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Hacking a fuel injector test bench

I don't like pressing + or - buttons 1000 times. I want my tests saved.

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You know how you just know you could make it work better.

I sell motorcycle parts to some really OCD people. And I don't like being yelled at. So I do my dammedest to not get yelled at. That means bringing my engineering to focus on understanding the parts the best I can and then developing a testing regimen to ensure I'm delivering the best quality I can. To test the Made in China fuel injectors, I got a cheap-o Made in China fuel injector test bench.

When I fired up the bench to test more injectors, it leaked and needed reconditioning. So "while I'm in there", I'm going to change the controller and user interface. Originally, to make the bench do something useful, you have to choose one of 3 preset tests and then select an attribute of that test and use the + or - buttons to alter the settings. I came up with 3 tests. Oh, and when it completes a test, it clears out all settings.

I've done things with Arduinos, I got this...

oscope.jpg

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different_levels.jpg

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nkc_shield.jpg

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plumbing.jpg

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relay_shield.jpg

JPEG Image - 414.87 kB - 12/02/2017 at 07:19

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  • 1 × Injector Test bench Made in China and as cheap as you can get. This one is the closest example to what I'm working with: https://goo.gl/p4DCWh
  • 1 × Seeeduino Mega(ATmega2560) A Mega in the form factor of an Uno. It costs more than I'll ever again pay for an AVR, but I have it and it's done some great things for me. https://goo.gl/MvYbWs
  • 1 × Adafruit LCD Shield Kit w/ 16x2 Character Display Only needs 5 wires: I2C, +, Gnd, and Reset. This is my window to controlling my controller and make the bench do something useful. https://www.adafruit.com/product/772
  • 1 × RobotDyn 4 Relay Shield It's cheap and can handle the 19.2V the test bench uses to turn on/off the fuel pump and drain relays. https://goo.gl/dafcDU
  • 1 × SainSmart Sensor Shield V4 I've got a love-hate relationship with these shields. I love how versatile they can be but hate a few aspects of their design. I pretty much desolder everything I don't need when I use these shields. For this project, this shield relays the I2C from the Mega to a 4 pin connector I soldered to the board. Then I soldered on a terminal to the reset line to send to my control panel. https://goo.gl/wjPCdC

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Gravis wrote 12/02/2017 at 10:15 point

"I'm not going to bow to your political correctness. I'll call it OCD"

The reason for "political correctness" (in this case actual correctness) is to avoid a stigmatized association with OCD as some sort of moral failing.  No single post causes these types of associations, they accumulate and feedback over time.  Social psychology is clearly not your field of interest but whenever you run into an incorrect association or myth in society, remember that people who "know better" (just like you) are the problem.

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Gravis wrote 12/02/2017 at 07:06 point

Please stop using "OCD" when you mean "picky" or "uncompromising".  Considering China's track record for safety, I do not blame your buyers.

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smashedagainst wrote 12/02/2017 at 07:25 point

Seriously? I'm the buyer. China sells you exactly what you ask for. And I ask for and pay for the best quality the factory can make. And I still see up to 10% out of box failures. I'm not going to bow to your political correctness. I'll call it OCD and maybe it's mine. BUT when I sell someone a product and it lets them down, it costs them and/or their shop lost hours and hundreds of dollars. So I do everything I can to ensure I deliver something as close to perfect as I can. 

But that's how I have stayed in business 20 years and have a fanatical following of customers.

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