Brake Fluid Warning setup - G4X/Strada MXG

[Fjay]

Hi, 

Currently wiring in my Focus RS with the above ECU and dash and just looking for a little help wiring in the OE Brake fluid level sensor and alternator light but also need help with the dash set up.

Is there a recommened channel to use for them and also, would it be set up in Race studio as a customer sensor in Race Studio to have the warning light triggered on the Dash?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in Advance

Jay

[Brad Burnett]

For brake fluid level and Alt, I would just wire into dash to avoid consuming available I/O on the ecu. 

Alternately you can wire both of them to spare digital inputs on the ecu and have their status communicated over CAN to the dash.

[Fjay]

Perfect! Thank you for that! 

[Adamw]

I would probably keep alternator lamp as a separate incandescent bulb on the dash somewhere - or use a resistor in its place and get the dash charge light to work off battery voltage instead.   We had another user fry a dash that was connected directly to the alt lamp circuit due to some odd occurrence that caused an alternator load dump. 

This doc here will give you an idea of the general warning lamp setup:  https://www.aim-sportline.com/download/faqs/eng/hardware/sensors/mx_series/FAQ_Sensors_MXx12_StradaSpieIcone_100_eng.pdf

[curly]

The brake fluid reservoir switch on an RS is a ground input to the ABS module, which could go to a DI on the ECU. But if you're not using it to trigger some kind of VSS limit, I would wire it to the dash. Channel 1-8 can be programmed as digital inputs, I believe for either of these options you'll want to select the internal pull-up resistor. You'll then want to add an alarm with a LED or message, triggered when that input is ON.

As for the alternator, I've set up dozens of AIM dashes and never connected directly to the alternator. As Adam said above, this could cause issues. Just add an alarm to trigger an LED and/or message to warn you when internal batter or ECU battery drops below whatever your comfort level is.

You can get fancy with it too, I would program something like this:

Alarm on if batt V below 12 AND rpm below 500, OR batt V below 13 AND rpm above 1000. This would warn you while you're KOEO that your battery is a little low, and when your alternator is struggling while KOER.

[Fjay]

Amazing thanks! Is the battery voltage read through the power in put of the dash or is it via CAN?

I’ve been looking for a pinout for the brake fluid sensor cap but can’t see one anywhere, does anyone have a diagram or know which pins do what on the 3 pin Bosch connector?

thanks again!

Jay

[curly]

What year is your RS? 

 Battery voltage is read through the dash's 12v source, but if you're reading data from the ECU via CAN, most CAN protocols also have the ECU's battery voltage. Either one would work. 

[Fjay]

It’s the MK1 from 2003.

Thanks for that!