Ms3pro-mini knock module?

[piledriver]

Can the knock module be added to the ms3pro mini?
Any boosted engine and almost anything made since ~1990 is knock limited, so its (imho) required for anything more than getting groceries.

The fellow that made J&S Safeguard knock controls seems to have passed, so has that excellent option.(except now you cannot even get those fixed)

I dont care if it needs another connector via a few wires routed out, pro audio connectors are cheap and ~ideal for purpose, and Canare starquad is very EMI as well as roadie resistant.
Works great for hall and even vr sensors.

[RandyP]

You can use an external knock module with the MS3Pro Mini for knock control, but there isn't an internal module for it, plus little room for it inside.

[piledriver]

OK, hard pass then.

[piledriver]

Apparently John Pizzuto (of J&G Safeguard) is still kicking, so you can still get an excellent stand alone knock sense/ control unit for only slightly more than the cost of an ms3pro-mini...

So making the mini a fail on cost if you want to not blow up a high performance engine.

[Six_Shooter]

Yeah, it's a slightly improved Mcrosquirt IMO, there's a few things missing from it that would have made it actually a contender, biggest IMO, is the ability to control a stepper IAC. I'm sure I could come up with one or two other features that would have made it a win for me, without the need for a full blown Pro.

On the knock sensor discussion, I don't see them as necessary to refrain from blowing up an engine. If you're relying on them to save your engine, then you're probably gonna have a bad time. Most reactions to knock are too slow to actually save an engine under high load, but can be useful for part throttle and cruise, IMO.

[Juan Antonio]

J&S electronics, as in John and Shirley. I'm still here, but cancer got Shirley three years ago.

I started designing the SafeGuard thirty-five years ago, in 1989. I developed the knock detection algorithm on a Rockwell AIM-65 dev system, which used a 6502 processor. Later that year Motorola came out with a secureable version of the HC11 so I went with that.

[Juan Antonio]

Six_Shooter

In my original code, it would retard proportionally, 1, 2, or 3 increments per knock event. Ten increments are possible, the step size is either one degree or two degrees, set by a mode switch.

When I first tested on a Ford Lightning, that indeed was too slow. The truck was tuned for 19psi on 91 octane, but the owner wanted to test on the street, at 0psi, on 89 octane. Under these conditions, it would audibly ping at 1500 RPM for a couple seconds before the knock controller retarded enough.

This was in early 2008. The F150 Lightning forums were full of stories of ventilated blocks, with the phrase, "tuning is the key, I'll build it bigger and better, bro".

I told the owner it wasn't designed to be used like this, lugging the engine, etc. We drove home a little bummed out, then I thought ok, it's not designed to be used that way, so change the design. It detected perfectly, but the control system needed tweaking.

We returned the next week with new parameters, allowing up to seven increments of retard per knock event. This did the trick. We tested on the street at 0psi and 1500 RPM as before and saw one cylinder required an instant fourteen degrees of knock retard to keep quiet. To verify, I had a scope on my lap and we were each wearing knock headphones. After a few minutes of testing on the street, the owner was all smiles and headed for the freeway onramp. He held the boost to a max of 8psi, accelerating from 60 to 80 to ?? He ran it on 89 for three weeks, then did a plug check. Not a speck of aluminum. He then filled up with 91 and ran at 19psi for a while, then bumped his boost to 21psi. At the time, he was a moderator on one of the Lightning forums.