metaruss

11/07/03: Version 1.0 – this calibration is based off of v0.6, but now contains the first of the spark curve adjustments.  For starters, I simply used the curves from the 1987 Mopar Performance Turbo II and CSX Stage II calibrations (they are the same).  From this point forward, I will be adding advance to eek out more performance from my CSX motor.  Since I have reduced compression with a head shim, I don’t recommend using any calibrations beyond this point with a stock motor.

11/07/03: Version 0.6 – made a slight adjustment to the partial throttle curve to try to address what seemed like a lean spot.  It seemed to take care of it.  This calibration seems now to get similar gas mileage to the stock calibration.

10/27/03: Version 0.5 – tweaked the cold start tables, AIS tables, and other fuel tables.  The engine starts and idles fine, even when cold.  Decel mixture is good.  Fuel mileage is better than the ND cal was, though still below stock.

10/16/03: Version 0.4 – richened-up the part throttle curve at high boost levels and leaned the no-throttle curve some.  Also adjusted the cold-start enrichment curve down a bit.  The mixture looks pretty good for me.  The only outstanding issue is an idle surge when coming to a stop when the engine is cold.

10/15/03: Version 0.3 – reapplied the v0.2 changes to the real stock 1987 Turbo II calibration and tuned for 55psi of fuel.  I ended up with different curves that seem to be too rich during no-thottle decel and lean at part throttle over 12psi of boost.  Idle mixture is good, as is cruise and WOT.

Well, the car has pretty much been sitting all summer.  I spent most of it working on the house and yard, but I do now have 60A service to the garage.  I also have a compressor and a stick welder.  I just hope I get the paint on the car before the weather turns cold.  I have a heater, but I don’t dare use it while painting.

I started getting serious with the floorpans a few weeks ago, but then work sent me out of the country for two weeks.  I now have all the rotted sheetmetal out of the passenger side (ended up being most of it).  The damage from the previous owner’s incident with the pothole is quite extensive.  Much of the floorpan and firewall on that side is buckled and cracked, which is what caused it to rot out.  The frame rail was pushed up and outwards, but remained completely rust-free.  Apparently, the impact to the front of the K-frame, caused the K-frame to “pivot” on its front mount and mash the rear mount up and back.  Quite franky, the car isn’t worth fixing, but it is too late for that now.  I managed to push the frame rail back down and over somewhat.  The position of the rear K-frame mount still isn’t right, but I think it is closer to where it should be.  I bent some really huge 2″ angle iron and plate steel trying to straighten the thing out. I will compensate by shimming down the K-frame on that mount and hogging-out the stud hole to give me more freedom.  Hopefully it will be enough.  The right-front K-frame mount is squashed and only partially connected to the frame rail, but it is accessible enough to fix.  Right now, I am stripping the paint off of the remainder of the floorpan and rail so that I can paint everything with POR-15.  The last thing I want is to have all this work rust-out on me.  If the car still shakes under acceleration after all this, I will be really pissed.

Well, I spent much of the summer working on house and yard related things, so the Daytona sat for a long time.  As such, the CSX has been my daily driver all summer and probably will be all fall.  On the upside, some of that work included running 60A service out to my garage, which allows me to power my recently aquired compressor and stick welder.  Hopefully I can get the Daytona back together in time to get the CSX back in the garage before winter.

On a whole, the CSX has held up well.  There seems to be a coolant leak coming from the radiator.  The radiator has desperately needed recoring since I got the car.  I have also been using a custom calibration in place of the ND Performance cal I had before.  It is much improved, though still has idle issues.  The ND cal would always die two or three times at cold startup, but would eventually get going.  It also would break up real bad around 5000rpm and had a part throttle lean spot around 10psi of boost that would cause the engine to cut-out.  Aside from the idle problem (which may be mechanical), the new cal has none of these problems.  It seems that I have the mixture setup right, but we shall see how my gas mileage is.  See my Automotive Electronics pages for more info.

10/13/03: Version 0.2 – richened up the top end a little, but may be too lean for you, as I forgot that my fuel pressure is 60psi right now.  Gas mileage seems to be good and it gets enough fuel all the way to 18psi or so, even at part throttle.

10/11/03: Version 0.1 – first working cal, actually based on the MP CSX Stage II cal (needs 93 octane).  Has trouble at cold start, as it likes to die a few times unless the throttle is blipped.  Could be a mechanical issue with my motor.

My intent here is to cover the basics of some of the available home automation devices that I have used, X10 and otherwise.

X10 by X10

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X10 (the company) is probably better known on the Internet for their obscene uses of banner and pop-up advertising, which is why I don’t have any direct hyperlinks to their website (http://www.x10.com).  That aside, they do offer a wide range of products, mostly based on the original X10 device designs.  In addition, most of their products are quite cheap, especially when bought in quanity.  Here are my thoughts and experiences on some of their offerings:

Lamp Modules: These modules have the major disadvantage of only being able to control incandescent bulbs.  Anyone using fluorescent or low voltage halogen bulbs will have to use appliance modules or buy from a different vendor.  The 2-way LM14A module can remember its dim setting, will soft-start the lamp while powering up, and can report its status.  The other lamp modules can only receive commands and do not allow you to dim the lamp from the off state.  The lamp must be turned on and then dimmed down to the desired level.

Applicance Modules: These are simple on-off modules that are pretty much universal.  They come in a few variants, depending on whether you have an appliance with a grounded plug and how much current the appliance needs.  The non-heavy duty versions can be turned on and off by toggling the power switch on the appliance, which is handy if you don’t have a controller nearby.  There is also a 2-way version of the 2-prong appliance module (AM14A), which can report its status.

Switches and Sockets: The lamp and appliance modules are also available as wall switches and wall outlets, respectively.  They are installed in the electrical boxes, in place of the conventional switches and outlets.  This makes for a cleaner installation.  The wall switches leave a few things to be desired, but they are functional.  For starters, like the lamp modules, they can only switch incandescent bulbs.  Also, the interface is a single, odd-looking, cheap-feeling button.  Momentarily pressing it toggles the light on and off.  Holding it down (after turning it on) will cause it to dim down and up until the button is released.  The “decorator” switches look much better from the outside, but they are the same mechanism behind the nice bezel.  They can be a pain when you are in a hurry because you have to hit them “just right” to get them to come on.  There are several other vendors that make superior switches.  The wall outlet is equivalent to the AM466-HA appliance module (15A grounded).  The top outlet is controlled while the bottom is always on.  As with the appliance module, you can turn it on by toggling the power switch on the appliance.

Wired Controllers: There are a number of controllers that plug directly into your outlet to send X10 commands.  These range from simple banks of switches to computer interfaces.  If you don’t intend to put your home automation system under computer control, then you can use X10’s time (MT10A-HA) or light (SD533-HA) driven controllers to manage your devices.

Wireless Controllers: There is an even larger number of wireless controller available for X10 systems.  There are keychain and wall-mounted remotes that can control a small range of unit codes.  The slim wall-mounted controllers (like SS13A) are handy for implementing a 3-way switch where there is none without cutting holes in the wall.  There are also wireless motion sensors that can be placed throughout the home to illuminate hallways at night, etc. The MS14A/MS16A motion sensors actually send two unit codes. It sends an “ON” event when motion is detected and will also send another “ON” event on the next unit code if it is dark.  It will then send an “OFF” command on both codes after a specified delay.

Wireless Transceivers: If you are going to use any of the wireless controllers, you will need one or more transceivers.  There are two available from X10, both of which also function as 2 prong (ungrounded) appliance modules.  The appliance module portion of the TM module can be set to unit code 1 or 9 and can be queried for status.  The other module (TM751) uses unit code 1 only.  These transceivers can only “represent” one house code, so you would need one for each house code that you need to receive wireless commands on (note also that many of the controllers can only send on one house code as well).  Also, the receiver’s sensitivity is rather poor, resulting disappointing range with the controllers.

WGL & Associates

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Wireless Receiver: WGL offers a few products to address some of the problems with other X10 products.  Their W800 series receivers are many times more sensitive than the X10 transceivers.  The RF32 versions will also receive extended commands for all X10 house and unit codes, so you only need one.  The disadvantage is that it does not interface to your house wiring.  Instead, the commands are sent over a serial port to a computer.  The idea is that the computer provides the wired X10 interface (via CM11A, etc) and it will relay the codes revceived by the W800 to the X10 devices.  Since the receiver talks to the computer directly, the time it takes for the X10 device to respond is cut in half.  I am using the W800RF32A, which has the external whip antenna that I mounted in a closet at the center of the house.  It can receive signals from anywhere on my property!

SmartHome

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SwitchLinc Switches: I picked up a half-dozen of their refurbished 2-way switches (model 2380) on clearence for about half price.  These are the older design, which apparently can have thermal problems when powering heavy loads.  The newer design supposedly takes care of this.&nbsp Compared to the X10 dimmers, these switches are far superior in quality, “feel”, ease of use, and intelligence.&nbsp Since they are 2-way (in terms of X10 commands), they can transmit their code and status which is handy for intelligent control via a computer.&nbsp They also support preset dim and programmable dim rates for pleasant scene control (and no blaring bright lights coming on at night when you just want low lighting).&nbsp There are non 2-way switches as well that are less expensive, have the same nice feel and dimming capability, but can’t transmit X10 codes.

Others

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There are other vendors available that I have not used.  These include PCS, Leviton, and Home Pro.