Arduino based small engine ignition controller

so radioshack has been trying to get its old customer base back.
so they have been stocking more electronic parts & they soon will be carrying things like arduinos.

so i wanted to see if that was an option & i found this.
Arduino based small engine ignition controller Nixworld

it can be more than just an ignition controller though.
through add ons. it can do things like read & display temperature. display rpm & adv/ret on timing.

i could even see it working well with the "developer" nuvinc controller.

Fulltimer said:

The date at the end of the article is June 20th, 2009. I wonder what else he has done, if anything.

Terry

Click to expand...

he has 2 or three more articles.

he gives up after a while because he ran into 2 problems,
first he couldn't figure out how to write the code to predict where to release the charge. for just example purpose we will say the sensor is at 0º and you want to advance it by 3º.
so the circuit needs to know how many ms(milliseconds) to create the spark.
@ every RPM the ms will be different.

then her burnt out a chip.

the timing can be overcome with some creative programming.
like either some equations of possibly a RPM table.
also in his design, he use an rx7 coil & sensor. he said in the rx7 2 sensors are used but in his design he only used one.
so the additional sensor could possibly help.

more ideas of features could one day be EFI.
also an idea would to slowly retard the ignition if the head hits a certain temp.
also to have the lights turn off 30 seconds after the ignition is turned off. like newer cars.


even crazier ideas are to use a gyroscope sensor. like out of a wii controller. then when hitting a hill the bike will change angles & can alter a nuvinci controller to go into a bigger rear gear.(not really a gear but ratio.)

there is wifi adapters for them so info can be sent to a laptop or smart phone.

i also had this idea before. if 2 nuvinci's with their own controllers. use an analog sensor to know steering position & speed could be used on a trike as an electronic deferential.
so depending on speed & steering position would change the two wheels ratios so the rear wheels would not only adapt to turning radius but to force the bike to turn. that will make it extremely stable in a turn. in addition the torque would be split between the two hubs so less likely for failure of the hubs.
that would be needed in cases of morini being too powerful for just one hub.