B-boost

Part 1


I have successfully connected my v-boost servo to an Ignitech ignition module.
This allows me to program the servo motor opening according to engine RPM, and also adds the ability to change the servo position according to inlet vacuum readings from the MAP sensor.

Servo position can be mapped according to either engine RPM or inlet vacuum (2D map), or both (3D map).

As I was doing a lot of trial and error, this is not a complete "how to" guide. There is enough information here to justify my basic reasoning, and allow you to do this yourself.

All you need is an Ignitech ignition module (which is best bought from Dingy), soldering iron, solder, shrink wrap and some wire. You will need to have an existing v-boost setup on your bike.
If, like me, you have a faulty v-boost controller module which you are willing to sacrifice, you will not even need any wire, and you can keep your standard servomotor connector. :biglaugh:


I have the TVIP4 V88 ignition module from Ignitech. At the time of writing there is no information on Ignitech's website for the V88, but Dingy has said that the V80 and V88 models are quite similar.

From Ignitech's V80 manual (http://www.ignitech.cz/english/tcip/manual_sparker_tcip4_v80_en.pdf) is this ...
"Outputs and input for SERVO.
Outputs and input for servo are compatible with most of servo used on motorbikes (e.g.. Yamaha EXUP).
The unit is equipped with servo control only in the 4 channel version. Required course of servos can be
configured in software TCIP4.EXE.
Servo motor outputs are on pins (4) and (5). Power servo position sensor is connected to +5 V pin (17) and
SENSE GND (7, 16). The output of position sensor is connected to the input (18)."

The ONLY specifications that are given is "most of servo used on motorbikes (e.g.. Yamaha EXUP)", which is not a lot to go on. :bang head:
Experience tells me that this might not be an issue, if I can be confident that the v-max servo and the Exup servo have similar current requirements.

Research turns up 3 independent webpages which confirm the Exup servo is a 12v servo, and I already know that the V-boost one is 12v.
http://www.fzrarchives.com/fzr600/600_manual/FZR600 Supplement RB-RBC pt 2.pdf
http://biketransplant.tripod.com/exup_replacement.htm
http://www.vmaxguru.com/Tech/Gen2/Pages/EXUP/EXUP_Servo_Eliminator_Youtube.htm

Dingy has tested the 2 servo's (Exup and V-boost) side by side, including measuring current draw when stalled. :eusa_dance:
http://www.vmaxforum.net/showpost.php?p=233000&postcount=18
The Exup motor draws more current than the V-boost one. AWESOME! unk:



So, this is the wiring diagram. :biglaugh:




I cut these three wires from the servo connector longer.




Then opened up the Ignitech plug.




Removing terminals 16 and 17.




The wires were soldered onto the terminals in this way




*Please note*
I don't recommend doing it this way! It's not a particularly easy was to do the job.
Removing the terminals is not very easy to do at all, and connecting 2 wires to one terminal like I have done make the terminals very hard to fit.

Instead, I recommend you cut the wires going to pin 16 and 17. Then splice and solder the additional wire in, covering with shrinkwrap.
Gary gives you 3 spare terminals with wire already attached. Use these for pins 4,5 and 18, as it is also hard to fit the terminals correctly to the wires without the special tool.
This is the 3 wires Gary gives you. It will be easier to cut, solder and shrinkwrap these wires onto the original v-boost wires. :biglaugh:




The following 2 pictures show exactly where I connected the servo wires to.






This is the unit ready to go back in.
I quite heavily bent the tabs to attach the new MAP sensor Gary sends. I have got COP's so the standard coils are removed.




I cut a hole where the v-boost controller used to be so the serial port can be accessed for programming.




Now it's all fitted up, it just needs to be programmed. :clapping:


I'll write that bit tomorrow.
One exciting thing I discovered while doing this, is that the servo does it's happy little start up whirring noises. Hearing that made me so happy! unk:

That's great! Guess we need to wait for Pt2 and the all important ride feedback to say AWESOME!

Love the B-boost hahaha

bazwell said:

Now it's all fitted up, it just needs to be programmed. :clapping:


I'll write that bit tomorrow.
One exciting thing I discovered while doing this, is that the servo does it's happy little start up whirring noises. Hearing that made me so happy! unk:

Click to expand...

I bet you was all to happy to hear that sound.

B-boost debut! Looking forward to hearing it!

Well done Baz. Admins you can get this stickied due a bunch of us having this ignition unit already. Mine is still in the box and im making a small mod as well... Will post afterwards

Oh, the ride feedback says AWESOME already. :biglaugh:

Programming is easy too. I'll try and get it up on here after work today.

Thanks guys, it was a good weekend of head scratching and experimentation. :ummm: and :confused2: followed by unk:.

wildweasel_pt said:

Well done Baz. Admins you can get this stickied due a bunch of us having this ignition unit already. Mine is still in the box and im making a small mod as well... Will post afterwards

Click to expand...

Thanks mate. The features on this unit seem pretty good! Shift lights and whatnot. I foresee something cool from you!
I got a bit overexcited on the test ride and didn't shift quick enough, and it did a nasty noise like a misfire popping oh no did I blow it up hell...

But it was the rev limiter! :biglaugh:

Good work Baz. Congrats on getting this done for everyone.unk:
Steve-o

Part 2

Setting up a B-boost map with the Ignitech software is simple. I used a Windows XP based laptop.

Like most of these machines, a serial port is no longer included, so I used a USB-serial adapter cable. Mine is an old one, about 14 years old in fact!


Once you have installed the driver, plug in the cable (USB end) to the laptop.
Open Device Manager. (Right click 'My computer" or "Computer", and then select properties from the bottom of the list. Click Device manager on the left side of the window that opens.)



Click the little + sign next to "Ports (COM & LPT)" and you should see the USB-serial device. Mine was COM4. Remember this.

Now, open the Ignitech software. The one I was using is called 120201a_tcip4A_v88.exe which is a self contained program.

Once it is open (dismiss the error which will probably pop up first) I suggest you click "Com" near the top and tell it which COM port to use. Mine would not work unless I did this!


Next, you want to open an ignition map file.
A good way to do this is to download the one that is currently in your bike!

To do this, plug the other end of the cable into your bike. With the ignition OFF, you should see a message in red saying "No connection with PC".
Now, turn the key on, and watch the message in red disappear!

Woohoo, your laptop is connected to your bike now. Cool things can happen now!

Click the button which says "Read" and it will read your current map.
Otherwise, use the file menu and open up the file you want.
I did that, and this is the file I used.



You might have to click the "Advance Map" tab, I can't remember. Then you should see something like this. Turn your ignition off for now.



Click the "Servo" tab, and things get all blank.



That's OK... you have to click "Enable servo" and a line graph will appear.



Now it's time to change a few things. This servo map ain't worth nothing to us!

First up, try double clicking each of the boxes in the row next to "Voltage" one at a time, and changing them all except one to 0v. Set one of them to 4v. This is what mine looked like.







What does it mean Baz?


Well, there's something you need to understand about the servo.

When the servo is all the way OFF, the white/red wire from the servo will have a voltage of 0 volts. When the servo turns all the way to the other end of it's travel, that wire will read 5 volts. (In reality, it never gets there while the cable is connected. It can't move that far.)

So, according to my map, at 1200rpm the servo will be put into a position where the white/red wire reads o volts. (OFF)
At 2000rpm - 0 volts - OFF
3000 - OFF
4000 - OFF
etc

At 16000rpm - move the servo to a position where the white/red wire reads 4 volts.

This is a useless map, but it provides us with a test.


Now, turn the ignition on. The red writing disappears. (Yaaaay)
Click on "Program". Hold your breath for 1 second.

You have just programmed you servo to turn on at 16000rpm!
Now, turn the ignition off.
Then turn it on.
You should hear the test "Whir whir".

Turn the ignition off and on again, this time watch the top right of the window on the PC, where it says "Servo desired" and "Servo measured".

From what I can see, it tries to turn the servo to half way (2 volts) and then back to 0 volts. More importantly, everything is looking just FINE!


Now is a good time to set the hysteresis. That's just a fancy measurement of "How close is good enough".
When a servo tries to stop a say 1 volt, it might overshoot and get to 1.1 volt.
Should the servo go back to 1 volt? If it does, it might overshoot and go back to .9 volt!

If you set the hysteresis too low, the servo can oscillate.
Here is properly set hysteresis. "Good enough" has been set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EaOf-_TrDA

At the bottom of the window on the PC, where it is saying 100 1/p mv, that is how accurate the measurement has to be.

If you like playing around, set the value to 10 1/p mv, turn on the ignition, hit program.
Now when you turn the ignition on, it just won't be able to hit 2v within 10mv, and it will oscillate in the middle of the test sequence. It then might just give up, or it might go back to 0 volts.

My servo doesn't oscillate at 45mv, so I set mine on 50mv.
You can just leave it at 100mv if you want to. I had to learn how it worked.




TOO MANY WORDS!

I changed all the RPM's and volts around and programmed this in.




It works pretty darn good for a guess!

I have been riding it for a couple of days.


Before you shut down the software, you should now do a "save as".

this is certainly deserving of an award. I would nominate but I dunno which one. Which one?

Sent from my Tapatalking Hercules Android

Finally

I ran out of time (and patience on the computer) last night.


I nave set my servo to run to 1.9 volts. The reason I chose this number is because when I tested the servo with the cable connected I found it would get as far as about 2.5 volts, but then when the power was removed it would spring back to under 2 volts.

In the "Test" tab of the software you can click "Servo plus" or "Servo minus" to move the motor, and read the voltage on the top right.



Unfortunately, I found this part of the software a little flakey.

Firstly, I changed the number from 500ms to 1500ms and nothing changed.
That's OK. From 0 volts, if I click Servo plus 2 times, I saw the voltage read up to 2.5 and then spring back down. So I figured 1.9v was pretty well open and not loading the motor too much.

The other flakey thing about the software here is that it changed what it did! After a while, instead of moving the motor forwards for 1/2 a second and then stopping, it decided that it would go forwards, and then backwards. Yesterday I wondered if it was because I had changed the hysteresis to 0mv for a while. Don't know.


My thoughts from the SOTP dyno : the servo could cut in a tiny bit earlier, and have a less steep curve initially, then a steeper ramp from 6000 to 7000. The 6000rpm kick is still kind of there, as though Yamaha matched the v-boost curve in with the cams to get the biggest kick. According to peoples dyno figures T-boost makes it too rich, so I'm looking for an in between that will work well.

It is already good like this, much more enjoyable mid range performance. :biglaugh:

It is really easy to change, so I'm sure I will muck about a bit over time.
I'm hoping someone else will try this soon :biglaugh: and we can get some good ideas on how to program it best. Especially as there is the possibility of backing the servo off a bit when inlet vacuum is higher, maybe getting rid of the richness which has been said about t-boost.


And, I keep forgetting things...
You can run the bike with the PC connected and monitor things on the laptop!

I hooked up the B-Boost tonight and it works.

I attached IGN file as a zip, only way I could attach it here.

Link to video on youtube. Sorry about shaky video, this was taken with a hand held Iphone. Video is much easier to see if you full screen it by clicking in block on lower right of youtube screen, hit ESC to go back to normal screen. The MAP sensor was not hooked up when video taken, so that parameter is skewed.

The video is showing on the upper right side in the servo desired & the servo measured settings. The servo desired field increases to meet the settings in the graph to the right. As the servo desired field increases the TCI opens the Vboost up to match the Servo measured field to the desired field. The Servo measured field is read by the TCI through the potentiometer in the gerard motor on the Vboost. As the motor RPM's increase, the TCI opens the VBoost per the fully changeable graph settings. The settings used in the video were set very low, so I could watch VBoost change as RPM's changed. And as Bazwell found in his setup, the VBoost does run a full cycle at key on, probably to calibrate itself.

Picture attached below of the settings page I used when I set it for a test run which did not happen tonight. This was just a first wild *** guess as to what to try it at. Almost sure it will be a work in progress.

Thanks Bazwell.

Gary

http://s1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/?action=view&current=IMG_1814.mp4

I'm at work and I can't get the vid to run, but I'll have a look later. I'll be interested to hear about the test ride! I'll post my file up too. I have been happy with it thus far, but haven'thad much opportunity to play with the settings.

Did you just upload the .ign file, but change the extension to .zip? I want to upload mine the same way.

I have to ask,what is the benefit of this in laymans terms?

Pingu,

I had blown my second v-boost controller, so for me it was partially a more permanent fix of that issue. The technology is 27 years newer.
The benefits of being able to program the opening of the butterfly to your own specs is the ability to play around and set things up the way you like.

Here's my file.

bazwell said:

Here's my file.

Click to expand...

I could not get the servo motor to track the Servo Desired setting with the way you have yours working.

I had to set it for Percent in the lower part of the graph to get it going.

Bazwells & my servo tab sheet attached below.

I definitively feel the Vboost kicking in though. This is the 1st I have had it automated on bike. I had toggle switch on it last year that I used in conjunction with a Push to Talk switch that is in the left grip.

This is much more fun !!

Gary

Awesome work guys..... I got my unit running now (still need to get it in properly) and will definitely be giving this a try!