Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

33586

General Discussion Area / Re: Bench grinder problem

« on: 17 December 2007, 14:05:02 »

(5.5Kw)

Enough for a few sets of Christmas tree lights [size=9]and not much else![/size]

33587

General Discussion Area / Re: Bench grinder problem

« on: 17 December 2007, 14:01:28 »

D'oh! Must type faster. There you go.. 2 votes for the capacitor...

33588

General Discussion Area / Re: Bench grinder problem

« on: 17 December 2007, 14:00:12 »

Most likely it'll be an induction motor which means no brushes, etc. to worry about. You'll probably find it has a pair of stator windings which are phase-shifted by a capacitor, and it's the capacitor that's the most likely component failure, I'd say. It'll be running on a single stator winding at the moment, which is why it's a bit sluggish. You might also find it doesn't start reliably or will start in reverse if you flick it backwards as you switch it on.

If it's not the capacitor you might find it's got a speed sensitive switch which reduces the power of the motor as it reaches operating speed. This may have jammed open, reducing the starting torque.

My money's on the capacitor, though, so should be an easy fix

Kevin

33589

General Discussion Area / Re: Signed off sick

« on: 16 December 2007, 01:00:16 »

But what about the new Job???

He has'nt got it yet..................should'nt make that much difference anyway, doubt they wwould want him starting before chrimbo, Anyway get well soon James, get the other half to pamper you for the next week

Even if I get it -

I will have to employ someone, and train them up to do my job, before I can even think about going over to Hosting

Umm. This can be a problem with internal job changes IME. It can hang like a carrot in front of you for a while as all sorts of circumstances beyond your control get in the way of you actually changing. Sometimes it's better just to jump ship. At least you know a solid date when job n finishes and job n+1 starts. :-/

Kevin

33590

General Discussion Area / Re: Signed off sick

« on: 15 December 2007, 13:25:24 »

Take it easy and get well soon, mate. Nice excuse to wind down before Christmas

Sounds like you need a project, though...

Kevin

33591

General Discussion Area / Re: Bl**dy credit cards

« on: 16 December 2007, 00:38:58 »

I have always had one rule......if I cant afford it, I dont buy it......and we have done without holidays etc as a result.

The only exception is the mortgage.

I need credit cards to cover company expenses......

I'm sure you will get it sorted Martin

The sentiments I live by as well.

Damn right. Milk them for the convenience they offer but don't ever put yourself in a position where they have you by the balls. They make their money by encouraging people into this position and then rather them over when they are no longer able to vote with their feet.  

Kevin

33592

General Discussion Area / Re: 25 going on 40

« on: 16 December 2007, 00:43:05 »

Don't worry. I'm 37 and have been 40 since I was about 19. All my mates have caught up. Most have overtaken and ended up in a real state of middle age, whereas I'm the same as I always have been, and long may it last [smiley=beer.gif]

Kevin.

33593

General Discussion Area / Re: I've just splashed some cash!

« on: 16 December 2007, 00:21:47 »

I got a Tom Tom before we went to Italy this summer. Only thing that lets it down is the rubbish PC software that just gives you a mini tom tom "emulator" on the screen to plan routes, etc. May as well struggle on the unit itself for all the help it is. It really wasn't good for planning a whole holiday and I ended up wishing I'd taken my PocketPC with CoPilot on and stomached the instability.

But.. for just finding postcodes and navigating around the UK it's great. Pocket PC has always discharged its batteries when I want to use it, which means re-installing and registering the software again. Just reaching for the map book is less hassle. The TomTom is way better for that. No cables to lose, no hassle with the underlying OS bleating at you, because it can't see your bluetooth GPS anymore, just switch on, post code in and off you go.

Kevin

33594

General Discussion Area / Re: Interesting mod (if it works)

« on: 16 December 2007, 00:55:19 »

Sorry, couldn't leave it at that...

'it collapses the manifold vacuum allowing briefly for a richer mixture on the re-application of a trailing throttle - thus significantly improving throttle response - and it creates an element of off-throttle turbulence'

I've never read such a load of horse sh!t.

Collapses the manifold vacuum = unmetered air leak = bad news

Richer mixture on re-application of throttle - No. Vacuum doesn't make any difference to the mixture on an Omega. MAF, TPS and rate of change of TPS are the main factors that determine throttle response and have been carefully tuned by GM to do so. Some chavvy valve in one of the vacuum lines is going to improve this, is it? Nope. It adds unmetered air which will lean the mixture and, at best, worsen throttle response.

off-throttle turbulence ?!?!?!. There's very little airflow at all into an engine off throttle. How turbulent it is doesn't make any difference because in most cases the ECU will have completely shut off the fuel at this point unless then engine is idling - meaning the air will just flow through the engine and out of the exhaust. Whether it does that smoothly or turbulently isn't relevant.


 

Kevin

33595

General Discussion Area / Re: Interesting mod (if it works)

« on: 16 December 2007, 00:44:52 »

Total snake oil. Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

Spend the money on petrol instead, I say.

Kevin

33596

General Discussion Area / Re: More LPG Mapping quirks

« on: 13 December 2007, 09:17:24 »

.. a plug from the end of an old Lambda sensor would be handy too

Kevin

33597

General Discussion Area / Re: More LPG Mapping quirks

« on: 12 December 2007, 21:59:47 »

Overrun cutoff is a function of the main (petrol) ECU. It cuts fuel so the LPG system cuts fuel and unless possible with Tech 2 you can't turn it off.

When fiddling with James' install the overrun cutoff seemed to disengage well over idle speed after a blip. Probably at 1500 RPM or more so I doubt that's the issue.

It would be really nice to get some live data from the main ECU while mapping the LPG as that's the only way you'll get it spot on. If it's out, the petrol ECU will learn some new settings to put it back where it likes things, hence iot looks out again a few days later! Knowing what corrections the petrol ECU is applying is the key.

Kevin

Do you think if I bought a "Device" over that's capable of reading the live ECU data, we would have a sporting chance at getting it spot on, then?

Sounds like an excellent idea

If that doesn't work, I have another idea. What do you reckon are the chances of being able to get one of your Lambda sensors out without knackering the thread? Time to try my Wideband lambda sensor?

I think some of the connectors are embedded in the Westfield's loom but I'm sure I could liberate them.

Kevin

33598

General Discussion Area / Re: More LPG Mapping quirks

« on: 12 December 2007, 18:20:34 »

Overrun cutoff is a function of the main (petrol) ECU. It cuts fuel so the LPG system cuts fuel and unless possible with Tech 2 you can't turn it off.

When fiddling with James' install the overrun cutoff seemed to disengage well over idle speed after a blip. Probably at 1500 RPM or more so I doubt that's the issue.

It would be really nice to get some live data from the main ECU while mapping the LPG as that's the only way you'll get it spot on. If it's out, the petrol ECU will learn some new settings to put it back where it likes things, hence iot looks out again a few days later! Knowing what corrections the petrol ECU is applying is the key.

Kevin

Yes but with mine you can control the over-run independently, presumably it has a baseline minimum idle fuelling duration that it won't go under unless the revs are above the over-run threshold, regardless of what the petrol system is doing. I think the problem with mine is that the injectors are mounted on the sides of the plenum, so although the pipes supplying the fuel are right next to the injectors, there seems to be a small delay in the fuel being re-applied after cut-off. Therefore the threshold RPM needs to be higher than that for petrol to prevent stalling.

Interesting. I don't think there's such an option with James' system. It certainly didn't seem to be causing problems when we mapped it, but with colder weather maybe so. I'd be surprised if the injector pipes made much difference. They can't fill with anything but vapour and the volume of vapour required to fire each cylinder once is probably well above that stored in the pipe, making the pipe length less relevant.

As previously mentioned, newer systems are probably more sophisticated and can react more quickly, so perhaps this is no longer an issue. Even the latest LPG systems are still a lot less sophisticated than any modern petrol system though, so they are continuing to improve all the time -- I'm sure you know this with your experience in mapping petrol systems.

This is true, but mainly due to the need to keep the petrol ECU in control of the engine. There are so many variants of engine control system, all doing other tasks such as controlling engine torque during automatic gearbox changes (sorry!), traction control, cruise, etc. that the gas system can't take total control over the fuelling. It acts as a mapping between injector times on petrol and injector times on LPG. Maybe that makes some functions, such as overrun cutoff, less optimal on LPG. The fact that your system has such a setting suggests it might.  :-/

Kevin

33599

General Discussion Area / Re: More LPG Mapping quirks

« on: 12 December 2007, 15:56:11 »

Overrun cutoff is a function of the main (petrol) ECU. It cuts fuel so the LPG system cuts fuel and unless possible with Tech 2 you can't turn it off.

When fiddling with James' install the overrun cutoff seemed to disengage well over idle speed after a blip. Probably at 1500 RPM or more so I doubt that's the issue.

It would be really nice to get some live data from the main ECU while mapping the LPG as that's the only way you'll get it spot on. If it's out, the petrol ECU will learn some new settings to put it back where it likes things, hence iot looks out again a few days later! Knowing what corrections the petrol ECU is applying is the key.

Kevin

33600

General Discussion Area / Re: didnt eat much on holiday.....

« on: 14 December 2007, 22:35:36 »

There are some right planks on here tonight.