Introduction to RaceCapture

Post by **brentp** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:40 pm

Hi Dean,

Yes! Bad and Good updates.

Bad is that personal / family priorities set us back from our original timelines. Often when one is immersed in a project you're so close to everything you don't see the delay as a whole until they all add up - then the aggregate is noticeable. So- that is a bummer.

Good is that so far, the hardware is looking very good, and the firmware looks great- it will be a very capable an powerful piece of equipment.

Right now we're working on the companion analysis software- 'RaceAnalyzer'. This software will organize the data collected from RaceCapture as "Events", capable of storing multiple capture files as 'Sessions'. A session can be viewed as a 'start / stop', representing one physical file. A drag race or an AutoX run could be considered a 'Session'. For Road Race / Circuit racing, a single long capture file can be split up into individual session based on lap- either GPS coordinates or lap beacons.

With this structure in place, multiple 'Sessions' can be loaded and compared; i.e. comparing AutoX run 1, 2 and 3; Racer A and Racer B, Car 1 and Car 2, and so on.

I'll post screen shots shortly showing some pretty graphics. We're a few weeks away from a basic, usable piece of software.

Dean924s · Post by **Dean924s** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:02 pm

Life has a habit of doing that lollI was supposed to be testing this spring summer and a new house purchase kind of put a wrinkle in my plans. One word MOVING

viatron · Post by **viatron** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:16 am

Am very interested in this project for our race team, we have been looking at data capture this season and this ticks all the boxes plus some we hadnt thought of! Have signed up for beta testing.
I personally would vote for the accelerometer to be on board, i think it would make for a more robust install and placement of the unit in the correct orientation shouldnt be too difficult to achieve in almost any car based scenario.

viatron · Post by **viatron** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:18 am

Brent on the software side for circuit racing i would consider track mapping using the GPS as a must have feature.

Post by **brentp** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:08 pm

Mac,

Thank you very much for interest and feedback. In our Rev B hardware we will have a spot for the same 4-axis accelerometer we have in a tethered form. This approach also has the side benefit of freeing up the external port for hardware expansion.

GPS mapping will be included in the software as well.

sunray · Post by **sunray** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:43 am

I am very interested to see how the gps will work together with the accelerometer module. I can envision being able to datalog and playback each solo or soloII event and see where the strong and weak points end up being on the track.

Post by **brentp** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:30 pm

Hi Sunray,

The software will have optimizations for time trials and AutoX. The Yaw on the 4th accelerometer axis will illustrate understeer and oversteer conditions as well. Also will be good for drift!

dr.occa · Post by **dr.occa** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:07 pm

brentp wrote:Hi Sunray,

...Also will be good for drift!

yes! anxious to see the data for this particular "discipline".

Pha69 · Post by **Pha69** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:58 pm

I'd like to see 8 analog inputs, you could sell the egt probe amps and log all 8 cyl at once. With the gps and gyrometer you could do mobile dyno tuning.

Post by **brentp** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:43 pm

The RJ45 connector on the RaceCapture case is a hardware expansion bus: This will allow for expansion for things like thermocouple amplifiers, additional I/O (analog and/or digital) and so on.

Our RevB board (in fab now) has received minor circuit improvements, more durable with conversion to more surface mount components, and has a provision for an internally mountable accelerometer module (in addition to the tethered design). More details soon.

viatron · Post by **viatron** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:15 pm

Brent,
any update on the availablity of Beta units yet, now moving into off season and testing

Post by **brentp** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:48 pm

Hello!

We recently received our batch of Rev B boards, where we incorporated some minor but significant improvements. Accelerometer module is now on board, and we've added a couple of extra pins to the terminal block, to add flexibility to the tach input as well as an additional ground connection to make it convenient to wire up sensors. Also, we moved to all surface mount components, save things like connectors and so on. This was done to save board space as well as make assembly more efficient. Eliminated the ULN2003 for the digital outputs and went with a more intelligent design with current-limiting - this was prompted after seeing some MJLJ V4's with burned traces due to shorted user outputs

Next step is to program our machines to populate a board and get some testing done. A bit worrisome with the current design is some automotive power supply interference coming through in some environments, causing processor resets / lockups. I think this could be mitigated externally using chokes/filters, but the unit should be more robust internally. Consequently, the power supply improvements we're making in Megajolt2 will likely cross-pollinate back into RaceCapture.

Not really surprisingly, the analysis software we've been developing to compliment the hardware is quite the project on it's own. Progress has happened in bursts. It's looking quite good and would end up being a nice software package that would stand-alone of the hardware. Recent additions have been 3D GPS track plotting, line charts and real-time gauges. Since I'm recycling the widgets from the MJLJ V4 software it will look familiar.

And on a Philosophical topic, it seems that we could've made faster progress on RaceCapture if we had a greater sense of urgency- lacking a 'hard deadline' has allowed us (me) to defer work on this for other shiny objects. Recently, an experience with a 'hard deadline' was one where we prepped our LabRat Miata for the Inaugural ChumpCar 24 hour endurance race. An incredible experience with memories for a lifetime, it also drove home the point that all projects worth doing need a "hard deadline' . If not one pushed on you- like prepping for a race- the deadline needs to be fabricated, justified and held to. This is especially bad for me, because for me, years of working in high-tech startup environments has trained me that the only way I can actually *function* is to opereate fire-fighting" mode. While it has sharpened my skills and senses while in this mode, it has the opposite effect in other ways.

So, this has been on my mind when considering RaceCapture and Megajolt2 projects.

Hope this helps! Did you expect a outpouring on topics of my personal neurosis in addition to factual information?

Related, we've been getting many inquiries on beta testing- I need to catch up on replies so we can get some RevB hardware out there.

Thanks,

gpboy · Post by **gpboy** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 11:46 pm

I figure any analog sensor as long the return value is calibrated it should work right?

Post by **brentp** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 6:06 am

Correct. it will accept any 0-5v signal and Race Capture will either provide the raw value, a simple linear scaling, or a linear interpolated mapped value - all with the goal of providing a real-world, meaningful value.

Old thread! Need a clean sweep on this part of the forum.

ProtoTim35 · Post by **ProtoTim35** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 7:56 pm

I'm nearing completion of building a Hayabusa powered racecar. I recently bought the Racecapture Pro MK3 data logger for this car. I'm trying to figure out how to interface the Busa's ECU through the diagnostics and to the OBD input of the MK3. If anyone can help me with this, I would be very appreciative. I suspect the main thing is that I need to know which wire(s) I need to tap into on the Busa's ECU. I suspect that once I do that and get the ECU connected to the MK3, I'll know if I need any special scripting or anything like that to complete the handshake.

I assume that once I can tap into the OBD system, I will also be able to hook up my shift light that I bought from RaceCapture as well. Thanks for any help in advance.

Autosport Labs

Introduction to RaceCapture

Any updates?

Can we use Mychon sensors with RaceCapture?

Need help with Hayabusa engine data logging to MK3