Dash Rendar

I used to enjoy getting involved in these debates. 15, 10, even 5 years ago. Now the whole repetitive cycle just frustrates the crap out of me! Where's the justification for saying stuff like "the only thing we use MS products for is desktops running office as do most serious businesses." MS have a significant portion of the enterprise database market, and their virtualisation products are making the use of small and medium sized commodity servers very flexible in the enterprise market... So not just for running office suites. Yes, I do work for a 'serious business', and no, we're not a 'MS house'.

Well, I certainly feel more at ease now. Thanks everyone.

Disturbing, but funny.

... bought a red Supra, having already owned one previously, thus demonstrating immunity to public ridicule.

I met him in our local Showcase cinema a few years back. It was a late showing, and me and the missus were leaving at about midnight. He was just about the only other person in the place as we were leaving. So we had a chat, and he was a really nice bloke.

There seem to have been a recent spate of RLTC related issues. Many seem to be as a result of an overzealous right foot asking too much of the system. Some may be from inproper setup. And some RLTC-implicated incidents may just be totally coincidental engine trauma after some serious RLTC cutting action. So, I *did* use the search, and I've seen various pro and con arguments. But the one discussion I haven't been able to find any info on is whether the RLTC can actually do damage to the engine. The way I understand it, RLTC works by cutting fuel to the engine when slip is detected. The more slip, the more aggressive the fuel cut. But presumably, the most slip is typically seen under (or approaching) full boost. And when the car is under full boost (especially on mapped cars running beyond stock levels), presumably, anything that results in the engine running leaner is really bad. So, when the RLTC cuts the fuel, doesn't it end up making the mix leaner? So, if the RLTC is cutting in a lot, is that doing any damage?

For anyone else wanting to interface with the RLTC software on a laptop without a serial port, then I'd recommend getting one of these PCMCIA cards... http://www.sourcingmap.com/rs232-pcmcia-serial-9pin-expresscard-express-p-18085.html?currency=GBP or ... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PCMCIA-to-RS-232-RS232-Serial-DB9-CardBus-Adaptor-Card_W0QQitemZ280442085011QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_LaptopAccessories_PCMCIACards?hash=item414ba69e93. These definitely work, as it's the same one I've got. The USB->serial cables generally don't...

Thanks, I'll give that a go... probably will be next weekend now. I've just been reading about your woes. Sorry to hear about that.

Are you using the Graph/Chart while doing this stuff, to determine which wheels are doing what?

I've checked all the way back to the original maps from Matt, and the channel allocations have always been 4, 3, 2, 1, reading in the order FL, FR, RL, RR. Is that what you're talking about?

Wow! That launch control is AWESOME! We just timed a 0-80mph launch in the wet at 6 seconds! My missus was timing on a stopwatch... So, not exactly a GPS accurate timing, but nevermind. I don't know what the ballpark figure should be for a car like this, but I was pleased with that as a first attempt. I've also turned the smoothing off, and the RLTC is definitely doing a much better job now. The car is much more stable, stays straight, and continues to put down power, whereas before, there seemed to be too much slippage. And so far, no spurious misfires. Thanks everyone for the help.

Presumably, clamped to those revs only when your foot is on the gas? As in... it should not raise the revs just by pushing the button? So, if my start delay is set to 2s, does that mean I only have 2s to put my foot on the gas after pressing the button? I've been comparing the original maps from Matt. The original map that was loaded has smoothing set to 0, and wheel diameters set to 643 and 636 (reference and driven, respectively). There were some issues with spurious misfires on cruising, so Matt revisited the map, and it was after this visit that the smoothing was set to 1. However, these spurious signals were related to engine revs, and I had a lot of strange behaviour going on with the car back then. (Generally AFR related.) I'm hoping all these issues are resolved, so perhaps the spurious signals may be gone as well. So I'll definitely try setting it back to 0 and see what happens. But also, the wheel diameters were changed to 653 and 650 on Matt's second map. I'm not sure how these are precisely measured as it's hard to gauge the diameter of a tyre, given the curvature of the wall. Using a tape measure, I can only say it's around 650mm. I'm not sure why the rear wheel would be a smaller diameter than the front. They're both 18-inch wheels with the same 35R18 tyres. Unless... Do you measure them vertically, where the weight of the car is a factor? I measured them horizontally, as I figured this would be give me a truer figure.

I've just applied the new map to the car. Hurrah. (I lowered the rev limits a couple of hundred in both cases, as I figured the dbb will spool up slightly faster. Hopefully I won't run into this 'bog down' scenario. Is that where it kind of chokes?) So it's button, then clutch, then full throttle? Then pray. If I read the manual right, pressing the button adjusts the rev limit to the new one specified in the map, and then regulates the throttle so you only have to worry about the clutch pedal. At what point is the launch control inactivated? I.e. when does it cease to regulate the rev limit? Does it disengage once you reach a certain speed or something? Can you disengage it manually, e.g. by pressing the button again? As far as I can tell, there's no way to tell if you've pressed the button, or pressed it more than once... I suppose I should just play with it, but I find knowing in advance a bit safer! Sorry for all the questions. P.S. I've uploaded my current map. Thanks. dazWithLC_070210.zip

P.S. The rear wheels have plenty of tread and they're Eagle F1s, so they should be okay. Next time at a meet, I'll have to try and find someone who's familiar with this kind of power and RLTC, to confirm it's working as it's supposed to.

Awesome, thanks for the manual link.

Thanks for the update Matt. I'm starting to think that I was just being paranoid. It's clearly doing something (!??) when it's turned on, and I'm wondering if I just never had the guts to apply as much throttle in the icy/wet last year as I have now, despite having the RLTC turned it. And thanks for the comment on the wiring. If you don't think it needs any work, then that's good enough for me! I think I'll go and apply the Launch Control settings I posted up previously (and I'll leave the rest of the map alone). Do you know... I've never, ever used the launch control!! I don't really know how it works! I guess I just push the button, put my foot on the clutch, give it some gas and then let go.

I'm just slightly surprised no one has suggested buying a PC as a solution to your problem.

When I had my BL exhaust, my car used to set up several cars at once whenever I went in a covered car park. But now my car is much quieter so it rarely happens.

I wish I'd gone with BT instead of Virgin Media. Hang on... No I don't!

Personally, given the calibre of people that are now able to afford and frequently buying these cars, I think his advertising strategy may be a good one!

So, what do you reckon guys? I've got the alarm installers waiting on a call-back from me, as I had come to the conclusion it had stopped working after the alarm install, but now I'm not really sure if there's an issue at all, or if it has anything to do with them. It certainly seems to be communicating and such. The alarm guys did mention that the wiring in the car was a bit of a mess and could do with some tidying up anyway, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. If it ain't broke...

Right... some updates. Firstly, I finally managed to test the ABS given the light snow / ice in our area last night. And it works fine. (I was having a surprising amount of difficulty testing it on the dry roads previously... It's quite difficult to shake the habbit of doing 'proper' emergency stops without just stamping on the brakes!) Next... I borrowed a PCMCIA serial card from a geezer at work, and it works a treat! So, I pulled out the cable from the car, and I can see the little green light flashing when the TC is turned off, and the light stops flashing when it's turned on. I presume that's all as it should be. I was able to pull the map off the car, and it all looks fine at a glance... and is in 6 cylinder mode. And the test functions definitely were doing something to the engine while it was sat on the driveway. So, everything seems fine! Based on this, I figured maybe it's just me, so I went out with the missus to test drive the car. There is definitely a difference in behaviour between RLTC turned to wet, and it turned off. When it's off, if I put my foot down, the revs shoot straight up as the car loses traction and goes nowhere. But when I put my foot down with it turned on, the car still feels to me like it's losing traction, but it's a different feel. The car was trying to veer to the side, and the engine was doing a rapid da-da-da-da noise, kind of like it was bouncing off the rev limiter, but at lower revs. So, I *think* it's working, but I don't remember it ever behaving quite like this. Before, the RLTC has always felt much less invasive, just cutting the power as required to keep the car in a straight line and keep the power down. But now, it seems to be struggling. Perhaps I've just never used it in such cold weather? I'd be interested to know if what I'm feeling is normal. I've attached some screenshots of my map. Out of interest, Matt H said that the launch control is currently disabled on my car, but it is installed and can be turned on. I've found another map saved on my machine which has the following settings for launch control: Slip override: 15% Delay slip override: 5% Slip to reinstate TC: 20% Dry hard cut: 4774rpm Dry soft cut: 4524rpm Dry start delay: 2.0s Dry slow override speed threshold: 30kmh Wet hard cut: 3750rpm Wet soft cut: 3500rpm Wet start delay: 2.0s Wet slow override speed threshold: 25kmh Do these look like good settings to apply? (I recall Matt left it turned off because he was diagnosing another issue where the TC was constantly cutting in under normal driving, and inadvertantly forgot to turn the LC back on... So I've never actually tried it!) Out of interest, is there such a thing as a users guide/manual for this?

Doh! I ordered another cable off Ebay yesterday. I'll see how that goes,and a friend may have an old laptop that's suitable. But if those options are no good, I'll do as you say and buy an old laptop from somewhere. Thanks.

I'm struggling to source a laptop with a serial port, and I know my cable doesn't work. Can anyone recommend a USB-to-serial cable (with drivers) that is known to work with RLTC?