Broke capacitor, did I get correct replacement?

[livelyjay]

I broke capacitor C19, which is labeled 0.1uF 50V 10% while I was trying to break the leads off. My solder joint wasn't strong enough and the wire pulled through and snapped the capacitor. I bought a replacement from Radio Shack, but it's labeled 0.1uF 50V 20% 5mm width and it's quite larger in diameter than the one from the kit. I haven't soldered it into place yet because I wanted to double check. Please let me know if this is correct.

[billr]

The way that cap is used in that circuit, I don't think the 20% tolerance is going to be an issue. My compliments to you for providing good pix with both of your posts, that always helps!

[kjones6039]

while I was trying to break the leads off

Huh??? I hope this is not intended to be taken literally! I assume that you meant cutting the leads off! Breaking the leads off is not a recommended procedure!

Ken

[livelyjay]

while I was trying to break the leads off

Huh??? I hope this is not intended to be taken literally! I assume that you meant cutting the leads off! Breaking the leads off is not a recommended procedure!

Ken

Yes I broke the leads off by spinning them. Old habit I guess. I cut off the larger leads with wire cutters. Lesson learned and I'll get some more precise cutters for future projects. Thanks for the help as I'm sure I'll be posting more as this project progresses. I'll be throwing in the capacitor, one remaining jumper, the daughter card and MS3X card today and hopefully installing the firmware.

[kjones6039]

Yes I broke the leads off by spinning them.

No, no, no!!! I think that Mr. Fink, my electronics instructor in 1958, must be rolling over in his grave!

There are any number of flush cutters, intended for this purpose, available from many sources via the internet.
If you have a Radio Shack nearby, you can pick up what they call their 'Nippy Cutter' for ~$7-8.

IMO, you are running a very high risk of damaging your board, not to mention the components (as you have already learned)!

Ken

Here is an example of just one of the many available at Amazon.

[billr]

I suggest you re-flow all those solder joints where a lead was twisted off! Please tell us you aren't using acid flux...

[kjones6039]

I suggest you re-flow all those solder joints where a lead was twisted off! Please tell us you aren't using acid flux...

+1

Gulp...... ya don't suppose....... naw......

Ken

[livelyjay]

I had already went through all of the solder points on the bottom and added a bit to cover up the bottom of the broken off leads. Solder I'm using is Sn60/Pb40 22 gauge. Seemed to work fine and all the power tests on the board turned out fine. Just loaded the firmware 15 minutes ago, but TunerStudio Lite can't connect.

[livelyjay]

If you guys want to take a look for yourself and make fun of me some more, here you go. I'm a newb to this, so hopefully I didn't use the wrong solder and the spinning off leads won't cause any problems. My previous soldering was mostly just wiring connectors to wires and soldering together wire splices.

[kjones6039]

If you guys want to take a look for yourself and make fun of me some more, here you go.

Frankly, I don't think either one of us was intending to diminish you or your work.

For my part..... I offer my apologies and promise to offer no further comment.

Ken

[livelyjay]

I appreciate constructive criticism. You guys just don't know my sense of humor yet. I'm absolutely fine with people saying "hey, you're doing it wrong, here's why, and here's what you should do". My making fun comment was a joke, which is hard to demonstrate through text. Guess I could have added one of these

Any ways, just bought the full license to TunerStudio. Off to install, register, and connect to the board.

[livelyjay]

Speaking of which, if you can see some glaring deficiencies in my soldering, or how the board is set up, please chime in. The manual only went so far as to testing and what not on the board. It's getting off topic from the initial title, but at least I'm going off topic in my own thread.

[billr]

I didn't see anything bad in the picture of the solder-side of your board. Like Ken, I wasn't trying make fun of you either, but in over 50 yrs. of electronics work I had never heard of twisting off leads. It kind of caught us by surprise!

[kjones6039]

It kind of caught us by surprise!

Boy, howdy!!!

I know I promised.... Just couldn't help myself......

[livelyjay]

I watched a few videos online and they all showed twisting off the leads. Weird. Guess that's what you get when you rely on amateur video. Again, point taken from the experts and I'll do it right from now on.

On to testing. I didn't buy the secondary stim kit because I didn't know the JimStim was kind of useless when going with MS3X. So I took one of the DB37 solder cup connectors and soldered in jumper wires for injectors, spark, idle valve, etc. I got the spark LEDs on my breadboard to light up. The fuel injectors and idle valve LEDs did not.

Looking at the wiring diagrams it appears the MS3X opens up the circuit for ground->in instead of sending voltage->out. Is this true? If so, couldn't I run voltage to the breadboard, jumper to the + lead on the LED (with resistor), then connect the - lead of the LED to the correct pin on the DB37?

Same type of scenario for the IDLE valve LED. My idle valve is a two wire, but I just want to hook up an LED to make sure the circuit is working. Is it the same thing where MS3 is opening the ground side of the circuit?

Here's the rig. Point out anything I'm doing wrong as well.

[kjones6039]

I watched a few videos online and they all showed twisting off the leads.

Would you happen to have a link or two to any of those videos, that you could post here?

Ken

[billr]

"Looking at the wiring diagrams it appears the MS3X opens up the circuit for ground->in instead of sending voltage->out. Is this true? "

Are you talking about the spark outputs? Those output discrete 0V or 5V levels, they do "send voltage out". You set in firmware (via Tunerstudio or similar) whether that output is normally 0V, with a 5V pulse during coil charging, or if it is normally 5V with a 0V pulse during coil charging. It is important that you set that right, or your ignition coil(s) will probably over-heat and burn up.

[livelyjay]

I'm just bench testing right now and the LEDs for the spark signal are working fine. I was more curious about getting a LEDs working for IDLE and Injector.

[DaveEFI]

I'm just bench testing right now and the LEDs for the spark signal are working fine. I was more curious about getting a LEDs working for IDLE and Injector.

As a rule, most of the MS outputs supply the ground. It's a more flexible way of doing things. If, say, you wanted to switch a 12 volt relay - or say a 5 volt one - the ground can do either. If it supplied +5v, you'd need to add circuitry for the 12v one.

[livelyjay]

Thanks for the input. I'll grab some extra resistors from work today (I only have 8 to work with right now and I'll need all of those to test sequential) so I can hook up the idle LED. My engine has a secondary intake runner with butterfly valves that from the factory is controlled with a big convoluted vacuum mess. I'll be replacing that with an old cruise control vacuum pump which I'll likely be controlling with the VVT output.

Once I verify the ECU is working I'll bring in the stuff off of the car and the real bench testing can begin.

Thanks for the input and help thus far. The settings and configuration inside TunerStudio are a little overwhelming, so I know I'll be on here quite often asking questions. In the end I'd like to make a how-to I can post back on the Nissan Forums so others with this engine can have a cheaper alternative for EMS.