Just curious to see how many Xede users actually use it and how they go about their tuning. Do you use the Xede with or without additional tuning tools, ie wideband? What maps have you tuned? What goals were you trying to accomplish and what changes were made to the maps the achieve your goals?

 

clever clever ryan

still no stage 2 for you

 

Hi guys,
Here's the text from the basic EVO XEDE tuning guide. It is missing the screen captures and pics since they won't import here. Currently finishing off this version and just started work on the advanced tuning guide (with dyno tips and such). That one won't be released until XMap v.3 which is under developement now.

-------------------------------

Vishnu Performance Systems
XEDE Basic Tuning Guide
Version 1.0


Disclaimer: The readers of this tuning manual should understand all the risks associated with engine tuning. Improper engine tuning can result in engine failure. Please be careful when attempting to tune your motor with any form of engine management. This tuning manual should be considered as a guide, not as the gospel truth. The use of common sense is more important than any guide. With that out of the way, let’s have some fun


Communicating with the XEDE
Before any tuning can be done, you must achieve 2-way communication with the XEDE. For this, you will need a laptop computer with a 9-pin serial port. If your computer is only equipped with a USB port, you will need to purchase a USB-to-Serial port adapter from you local computer supply store. Many customers have used such a device with success.

Next, you will need to download the XEDE software from our website. It is called XMAP and it can be downloaded here. Once the file is downloaded to your laptop, it will need to be unzipped and installed. This is easy for anyone proficient with basic Windows operation. If you have any questions, please contact someone who can help you  Once installed, it is now time to start XMAP. A small window will appear on your screen. It is called the Data Monitor screen and it will look like this:


Data Monitor Screen

With the serial cable connecting the XEDE to your laptop, you will now need to establish a connection. Turn on the ignition power and start your car. With the engine running, confirm that the indicator light on the top of the XEDE is solid green. With the XEDE now power up and running, it may automatically establish a connection to your laptop. You will know this by all the new activity on the Data Monitor screen. You will also know this by looking at the Status display on the bottom left of the screen. It should now read “Connected” If there is no such activity or if the Status display still says “Not Connected”, click on the communication icon just to the right of the question mark, just below the menu. It looks like two arrows pointing in opposite directions. This should result in successful communication between your XEDE and your laptop. If there is still now connection, confirm that the serial cable is installed corrected in the XEDE and in your laptop. If there is still a problem, there may be a port communication issue with your laptop that you will need to resolve. Another possibility is a faulty communication cable. While both problems are rare, they should still be mentioned. If you continue to have communication problems, try using another computer. This will almost always solve the problem and shed light upon what is going on with your first computer.

Uploading/Downloading maps from the XEDE
With communication now established between the XEDE and your computer, you can now upload new maps into the XEDE or download the current maps from the XEDE. Unless your XEDE is pre-loaded with the appropriate map, it makes no sense to download the maps from the XEDE. To upload a new map into the XEDE, go to the File menu and select “Open”. You will see the following window (or something like it, depending on what you downloaded onto your laptop from our website).



Next, double-click on the desired map file. In most cases, it will be the file that best suits your EVO’s level of modification and available octane. You will now see a whole bunch of tables pop up out of no where. Your screen will look something like this:


Typical Screen Shot

Within seconds, XMap may prompt you with a warning stating that the maps that are currently open differ from the maps which are loaded in the XEDE. This is normal. If you wish to upload the new map to the XEDE, simply select the “Upload Maps to XEDE” prompt. If no such warning pops up, you can manually upload the new maps to the XEDE by going to the “Maps” menu and select “Upload Maps to XEDE”. The uploading process may take a few seconds. Once complete, it is recommended that you permanently store the new maps by burning the maps to the XEDE. Without burning the map into the XEDE’s permanent memory, the map will remain stored in volatile memory until the XEDE is powered off (ignition key off). To burn the maps, simply go to the “File” menu and select the “Burn Current Maps” command (or press Ctrl+B). Remember… if you don’t burn the maps, the maps you uploaded into the XEDE, or any changes you made, will be lost after you turn the ignition off. There is no limit to how many times you can burn a map into the XEDE so don’t worry about doing it too often!


Understanding Tables
In all the tables (Boost, Fuel, Timing, knock, etc,.) the Y-axis, labeled 0-100% represents engine load and the X-axis represents engine speed (RPM). During cruising and other off-boost conditions, your engine will operate in the lowest 1 or 2 load rows (Load 10 in this case). Under boost, your engine will operate in higher load cells. Unless you are running a 600hp EVO at 30PSI of boost don’t expect to ever see 100% load. Expect stock or mildly modified EVOs to operate up to 45-55% Load.

Now with the engine running, you will see a yellow cursor on each one of the tables. This represents the cell which is currently active. If you blip the throttle or go out for a drive, you will see it move around from cell to cell. Of course, you should use a friend for such antics as you should never take your eyes off the road while driving, right? Another neat feature incorporated into the XEDE software is the ability to select the currently active sell by simply hitting the space bar. This is helpful if things are moving around too fast.

Adjusting Boost Pressures
With the maps currently displayed on your computer screen, you will need to find the boost table. It should look something like this:



Boost Table

The numbers in the table represent the absolute duty cycle of the boost control solenoid. The bigger the number, the greater the bleed of the boost control solenoid. And the greater the bleed, the greater the boost level. Get it? You’ll also notice that the lowest load row reads 100%. This is to keep the solenoid from being active during off-boost conditions which represent 99% of the time. It is recommended that all boost table tuning be isolated to the rows just above the lowest load row. In other words, always keep the lowest row set to 100. Those of you who are already familiar with electronic boost control systems may also be aware that keeping the solenoid open (100% duty cycle) can improve boost response until just before the desired boost is reached. This is another reason that the lowest row is set to 100%.

Now, let’s say that you want to reduce peak boost pressures at 4700RPM. Simply reduce the numbers in the 4700RPM column. This is done by selecting the necessary cells with your mouse (remember to the leave the lowest cell at 100%) and clicking the “<” (LESS than) key. Each click makes a 0.4% change in boost control duty cycle. It is recommended that you make changes to the boost table in 5% increments. This will require several clicks and should result in a discernable change in boost pressures. Once you get close to your desired boost pressure, you an make smaller increment change for fine tuning. Conversely, clicking the “>” (GREATER than) key will increase boost pressures.

Now, let’s say you wanted to make a change to boost pressures at every engine speed. To do this, you will do the same as described above but use the “>” key. However, instead of selected a single column, you will select all the columns (and like always, leave the bottom row set to 100). You may notice that the more cells that are selected, the slower the table response to clicks of the “<” or “>” keys. This is normal so be patient and click slowly for XMap to keep up.


Adjusting MAF (Fuel) Tables
As with the boost table, the MAF (Fuel) table is represented by Engine Speed on the X-axis and Engine Load on the Y-axis. But unlike the boost table, number in the Fuel table’s cells represents an offset from the factory ECU’s fuel mapping. For starters, let’s look at the following sample MAF table:


Sample Fuel (MAF) Table

In this table, you will notice that an office of -6.1 fuel units is applied from 4500RPM on up, under moderate to full load conditions. This will make the engine run significantly leaner than stock in those modified RPM/Load zones. Now let’s analyze an actual MAF table from a custom-tuned Stage 1+ EVO:


Actual Fuel (MAF) Table

In this table, you can see that we are enleaning the factory fuel mapping under boost and above 4000RPM. You can also see that the degree of fuel enleanment increases with engine speed. This is characterstic of most EVOs since the factory fuel mapping, under boost, becomes increasingly rich as engine speed increases. Another notable tidbit is that the Fuel map shown above is “smoothened” which means that there are no sudden step changes between cells. This is advised to avoid any sudden rich or lean spots during operating. Looking at the 3D rendering of this fuel table, we can confirm that there are no spikes or outliners:


3D Representation of Actual Fuel (MAF) Table


Adjusting Ignition Timing Table
As with the Fuel Table, the Ignition Timing Table is represented by Engine Speed on the X-axis and Engine Load on the Y-axis. Likewise, the values in the cells represent an ignition timing offset. Let’s look at the following Ignition Timing table from the same custom-tuned Stage 1+ EVO.


Actual Ignition Timing Table

In this table, we have retarded timing under higher load and higher engine speed conditions. Again, this is typical of tuned EVOs which tend to run excessively rich with sometimes excessive ignition advance. Once enleaned for maximum power output, the engine no longer as the knock resistance it once had when it was over-fueled. This is this reasons that enleaning of the fuel maps is almost always accompanied by additional ignition retard. As with the fuel table above, this ignition timing table is also “smoothened” and free of potentially dangerous outliners as illustrated by the following 3D representation:


3D Representation of Actual Ignition Timing Table

Short-Cuts and Other Cool Stuff
XMap has been designed by tuners for tuners. As such, there are many unique and thoughtful touches that one can take advantage of. Here are just a few of the “tricks of the trade”:

Interpolate: To “smoothen” a portion of a table, select the desired portion of the table with your mouse and right-click. Select “Interpolate”. XMap will now ask you along which axis (X or Y) you wish to interpolate upon. Using this feature is a lot easier than manually smoothening out dips and spikes in the tables. Use it often!

Scale: This feature allows you to apply a scalar increase (or decrease) to a selected region of the table. Simply select the desired region with your mouse and right-click. Select “Scale”. XMap will now ask you who much you want to scale the selection. To increase the selection values by 50%, simply input 50. To decrease the selection values by 50%, input -50.

Insert Column/Row: It’s not unusual to discover that you need extra resolution between RPM or Load breakpoints. This could be a result of a sudden step change in the underlying factory ECU fuel or spark timing maps. Either way, to insert an extra RPM breakpoint between two breakpoints, simply select on the RPM breakpoint closest to (but higher than) the new breakpoint you desire and right-click. Select “Insert Column (RPM point)” and select your new breakpoint. Inserting a few Load breakpoint is done the same way with the exception that you select “Inster Row (Load point)”.

MAF Scaling: This feature is useful if you are trying to accommodate larger-than-stock fuel injectors or larger, aftermarket MAF sensors. After you select a new MAF scale, make sure you burn the new value to the XEDE or else the change will only be temporary. Please note that this adjustment is stored in the XEDE, not the XMap file. So be careful when using it.

Analog Bypass: This feature was incorporated in firmware v.1.7.14 to make the XEDE perfectly “invisible” during low load conditions where MAF offsets aren’t necessary. This bypass threshold (below which the XEDE is pass-through) can be adjusted by going to the “Features” menu and selecting “Special…” In its default setting, we set the bypass to be triggered by MAF, when MAF readings are lower than 5%. We recommend that you keep using MAF as the load variable and only adjust the threshold point if necessary. As with the MAF scaling feature, this change must be burned into the XEDE for it to be permanent.

 

Is that the "Cliff Notes" version

Good stuff

 

Nope noodle is a good guy definately not Ryan. But in the context of your statement all is correct

 

Yeah.. kinda. The advanced tuning version is going to be sick. That is, I'll start to get sick of writing it 1/2 way through and start using triple space with size 15 font and narrow margins

 

Sorry - what you guys didn't see is Ryan popping up with a clever new username in between noodle's post and mine.

blonde is just getting too quick at taking out the garbage.

 

Shiv, I'm hoping in the advanced tuner guide you provide a tuning "algorithm" - that is, tuning methodology you use when tuning. Operating the Xede and manipulating the tables is great, but most of us can do that already, I think we're wondering what you look for in your baselines, then how you begin to tackle the task of tuning? Lean out fuel first, then compensate timing until tq peaks? Go back to fuel after messing with timing or no? What about boost, I notice most of your custom tunes max out boost solenoid at 100% throughout the entire table? Is this to keep max cylinder pressure down by not retarding timing so much?

I think a lot of people here are having pipe dreams about their tuning abilities. I wouldn't worry about writing yourself out of business. I know I for one am the curious type and like to know what and how that little mofugger behind my glovebox is doing.

On a side note, short of a dyno, is there any real "street tuning" package available? I can see plugging in a wideband 02 sensor and I know you're working on the ability to log AFR's, that would be a great feature for DIY tuners. But what about knock activity, how would we monitor that (short of Det Cans and headphones) with the Xede/Xmap and no dyno? Gtech's are nothing more than scientific guesses, and since most inertia dyno's calculate the acceleration of a known mass to calculate tq and consequently hp, is there any program that could tie together a radar or GPS to tuning??? If you have balance scales you have a known mass and both stalker radars and GPS can measure acceleration...someone smarter than me should be able to make that into a dyno, no? Maybe that's just me geeking out. Guess I'll just have to give my money to Andrew for use of his dyno.
Shiv, I don't spose you might be swayed into guest teaching any of those EFI Univ gigs eh? Might actually pay for that since you know Xede's and those guys cover just about everything else but the Xede.

Oh, and Ryan, what a super nice guy he is in person. It's amazing how the internet makes everyone a bad ***. Too many people idolizing Vin Diesel in the F&F, "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" bs mantra.

 

You don't need it.

Assuming 100% traction and a consistent test road, you can use the delta in RPM between engine events as a proxy for average acceleration over the inter-event interval. This delta is directly proportional to wheel torque over the interval. Figure out the constant of proportionality to actual wheel torque, add a nice connect-the-dots graph interface, and boom, instant soft dyno. I am guessing this is how the forthcoming functionality in the XEDE will work?.

I would not rely on such a feature for absolute measurements, but for tuning against a baseline run, should be good.

 

Something like the Road Dyno ?

Lac

 

I had to read that about 3 times for that to sink in .. I haven't taken a college math course for too long now..

If the XEDE has that, I think it would be a good base, like you said, for most people to begin with..

Terry

 

... hate to state the obvious, but why would Shiv give away his tuning methodology/mantra? It is, afterall what drives his business, no?

However, I hope that the various aspects of the tuning software and the effects of changing values on the various tables will be covered in the advanced tuning guide.

l8r)

 

Well in all honesty Even if he were to write a book that gives all this thoughts and explanation in only Shiv's way it still would not make even the brightest person a master tuner. Tuning takes practice, time, a small grain of salt and complete understand on the EM your using, its limits and the car it self.

With all the DSM tuning over the years 12+ years and all of the stage packages offer out has one company gave you per adjusted cam gears as part of a stage package. With a complete understand of Engine management and the ability to harness every upgrade to its fullest and safest potential it would be hard to really be at his level just by knowing all of his secrets.

I have been tuning my xede my self but I would still gladly pay for Shiv to do his art on my car.

 

Let's face it, most of us tinker with the Xede as a hobby. Even if we somehow gained supertuner knowledge from Shiv's tuning guide I doubt we'd turn around and quit our day jobs anytime soon. We bought the Xede as a USER TUNEABLE efi solution, one that we could upload our own maps and tune ourselves on a dyno with enough knowledge of tuning. Shiv is in no danger of a customer taking his knowledge and suddenly being in competition with him. Some of you may point fingers at Al, but I said "competition" as a worthy opponent. Otherwise Shiv would tune with proprietary software that we users would have no access to, and that wouldn't be much fun so we'd probably go with another vendor.

 

Best way to learn is to do. Best bet is to have feedback that you can actually use like a wideband O2 sensor (the techedge kit is awesome), and some way to view knock or timing advance (so you can tell when there is knock retard). Hell, you can even listen to a knock sensor's output. And all of this really needs to be logged so that you can correlate a particular RPM, boost, A:F ratio, and knock to one another.

Once you have the right tools at your disposal, you can tell when your changes do the right thing.

Start tuning on race gas to keep things as safe as possible. Leaded race gas tolerates some really stupid tuning without blowing stuff up.