Shift Light 430

Anders, practically speaking, this unit is not easy to integrate because this signal wire needs to be connected to the ignition coil or one of the ECU ignition coil wires. I don't know the impedance of this unit which would interfere with the engine management. It's a bit a dangerous field as I wouldn't like to mess up with such critical connections.

I would consider rather a solution which is able to get the real time rpm broadcasted on the CAN bus, or, as an alternative option, connected to the OBD plug.

 

The idea would be to go to something similar like this unit : http://www.motec.com.au/filedownload.php/Datasheet%20SLM%20.pdf?docid=2374

This is just an example of a unit using the CAN bus. I need to research a bit more to find the best appropriate product which would be safe enough to be used on a F430 without messing up the CAN bus.

I'll let you know

 

Would a Scuderia steering wheel work on our 430? It's more expensive I know but it's the neatest solution IMO, unless you use a Defi HUD unit.

 

JCW launched sometime ago a quite interesting product for the MINI. Many sources and forums cover the John Cooper Works gear shift indicator.

Have a look on this video :

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yme0x5dyZ7A&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx3fBmUEX8g[/ame]

Installation doc attached.

I need to check if that would be compliant with the F430 OBD signals (especially pin 9).

As far as I know, this seems to be the most pro solution.
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I fitted Scud wheel to my manual 430 coupe - no way to get the LED's to function as feed was missing - May 07 car. I have heard others have got it to work so it might depend when your 430 was made, newer ones might have a standardised wiring loom with the scud.
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I don't know, it may work but we need the technical specs to make sure. Something I don't have for the Scud steering wheel I guess the wheel shift indicator must use an additional ECU which is getting the rpm data directly from the CAN bus, but that's just a guess.

 

Forget about this option. I just found out that this unit is limited at max 7250 rpm, so it's not suitable for us.

 

I have a shift light on my track car that is a lot simpler. It picks up the frequency of noises from the power (from alternator), and have adjustable threshold for first light and then all lights up, the rests were linearly scaled.

The simple unit I had only came with 4 LEDs so it's not a right fit, but I cannot imagine a simple system like that can't handle couple more LEDs.

I had it about a decade ago so it's nothing new. Its called "Hyper-Form Shift Indicator"

 

found an old article that gave pretty good description of it

http://autospeed.com/cms/title_HyperForm-Plugin-Shift-Indicator/A_0765/article.html

perhaps, divide LEDs into 4 groups and use the 4 outputs from the device to drive switch to power the group of LEDs in the steering wheel? I'll leave Stef for the rest of imagination.

 

Thanks for the info. I must say that I eliminated straight noise listening devices because they are not the most reliable units. There must be quite a latency between the real engine rpm and the displayed rpm which can mislead the driver. As the F430 is a very fast revving engine, that would be problematic. But it's not a big deal to try it out on the F430 just for fun as such units are quite cheap

Another simular solution : http://www.pivotracing.com/product/RL

 

So far, the ideal product I've seen is Shift-I from ecliptech which is a progressive shift light having many programmable display options. But as most of the race shift light units, they require a tacho signal or ECU to coil signal. It's doable but as I wrote before, I need to find out the best way to get such signal from the F430 ECU without messing up the ECU wires and quality of signals.

Have a look here :

http://www.ecliptech.com.au

User Manual :

http://www.ecliptech.com.au/downloads/shifti/docs/shift_i_user_manual.pdf

 

Thanks Eric, good the hear from you again

 

Always a pleasure to read from you Stef

I deleted my post once I read the installation document of the ecliptech module. It seems quite tolerant to the input signal (from injector signal to all types of ignition configurations) so it should not be a problem to install it on a 430.

The use of the camshaft position signal, or an independent signal (magnetic or optical on a pulley), was just an idea of a clean signal in case the module has not been so tolerant.

 

Thanks Eric, it's always great to have your expert eye on electronics and ECU's .

I agree, I found also that this unit is very tolerant regarding the different input signals.

Even if I preferred a CAN based solution (that's how the F430 tachometer actually works by reading directly the rpm values on the CAN bus), it would be more challenging as we would have to use the KWP2000 derived protocol to get this info. Some have done it like AIM's products (Smartycam, Data loggers) which reads the rpm values directly from the CAN bus (as well as other car related data). They are able to read directly the F430 CAN data from the OBD plug.

http://www.aim-sportline.com/download/ecu/stock/ferrari/FerrariF430_F430scuderia_100_eng.pdf

 

Very interesting, and yes, that would be the cleanest installation with no mod at all.

 

Yes, very nice to have stuff. They've been a while in the business and I like very much their ECU Bridge concept which is connected directly on the CAN bus through the OBD connector. From the bridge, several units can be connected like the Smartycam (http://www.smartycam.com/on-board-camera.htm), MyChron3, or even a nice formula steering wheel : http://www.aim-sportline.com/pages/car/section_car_formula-steering-wheel.htm.

But I don't think they have a standalone progressive shift indicator. Will check that

 

Got an offer from AIM. They don't have a sequential shift indicator. The only solution they can offer is a 10Led non-progressive indicator but this doesn't work with their ECU bridge but only with their datalogger EVO4. All together, it's a very expensive solution quoted at 1.100€... No way.

Will check which signal of the ME7 would be the most adequate (non-CAN, non-critical signal) and would work with the more reasonable priced Shift-I.

 

Sorry for raising old thread but the solution I used was a MSD inductive ignition pickup.
It just clips over a 12v coil or fuel injector wire and picks up the pulse from the ecu.
No wire cutting and no effects to the ecu.
This works with any tacho pulse based shift light and never had any problems.
Hardest part is running the wire back to the engine bay but not the end of the world.

http://www.msdignition.com/Products/Accessories/Tach_Adapters/8918_-_Tach_Signal_GMR_Pickup.aspx

 

I just got a scud steering wheel last week for my 05 f430 and the rpm lights work great without any extra wires. It just plugs in using the old stock steering wheel connections. I was told by the seller that the steering wheel has a built in chip that processes an rpm feed from the standard wires. I was very skeptical at first but it works exactly as described! I'll be posting video and pictures in a couple days.

So as a response, this may be a solution if you can source a scud wheel.

 

I'm amazed, I had a Scud steering wheel on my 430 and no way would it work. Also had to swop the manattino between the wheels otherwise car wouldn't run at all - perhaps your wheel has been altered? I know of another 430 owner who also purchased a Scud wheel and had the exact same problems as me.