Monsoon vs. Storm vs. Fury

[senordos]

Hello,

I'm looking at purchasing a Link ECU. I've been recommended the Monsoon, but I want to understand the features I'll be missing. I have tried to understand this from reading their forums and manuals, but welcome any tips from HP Academy.

From what I see, there are sufficient inputs and outputs for my needs. The car runs a single coil on a distributer, so I actually receive 3 additional outputs.

Question 1:

I want to wire in the lamdba from my AEM Lambda controller... but my understanding of the spec sheet suggests that I wouldn't be able to run "closed loop lambda" (I think Link call this Closed Loop Lambda Auto Mode). This is something I was interested to play with - but I've managed without before. The Storm or the Fury are a good few £££ extra, so not sure it's worth it. Am I right that the Monsoon does not have closed loop lambda.

Question 2:

I've previously also experimented with closed loop boost control. Is this feature available on the Monsoon?

Question 3:

The Monsoon has a CAN bus which I intend to use for my Race Technology Dash2... the spec sheet warns that I'd need additional inputs for a 2nd CAN bus... is there any reason I'd need a 2nd CAN bus?

Question 4:

Knock control. The Monsoon does not have this. The advice I've received is that, as a hobbiest tuner, this would require a lot of work to setup right. They suggested I'd be better with the separate Knocklink light. I also have a KX-3, although I've only had varying success in setting this up. Ideally, it it's simple enough, I'd like something on the car to tell the ECU if there is knock, although I've managed for many years without this, so it's probably not a must have.

Thanks for any tips... I simply want to make sure I make the most efficient use of my budget.

Cheers

[Steve]

Knockcontrol isnt that hard to set up. It just needs a little bit of knowhow. Its better to have it and not utilize it right away (but maybe later), than want it and not have it. 

Dont cheap out on engine management

[krohelm]

I just did a driving class at the local race track, and the (67 year old, seasoned) instructor was vocally excited about the way my car runs.  I'm a hobbyist as well, and I selected the Monsoon a couple years ago.  You can do really well as a novice with a Monsoon.

1. Monsoon does not have a built-in o2 sensor controller.  You can install a controller and connect it to the Monsoon though!  I used the can-lambda, and really like the can approach, but you can use a 5v input too.  It does closed loop lambda, but does not update/learn your table over time.  You should get a good tune first, then enable CLL to just smooth out the minor environmental things that aren't perfectly corrected for otherwise.

2. No experience. 

3. If you are creating a new can bus in your vehicle, you'd need a 2nd bus if your data rate needs exceeded your bus speed.  Takes a whole lot of messages per second to do that on a 1mbit can bus.  I made my own dash and send a couple hundred messages per second.  No problem, it'd start to be a concern at 10-12k messages per second.

4. I've started to feel constrained by my lack of knock control.  My car runs amazingly well, makes more power than factory - but I'm scared of looking for MBT without a safety net for bad gas.  My engine has 11.5:1 compression, so detonation is fairly rough on it.

I may be moving up to a fancier ecu in the not too distant future.  I need to finish my instrument cluster first though :-) too many projects.

[Richard Hill]

Yes, closed loop boost control is available on the Monsoon.  And yes, the CAN bus on a Monsoon will run a Race Technology dash just fine.  There is a Dash 2 Pro CAN profile pre-built in the drop down.

HTH,

 Richard.

 

 

[senordos]

Thanks everyone.

Seems that the Monsoon does pretty much all I need it to, the closed loop lambda, closed loop boost control.

The question is, do I want to run the knock control? For this, do I just need to wire the donut style sensor direct into the ECU (Fury) or do I need a controller for this between the donut and the ECU?

Also, with the research I've done, I see that other ECUs (like the Haltech) make minor updates to a second ignition map if knock is detected, essentially reducing timing over time if knock continues to be sensed. Does the Link do something similar with its knock control (and for that matter, the lambda and the boost if off target)? Presumably it's possible to see in the logs that it happened anyway?

Thanks.

[Adamw]

On 11/19/2018 at 7:14 AM, senordos said:

For this, do I just need to wire the donut style sensor direct into the ECU (Fury) or do I need a controller for this between the donut and the ECU?

The knock sensor is wired directly to the ecu.

 

On 11/19/2018 at 7:14 AM, senordos said:

Also, with the research I've done, I see that other ECUs (like the Haltech) make minor updates to a second ignition map if knock is detected, essentially reducing timing over time if knock continues to be sensed. Does the Link do something similar with its knock control (and for that matter, the lambda and the boost if off target)? Presumably it's possible to see in the logs that it happened anyway?

Yes, there are knock ignition trim tables.  If the ECU needs to retard a cylinder due to knock it will record the amount of retard that was applied in the relevant RPM/load cell.  The next time the engine passes through that same cell then that same retard will be applied.  If the engine is operated in that cell for longer than the "advance delay" setting and there is no knock then the ecu will try to re-advance the ignition (remove the trim).   There are a couple of ways to set it up but the most common is that these trims will be cleared at the next start up so the ignition is running its normal advance and will only retard if knock is detected again.  The trims are not permanently stored, but if you are logging you can see when/where trims were applied and removed.

 

On 11/19/2018 at 7:14 AM, senordos said:

(and for that matter, the lambda and the boost if off target)?

There is closed loop lambda and boost control if thats what you mean, but not "self-tuning", it needs to be tuned properly in the first place.

 

[AbbeyMS]

Monsoon doesnt run knock control thou?

[Adamw]

29 minutes ago, AbbeyMS said:

Monsoon doesnt run knock control thou?

 

On 11/19/2018 at 7:14 AM, senordos said:

do I just need to wire the donut style sensor direct into the ECU (Fury) or do I need a controller for this between the donut and the ECU?

 

[senordos]

Hi all,

Thanks for your help on this. I've bitten the bullet and gone with the Fury... why not!

Cheers.