COM

Hi John,

Sorry to hear of your problems. I used a version that Rob emailed me. I would like a link to the site where you guys are getting the stuff from. For testing I am using a development board that has rs232 on it. It all works great. I am in the middle of setting up my electronics Room. The wife has me doing too many things. I have not been getting any emails from this web site that someone has replied to this thread. Thats why I have not posted in a while.

COM

Hi Folks,

I would forget the rs232 board and go for one of these:

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?ma...products_id=70

I have one and they work like a champ.

Gompy

I quit with this and all other CDI / TCI projects.
20 people have access to the website, 20 people I ask for feedback and 0 people have given me the feedback I ask for.
Thats not nice for me, I put enough my time and money in it....more than then 10 RC-excel ignitions John.
But wat do you thinking about the programmer, this guy offers his time for nothing and wat did he get back ??????
Nothing, not even a *it looks good* or *nice work* !

EOD

COM

Hi Rob,

I have given plenty of feedback. Sorry you are frustrated, and sorry for not complementing the programmer. He/She did a super job. As I have said I changed the baud to 38400 and with a 16 mhz xtal in the pic I have everything working. I am still getting setup from moving across country. Between working 10 hrs a day and trying to keep the wife happy I have little time to play. I am doing the best I can. Rob what other feedback do you need? As I have said before it all works great,however the pc software ignition controller needs tweeking. There is no icon in the program directory, and some details on what the upload and download buttons do would be good for starters. other than that its all good. You should email at least half the the people you gave access to the website and ask how is it going instead of throwing a tantrum on here. IF you want to throw in the towl then so be it. Thanks for every thing you have done and all the help. So long.

gr8flyer55

Charlie..
I am still waiting for the final parts to complete my boards. coming monday from Jameco..hopefully I ordered the right capacitors this time! Misread the catalog the first time..my fault.
I liked the small size board and it's simplicity. As for the software, still need to install the last updated files so I can test. Been working 2 jobs day and night shift to get caught up with bills here, so limited time to work on anything just like you.

Rob, sorry if I couldn't give any feedback yet. Once I get going, that will change. I'll even add to it on a hookup to the old boards and how I get it working, not a problem...just something I want to do for the project. I have done this in the past and will always do it in the future. A definite improvement over the last project we all spent so much time on. I am still working on that one making changes and improvements... More on that later.

John

Jimmybondi

Rob

i gave you 2 weeks ago a feedback about this project and now i'm sad to read your words :-(

i'm not able to give a feedback for the new design as my engine isn't completed :-(

that i'm here in this stage of building of my engine is very easy:
if i don't find a suitable ignition i have to build a glow engine with different dimensions
(and at a 10cyl it's not only one piston or a head ...)
to buy a ootb ignition is priceless for me - so i'ld have looked for a DIY and stranded here ...

i hope you think about it one more time.
it would be very pity to stop such a interesting project.

i knew the sense that may cause your post ...
(i've felt the same a few months ago because several guys diskredit it and discard it some time later again because more people did like it)


sorrowful greets
Frank

bluejets

Hi Rob,
I gave my aplogies earlier for not having checked my old email address for your answer. I still can not get access with the password you gave me and I am not sure why. I explained this earlier also.
So not able to give any feedback either although I have done so in the past. Hope you don't chuck it in but if that is your decision then thanks for everything.

bluejets

Decided to give it one more try and file came up o.k.
Could be a while before I can get back with any result though due to work comittments.

gr8flyer55

Hi Charlie..
Here's my first completed timer board ready for wiring. I have a few questions though..is R7a actually R8? and do I need to replace that with a jumper if using the thyristor output to my CDI board's input? Or do I replace R7 with a jumper and use the 1k resistor on R8? confused..

John

COM

Hi John,

Yes R7a is Really R8.Our CDI boards need a low going pulse to trigger. You can try Jumpering R7a and see what happens.

gr8flyer55

Charlie.. I etched a few more of the RS232 boards last night. On the schematic showing the DB9 connector, there are dotted lines between some pins on the connector. Are those actual connections or are we just using the 3 wires from the board to the DB9 for ground, tx and rx ? Also, there are two connections from the board to a USB + and - connections. Are those for power to the MAX232 chip ? If so, I still need to make a USB cable for power. I was taking power from the serial port which might have been my problem before, that burned up my first chip and com port.

John

COM

Hi John,

Yes.
On the rs232 schematic I don't see any dotted lines. What schematic are you looking at? You could take a gander at the max232 data sheet. it shows what pins are what.

gr8flyer55

I think I was getting all the older files Charlie,,, I mixed them all up on my hard drive I think,, Hopefully I have all the newest schematics now.
Figured out the hookups so I only need one power source..problem is that I am using 4.8 volt packs. and only work for a while reliably until they go below 5.3 volts after a full charge. The 78L05 regulator on the board chops off the current flow to the timer board after that and the whole thing shuts down. Maybe I'll have to test them with alkaline cells.


John

COM

Ok here is a question for Rob.

Testing the pic I power it up and Porb.0 is input. I toggle the input and nothing happens.If I toggle Porb.1 a few times then PortA.2 and 3 flash and then with input from PortB.0 I get a readout to the Pc and everything works. why does this do this?

COM

This does this with the latest version of the hex file.

gr8flyer55

Hi Charlie..
First , before I get into my repairs, I've got some problems. When I was building the RS232 com-powered interface, I noticed the LED is placed backwards on the parts layout. Mine wasn't lighting up, making me think I wasn't getting power to the board. I reversed the LED and all is well with that part. When I installed the board into my com-1 port and checked voltages, I only get 2.6 volts..not enough to power anything. I guess I'll have to build the USB powered board after all.
The next thing was, after running the setup file for the monitor and CDI table control of the timer board, I noticed it doesn't access my com port 1. It never lights up the LED. I get no green messages or red messages for anything but the table loaded from disk message.
I have other software that accesses the port and that software does light up the LED on the board when I run it so I know the board works. Have you had this problem? I remember you asked Rob about that problem somewhere on here. Did he give you a resolution to the problem? I do have Net Framework installed so that isn't the problem. I didn't see the OPEN PORT section anywhere except for the pull down menu choice for the com-port, but there was only one choice there...com-port-1.

Now for the timer board.. as I have it hooked to my CDI board, when I flag the magnet past the hall effect, it goes into a locked constant spark mode for a few seconds, and then releases. I repeated this a few times and it did the same thing. Something seems to be triggering it other than me with the magnet. At least it does work, making my CDI fire the coil...although it is firing on the leading edge of the Hall instead of the trailing edge, requiring me to change pickup point physically on the motor.
Maybe not having the table loaded into the chip is causing that problem...not sure. but once I get the com board communicating maybe that will go away.

Let me know what you have working and how you fixed things.

John

COM

Hi John,

The com port will not power the pic. thats what the usb is for. The link the the USB to Rs2332 will solve this. It will provide comms and power to the pic. Anyway what version of ignition software do you have? I am running 1.0.0.1.3.6. with it you can select the com port you want to use. I am still having issues. I am testing everything in a development board. My issue is I have to toggle PortB.1 before PortB.0 will work as input. after that I can see rpm and timing curve. I can upload and download just fine. I am making a timer board to use with my USB to RS232 cable. almost finished. I will let you know how it turns out.

Charlie

gr8flyer55

Charlie.. I am still not getting any red or green messages other than TABLE CLEARED from the program. anything I can check to solve this? Without having the table loaded into the pic, my timer board runs erratically.. I set the baud rate for my computer com1 port for 38400 baud rate as suggested. Maybe the version of my software is the problem? I had 2 versions..314 and another one that was newer..but I don't have the version you are running.. Is there anything else I needed to install? I have the newest net-framework 4 installed. Getting frustrated again cause this thing is not communicating with the timer board..I am now using the interface with the USB power to the boards. I get power to the boards at 5.1 volts. I wish there was a way to burn the chip with the hex including the table because I have the hex file in the chip so I know it is working..getting huge sparks from my CDI powerboard #4. Just very erratic as I mentioned.
Any suggestions for the table upload would be helpful. Thanks..

John

gr8flyer55

I can track rpm and angle with the program now..still can't upload the table to the chip ..the jumper is on when trying it...took the jumper off and switch to monitor and that part works.. No green messages however so I doubt if it is recieving the upload.

John

captinjohn

<hr />I wish you guys would post more about selling a CDI that is good for RC airplanes & have some photos of them doing so. Just talking about hooking up wires & circuit boards just does not help sell your end product. Ifit is any good...why not sell it at a price the average person could afford. Maybe $45-$75 USA dollars. You just may get a lot of replys then....maybe a chance to make a modest profit. Thanks Capt,n

COM

Hi John,

Well if you can track RPM and Angle then the pic is talking to the pc. I guess you are running a 16 mhz xtal? make sure that PortA.1 is being pulled low(0 volts) when trying to program.

COM

Hi Cap't this a open source forum. its about building the cdi and auto advance. there are plenty of sources to buy one from. Maybe
some one here could build a and sell you one?

gr8flyer55

Ok..I am running the 16 mhz resonator on the timer board. The board is functioning and able to send the data to the PC. It's just not able to recieve from the program. Do you think maybe the MAX 232 chip is bad? Everything else checks out good..The port is being pulled low.. I checked all the solder joints, nothing there. So I am thinking maybe the 232 chip has a faulty recieve section. Also, I switched back to the comport board and powered it with USB 5 volts and it gave me the same results..can track the timer but not upload to the pic. I only got one MAX232 chip when I bought my parts..maybe the problem is following the bad chip when I swap it back and forth between the two boards. I'm not sure..I'll look at Rat Shack for another chip.

John

gr8flyer55

Hi Captn'..
We are still testing prototypes on here for the timer board and programmer boards. It does take awhile to finalize everything to work together. I have managed so far to have the new timer operate my CDI board which I make here. Programming the timer is my only other problem right now. I run the software and it shows me engine rpm accurately and also the degrees of timing advance to check my work. That part is working flawless so far. It is a computer problem or a faulty chip in my programmer causing the glitch. The project is working fine other than that one problem. I am posting my completed board pictures showing what it looks like.

John

COM

John,

from the pic of your timing board it looks as though you have a resonator instead of a xtal. does it have 3 pins? if so then the middle pin needs to be grounded. They work,but are not as accurate as a xtal.