Redneck Perfect Pass

Good news - first test unit is out in the wild. RPM/GPS works. Servo ramains bit of a problem - cheap unit works but nto precise enough. Looking for next step up.

My plans (limited by time and funds available) are starting to firm up.

During 2015 i will be able to roll out very limited number of head units, only targeting mechanically inclided people, preferable with CNC access - since servo side remains in design. Cheap and cheerfull unit didn't work as i hoped.

In 2016 i should be able to improve design enough for it to become a real product, wtih all parts in a kit, in a shiny box:) and most important - with warranty. Still way below price of perfect pass, but with all the upgrades and expensive servo - not at $200 unfortunately.

Feedback that I hear - suggests fine unit with warranty is preferred over garage made fix it yourself approach. But topic is open for discussion!

So I made a drawing of what I'd like to use:

A: Link from throttle linkage to outside of bowden cable.
B: Link from OEM throttle cable to inside of bowden cable.

Hello Aengenend!

legally speaking, that stepper+cable solutin is patented. Since i want to offer something for a light DIY-able person to have - I'd rather stay away from that.
HOWEVER - if one wants to make one himself, and use for personal matters, and maybe even share detailed drawings here? That shoudln't be of any issue!

Control principle is same as mine, but programming would be very different. Interesting idea to try.   I can help with programming, if you are ready to work on cabled actuator solution itself. My head unit electrically has no problem to control it.

Update on my project - I am building two kits for two early responders from this forum right now, out of 3 PCBs that I have originally ordered.   One servo with hand made bracket already installe dand fitted well.   Hope to have usefull feedback of real world use (beyond my personal) in august!
Then will order more PCBs with updates, create 3D model of bracket for CNC, and roll out a dozen kits.
Cost is still looking arond $200. Allthou having to go to more expensive precise servo, and possibly pay for CNCing mounting brackets may push it $20-40. We'll see.

What do people think about having code as Open Source?   Some basic C++ programming skill is required, but far not at expert level, to be able to customize features and screen contents. Would this be interesting ?


ps - I did master RPM signal clean up finally. :)

Impressive

I have wakeboarded with speed controlled by my homebrew SteadyPass - and it prooved to be PERFECT!
Working to enable two more DIYers with this kit now, to extend testing, but expect nothing but success.
Here is raw screen of my device during RPM and then Speed modes youtube

Stunt Driver wrote: With my limited knowledge about engine names - that EFI has a carbuerator that is controlled by rod, pulling on it to throttle up? Then it should work, i'm excited to learn how it behaves! Can you shoot me a picture of where throttle cable/rod connects to carb at couple angles? Wouild like to evaluate how much space exists for the servo installation. That is the least figured out part when it comes to production.

There is no carb, its multiport fuel injection. But there is a traditional throttle cable just like with a carbed motor. I think there should be room for the servo, I know the perfect pass servo fits on other 502 Pythons. I will get you some pics though.

Shawn

Nice work! I might be interested in testing one out for you on my Nautique Super Sport. You don't see any reason it wouldn't work with EFI do you?

Kristof - i don't think anyone did master audiovox-GPS combo. I'd like to hear otherwise.


mParsons - Thanks for reply!
I generally say - nah, how could it fail:)
But this time, with boat, where I am on the rope and can't even be heard - I decided to stick wtih limiter, vs rev-upper mechanism.

I spent some time figuring out if I can use Audiovox like sytem, honestly. but decided to give myself a bit more challenge - What can there be so complex in actual Perfect pass that can not be reproduced??

Getting my factory made PCB today, expect udpate in blog;)
ps sent you email, hope you got it


To All - any one can advise an IC that can be used for RPM measurement? I invision an IC that constantly measures time between pulses, and outputs that time via several pins (prefer not to use any data bus). I'm looking to offload this routine from my CPU, and hopefully increase accuracy too. best I can get is 0.5% error cycle to cycle so far.

Stunt driver thanks a lot for joining in. Yes I have gotten my system to work on the water. It works really well at wakeboarding speeds, but I'm still working on the wake surfing speed ( wants to surge a little too much). The main problem causing the surge is the fact that the ccs system is only designed to engage at 30 mph or more, so I'm tricking it into thinking it it's faster than it really is. Are their any questions or any way I could help you?. I have had pretty much zero issues with my slip link throttle setup with at least 20 lake hours on it this way.

As promised here are some pictures of the cruise progress so far.

Zero cruise throttle:





100 percent cruise throttle:


Overview:



Closer view of the slide block:



So the purpose of this block and spring system is to allow the boat throttle system to work as normal, but also allow the cruise actuator to advance or return the throttle independent of the throttle lever by the captain's chair.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, a video might be worth a million! Excuse the crappy quality, it was shot to send by text.
View My Video

Matt,

Searched my whole computer and even my external hard drive. Can't find the pictures anymore!!
Man I'm so bummed...

But on page 2 of this topic, you can find some pictures of Billy's setup. Those are pictures I had too.

Please please please, post lots of pictures of your work! So I can save them again on my computer...

I got lots of pictures on Doc's setup when I was staying at his house.
I'll see if I get to posting some tonight.

Cool... Document your progress with pictures... Lots and lots of pictures!!!

I'm back on the case with this now and have a friend who has a freind who is a sofware developer and is keen to try and write an ap for Iphone and or android that will generate a GPS based pulse to feed into speed control.

What I am wondering is what king of sample rate is necessary to generate a smooth constant speed? I have downloaded a couple of freebie apps and they seem too slow to react, I am not sure whether thats a low sample rate or a product of the vectoring used to generate a constant read out.

I'll have a look at PP and see if that has the rate on there. My plan was to do it so that the PPM is adjustable.

Tom

horkn wrote: this kit? I was not able to find this on Summit's site, but found it a few other places. I would rather buy from a more reputable source.

In 1995 We were mandated by the then president Mr Walt to come up with our own design for a speed control for waterskiing. At the time we were utilizing the Hobbs system that worked well enough to pull world level tournaments, But it was deemed that our department could fab and build one good enough to satisfy the IWSF mandate for speed control in a tournament boat. we actually installed a very similar unit as the the one sold thru Summit. I remember utilizing a vacume canister out of a Ford Bronco to help maintain good vacume to keep the system engaged. I put those hall effect magnets all over the place and mounted crazy mounts for the pick ups. Finally we realized and were informed that we could not get around the propriatry patents that Mr. Hobbs owned and later sold to Perfect Pass. So long story shortened that same unit that we played with got pulled out of the boat and installed in our 05 Ford truck and to this day is still working in that truck!