> Is it possible to make something like this interface?

I've recently done a lot of work to make the Excel sheet much easier to use. At some point I'll probably write a program like that, but that really isn't what I'm trying to do with this project.

This project is open source and open hardware. It's a performance setup for people who like to tinker with every possible aspect. Excel is a professional grade tool for manipulating numbers and graphing them. I've seen a lot of cheesy programs for working with CDIs, but all they do is hide things from the user and dumb down the whole experience. When you see what I've done with the spreadsheet you'll probably wonder why anyone would use such a basic program.

In any case the current processor can't do much in the way of communication. When I switch over to the 12F1840 I'll write a program to communicate with the processor and upload firmware updates. It will display RPM, current timing, etc. Later I want to add a temp sensor, battery voltage monitor, and throttle servo control.

But, I don't envision getting rid of the excel sheet. It would just be too difficult and time consuming to replicate everything that I've already got excel doing. I've written some excel VBS to get the curve data in and out of the spreadsheet with just one click, so my program will not need to do all the calculating and other foolery that I already worked out in excel.

For people that don't have excel, it should be easy to get the basic functionality from the OpenOffice Calc program. I don't know if the macros will work, but the basic table generation and curve graph should already work in Calc. So there's really no excuse, all the programs you need to use the project are free.

I'm sure it is a pain for some people to compile the source, but I have a standing offer to compile a HEX for anyone who sends me a spreadsheet or curve data. I've also gone back to working on getting excel to generate the hex, so that should eliminate that problem.



@Gompy... I really want to get my CDI on an engine, badly. But between work, school, and girlfriend I have very little extra time. Work is also my shop, so I have pressures there that usually keep me from getting much done on my engines. I'll get it going soon, but I'm not in so much of a hurry that I'm not going to do things right. I need to get stock measurements, under load, before I can do much with the CDI. I don't want to waste time on trying to rig up the CDI and stock ignition on the same engine at the same time, but mainly I'm waiting for a thread tap to make my shaft and the time to do it all.

I'm in this project for my own goals, so I'm not too worried about what people think of it or if they have problems. I'll try to help them out, but if they have problems or don't like the project, then that's just too bad. It won't hurt my feelings any, and it's not like I'm making any money for my efforts. I should have a v1.0 ready soon, and at that point it should be plenty easy for people to get things working. Once all the default settings are nailed down I don't see how people could have problems. I'll build a few precompiled hex files with generic settings.

It should be easy to make some versions with a stock type fixed advance in table 1 and a generic advance curve in table 2. If they hook it up and it doesn't perform better than their stock ignition with the same fixed timing then they best just forget about the whole thing. When they switch over to table 2 they should really notice a performance boost. From that point if they screw it up they'll know it's their own fault.

At some point the project will really pick up steam. When the performance bike/boat/plane/etc. people figure out how sophisticated the project is becoming they'll be beating down the door to get involved. I think we better get ready for the pace to pick up, or we'll be swamped with *****ing about hardware availability. We can't just have a limited supply from only one person.

If our files were in better order we could have Sparkfun and/or other places that do this sort of thing making hardware available. There's money involved with that also. If you send Sparkfun a design and they produce and sell it then you get a percentage of the sales. It would be great if someone here would do that and put the money back into the project. But this is an open hardware project, anyone can come along and send our designs to Sparkfun and get the profits. Whoever lays out the board in Eagle and comes up with the part list can cash in right away, with no real effort. If someone beats us to the punch it will be hard to ever get that back.

I think we should either start putting together kits and selling them or turn things over to Sparkfun. The biggest problem that I see is that hand-wound transformer. If we could come up with a stock component that works or tweak the circuit to use a standard transformer then things would be a lot easier.


-Jake

P.S. I didn't forget about the booster valve feature, just have been busy.