Data Aq

[Electro]

At competition I saw some really dope shock travel pots.... Don't remember who they were but I could look at a friends pics to find out.
Our pots this year were rotational string pots (you can laugh now) so we'd like to upgrade. What kind of sensors were these? anyone know?

Electro

[Electro]

At competition I saw some really dope shock travel pots.... Don't remember who they were but I could look at a friends pics to find out.
Our pots this year were rotational string pots (you can laugh now) so we'd like to upgrade. What kind of sensors were these? anyone know?

Electro

[Jersey Tom]

MoTeC makes their own which plug right into their SDL, already calibrated and all. They're slick. UWA had them. But theyre expensive.

You can get ones for relatively cheap, we got a set right before competition. I'd have to look up what company and model. Very high quality though.

[B Hise]

you might want to try asking some team alumni for reccomendations.

Penny and Giles make good pots for the right price. If I recall correctly, they have offered your university special pricing.

[Electro]

I figured I'd ask the 61 teams that beat us too....See what they did
But yea, thanks http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Electro]

Jersey Tom,
I'd be interested in your "relatively cheap" ones... If you have the chance, would you mind letting me know who makes them?


Thanks

[Maurini]

Check out http://www.aimsports.com

You can get a whole data system that is comparable (maybe even better then the Motec system) for a fraction of the cost. A top of the line aim system goes for roughly 3k with all the sensors you would really need.

The MXL family of data loggers is what is used in many Star Mazda and Formula Renault cars. It's a sweet system and for the money is really unbeatable. The software is also great and I personally like it more then the Motec software. Very user friendly and has more feature then you know what to do with.

I also believe aim gives a 15% discount to FSAE teams, but I may be wrong. Many teams were running the aim systems this year at the Romeo competition, so if anyone else has experience with it let us hear your thoughts.

Marc

[SpdRcr]

My teamate created a data aquisition system...Apparently it works rather well...I'm going to suggest markets it a little and tries selling some. If he does, the forum will be the first spot he hits.

[Wizard]

Electro,

I would look into Active Sensors (http://www.activesensors.com/)

They also offer an SAE discount and are very easy to deal with. I dealt with Chris Smith @ Active Sensors.

I believe they were cheaper than similar Penny & Giles and the travel lengths they offer provide easier mounting options than the Penny & Giles units.

We have owed ours for several years and are extremely happy.

What DAQ system are you running?

Eric

[EfiOz]

Active have track jumping issues, especially in a harsh environment or with high shaft speeds. Vishay are also pretty ordinary and quite expensive.

P&G or Variohm are the best, although Variohm is a bit pricey. If the P&G guy is offering you a deal, take it. They're better value for money.

[Kevin Hayward]

Electro,

The Motec sensors are not made by Motec, just resold, which explains quite a bit of their cost. UWA did buy a lot of stuff from Motec in 2002. Well it was actually brought by a sponsor who wanted to help us set up our data acquisition and was prepared to pay whatever the system cost.

I have only two things to say about the whole matter.

1. Motec has fantastic customer service, at least in Australia, which was the main reason that we brought stuff with them when we were a team that knew nothing about DAQ

2. Buy good sensors. They may be more expensive at the start but my ex team is still using the linear pots that were bought in 2002, with no problems. This not only spreads the cost out, but it also lets you know exactly what sensors you will be mounting during design time.

Cheers,

Kev

[Electro]

Thanks guys!

We're using a DL1 by Race-Technology. Real happy with it in general. I'll check those sensors out.
And regarding variable reluctance sensors...
Which ones are you all using. We ended up yoinking some from a junkyard and I built a signal conditioner to work with the DL1.... worked but looked bad.

[GSpeedR]

Active Sensor potentiometers. Burn em, step on them, and hit them with a hammer and they still sort of work fine.

[Wizard]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by EfiOz:
Active have track jumping issues, especially in a harsh environment or with high shaft speeds. Vishay are also pretty ordinary and quite expensive.

P&G or Variohm are the best, although Variohm is a bit pricey. If the P&G guy is offering you a deal, take it. They're better value for money. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

EfiOz,
I apologize if I am not familiar with the terminology but what is "track jumping issues." If there is an issue with these sensors I would like to further investigate to see if we might also be having them.

[EfiOz]

The touring car teams that still use them have issues with the wiper leaving the track under harsh vibration. They also don't like dust or dirt ingress as this causes the same issue. If you pull one apart you'll see they have a resistance rod and a wiper that only has a very small point contact. It's a copy of the Variohm system except that Variohm has a flat carbon track with a multi fingered wiper. You can burn em, step on them, hit them with a hammer and drop them in a bucket of water and roll them in mud and they still work.

This is the bit that's very susceptible to losing contact. The result is the signal drops out and your shock data is almost worthless. I had one V8 team engineer who had been using these tell me that they basically hadn't had any real shock data in the time he'd been there because of it.

[GSpeedR]

I personally have never had such an issue with the Active Sensor potentiometers I've used (2 sets = 8 total). The differences between a Touring/V8 car and an FSAE car (and the track surface itself) may make this a non-issue for FSAE cars. I wonder if the construction of larger sensors (I assume the V8's have more suspension travel) makes them more susceptible to the loss of contact.

[EfiOz]

They use a 150mm travel pot.