What happened? FAST Classic related

[Whut]

I was running at the track last Saturday and after the first pass my voltage light started flickering. I checked the alternator and sure enough it was going in and out of charging so it was on its last leg. This is a points series I am in and figured if the battery held out I wouldnt have to disqualify myself. My laptop has a bad battery so its hooked up to an inverter which for obvious reasons I couldnt run. I didnt really want to run the car so I skipped the rest of qualifying and put a time of 12.35 on the window. I promptly broke out on that time and shut it down.

I had a friend bring me to a parts store that was open 24 hours and while I was off doing that another friend (mechanic) took my alternator out of the car. After everything was reinstalled it fixed the issue and my charging system was back up to par. I took it out to log a pass as I am still working on my tune and found that even though I have logging set up to record at 20 frames/sec it looks like its recording at 5 frames/sec. Further looking shows 0 volts for the battery in dash I have set up.

This was a quick swap at the track and I have had a chance to make sure all wiring is where it should be but I would assume so.

MY question is, is there any way I can get this back working properly? I am going to try and just reload the tune and hopefully that works but if anyone has any suggestions that dont involve buying a new box I am open for them. I would go XFi but money is real tight right now and I really hope I didnt hurt my classic box.

 

[HighPSI]

Charge the battery up and recheck it.

 

[bobc455]

Remember that if CalCom was polling more than 14 (?) data points from the FAST, the data rate goes WAY down. Did you have any other windows open in the background (maybe a timing table or something)?

I've found that more than about 12-15 frames per second can cause problems, even though theoretically it shouldn't. What happens if you try to log at 10 frames/second?

Do you log BATT correction %? If you saw 0 volts, you might have been getting a bunch of BATT correction. (That starts happening somewhere around 13.2 volts I think).

-Bob C.

 

[Whut]

Ok, I figured it out tonight when I had some time.

I guess Ccom gets a little iffy with bad voltage. Tonight I did an oil change on the car and then sat down and loaded up the same tune but from my hard drive into the ECM to see if that would help. After starting the car I could see the Voltage was reading correctly and charging perfectly. I then armed the logging and the dash (same dash as the other windows) was correctly showing the Voltage. I hit the space bar and gave the throttle a little blip and it read the correct voltage through the entire log BUT when the log was finished the voltage in the log dropped to zero and it just stayed there throughout the recording.

I guess to make a long story short, I just built Dash 11 to match what the other dash had. I then set up logging to use Dash 11 and recorded another throttle blip and sure enough, everything recorded correctly and smoothly again at 20 frames/sec.

Thanks for the suggestions, I hope if anyone else has this issue with an alternator taking a dump and their FAST not logging correctly finds this thread. Hopefully it will save them the hour or so it took me of messing around.

Cal, if you read this, have you had a chance to look at my tune? I hit low 12's in 100 degree heat with a dewpoint of 70 but its still a bit rich. The motor is basically a 10 second motor and it doesnt even feel like its working hard to hit the low 12's. Hopefully, with your guidance I can get kicked out of a track this season for running to fast without a cage.

 

[HighPSI]

Because of Tropical Storm Fay, I am stuck at home today. I hope to get caught up with your tune and 2 others today.

 

[Whut]

Sucks about the storm. Just think of it this way, at least its not ice.

 

[HighPSI]

I looked over your program and have some questions before I update it. Give me a call at your convenience

 

[Whut]

Can I call you in a few minutes?

 

[Whut]

Wait, I guess its late there on the east coast. I am on the west coast so its not even 8 PM here. If you would like to call me tonight you can do so, I will PM you my number or I can call you tomorrow (probably early afternoon your time).

Either way, thanks for checking it out.