You convinced me, I'm in.

[Simon@FutureProof]

Morning All.

I Have been looking at this project for a few weeks now after stumbling across it while looking for higher performing open ECUs and I think I'm ready to jump in with both feet.

I have been going through the wiki, hardware and software forum and have just started digging through the source code.

I have just ordered a 407 Discovery board as it seemed to be the default option.
I was planning to order a kit form Frankenso board this month for the simple reason that putting it together from just the bare board should give me a much better understanding of the hardware than I could get just by reading the available info.
I get the soldering issues, I picked up a few SMD practice boards to be sure I could do it and was ok down to 0402 components, I have a 2in1 hot air SMD station with temp contorlled iron and the paste/flux for SMD stuff so no worries on that side.

For me the big draw is the potential processor performance and the open source meaing that we might finally get an affordable ECU that can run some of the newer higher technology engines.
Just seems to me a lot of the aftermarket stuff is significantly over complex or so limited as to be useless for anything more sofisticated than a Ford Zetec.
Right now we have a whole generation of great engines but due to the direct injection, VVT/VVL, variable inlet manifolds etc can only really be run properly by the OEM ECU or £10k+ standalones.

I'm certainly not new to all of this having had an MS&S unit (with hindsight - what a piece of junk), recently spent a lot of time in pre-2000 Motronic units and the day job has me working with pre-production OEM units.

I have done a little programming, most recently putting together an arduino motronic data logger for OBD1 ECUs so reasonably comfortable with the way C/C++ work.

Aplication wise I'm spending most of my time in BMW land with the first target being my E30.

I'm sure I will have plenty of questions coming up but I will keep them to the relevant forums.

A bit of a ramble, see you in the Forums.

[AndreyB]

Welcome to the forum!

[kb1gtt]

Welcome along and pleasure to meet you. Feel free to ask questions.

[Simon@FutureProof]

Thanks guys.

I guess the first question is how hard is the soldering of the board really?

I noticed most of the components are 0805 packages which for resistors, caps and LEDs were a piece of cake, the practice boards I picked up used these two packages http://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/cd4017bm/logic-10-out-decade-counter-16soic/dp/1741256
and both were pretty easy.

The tougher ones were some 0603 package 4 resistor arrays which were ok and some 0402 resistors which were tiny but still quite doable with the kit I have.

What has proven to be the trickiest component on the Frankenso board?

If it's not too bad I'm willing to set up the camera and do a proper write up on the build.

[kb1gtt]

The max9926 is probably the hardest. Also keep in mind that putting down components is easy, the reworking when something goes wrong is where you get buggered. A small bridge between fine pin leads can be a bugger. Reworking one component at the end of installing a hundred components then lifting a pad and damaging the board is a real bugger. The number of components on this board is what makes it hard. Keep in mind the Chinese are good at doing this kind of labor for low $.

[AndreyB]

The max9926 is probably the hardest.

Exactly, max9926 is the hardest. But with a $60 hot air gun from eBay and some soldering paste it's totally doable. Just have some desoldering
wick and patience.

[Simon@FutureProof]

If the Max9926 is the toughest one then I should be ok (prepared to eat those words later )

Looking at the spec sheet its a 0.635mm spacing .3mm width lead so about the same size as the 0402 bits I was messing with (1.0mm × 0.5mm). My trick for some of those was to tin the pads using the solder paste and iron to avoid bridging any of the pads and then use the hot air to put the chip down.

I picked up one of these a little while ago as I was doing ever finer work on production car electronics and the odd bit of damaged computer stuff. So far it has been a god send when coupled with good liquid flux and good quality paste.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WEP-952D-SAFE-REWORK-SOLDERING-STATION/dp/B01MQRLA4L

I will look at getting an order for a kit through later tonight, I'm up for a challenge and by building it I should be able to better fault find, repair or modify it. (really the idea of the customs charges on a full ECU makes the effort worth it )

I picked up a STM32F407VG but I see there has been mention of the pin compatible F7 versions on here, did that ever move forward at all?

[AndreyB]

Never finished with anything F7. Did you get discovery or violet board or anything not discovery?

Discovery has it's benefits.

[Simon@FutureProof]

I picked up a discovery as it seemed to be the default option.

That way I know anything I do is not working because of botched code or soldering and not the brain board.

Once I have done my E30 I have a friend that wants to run a 2JZ off one of these and then later I may try to use if with a BMW N52 engine, that means I am going to have to get really damn comfy with this system.

Having a known working Disco as a master board will only help matters.

I'm keen to look into the requirements to migrate to the F7 boards, in the UK at least the F7 Nucleo boards seem to be cheaper and more available than the Discovery boards.

I also think I am going to need to KiCAD up an adapter board for the 88 pin E36 ECU as my E30s M20 engine is running the Single Vanos M50 ECU.

[kb1gtt]

A reference adapter board found here.
https://rusefi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=507

[Simon@FutureProof]

Thanks, My plan on that side is to prototype something up that holds the ignition IGBTs and the connector in a single interface board, idea being it can be wired to a standard Frankenso board and provide the required additional bits for the BMWs with minimal messing about and it will keep the high power IGBTs away from the other electronics.

There is also the issue of space where the stock ECU mounts, on the E30 it goes below the dash clocks behind a trim panel, there's plenty of room there but not near the front where the ECU connector is as you quickly start clashing with the headlight aim controls and other bits of wiring.
Being able to have the connector on a smaller board near the front and the main ECU mounted a bit further back will make life a bit easier than the M50 ECU and ROM emulator + immobilizer fob socket all fighting for space in there at the moment.

I haven't quite worked out all of the things that are possible with the current status of development on this ECU, is there already a list of capabilities? (split into working and in progress?)
If not I may type one up as I go.

I think to get full integration with the car I will need to add:
IGBTs for direct coil driving
Probably an IGBT to switch the Vanos 12v solenoid on and off
RPM output to the dash clocks
Fuel rate output to the dash and OBC

[Simon@FutureProof]

Just ordered a Frankenso Kit with LCD and SMD bundle from the Tindie store.

Now have to prepare myself for the customs charges.

[Lyonz]

That's all very well.
Welcome to the adventure, it's thrilling