I'm curious if anyone knows anything about the
PCM
computer? I have heard that it is separate from at least the ECU. I am curious because if it could be hacked, like many have done with their TiVo's, there is the potential to do some really creative things. The thing that comes to mind is a full featured data acquisition system for use on the track, instead of the limited functions of
Sport Chrono
.
In theory,
PCM
could make for a great built in data acquisition system.
PCM
has access to GPS data, as well as accelerometer inputs (used by nav system to interpolated GPS data). It knows fuel consumption. I am guessing that it has access to all data that the ECU gets so it would know steering angle, throttle application among many more. So I would envision
PCM
on the track tracing a map of the track, showing all entry and exit speeds, as well as more subtle vehicle dynamics such as over-steer, under-steer and on and on. I'm sure there are many other things people could comeup withforPCM if it were accessible with a known operating system, RAM (as opposed to hard wired ROM), etc.
That's a very interesting idea. I have the technical book mentioned in
this thread
on order - I'll see if it gives any clues about the PCM electronics. I have an inexpensive GPS-based data-acq system that I've used with the Cayman, and I've discovered that it uses just a standard GPS receiver, probably very similar to the one in the PCM nav system. There's no doubt you could generate interesting daq stats directly in the PCM.
Wow. That book looks great. I just put in an order myself. Thanks for the tip. Hope there's something about the guts of PCM. BTW, is your data acquisition system Traqmate? That's what I'm using now, but realized that the Porsche's own PCM could take the concept to a new level given the wealth of inputs.
No, it's a
MaxQData MQGPS
. Just $300 for the BlueTooth version, so quite a bit less expensive than the Traqmate and others like it, but then it only uses GPS signals to figure G-Forces and speed and so on. They have a more expensive version with accelerometers & gyros & stuff, but I'm only starting out, so just playing for now. I wrote a bit about my first experiments
here
and
here
. I'm not actually very impressed with their charting software, it's pretty first-order. I'm hacking up my own at the moment, since it appears most of these systems dump text logs that are pretty easy to parse.
<br style="font-family: Arial;" />As to a daq-system built into the PCM, I absolutely agree, particularly if it could (as it should) get at all the ECU & PSM data feeds, wow!! Apparently, you can sort-of get at some of these through the [/quote]OBD-II service port on the CS, but it's low-frequency apparently. Anyway, I'll do some more digging and see what I can find about the PCM.
This thread seems interesting. Let us know what comes of it haha.
The GPS engine used for the navigation is too slow for it to be good for track use. You need a faster GPS engine like those found in the proper data acquisition gadgets (check out the traqmate or performancebox). I use a Driftbox personally (same as the PerformanceBox but with drift feature).... probably the coolest gadget I ever bought!
