Which cars can use a scanguage or super-mid?

[SVOboy]

One of the other 95 obdII cars is the mustang I think.

Anyway, TBI might be tricky, but I think mark is running his MID with TBI on his geo metro, Darin will chime in on this point.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by DracoFelis

I guess that shoots my plans for adding FE instrumentation to my CRX.

My CRX is too old for a scanguage (unless I want to go to the time/trouble/expense of upgrading it to a newer model onboard computer). And my CRX is also TBI, not MPFI (so it looks like the super-mid isn't a good option either)....

For the SuperMid you need two things, an electronic speed sensor and a signal going to one injector. It measures the pulses from the speed sensor to calculate distance traveled. It also measure the length that the injector pulses and then adds the pulses together to calculate fuel used. On MFPI, each injector pulses the same so you only need to measure one injector. The SuperMid then multiples by 4 to get all of the cylinders. IIRC SVOboy doesn't think that DFPI would work well because each injector can pulse different amounts. But since TBI only uses one injector, then it should work as long as the pulse is recognizeable by the SuperMID. In that case the fuel useage would be overstated by 4x because the MID assumes 4 cylinders. Hopefully Yoshi will comment on this.

[SVOboy]

Yeah, you might as well go MPFI, MPFI is fun anyway.

Everytime I drive I thank goodness Dan introduced me to the MID.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by krousdb

For the SuperMid you need two things, an electronic speed sensor and a signal going to one injector.

Makes sense. Any easy/cheap way to retrofit an electronic speed sensor onto a car that came with a mechanical speedometer cable? I ask, because when I last looked at my instrument panel, I noticed that the linkage to the speedometer was a spinning mechanical cable (not an electronic signal)...

Originally Posted by krousdb

IIRC SVOboy doesn't think that DFPI would work well because each injector can pulse different amounts.

That might mean I'm SOL then. I just checked, and my CRX's TBI system clearly labels itself as being of the "Dual Port" variety (i.e. presumably two FIs in the TBI system)...

Originally Posted by krousdb

But since TBI only uses one injector, then it should work as long as the pulse is recognizable by the SuperMID. In that case the fuel usage would be overstated by 4x because the MID assumes 4 cylinders.

Makes sense. I can certainly live with the readings being off by a factor of 4 (or off by a factor of 2, or...), as that would still give very "up to date" (relative) info on what the car is doing.

But that assumes I can usefully use the device at all (see problems with Dual Port FI and mechanical speed cable, above).

Originally Posted by krousdb

Hopefully Yoshi will comment on this.

Isn't Yoshi the maker of the device? If so, I'm sure that any insights Yoshi could provide would be very helpful.

[krousdb]

I will sell you my SuperMID. It comes attached to a 92 Civic VX, see my ad in the For Sale Forum. $3000 or best offer. Best offer is currently up to $2250.

[landspeed]

I'm getting my SuperMID very soon, and looking forward to it . My car is a 1987 CA18ET Bluebird/Stanza/Auster. I use units of 'miles per British gallon', but the SuperMID is km/l. It makes no real difference; I just have to remember that e.g. 10km/l is about 40mpg (UK).

My car also has a cable driven speedometer. However, looking at my service
manual, there is an electronic speed sensor mounted right in the speedometer,
and this sends a signal to the ECU. As it is the factory service manual, it tells how to test it as well (and therefore, how to interface the SuperMID to it!!).

What type/age of car is yours?. You may have a speed sensor built into the speedometer, if not, it may be possible to get a speed sensor from a car like mine, and put it in series of the speedometer cable (it would take some work, but would be worth it).

Even if you can't get speed sensor, one final option would be to get the SuperMID to show you the rate of fuel usage. You could make a chart for 30,40,50,60mph, showing certain usage rates e.g. 5litres/hour = 30mpg at a certain speed, and 10litres/hr = 15mpg. Then, stick the small chart in your car, and you can see what your economy is depending on the speed you go!

[GasSavers_Yoshi]

Hello all,

Thank you for your interest about my SuperMID.
Let me explain how it works.

Fuel usage:
It measurs the pulse period of fuel injection.
If a vehicle has the MPFI, it gets one of multi injector signals.
If a vehicle has the single injection of TBI, it gets the injector signal.

Originally Posted by DracoFelis

That might mean I'm SOL then. I just checked, and my CRX's TBI system clearly labels itself as being of the "Dual Port" variety (i.e. presumably two FIs in the TBI system)...

In this case (Dual Port TBI), it can't measure the correct fuel usage since my SuperMID has only one injector measurement capability.

Distance measurement:
It counts the pulse from the digital speed sensor, sometimes it is called "vehicle speed sensor" or VSS.
The traditional vehicle has mechanical cable to know the speed and the industry standard was 637 rev/km.
The SuperMID is designed for Prius and it suppies 4 pulses per the traditional cable rev, which means 4*637=2548 pulses per 1 km.
It looks Civic and Metro use the same standard, and SuperMID works fine.

If a vehicle does not have the digital VSS signal, I can supply a sensor shown picture below.
Please note that the connection thread is only fits most Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Daihatsu.
Honda uses a different thread standard and I can't find one yet.

Yoshi

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by DracoFelis

Makes sense. Any easy/cheap way to retrofit an electronic speed sensor onto a car that came with a mechanical speedometer cable? I ask, because when I last looked at my instrument panel, I noticed that the linkage to the speedometer was a spinning mechanical cable (not an electronic signal)...

I haven't been able to test this, even though I intended to, but the 88-91 Hondas (with a cable speed sensor) DO in fact have an electric signal output. On the back of the cluster there is a screw that outputs a digital pulse. I suspect that this can be used for the SuperMID.

Once again, it's suspected, not confirmed.

[landspeed]

Yoshi : What happens if the speed sensor on the car only has 2 pulses per revolution? Can SuperMID be adjusted for this?

[krousdb]

There is not enough adjustment in the distance parameter to give you an accurate distance reading. But if you don't mind a distance reading that is not in miles or kilometers, then it shouldn't be a problem. As long as you get an injector pulse and a speed signal pulse, you will get something that can be converted to MPG with a conversion factor. You will be able to calculate the conversion factor by dividing your actual MPG at fillup by the indicated FE on the SuperMID. It's really no different than what I do today. Since mine reads in km/L, I just know to multiply the reading by 2.35 to get MPG. So I target 30 km/L for 70 MPG.