New Shift Light

[MyElise]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

Seriously, I don't see what the big deal is. I don't track the car, but I do have a feel for it. I know about when to shift, and I have no problem seeing the red light come on in my peripheral vision. I have mis-timed it a couple of times and hit the limiter, but no big deal...

On the track sometimes there's a lot going on and a little red light out of your line of sight just isn't enough. Otherwise, agreed.

[MikeW]

Originally Posted by MyElise

On the track sometimes there's a lot going on and a little red light out of your line of sight just isn't enough. Otherwise, agreed.

Yep. That's the whole point of the shift light. it's there to get your attention when you're on the track. Lots of sensory input. Helmet on, loud Mazdas backfiring. Let there be light. Thanks Lotus for at least giving us the rev limiter.

[dododge]

One of my favorite ideas for shift lights is to put them in the steering wheel itself, ala the Enzo. Google finds a few suppliers of this sort of wheel but I don't know how compatible any of them are with the Elise.

[turbophil]

Dumb question, but why wouldn't a traditional shift light work? Could it possibly be tied into the stock shift light using a relay? e.g. when the stock light flashes it triggers the relay which then triggers a standard high intensity after market shift light... The new system could be pretty easily energized with accessory power so that the new shift light doesn't flash with the alarm... Jegs and Summit obviously sell several different versions of these that could surely be tastfully added to our interiors with some creativity...

Fire away

Best,

Phil

[Dean NZ]

OK - where to start......

Wiring is simple and will work on the Toyota Cars, you are using the wiring that leads to the stack from the ECU and it's a simple matter of splicing into the these wires. It's the same wire & colour codes for S1 & S2 (according to my manuals I have)

Tacho - Connect A4 WB = White Black

Fused Ignition – Connect A3 G = Green

Earth – A2 B = Black

See pic's below for further info.

Now why a shift light that has more than one light..........well first look at most race cars, F1 cars etc even the race bikes, they all have at least 5 LED shift light indicator telling the driver were he is at in the RPM range. I fitted one to my car (Honda powered) when I couldn't hear the right shift point and found after data logging I was hitting the rev limit far to many times = not good for the engine !

I didn't want the single shift light as it only gives you part of the information and is set at one RPM point, might be OK for high gears but no good for lower gears where the engine rate has a much higher increase.

For those of you who don't want to have a flash light sized shift light strapped to your dash and your after a descrete system that tells you when your about to rev the guts out of your motor and you don't want to spend your day looking down at your rev gauge or the single small budget Lotus shift light that isn't giving you the info you need then this is an option.

It gives you a clear idea of the rate of RPM increase and you can easily predict the shift point in either high or low gears. It's helped more than I thought on track, in the low gears you can judge from the rate of climb in the LEDs when to change at just the right spot, as its really hard to hear & judge from the engine noise alone or looking at the RPM gauge as the engine revs so quick in 1, 2, 3 gears.

In the higher gears it does the same obviously but I also found it was good to get a read on the rpm through corners or checking if it's OK to down shift.........I didn't think it would help that much, but not having to look down at the RPM gauge to see what was going on is a major bonus.....I can focus on the stuff outside the car.

At my local track I used to change for a certain long right hand high speed corner (busy on the edge driving), but once the light was fitted I realised I could carry the same gear "just" and hold the gear for the next corner & straight - gained me .5 second with just that chnage in my gear selection.

I have mine on the dash in my feild of view so it's small enough not to be in the way but still in view when needed.

I got mine a while ago after looking for a long time on the net, most are either too expensive or don't have any adjustement/features......so check it out and if you have any questions email me - nzsales@ecliptech.com.au

[Dean NZ]

S2 wiring

[Dean NZ]

S1 Plug Stack same as the S2 as far as i know but sure someone can confirm this ?

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by Dean NZ

Wiring is simple and will work on the Toyota Cars, you are using the wiring that leads to the stack from the ECU and it's a simple matter of splicing into the these wires. It's the same wire & colour codes for S1 & S2 (according to my manuals I have)

Nope, sorry. The Toyota engined Elises use a CANbus instrument system. There is no individual wires to the instruments - instead there is a digitally encoded signal that is sent to the instrument pack that tells it what to display. You can't simply splice in a wire - you would have to create some electronics to interpret the digital signal and have it do your work.

I guess you might be able to intercept the power to the LED in the dash, but I suspect (I haven't had need to open up the instrument pack) that the instrument panel uses surface mount devices, and this is much more difficult to mess around with without screwing things up.

The diagram:

[MyElise]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

Nope, sorry.

That's what I figured Tim. When someone comes up with one that works, I'm in!!!

[turbophil]

Thanks Tim. Great explaination as usual!

Surely there is some kind of tach signal within the ignition control module (or equivilant in the Elise) if not in the instrument cluster??? Wiring diagram anyone?

I hate that virtually nothing of what I know about EFI tuning in GM cars transfers over to the Elise

Best,

Phil

Originally Posted by TimMullen

Nope, sorry. The Toyota engined Elises use a CANbus instrument system. There is no individual wires to the instruments - instead there is a digitally encoded signal that is sent to the instrument pack that tells it what to display. You can't simply splice in a wire - you would have to create some electronics to interpret the digital signal and have it do your work.

I guess you might be able to intercept the power to the LED in the dash, but I suspect (I haven't had need to open up the instrument pack) that the instrument panel uses surface mount devices, and this is much more difficult to mess around with without screwing things up.

The diagram:

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by turbophil

Surely there is some kind of tach signal within the ignition control module (or equivalent in the Elise) if not in the instrument cluster??? Wiring

There doesn't seem to be any such tack signal. Again, the ECU sends the digital encoded CANbus signal to the instrument pack. The CANbus circuitry on in the instrument pack interprets the value in the digital "packet" and moves the stepper motor in the tach to position the needle to display the proper RPM. The speedometer works the same way as do the rest (or at least most) of the lights/displays in the instrument pack. The digital signal is encoded to include the tach, the speed, the temperature, the fuel, and the on/off status of the various idiot lights. All pretty slick from a manufacturer's point of view, as you don't need separate wires for each item - however, it's a pain for people that want to modify things.

The crank and cam signals are picked up from the engine and sent directory to the ECU via shielded cables - again, you would need some kind of electronics to tap into that. The ECU then triggers each of the coils on each spark plug, so there isn't even an easy inductive pickup that you can use on the spark plug wire (there is none). I think that some have tapped into either the coil signal or the cam signal for their data-loggers, but I don't know how this is done.

[jim-clayton]

Here's a pickup for rpm connection to a G2X data recorder.

[MyElise]

Originally Posted by jim-clayton

Here's a pickup for rpm connection to a G2X data recorder.

Now that's the most helpful thing I've seen in a long time. Thanks Jim!

Do you happen to know what the output is? Analog ?? Volts??

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by MyElise

Now that's the most helpful thing I've seen in a long time. Thanks Jim!

Do you happen to know what the output is? Analog ?? Volts??

I just found this...



Tachometer Signal Pickup
Tach Signal GMR Pickup, Provides a splice-free installation
MSD 8918 $36.43


Just think of things you can easily accomplish with our new GMR (Giant Magnetoresistive) Pickup! This little device simply attaches, no splicing or cutting, to a current carrying wire and turns that information into a 12-volt rpm signal. This signal can be used to activate a shift light, rpm activation switch or a tachometer.


Provides a splice-free installation of a tach, shift light or rpm device.

Clip to a coil pack’s voltage wire to produce a common 12-volt signal.

Connect to a diesel injector wire to provide an easy tach installation.

Operates with 5-24 volt input for universal applications.


Very cool

Best,

Phil

[jim-clayton]

I really don't know too much about it. They just tell me what to buy and I install it. Here's some info from MSD

msd link http://www.msdignition.com/2006/06-22.htm


From MSD

? Provides a splice-free installation of a tach, shift light or rpm device.
? Clip to a coil pack’s voltage wire to produce a common 12-volt signal.
? Connect to a diesel injector wire to provide an easy tach installation.
? Operates with 5-24 volt input for universal applications.

Just think of things you can easily accomplish with our new GMR Pickup! This little device simply attaches, no splicing or cutting, to a current carrying wire and turns that information into a 12-volt rpm signal. This signal can be used to activate a shift light, rpm activation switch or a tachometer.
One example is to connect the GMR, which stands for Giant Magnetoresistive, to a diesel injector current wire. This will produce a signal that can be used to trigger a tachometer or a shift light! There’s no easier way to connect an rpm device to a diesel engine! Another example is on a late model engine equipped with a coil-on-plug ignition system. One of the coil’s primary current wires is simply routed into the pickup clip and GMR converts this pulsing into a 12-volt signal for a shift light!

[turbophil]

Well I just purchased the 8919 MSD pickup and am going to give this shift light concept a try. I'll post pics and such as I get things installed. I'm thinking that I'll try this shift light (the one mentioned earlier in the thread):

http://www.ecliptech.com.au/main_win_sep06.html

It looks like the curved unit would be reasonably tasteful on top of our stock gauge pods and very functional. What do you think?


Group buy anyone? I want to order tomorrow (Thursday).

Best,

Phil

[MyElise]

One on the way here as well.

Pretty neat as it seems to be able to read any pulsed voltage and turn it into a 12v signal.

Hope it will drive a light and feed a tach signal to the DL-1. Corner exit rpm's should be better than speed calculated by the GPS.

Thank you again Jim!!!

[turbophil]

Jim,
Yip, one step closer to understanding the ECU and integrating "normal" electronics...

Are you gettting a shift light as well? If so, which one?

Phil

Originally Posted by MyElise

One on the way here as well.

Pretty neat as it seems to be able to read any pulsed voltage and turn it into a 12v signal.

Hope it will drive a light and feed a tach signal to the DL-1. Corner exit rpm's should be better than speed calculated by the GPS.

Thank you again Jim!!!

[jim-clayton]

I ordered the Ecliptech. My buddy has one on his Elise. Super nice unit. Fits nice. Bright lights.

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by jim-clayton

I ordered the Ecliptech. My buddy has one on his Elise. Super nice unit. Fits nice. Bright lights.

I'm thinking the curved model would fit right over our gauge pod. Is that what he used?

Thanks,

Phil