I agree with this statement about smartwire PDM but curious to as to why you have this opinion, too..

 

Godawful interface/UI in their configuration software and intermittent failures on track as well as poor (at least in my experience) support from RacePak itself here in California. I'm very hopeful that Haltech's new offering of PDM/ECU will be as well supported as their Elites have been.

 

Resurrecting here, anyone have any experience w/ the Nexus 6 months later. Very interested in interface for PDM and how the 2 systems actually integrate together.

*On a side note, to sort of stay on topic, does anyone know why there is yet to be a thread on Fueltech ecu/pdm on here. It seems to be a thoroughly designed system, especially for rotary, yet no dedicated thread. Is anyone here running this unit w/ success.

 

I have a Nexus running on a customer car. Works great, for what it is.

Downsides: If you’re wanting to run a whole chassis through it on a street car, it’s not going to have enough outputs. On this car we ran the fuel pump, water injection, coils, etc through the PDM and the rest of the chassis stuff remained stock. The box is huge and difficult to locate in anything but a gutted race car.

If you want to run a whole chassis, look at AIM’s PDM32 and dash combo. It has enough outputs and with the dash is a bargain. That combo plus a good ECU is on par, price wise, with the Nexus R5 itself. Haltech will also bring a Nexus R3 or R4 to market at some point. Less I/O but the same PDM and a smaller case. Lower price as well.

Haven’t looked at the Fueltech PDM. There’s a lot of good options out there. ECUMaster PMU16 is solid. Maxx also has a nice unit. Before buying anything, I recommend you do a lot of planning and study to make sure the ECU you want to use and the PDM can be made to work well over the CAN bus and that you can program all the functions you really want to run.

 

Yeh, funny you say that, the AiM 32 actually has a lot of my attention, but being an entirely new build, was actually also waiting to see peoples experience w/ that unit. The interface seems very intuitive and their tech support looks promising...so far. Ludwig, have u installed any of these yet, as they are also new to the states? Any experience?

Thanks for the heads up on the Nexus though. I need a unit w/ enough I/O for a gutted street/track car so looks like Nexus is no good for this application.

Just trying to stay away from smartwire.

 

I have two PDM32's, one is deployed with a 10" display, the other is a 6". They're awesome.

 

I have one of the AIM kits going together right now with the 10” screen. AIM stuff has always worked well for me so I expect nothing less. A friend and pro-installer had one of the PDM mysteriously release all its smoke. But AIM warrantied it, no questions asked. No issues with the replacement, yet.

 

Thanks guys, just the kind of feedback im looking for.

How would you compare the 6 & 10” dash displays to other similar units out there like the AEC, ic7 or motec units

 

The AEM and IC7 are essentially just displays with little or no aux functionality and data logging ability. The AEM can have modules added to expand its capability, but then it’s still an AEM product.

AIM is on par with the Motec stuff. You see a lot of AIM in pro-level motorsports. Their data software is top notch.

I’d put the ECUMaster dashes up their in terms of functionality. They have a ton of inputs and configurable CAN bus. So you can bring sensors into the dash an send them over to the ECU, if you’re out of ECU inputs. Their data analysis software is pretty bad but they say they have new stuff in the works and they’ve been very active with updates to the entire line. MLVHD can also be used on their data which pretty well covers that issue.

In the end, if you’re buying a PDM and dash, you just can’t beat the price point and quality of the AIM package. It’s a 32 channel PDM that’s several hundred less than a 16 channel ECUMaster PDM and dash combo. And thousands less than Motec.

 

@C. Ludwig Awesome insight - I was planning to reach out to you some time in the future to do a complete harness for my REPU and its basically completely gutted. I have a Haltech 2500 with plans to switch out for this Nexus, I clearly had not mapped the output requirements completely to know if it would be sufficient. I Should probably jump start that conversation sooner than later.

 

Curious if you determined how many inputs you would have needed to run a whole chassis on one system like you said? Since you can expand the outputs with the PD16 wouldn't you in theory be able to run a chasis using an R3 w/ the PD16 and IC7? (since the IC7 now allows bi-directional coms)?

 

Really depends on what you have on the car to run. Even with a PD16 + R5, you only get 8 25A high current outputs. But you have a ton of smaller 8A outputs to drive stuff.

If you have a car with 2 fans, 2 fuel pumps, electric water pump, ignition circuit, injector circuit, etc. you eat up the 25A circuits quickly. Starter solenoid also needs 25A circuit, but that is only when you are starting the car, so could share that with a fan circuit if needed.

If the car is pretty basic, then R5 + PD16 would be fine (just don't get upset if you find you need a couple relays somewhere). And even easier if you use the CAN keypad for controlling lights, washers, etc.

 

for the number of inputs you need to determine what you are keeping and what you are getting rid of.
A street car will have a significant amount of inputs (and outputs) more than a race car. So is the car you are mentioning a street car or a race car?

I am using the AIM pdm32 on my street car and the inputs/outputs of the AIM pdm32 are not enough. So certain stuff were kept off the pdm, the starter motor, power windows, part of the hvac system to name a few.
make a plan on what you want to use first and then decide which system to go with.

 

The only way to determine if a particular combination will work is to sit down and put a list of I/O together. I’ve never done a job and felt I had enough. There always seems to be a compromise somewhere. What has helped a lot is the introduction of brushless fans and fuel pumps and LED lighting. These lower the current draw for those circuits and makes it easier to drive everything through a PDM without eating up outputs.

FWIW not a fan of the AIM PDMs. So many bugs, broken hardware, and a relative pain to program. Haltech has the typical Haltech limitations with canned programming options and locked down CAN. ECUMaster is my preferred option. They work well all the time and the open programming allows a lot more options for configuration and will work well with 3rd party products. They’ve also released their 24 channel PDM which is closer to what you’ll need to control a street car.

 

I agree with you on the AIM pdms, even though i have not done any others to compare. i had several issues and bugs and even a replaced unit as my pdm32 was one of the first ones out.
Also, the compatibility of the Haltech and the AIM pdm32 was an issue in the beginning and that took a while to iron out.
However, it seems that most of the bugs have been ironed out but i will say this; If it wasnt for the AIM customer support (Cameron in particular) i dont think it would have ever worked.
their manual is far from clear and it seems that there is tribal knowledge that you should somehow know that it is not in the manual.
i do love it now but it was a rocky road to get it there.

 

i have wired 30 odd full street cars with R5's and R3/PD16 combos, the R3/PD16 is my go to as you get the 8 25 amp outputs which allows you to do pretty much anything, but in saying that if the car is NON drive by wire you can get a whole street car with low and hi beam etc done off an R5 with out any issues using a brushless fuel pump.

 

I wish it had a few more 25a outputs. Definitely not enough. They go quick when a car is upgraded heavily, even when using brushless.

2 fans - brushless. Each get a 25A output
2 fuel pumps - each get a 25A output
1 ign circuit -25A
1 injector circuit - can split this in two for primary and secondary and use 2 8AMP circuits to save a 25a output
1- water/meth injection pump - 25AMP circuit, no brushless option I'm aware of
2 ABS - MK60 requires 2 dedicated 25A circuits.


You are basically forced to add the PD16, otherwise you still have a relay and fuse block on top of the R5 (which would defeat the entire purpose). And even the PD16 is lacking quantity of 25A outputs.

Everything I've seen mentions haltech when this way solely due to the connector sizes they chose. It's really unfortunate, they should have doubled the amount of 25A outputs or made it like other PDMs that allow you to bundle outputs together to overcome the connector pin amperage limit (e.g. 2x 8A outputs can combine total 16A).

I find myself being really cautious allocating a 25A pin, and having too many 8A pins. I don't want to buy another whole extra PD16 just to get 4 25A outputs and a bunch of 8A I won't use.

 

most applications even more so rotarys can use 1 25amp output for injectors and coils, even on a 2000hp V8 i still pair them up, only once over 2000hp will i split

fuel pumps these days i use a brushless with its own controller or use a 70 amp twin relay module

ah you can join 8amp outputs together no issues at all,

ive wired 6 pro mod style cars this year completely off R5's 4 of them were drag and drive cars with head lights, indicators, 16 injectors, 8 coils, stop lights, interior lights, thermo fans etc and yes they have used up every output but can get it all done, the 2 full pro mods had outputs left to use as they only had tail light etc,
the one im wiring right now has a gear venders, low beam, high beam, 2 trans dumps, indicators, usa style stop/blinker tail lights which burns up an extra output, line lock, water pump, 2 thermo fans, 16 injectors, 8 coils, trans brake, reverse lights, interior light, mechanical fuel pump which left not one relay in the car

 

You are able combine injectors and coils on a single 25A output? Or do you mean single 25A for each ign and inj?

 

yes no problem at all, i think this is why you are struggling to get everything done on one unit..

1 output to do both.. wouldnt even be 22amps total with 4 coils and 4 injectors,

running 8 coils at 8ms dwell at 4500hp only pulls 41-42amps which is fine on those outputs,

 

That's pretty cool. Any chance you could post the amperage logs? Would be really helpful to see the amperage draw across the rpm range

 

yes ill find one..
but to be 100% honest it will be a 4000hp+ pro mod with 8 coils and 18 injectors, but it will give you the idea

 

Thanks. Will be helpful as I'm working on a 4 rotor that will have 8 coils and 12 injectors.

 

this is probably more in line with you then, 2000hp, 7000 rpm, 16 siemans deka 2400cc, 8 IGN1a pulls 20amps.. dwell is only 4.5ms on this setup as it is intercooled and runs a fair bit leaner than an all out drag car so doesn't need 8ms charge time, injector duty is max at 61%

this log is off this boat

 

I was thinking of doing the R3 for my street car, but this thread has me questioning. where did you put the R5 in a street car? I assume it's too big for the stock location.