nice...

Coil near plug, like LSx coils, would have almost identical wiring.

[FridgeFreezer]

None of it's hard, just needs someone to do the homework & buy the bits & try it & report back.

My motivation kinda goes once the truck's running, MS1 + EDIS has served me well and I've got other things that need attention. As I said, I'd love to do a full build-up with a dedicated PCB, MS2 and some sort of modern coil setup but it's a load of free time I don't have - unless someone wants to pay me to do it...