Tired of pushing the TC button?

[jumpinjackflash]

The easiest way to test the circuit would be with a volt meter. Put the meter across the output and ground and apply power. The output should be around 12V for about 5 seconds and then drop off.

I only mentioned the LED because you can see it in the picture. It would be more trouble than it's worth to put it in for testing.

 

[T3 Cobra]

ALL, I have just 2 left of this 1st batch of Black Box II, It will be 2 weeks until another dozen come in. I cannot pass on the information but I can sell these last two for my cost $38 shipped for anyone that does not want to take this project on. There are now 14 in use and all working perfect.
PM if interested, no COD
Please no flames
:beer:

 

[FlashSVT]

T3 . . . you have mail. =) :beer:

 

[bender460]

jumpinjackflash you have mail =)

 

[2003 Cobra]

Finally got my butt to Radio Shack and picked up some parts. I'm no electronics guy but I'm sure willing to give this mod a try and truly appreciate this post. Questions: Does anyone know the rating value of the diode? Secondly, does the 12 volt line, where it goes down in the diagram, connect to the trigger and reset lines? Thanks.

 

[2003 Cobra]

ttt Anyone?

 

[needspeed]

If it crosses a line directly, then it is connected to those components. He responded to the diode question earlier in the thread. It doesn't have to handle much, I think he said < 1amp.

 

[slam]

First - I'd like to thank JumpingJackFlash for the circuit design! This got me moving on the project ... I hate that TC.

2003 -
I bought the stuff from Jameco -- the parts that Flash mentioned earlier in this post. Basically the way I read Flash's diagram was that anywhere lines touch, that's a connection. That's all I can assume from the diagram he posted.

A friend and I built the thing Sunday and tried it out. The circuit operates correctly, but I cannot leave the ignition in the 'on' position before starting it ... if I do, the circuit will turn the TC off (like it's supposed to). But then when you start the car, the computer remembers that setting, and leaves it off, but the circuit having lost / regained power runs again and turns the TC back on. Doh! We're working on a solution, hopefully will have time to implement it tomorrow and test it. I'll try to let you know how it goes.

For all I know I misread the diagram and that's why my circuit doesn't work. But for the life of me I can't figure out how it's supposed to guard against what I described above. When you crank the engine, the circuit loses power and then comes back on once the car is started, thus running the circuit again... dunno, maybe I'm just a moron (it's entirely possible).


Jason

 

[bender460]

Slam I built one also. The relay is just for that. The way I think it works is like this the trigger needs to see ground to start the timer.After that it reads 12v. with the 0.7uf cap (triger to ground) when you cut power ( start your car) the trigger will not see ground right away( second or two without the relay) so when there's no power to the relay(starting the car) it should ground the triger(drain the 0.7uf cap so the trigger will see ground then start the timer again. But hey I might be wrong also. Good luck.

 

[jumpinjackflash]

Originally posted by bender460
Slam I built one also. The relay is just for that. The way I think it works is like this the trigger needs to see ground to start the timer.After that it reads 12v. with the 0.7uf cap (triger to ground) when you cut power ( start your car) the trigger will not see ground right away( second or two without the relay) so when there's no power to the relay(starting the car) it should ground the triger(drain the 0.7uf cap so the trigger will see ground then start the timer again. But hey I might be wrong also. Good luck.

Bender460's exactly right. That's what the relay is supposed to do. But I have noticed mine does not work 100% of the time if I do not start the car immediately. It could be that the relay does not switch fast enough or that sometimes it just sticks open for a little bit. I haven't been bothered by it enough to change anything or explore it further.

I'm glad poeple are building them! If this seems like a problem for for anyone else, let me know. I'll put some more thought into it.

 

[slam]

Yeah, bender is right. Here's the problem with the circuit as I see it (but I'm certainly no expert!) :

It will work fine as long as you don't leave the car in the 'on' position long enough for the circuit to turn off the TC. This is because of two things. First, the computer remembers the TC setting between 'on' and when started. So if you turn off the TC before cranking, it will be off once the car is started. Second, the circuit loses power and will run again when the car has started, thus inverting the TC status. So if TC was off when the car started, it's now back on.

As long as you start the car before the computer initializes and accepts input, you're ok (because the TC wasn't turned off).

My friend and I are working on a solution, we think we've about nailed it, but it requires tapping a fouth wire. I'll let y'all know if it works once we've completed it. Basically, we're going to monitor the TC status basically via the light ... sorta

I'll hopefully be able to draw up a new circuit ASSuming we get this working...

Anyway, again, I'd like to thank Jumping Jack Flash for his design! I wouldn't have even known where to begin without it! I'm glad there are people who are willing to share their knowledge with other enthusiasts, I hope I'll have the same chance!

 

[slam]

Finally!

Ok ... so we got the circuit done and seemingly working

I used most of the parts from Jameco that JJF listed. But I did deviate on the big capacator (2.2 uF from Jameco) because it was physically too large to fit with everything else on the board. I used two 1 uF capacators in parallel from a friend. I also used 4 1 MOhm resistors (two in parallel, those in series with the other two) to get 2.5 MOhm resistance to run the timer for 5.5 seconds (close enough)

We had to tap a fouth wire (Pin 4 - Black w/ Blue stripe -- it's got 10V when the TC light is off and close to 0V when the light is On -- backwards from what I initially expected, but it works out well this way). We are basically going to short this wire with Pin 2 - Grey (the signal to the computer to toggle TC status). The timer controls how long these wires are shorted. To accomplish this, we had to use another relay normally open with the output from the timer activating the relay. See the diagram below.

I ended up using a microphone connector for my box because it was the smallest 4 conductor connector I could find at radio shack. I didn't want the thing hard-wired in to the car -- which was a good thing since we had to redo our circuit a couple times

If anyone has any questions, please ask.... I'm pretty much an amateur at this, but it sure was fun, and I learned alot!

You can see some pictures here:
http://www.parasite.tzo.net/~slam/gallery

I'll attach the new schematic below. If anyone wants it in PostScript format, let me know. I've also got the schematic file I used -- from gschem (Linux, other Unix, etc).

I just want to say that I really love the sharing of information / ideas that goes on here and I'm happy I got a chance to share something!

Enjoy!

Jason

 

[Corner-Carver]

Back from the dead.:sleeping:

Anybody got a copy of the schematic? There's one turn coming homethat the TC kicks in EVERY FREAKIN TIME! :sleeping:

 

[jumpinjackflash]

Originally posted by Corner-Carver
Back from the dead.:sleeping:

Anybody got a copy of the schematic? There's one turn coming homethat the TC kicks in EVERY FREAKIN TIME! :sleeping:

You have a PM.

 

[03kobra]

you cant even drive your totaled stand let alone turn off the tc

 

[JoeAsheville]

Re: ATTN: naysayers

Originally posted by SVTchoad
And for you all who commented that an individual should not attepmt this themselves without having knowledge of the functioning theory behind this, and may want to take up some college courses; consider this: Go buy a CORVETTE and be as much of a Di$K as you'd like, you don't deserve an '03. This board is here to facilitate knowledge and learning-

Well, of course, if someone wants to hack into the wiring harness of their $35K car with no knowledge whatsoever of what they're doing, have at at friend. Don't bother whining on the SVTPerformance board after it won't start and it needs to be towed into the dealership for God knows what.

Case in point of what can happen even if someone *knows* what they are doing: http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34319

My comment about taking up some college courses was to learn about basic electrical. See above comment.

JumpinJackFlash, great idea. It's a great alternative to the other traction control options on the market, I would have built one myself had I not already installed an aftermarket unit.

Choad, grow some skin dude. It's so thin I can see your nerves through it. :bored: :nonono:

 

[slam]

URL to my schematic

My URL above has changed (due to COX blocking port 80)

http://www.parasite.tzo.net:8080/~slam/gallery

I am still running this circuit and have had no problems with it so far.

Jason

 

[KWladyka]

Thanks slam. It seems that all the pictures of the schematic on this site have been replaced.

 

[slam]

No problem. It was something I found interesting and useful at the same time. It was a fun project to work on.

 

[mike79]

I work for Radioshack. We have all of those parts.