Once again another newbie posting the same questions... so here it goes.

I've been thinking of using either an old pc laptop or even my Palm V to try to record some of the data from my Power FC (in my 3rd gen). I was wondering what I would need, and was also wondering if anyone has ever hooked up a Palm Pilot succesfully. I imagine you don't need much memory - the built in 5mb should store what is mostly text I would assume.

So what kind of investment are we looking at here, and how easy is it to set this whole thing up. I'm hoping to get to the root of some odd problems in my car, that don't ever happen on the dyno, but I can consistently reproduce while driving.

Thanks for your help,
Steve

 

Any old laptop will work, preferably at least a Pentium. The faster the processor, the higher the resolution in your logs (more samples per second). Many newer laptops do not have serial ports, in which case you'd need to use a USB-to-serial adapter. Not a big deal, but an extra hassle and more expense.

The Datalogit software does not run on the Palm OS. Logs can get large if you're recording lots of parameters for an extended amount of time.

It's easy to set up. Install the software, plug the Datalogit hardware up to your PFC, and your (usually) done.

-Scott

 

Thanks for the info. I was searching around and found something about the FC Datalogit. Is this the same thing? It's like $299! Is there any less expensive ways around that... like, just getting the software and the cable. I assumed that the data was in the ECU already- and you just need the laptop to display and store it.

 

No.

 

That pretty much sums it up. The FC-Datalogit is all that is available. It's not like they exploited a niche because the Power FC exposes all of its paramaters. It doesn't. They created the niche with software and hardware that interprets the Power FC's protocol.