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SDS CPI2

Ross, how difficult will the retrofit of the CPI2 be when replacing a single CPI that runs both coils?

Mounting will be totally different on both the panel mount and separate driver.

FF components will be the same.

Will be some wiring differences but we'll try to keep the FF connections the same pin-wise.
 
Are the optional backup battery trays fabricated yet? Is there a drawing? Do you have a price set for the battery tray with ATO fuse holder and wire leads/connectors?

I appreciate the low/high voltage visual alert/LED and and screen message.

I hope you decide to add an aural alert as well. Something that could be connected to an audio panel or intercom.

Thanks,

Charlie
 
Are the optional backup battery trays fabricated yet? Is there a drawing? Do you have a price set for the battery tray with ATO fuse holder and wire leads/connectors?

I appreciate the low/high voltage visual alert/LED and and screen message.

I hope you decide to add an aural alert as well. Something that could be connected to an audio panel or intercom.

Thanks,

Charlie

The prototype tray should be machined by the middle of the month. I'll release some photos at that time. No pricing set until I receive the invoice and figure out costs.

We've already started on the driver board design and I talked with Barry, the designer this morning to try to add the aural alert which would a tone set out to the audio output. We need to write software so you can disable that too so it doesn't drive you crazy.

The programmer board is 95% done now.
 
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Proto Board

Barry, our designer, worked through the weekend to hand solder the components onto the prototype display board. He's doing some checks today and should power it up with the display in place on Monday.



Things should start moving along a bit faster now.
 
Mounting will be totally different on both the panel mount and separate driver.

FF components will be the same.

Will be some wiring differences but we'll try to keep the FF connections the same pin-wise.

Thanks Ross. The mounting stuff is easy, I just don't want to completely rewire everything and be replacing FF stuff. Sounds like it won't be a big deal.
 
A box of components lost by Fedex delayed things a day, had to re-order.

Board is functioning on the bench, made a couple changes to the CAD file already, based on what was learned on the proto.

While we were waiting for the components, preliminary layout of the main board continued.
 
Over the weekend, made some changes to the condition and warning LED circuits to balance perceived brightness and dimming. Software change to fix a LOP LED issue. Revised hardware to fix an occasional character glitch on the LCD.

Onto integrating the battery switching circuit on the main board now.
 
Driver update

As of today, the components on the main PCB design are about 90% placed. The rest of it should be done and traces routed by mid next week with a proto board to be produced soon after. We'll be able to start functional, environmental and running tests on those boards.

Size wise, we're looking at something close to an EM-5 ECU. This was necessitated because of all the new extras- OV protect, auto backup battery switching, audio circuits, extra drivers, CAN etc. Dual board models will use stacked PCBs and a taller enclosure as on dual EM-5 setups. Amp Mini Fit Jr. connectors are used for most connections except the serial stuff.

We've got a good number of extra pins available for future expansion.

We're close to pulling the trigger for the keypad manufacture near month end too.

So finally most of the hard stuff is done (we hope) and things are moving along at a good pace now.

Getting excited to running both board proto designs together.
 
We've got the main board laid out and it all fits in the box size we wanted. Had to re-position some components to fit all the connectors on one side.

We've been running a bread boarded version of the main board driving coils and doing some tweaks to cut current requirements. Found some new transistors with higher gain and higher current and peak voltage ratings which we'll try tonight. These should help drop current and heat some more.

Did some lift-power testing to see if the spikes would fry the transistors. They didn't but we'll add the higher rated ones and we've added some zeners to protect them further.

Production work on orders has taken away some development time this week which is both good and bad.

We have a fair number of people signed up for the CPI2 now. Appreciate the confidence and patience. Should be able to beat them on the bench running some coils and spark plugs at 6000 rpm for a few days in early Feb.
 
Thanks for the progress report. Having bought the CPI FF components, I?m looking forward to your new CPI2 modules. I sincerely appreciate your transparency on all things SDS. It was a factor in my decision to go SDS. Well that and reports of satisfied customers among other things like price, quality, reliability and performance.

Thanks,
 
Permenant Magnet

Ross,
Ever though about developing a very simple (if there ever was such a thing) permanent magnet setup that would provide just enough voltage to fire your electronic ignition in case there was an electrical failure?

Something that would generate 9 or so volts at idle that was separate from the traditional battery or alternator setup.
 
That little SD-8 alternator would power the CPI with plenty of excess power. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

...Except a small battery, of course.
 
As Mike said, the SD-8 already exists so it seems redundant (sorry ;)) for us to develop something similar.

In the event the main alternator takes a dump, you can fly for several hours your main battery. If the alternator causes some battery shutdown scenario, then our backup battery will take over and give you an hour or more of flight time.

Update on the main board design- the proto board has all its traces routed. That will go to production on Wednesday probably which puts us back on the revised timetable.
 
This last week was super busy for orders so it put a slight dent in progress on the CPI2 main board. Nevertheless, Barry got in several solid days running routing tests on the new board and we also decided to fit one more circuit on the board, so room had to made for that.

The display face dimensions have been finalized. We sent off a CAD file to Stein late today so they can continue work on customer panels.
 
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We were testing the controller circuits on the weekend and were unhappy with how warm some of the components were getting so this section has been redesigned with different components and strategy. Should be able to test the new parts on Monday.
 
We're happy with the circuit redesign, things are running nice and cool now, the way we want everything on the board to be. We got the audio circuit onto the board and tested too. Just have to lay the ground and power planes now and the board will finally go to proto.
 
Barry made great progress last night. The PCB design is all done and going to proto later today. We're excited!
 
CPI 2 Features I?m hoping for.

All the features of the CPI 1, plus:

- Reduced controller/display size expected to fit panels with limited space.

- Improved brighter display.

- Audio/visual alerts.

- Auto Backup battery circuit designed to accommodate 2.9 ah AGM battery with optional tray for approx. 45 minutes run time on two coils (4 cylinder) or 1.5 hours on one coil.

- Intergated LOP switch.


Is the above accurate?

Price?

Availability?

Are you taking orders?

Thank you,
 
So Ross, I have 2 CPI not yet installed. Why would I want to replace with CPI2 ?

You may not. The #1 thing is probably the much smaller panel footprint but if you are blind mounting the CPIs, that's of no concern.

Other advances would be the OV protection if you're using Lithium batteries and the optional backup battery and switching. At the core of the ignition control part, little has changed because that part did everything it needed to.
 
CPI 2 Features I’m hoping for.

All the features of the CPI 1, plus:

- Reduced controller/display size expected to fit panels with limited space.

- Improved brighter display.

- Audio/visual alerts.

- Auto Backup battery circuit designed to accommodate 2.9 ah AGM battery with optional tray for approx. 45 minutes run time on two coils (4 cylinder) or 1.5 hours on one coil.

- Intergated LOP switch.


Is the above accurate?

Price?

Availability?

Are you taking orders?

Thank you,

Yes, pretty accurate. Price won't be finalized until I add up all the development costs and the increased production costs. The billet CNC'd enclosures are considerably more expensive than the OTS cast enclosure (like 11X) used on the original CPI. In fact, every part is more expensive- wiring, display, circuit boards etc.

We have a waiting list but we don't take any orders until it passes all our testing and is poised for production.

We're shooting for an early April introduction, pending successful testing of course.
 
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Backup Battery

Ross,

Curious on a few items regarding the auto battery backup:

-Will your system keep the backup battery topped off/charged?

-When will the CPI switch over to the backup battery...as soon as the alternator stops charging/fails or when the main battery is expired and starts to lose voltage?

-Is the backup battery connection 'up stream' of the on/off switch for the CPI/Coil? In other words, when you switch off the right or left I assume that the backup battery won't keep things running...like an EFIS backup battery, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Rob
 
Ross,

Curious on a few items regarding the auto battery backup:

-Will your system keep the backup battery topped off/charged?

-When will the CPI switch over to the backup battery...as soon as the alternator stops charging/fails or when the main battery is expired and starts to lose voltage?

-Is the backup battery connection 'up stream' of the on/off switch for the CPI/Coil? In other words, when you switch off the right or left I assume that the backup battery won't keep things running...like an EFIS backup battery, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

Yes, we have a charging and monitoring circuit built in.

We switch over to backup below and above a certain voltage threshold. I can't recall (I think around 10 and 16V respectively) where they are set now but testing may move those targets a bit. Simple change in software.

There are no generally external switches on the CPI2 system unless you choose to the blind mount option if we decide to offer that. The way we see it now, you'll be able to kill A or B or both only through the keypad. This is a consequence of the design criteria to keep the system sparking no matter what happens externally to it with regards to power. Some may prefer other strategies and switch gear. We'll have to see how the customer preferences flow in those matters.

I believe there is software which shuts down the backup battery if no tach pulses are detected after a certain amount of time. Not all software strategies are set in stone at this time. Real world testing often reveals a reason for change.
 
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We decided to delay running the main proto board a couple days until we can get the bridge board done (joins the 2 main boards together so they can talk to each other). We'll run all 3 proto boards as one panel to save some cost and time down the road. The bridge board was pretty well done today, just checking interfaces.
 
This last week was super busy for orders so it put a slight dent in progress on the CPI2 main board. Nevertheless, Barry got in several solid days running routing tests on the new board and we also decided to fit one more circuit on the board, so room had to made for that.

The display face dimensions have been finalized. We sent off a CAD file to Stein late today so they can continue work on customer panels.



Ross

Thank you so very much for the magic you do!!!! Any chance you could send a CAD file with face dimensions to [email protected]? Bill there is cutting my panel. He too is a gifted craftsman.

Thank you,
Ron Searle
 
Have the first of the new proto boards in hand now. Will start populating these over the weekend and hopefully start testing mid next week.
 
Very encouraging... Not just the progress, but the very tangible level of excitement at SDS as a result of this new product coming to fruition.

While I have a P-Mag in place right now, if it gives me even so much as another moment's trouble it's been told in no uncertain terms (and through some very colourful language) that it will be forklifted in favor of a CPI2.
 


After months of hard work and testing we finally have something tangible to show.

NO WAY! Its green! You know we hate the green!


LOL Just kidding. Super nice work Ross. Looking forward to the product. Keep up the good work! :)
 
Speaking of Pmag

I have two pmags on RV3 and have 2 CPI for my RV4. I have not heard it proposed that Pmag V40 is not immune to a timing loss that would kill the engine. Is anyone in the position to encourage Pmag users like me to keep the faith and not convert to CPI/CPI2 ?
 
Another potential customer view

Ross, I?m enjoying your development progress. As a D3000 user, I?m interested in the dual approach. As you consider use cases and features, you might consider those people who have no interest in displays or real time monitoring post set-up. I don?t have any interest in finding space in my panel for another display or two, and I want to use my existing ignition switch to control the ignitions. My wish would be to have a relatively conservative curve set for plug and play. I?m not sure how popular my mindset is. Good luck.
 
Ross, I?m enjoying your development progress. As a D3000 user, I?m interested in the dual approach. As you consider use cases and features, you might consider those people who have no interest in displays or real time monitoring post set-up. I don?t have any interest in finding space in my panel for another display or two, and I want to use my existing ignition switch to control the ignitions. My wish would be to have a relatively conservative curve set for plug and play. I?m not sure how popular my mindset is. Good luck.

We've made provision for a blind mount setup as we realize some don't have the want to diddle with timing or may not have the panel space to spare. Of course without the display, you won't have any diagnostics or other info available but that's the case on most EIs anyway.

We'll still offer the original CPI for those who want something simpler, lighter and less expensive for blind mounting too.
 
Ross, I?m enjoying your development progress. As a D3000 user, I?m interested in the dual approach. As you consider use cases and features, you might consider those people who have no interest in displays or real time monitoring post set-up. I don?t have any interest in finding space in my panel for another display or two, and I want to use my existing ignition switch to control the ignitions. My wish would be to have a relatively conservative curve set for plug and play. I?m not sure how popular my mindset is. Good luck.

Pretty much done except for the "existing" (ground the P leads) switch. Hide the box under the panel and run Ross' out of the box curve. Perfectly understandable.
 
Barry got most of one main boards loaded over the weekend. We received the rest of the components today so should get those mostly loaded tomorrow. The main board has over 200 parts on it, mostly SMT so they are pretty time consuming to load and solder by hand. The production boards will be machine loaded and soldered of course.

Next step will be to run the coils at high rpm and test the drive circuits for heat.
 
It's Alive!



Main board is mostly populated now. Testing has started on communication between this and the control board. The prototype board has uncovered a few things which need to be changed for the production boards which is its purpose. Hoping to start driving some coils hard with it later tonight.
 
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One. There will be 2 of these boards in a dual system connected by the bridge board on the left side of the photo.
 
Thanks Ross.

Will a dual system be packaged in one box or two?

What?s your estimate of the box size?

What will the box be made of?
 
Dual systems will be housed in a single box like the current dual EM-5 and about the same size, so you're looking at about 8.75 X 4 X 1.875 roughly. It will be CNC'd billet 6061-T6 just like the current EM-5 boxes.

The PCB has many more components on it than the original CPI and even more than an EM-5. All the OV stuff, eliminating external switches and new features added a lot of components. This is the most challenging piece of hardware SDS has designed to date which is why it's taken so long. There were lots of roadblocks to vault.
 
We can make the CPI2 face plate dimensions available now to anyone who needs it for laying out their panels.
 
Thermal Testing

As part of our design validation, we do thermal imaging tests to determine component temperatures and heat sink design making sure everything is operating within conservative limits.

We were running a coil pack tonight at moderate rpms and high charge times looking at heat flow on the board.



 
Nice. I did prototype work on the first staring IR sensors back in the '80s. Whats the color resolution per degree where seeing here? A few hundredths of a degree difference is a different animal than 10s of degrees across the (artificial) color scale.
 
I'd have to go back and look at the settings here. At this stage, we're most interested in the regulator and coil driver MOSFETs spot temperatures. We can place the target cursor right on these chips to display that. This imager combines an optical and IR picture to better visualize what you're seeing.
 
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