Gear Detection
Gear Detection uses either vehicle speed sensor information, CAN data or an Analog voltage to determine which gear is currently selected. Gear position can then be logged or used to control other features such as gear selection based boost control.
Gear Detection Settings:
The following Gear Detection modes are available:
·Off / CAN
Gear detection is turned off or the information comes over CAN. No other gear detection settings are required.
·RPM / Speed
The current gear is calculated from engine speed (RPM) and a driving wheel speed source. To use Gear Detection, the ECU must know each gear ratio. Then while driving, the ECU continuously compares the current driving wheel speed/engine speed ratio to the learned ratios to determine which gear the vehicle is in. If the driving wheel speed/engine speed ratio does not match any of the learned gear ratios, the ECU assumes the car is in neutral (or the clutch is pressed). The driving wheel speed source can be either from a Digital Input or over CAN. This mode may not work properly with automatic transmissions due to slip in the torque converter and this mode will only return numbered gears, not P,R,N,D&L. When used with number of gears set to 1 the vehicle will be considered to be in 1st gear if the the "Gear Ratio Calc. (RPM/kph)" Runtime value is less than the value in the 1st cell of the Gear Ratio Table x 1.1.
Slipper clutches in modern motorcycles may cause gear calculation issues while down shifting in over run.
·Analog Position Sensor
The gear is calculated from an AN Volt selected using the 'Source' setting. This requires a gear position sensor that outputs a different voltage for each gear. This mode can be used for automatic or manual transmissions.
Source (Only visible when using Analog Position Sensor Mode)
This setting allows the user to select the input that has been wired to the gear position sensor
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to RPM / Speed.
There are two options available:
·ECU Calculated - Gear Detection with gear ratios calculated by the ECU from driving wheel speed and engine speed. See ECU Calculated Gear Ratio Procedure for details on how to use this.
·User Defined - Gear ratios are entered into the Gear Ratio Table directly by the tuner.
Use this setting to enter the number of forward gears your gearbox has. The number of specified gears here will control the number of visible cells in various gear related tables such as gearshift or boost by gear.
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to RPM / Speed.
This setting selects the gear whose ratio is to be calculated by the ECU. Set to OFF when all gear ratios have been calculated. See ECU Calculated Gear Ratio Procedure for details on how to use this. This will not disable Gear Detection.
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to RPM / Speed.
This setting normalises the gear ratios displayed in the Gear Ratio Table to a particular gear. This feature only affects the way the gear ratio values are displayed in PCLink. For example, if you know your gearbox has a 1:1 fourth gear ratio, but the ECU calculates a different ratio (due to inclusion of final drive gears etc...), normalise the gear ratios to fourth gear. Fourth gear will then show as a 1:1 ratio and all other gears will also display correct values.
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to RPM / Speed.
The gear ratio table displays the ratio of engine speed to speed sensor frequency. ie:
Gear Ratio = Engine Speed (RPM) / Speed (kph)
The numbers displayed in the Gear Ratio Table do not represent the actual crankshaft to axle turns ratio. When Normalise Ratio Table is used, all numbers in the table are divided by the gear selected to normalise to. This will display the ratios as numbers that will correspond to crankshaft to axle turns ratio as usually seen.
When Gear Detection Type is set to ECU Calculated the ECU will fill in the Gear Ratio Table, when set to User Defined the tuner needs to fill in the table.
The important point here is that when manually entering gear ratio numbers, they must be entered as the Engine Speed/Speed(kph), not the numbers given by the vehicle manufacturer. The correct ratio number can be found by watching the Gear Ratio Calc runtime value in the Misc tab of the Runtime Values window (F12 key).
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to Analog Position Sensor.
The setting specifies the voltage above and below Volt X that Gear X will be detected. For example, with Gear A set to 1, Volt A set to 1.5, and Volt Tolerance set to 0.20 volts, gear 1 would be detected when the AN Volt channel (configured as Gear Position Sensor) measures between 1.3 to 1.7 volts.
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to Analog Position Sensor.
This setting is used to select the gear to match the voltage specified in Volt X.
This setting is only visible when the Gear Detection Mode is set to Analog Position Sensor.
This setting is used to specify the voltage for Gear X.
ECU Calculated Gear Ratio Procedure
The following procedure steps through calibration of the Gear Ratio Table (RPM / Speed mode only).
1.Set Gear Detection Type to ECU Calculated. This turns Gear Detection on.
2.Set the correct Number Gears. Note that ECU calculation of the gear ratio table only works with number of gears set to 3 or more gears.
3.Display the Misc tab of the Runtime Values window (F12 key). Look for the Gear Ratio Status (right hand column).
4.Drive the vehicle in first gear. If the Gear Ratio Status displays "No Speed Input" while the vehicle is moving at speeds above approximately 10 kph then there is a speed sensor fault, correct this fault before continuing.
5.Set Gear Calibration to 1st Gear. Do this while you are driving in first gear as this starts the calibration process.
6.Speed up until the Gear Ratio Status stops displaying "KPH < 15" (this just indicates that you are going too slow).
7.Gear Ratio Status will display "Calculating 1st Gear" while the ECU calculates the gear ratio. Keep driving at a stable speed until the Gear Ratio Status displays "Finished". A stable gear ratio must be detected for three seconds during calculation. If a stable gear ratio is not detected within 12 seconds, Gear Ratio Status will display "Error Try Again". If calculation is a success, the newly calculated gear ratio will appear in the gear ratio table.
8.Repeat steps 6-8 for each gear.
Note: If you consistently have issues with ECU Calculated gear despite having a correct speed signal and stable Gear Ratio Calc. the Gear Ratio Table can be easily setup using a short log of the Gear Ratio Calc, (using all gears), simply set the Gear Detection Type to user defined and enter the largest Gear Ratio Calc step value into the gear 1 column and the smallest into the top gear column.