Dicktator: Engine Management System
Dicktator: Engine Management System
Dicktator: Engine Management System
3. How to Tune
What are the Crosshairs used for What is Interpolation What Keys are used Tuning the Fuel Maps Tuning for Fuel Economy Tuning for Power Tuning the Ignition Maps What is Detonation
Installation Guide
Computer Requirements The programming software requires a PC running Windows XP, Windows Millennium, Windows 2000, Windows 98 or Windows 95 release 2 along with the following specifications. Minimum Requirements: 133MHz processor 16Mb of RAM memory 20 MB of free Disk space VGA colour display 800x600 (preferably 1024x768) Recommended: 400MHz processor 64Mb of RAM memory 100 MB of free disk space VGA colour display 1024x768 Installing the Dicktator Software Installing the Dicktator software onto your PC is performed similar to any other Windows software package. These basic steps below should ensure correct installation of the software: 1. Insert the CD-ROM disk into your PCs CD-ROM drive. 2. Run the executable file SETUP.EXE from the CD-ROM drive.
3. The installation program will startup with a welcome screen. Click on OK to continue.
4. On the Begin Installation Screen there is a big square button to start the process. Typically you should just press the button to continue. Otherwise, if you wish you can install the software into a specific folder on your hard drive. Click the Big square button to start the installation.
5. With the icon screen you have the opportunity to place the icon in a specific place on the start menu. Typically you just press Continue and allow the software to place the icon automatically.
6. The progress screen is just in informative screen to show you that the computer has not gotten stuck in a process. Do not do anything with this screen.
7. This is the File Version Conflict Screen. This screen will only pop up if you already have a version of Dicktator on you computer. If it does, then exit the installation and remove the previous version of Dicktator software through the control panel.
8. Once the Installation has completed its task the setup completion screen will appear. Just click OK and the installation is final.
Finding the icon to start the Dicktator software 1. Click on the Start button. 2. Click on programs. 3. Click on the Dicktator folder. 4. Click on the Dicktator Icon
How to connect the Dicktator to the PC software All you need is a standard RS232 serial comms cable. If you dont have a cable and want to make one, its still a simple job. You need a male and female 9 pin connector. Get a 3 core wire and connect pins 2-2, 3-3, 5-5 like in the diagram below.
1 9 2 8 3 7 4 6 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 1 9
Once you have your cable, plug it in to the PC and Dicktator. Turn on your ignition and start the PC software. You will notice that on the Data Display Page is a bold red bar that will change to green as soon as there is a connection.
Number of Cylinders: This is quite self-explanatory. Select the number of cylinders your motor has to get the correct RPM reading. If you are using coil negative as a trigger on a wasted spark system then you will need to half the number of cylinders to correct the RPM reading.
Ignition Divide by: This number tells the ECU to fire the injectors every number of pulses. This is typically half the number of cylinders. Rev Limiter: You can move the rev limiter to the desired RPM value in 100 RPM steps. If the motor exceeds this RPM the ECU will cut the output to what is selected in rev limiter type. Rev Limiter Type: You have a choice between cutting fuel or spark as a rev limiter. It is advisable to cut spark as it provides a more positive and softer rev limiter. If you are using coil negative as a trigger then you will need to cut fuel as spark will not be controlled by the ECU. Startup Prime: This value tells the ECU how much extra fuel to give at the initial 3 pulses of the injectors. The motor needs extra fuel to help quicken starting time. Typical values are from 2.5ms to 15ms. Installed MAP Sensor: Default here is 3 bar This setting tells the ECU what MAP sensor you have installed in the ECU. This is easy to check. Turn the ignition on but dont start the motor. If the correct MAP sensor is selected then the Boost reading on the Data Display Page will read between 0.04 and 0.04 at the coast and between 0.22 and 0.10 at altitude. If the reading is not in these ranges then keep selecting a different MAP sensor until it is.
MAP Sensor Range Scaling: This allows you to set the boost range of the map so you are able to tune using all your map load sites. For example, most ECUs will be sent out with 3 Bar MAP sensors but you only want to boost 1 bar. This would mean that you can only tune using the first 65% of the map. Now with this function you can scale the MAP sensor down to simulate, for example, a 2 Bar MAP sensor without having to replace anything. Never select a range that is lower than the maximum boost you are going to run. Never allow the Boost value on the Data Display Page to read OVER. That means the ECU will not supply the correct fuel and timing at those points. MAP Based or Throttle Based: You can select if the ECU must use the MAP sensor for your primary load sensing or the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). On Turbocharged cars you must use MAP based, and on normally aspirated cars it is preferable to use TPS Based. It is more time consuming to tune a TPS Based car, but the fuel economy gain on a car, with big cams for example, would be worth it. In Throttle based mode the vacuum pipe must be disconnected from the motor and left open to atmosphere. Enable Altitude Compensation: This option will only appear if the Map Based or Throttle Based setting has been set to Throttle Based. In Throttle based mode, the ECU will not compensate for altitude changes unless this setting is enabled and the vacuum pipe coming out of the ECU is open to atmosphere. Please make sure that the vacuum pipe is NOT connected to the motor!
The reason we allowed the ECU to be able to disable the Altitude Compensation is that at higher altitudes the ECU will compensate the fuelling down (only in TPS mode) and not allow you to reach 100% duty cycle on the injectors. It is done this way that there is enough duty cycle left in the injectors when the car does go to the coast. Some customers will never run the car at the coast and will require the ECU to reach 100% duty cycle on the injectors. This is easily done by disabling the altitude compensation. This is done at your own risk as the motor will run terribly lean going to the coast and permanently damage the motor. Spark Mode: This tells the ECU if you are running a single coil or multiple coils in a wasted spark setup. If you are using multiple coils, you will require a home position signal as well. Dwell Control: This tells the ECU what type of igniter you are using. Some igniters are Dumb igniters and need to be given a constant charge time signal, otherwise they overheat and stop working. A typical value here would be 2ms to 4.5ms. Other igniters as known as intelligent igniters and should be given a constant duty percentage signal. A Typical value would be 50%. Duty Percentage/Charge Time: This is where you would set the constant charge time or duty percentage for your selected igniter. Trigger Angle: When setting up this value, you need to use a timing light to check that the value in the Ignition map is what is actually shown on the timing light. For example to check this you would need to put 20 into the entire ignition map and check the actual timing on the motor. If the actual timing was 15 then
you should change the trigger angle and check the actual value again until you get the actual to be 20. Your ignition map is now calibrated, so whatever number you put in the ignition map, it will correspond to the actual timing value. Pot/Auxiliary Input Setup: We believe that once the car is tuned you will have no need for a Pot but due to its great popularity we included the facility to connect a pot to the ECU to allow you to add or subtract a percentage of fuel at any time. We expanded on this function by making its range settable to your needs. The highest range would be +-50% with the smallest range being +-1.56% for super fine adjustment. We recommend that the POT be set to the POT Inactive setting so that it cannot have any affect on the tuning of the car because of being accidentally bumped into a different position. The last option here is to allow the POT feature to be totally disabled and the plug used as the input for the Launch and Anti-Lag Control feature. The settings for this are found on the Outputs Setup Page. Fuel Pump Priming: This tells the ECU how long to run the fuel pumps for once the ignition has been turned on as well as how long to take before turning them off after the motor stalls. This feature is for safety, incase you has an accident where you hit something that also cuts the fuel lines. The fuel pumps would turn off after a few seconds, stopping the fuel poring out and possibly catching on fire. RPM Sites Spacing: This is a decision you will need to make based on how much time you want to spend on the dyno mapping the car and how high you are going to rev the motor. There are 3 options which start at 1500 RPM spacing between ranges with a
maximum tuning RPM of 12000 RPM. This option is the quickest to tune and due to the complex interpolation calculations included in the ECU, we are still able to achieve excellent fuel economy and power figures with such a large RPM step. The next two options are closer spaced, but offer a lower maximum tuning RPM of 9000 for the second and 7000 for the smallest spacing. Fuel Load Sites Setup: This setting is the same as the previous one but it changes the amount of load sites available for tuning for fuel. Again because of the complex interpolation we are able to achieve good figures with only 9 load sites per each RPM range. This cuts tuning time down dramatically and also the amount of strain put on the motor during dyno tuning as less time is spent running the motor hard while tuning.
Throttle Position Sensor: If you have chosen to use TPS Based load sensing then you need to calibrate the TPS Sensor. Click on Calibrate TPS and take your foot completely off the throttle and click on Accept Throttle Position. Now press the throttle open completely and click the same button again. The TPS sensor is now calibrated.
Water Temperature Sensor: The easiest way to calibrate these sensors is to look at the preset values list to see if your sensor is in the list. If it is click on it and the values will be inserted automatically. If not you will need to calibrate it manually. This requires you to first put the sensor in ice water and read the ohms on the sensor. You must always wait a bit for the sensor to stabilize to the new temperature. This will give you the 0 deg C value. Now put some water in the kettle and boil it. Once it has boiled put the sensor in the water and measure the ohms. This will give you the 100 deg C value. Let the water cool using a thermometer to check the temperature. When the water gets to 80 deg C then check the value on the sensor. Do the same with 60, 40, 20 deg C. You will now have most of the calibrating values. You will now need to put the values into the software. Using the left and right arrows on the keyboard, set the software to the closest value to what the real value is for that temperature. Then use the up or down arrows to go to the next temperature and do the same. For the -20 deg C and 120 deg C, you will need to guess those values as you cannot check them. Look at how the values are going and guess what the value would be and set it. Your sensor is now calibrated. Air Temperature Sensor: With the air temp sensor you will need to do the same thing as the water temperature sensor. Use water again to check the sensor.
Input Trigger Edge: For Std or Wasted Spark ecus The default setting here for most vehicles is falling edge. This edge can be changed to rising if there is a problem with the distributor phasing being too far out and the spark starts jumping to the incorrect poles in the distributor cap. Changing this setting will move the phase point between 45 to 150 degrees depending on the input signal, so be careful with this setting. For 60-2 or 36-1 Ecus Default setting is falling edge. Changing to rising edge will advance the trigger angle and the timing 24 degrees for 60-2 and 40 degrees for 36-1 Home Position Edge: This Setting works exactly the same way, except it is for the home position signal. The main reason for changing this signal is to make sure the Dicktator sees home position a fair amount of degrees before the trigger signal. Normally this setting is set opposite to the trigger edge setting. Spark Trigger Edge: This setting is crucial to get correct. If it is set incorrectly, permanent damage can occur to the ignition module and coil. This setting is almost always falling edge. The most common vehicle to have a rising edge module is Honda. There are still a few Hondas that have falling edge modules installed.
Dicktator does not take any responsibility whatsoever for damage to the ignition system.
When the engine RPM is higher than the Close RPM point then the output will be switched back off again. Therefore, you will notice that the engine RPM has to be between the Open RPM point and the Close RPM point. Remember that the Close RPM point must always be higher than the Open RPM point. If you are using this output to control NOS, make sure that the close RPM point is about 300RPM below the set rev limiter to make sure you dont hit the limiter with the NOS active. Hitting the rev limiter with NOS active is dangerous to the motor. Load Point When the engine Load is higher than the Load Point setting and the other two parameters are met then the output will be activated. This can be used to switch NOS on at full throttle for example. Hysteresis This value is the difference in RPM where the output switches on and off. It is good practice to allow about 200RPM here to stop the output from switching on and off very quickly if you were holding the motor right on that point.
Ignition Retard The purpose of having the ignition retard feature is to allow the turbo to spool up in neutral with no load on the motor. Use this value to vary the amount of boost wanted in launch control mode. Percentage of Fuel to Add When in launch control mode the car will get hot fairly quickly and could also pop quite loudly out the exhaust. This is fixed with adding extra fuel. With the correct amount of extra fuel added, the motor will sound smooth in launch control mode.
come down to Target idle RPM. If this value is to low then the car will want to stall every time you come to a stop sign.
Startup Position: This value allows the idle control to open the idle motor enough to rev the car slightly under startup conditions to improve startup time. Idle Response: This value tells the ECU how quickly to react to the changes in RPM. The bigger the value the slower it will react. If the value is to big, the control may not catch the motor if it drops to low in RPM. If the response is to fast, the motor will rev and fall and rev again and again and never stabilize at target idle.
Now, take the Idle Response value and make it as small as possible before the idle control gets too aggressive and starts to hunt up and down. Remember to rev the motor and check that the engine comes to idle smoothly.
Battery Voltage: These values are set by us to default values which we have tested and found to be quite universal to all injectors. These values should not normally need to be changed unless you can thoroughly test that the values are incorrect. Do not change these values unless you are sure you know what to look for. Water Temperature Compensation:
These values have also been set to default values and have been found to be quite universal. If you wish to changes these values then be sure that you only set these values after you have calibrated the sensors and have tuned the fuelling map completely. When setting these values, wait till the car is cold, start it, look at the current water temperature and set the corresponding value to the smallest value that allows the motor to run smoothly. As the car warms up, set the following values till the car is warm. Air Temperature Compensation: Same as the water and battery maps, these values have been carefully chosen to how air behaves to heating and cooling. The Air temperature sensor is the final part of the fuel injection system that provides the best fuel economy and smoothness figures the system will see. If there is no air temperature sensor connected then these values should be all set to zero before any tuning is done.
The dead band is the amount the throttle has to be moved before the ECU activates the Throttle Pump routine. If this value is too small, the Throttle Pump will activate even while the car is cruising or idling. If the number is too large, the Throttle Pump function will not be activated. De-Activate Over: This value is the point at which the ECU will stop looking for throttle changes. Normally this value is set slightly lower than the atmospheric value. Try not to set this value to a value in boost as unpredictable results could appear that you might not see on the road.
How to Navigate through the Map: There are two styles of fuel map display. The first is the numeric grid, and the second is the graphical floating balls with lines joining them. No matter which one you use, the keystrokes are identical. The main difference between the two maps is the graphical map is easier to visualize. The numerical map shows you the entire map at once allowing you to see the values in the RPM ranges around where you are tuning. If you wish to move left and right through the map (through the load sites), it is simply the left and right arrow. Simple enough. If you need to move up and down through the RPM ranges, then the N and P keys will be used. N stands for Next Range and P stands for Previous Range. How to Tune or Change the Fuel Values in the Map:
If you wish to add more fuel use the up arrow to add a little amount more, or PgUp to add huge amounts. The PgUp key is to allow you to get the values close to where you need to be and the up arrow is then for fine tuning. If you would need to do any super-fine tuning, then use ShiftUp Arrow for half size changes and Alt-Up Arrow for 1/10th size steps. These super-fine steps are so small that most CO machines and AFR meters would not register a change. If you wish to reduce the amount of fuel then the same would apply as to adding fuel but the keystrokes are: Down Arrow PgDn Shift-Down Arrow Alt-Down Arrow Please remember it is good practice to start rich and lean out the mixture to what you desire than to start lean and richen to the desired value. This helps save the motor from being damaged. Please also read the How to Tune section to understand how tuning is performed on the Dicktator ECU. Using the All Ranges Up Function: This function is a time saving function. The safest and easiest way to setup a fuel map is to take the car on a dyno and lock it at say 1750RPM and place the cursor block in the 1000 RPM range. To turn all ranges on/off you simple press Alt-A and a block will appear to show you it is active or not. The function makes all the values above the cursor block the same. So load the car at each load point in the 1750RPM range and set a slightly rich value for each. You have not built yourself a nice starting point to map from.
How to Navigate through the Map: There are also two styles of ignition map display. The first is the numeric grid, and the second is the graphical floating balls with lines joining them. No matter which one you use, the keystrokes are identical. The main difference between the two maps is the graphical map is easier to visualize. The numerical map shows you the entire map at once allowing you to see the values in the RPM ranges around where you are tuning. If you wish to move left and right through the map (through the load sites), it is simply the left and right arrow. Simple enough. If you need to move up and down through the RPM ranges, then the N and P keys will be used. N stands for Next Range and P stands for Previous Range. How to Tune or Change the Fuel Values in the Map:
If you wish to add more ignition timing use the up arrow to add a one degree, or PgUp to make big jumps of 3 degrees. The PgUp key is to allow you to get the values close to where you need to be and the up arrow is then for fine tuning. Please be careful of detonation!! If you would need to do any super-fine tuning, then use ShiftUp Arrow for half size changes of 0.5 degrees. These superfine steps are also very small that most dynos would not register a change in power. Generally 0.5 degree steps would be an overkill. If you wish to reduce the amount of ignition timing then the same would apply as to adding ignition timing but the keystrokes are: Down Arrow PgDn Shift-Down Arrow Please remember it is good practice to start with slightly retarded timing and add timing until you notice no power gain with each degree or hear detonation. There is no point in running over advanced timing if you dont gain power. But running the timing over advanced will strain the motor excessively. So, rather save motor life from being unnecessarily shortened. Please also read the How to Tune section to understand how tuning is performed on the Dicktator ECU. Using the All Ranges Right Function: This function is a time saving function. The safest and easiest way to setup a fuel map is to take the car on a dyno and lock it at say 1750RPM and place the cursor block in the 1000 RPM range. To turn all ranges on/off you simple press Alt-A and a block will appear to show you it is active or not. The function makes all the values above the cursor block the same. So load the car at each load point in the 1750RPM
range and set a slightly rich value for each. You have not built yourself a nice starting point to map from.
How to Tune
What are the Crosshairs used for?
The Crosshairs are located at the bottom right of the fuel and ignition maps screen. They are the only way for a tuner to know if he/she is EXACTLY on a tuning site. The crosshairs are required because of the built in interpolation in the engine management system. I need to stress this point: You will not tune a car correctly if you do not use the crosshairs!!!!! The more accurate the engine management system the more accurate the tuning tools must become. The crosshairs show the tuner where on the map he/she is. If the Dot is below the horizontal line then the engine is running slightly slower than the closest RPM range. If its above then the engine is running slightly faster than the closest RPM range. You will have to adjust the speed on the dyno to get the dot on the horizontal line.
Once you have done that, you will need to check if the dot is to the left or right of the vertical line. If its to the left, then you will need to press the throttle more till it is in the center of the crosshairs. When its there, you can now tune that load site. The load site that the crosshairs are showing is the red block that moves around the map. To tune that site you will need to move the Tuning block over the red block so that the red block is now hidden. Use the left arrow, Right arrow, N and P to move the tuning block.
What is Interpolation?
Interpolation is an algorithm in the engine management system that calculates all the extra fueling and ignition points that are not tuned by the user. This helps speed up the tuning process due to fewer sites to tune and also helps with the smoothness of the drivability of the car. Because of interpolation, you have to use the crosshairs to make sure you are exactly on a site too tube it. Otherwise it will use some of the surrounding values to calculate the actual value.
Alt-L Enter
On a turbo car, the mixtures will be considerably higher, again for cooling. At full boost the AFR should be around 12.5 11.5 and CO% of 5% - 8% depending on how powerful the motor is and how much safety margin you are willing to run. Rather sacrifice 3 or 4KW for a safer running engine. The richer mixture is safer.
What is Detonation
Detonation is most probably the biggest killer of turbo motors today. You need to be very careful in tuning a turbo motor. If you advance the timing too much the car will detonate and your motor will be destroyed before the day is finished. The main causes for detonation are To high boost pressures, not using high octane fuel and to far advanced ignition timing. When tuning your ignition maps, ALWAYS start with retarded timing and then advance the timing slowly. Watch the power figures on the dyno while you are doing this. If you advance the timing 1 degree and notice no or very little power gain, rather retard the timing back that 1 degree and save your motor. On high boost car of today, it is recommended that the full boost figures be in the region of 20 to 24 degrees, depending on what the motor wants. If at any point you are tuning and you hear detonation, release the throttle IMMEDIATELY!!
Glossary
AFR ATDC BAC BTDC ECU EMI IAC IGN MAP MS NOS PC POT PWM - Air/Fuel Ratio - After Top Dead Center - Bypass Air Control - Before Top Dead Center - Engine Control Unit (Dicktator Box) - Electromagnetic Interference - Idle Air Control - Ignition - Manifold Absolute Pressure - Milliseconds - Nitrous Oxide - Personal Computer - Potentiometer (Electronic) - Pulse Width Modulation
- Random Access Momory - Revolutions Per Minute - Top Dead Center - Throttle Position Sensor - Video Graphics Display - Variable Valve-Timing and Lift Electronic Control - Water
20 PIN PLUG LAYO UT AS SEEN FRO M HARNESS SIDE All Multi Coloured W ires are always stated as : Main Colour / Stripe Colour Home Position Input Trigger Input
10
Ignitio n W hite
20
Ignition G reen
Air Signal
T P S Yellow
Water Signal
19
T P S P u rple
POT Signal
G reen / Yellow
TPS Signal
18
T P S G rey / R ed
T P S (+5V) R e d / W h ite
Tacho Output
17
Ignition B lu e / G rey
Ignition Output 3
Flaps Output
16
Ignition Output 2
Ignition Output 1
15
To Fuel Relay
14
G rey
To Ignition
Injector B lu e
Switched +12V
13
Ignition R ed
Injector B r o w n 2
12
-VE
B lack
Injector B r o w n 1
11
-VE
B lack
85
Injector R e d / Y ellow
87
30
Main Relay
86
+ -
Battery