Installation Instructions For FXL DATA Loggers.

Special Notes:

The magnetic sensors will ONLY trigger from the South end of the magnet.

Never use heat on the magnets, they will be destroyed.

Before starting the installation, consider mounting the magnets and just how long the glue will take to become full strength. Some glues like Super Strength Araldite take 72 hours.

Special Note: If the vehicle has a magneto ignition, then it MUST have suppression leads in the High Voltage ( Secondary ) side of the ignition.

Consider where to mount the on - off switch. There are different thoughts about who should turn it on. Some teams mount it externally at the rear of the vehicle. Here it can be forgotten or turned off unintentionally or deliberately by an oponent. It is recommended that it be turned on by the driver when s/he is moving forward before staging. When the computer is turned off, all data is lost. It is the decision of the team and in particular the driver as to who should turn the logger on.

The rpm sensors must not have the nut within 10 mm ( 3/8 inch ) of the end of the shaft.

There is a recommended procedure for instaling the computer. Mount the computer, install the earth wire, install the +12v wire to the On Off switch, fit the Wide Open Throttle switch under the accelerator pedal or some other suitable place, fit the thin wire with green heat shrink tubing to the two step / transbrake switch then fit the engine rpm wire to the MSD / Dyna tach drive wire. This is all that is required to give a recording of engine rpm. Now fit the magnetic collar to the yoke on the pinion or the output shaft of the transmission. This will require access to a lathe. A bracket has to be made up to hold the sensor, and the cable MUST go away from anything that it can get caught on. Then fit the front wheel sensor and magnets, then fit the input shaft sensor and magnet if it is supplied.

Mounting The Computer: Mount the Computer in a place where it will not get wet from rain or fuel or oil spills, battery acid or fumes, stepped on, bumped, interfered with in any way, etc.

Ensure there is enough room to connect the Downloading cable, it requires several inches of clear space to attach the cable.

Identifying the Individual Cables: Unroll the main loom and study the individual cables. Don't undo the zip ties until you are ready to start the installation, because cables will go everywhere, and be messy and out of control. ( It will conform to the Chaos Theory ).

If the vehicle uses an MSD or Dyna ignition, then the single wire with blue heat shrink is run to the tach drive terminal on the MSD or Dyna, otherwise... Sensor which goes to connector with Blue heat shrink is for the Engine, if fitted.

Sensor which goes to connector with Red heat shrink is for the Input Shaft, if fitted.

Sensor which goes to connector with Green heat shrink is for the Output Shaft. Sensor which goes to connector with Black heat shrink is for the Front Wheel. Note the colour of the heat shrink is the same as the trace colour on the computer monitor.

The two core cable with micro switch and black heat shrink is for the WOT ( Wide Open Throttle ). White wire is earth sending, and goes to the COM terminal on the micro switch. White with blue stripe is the signal return to the computer, and goes to the NO ( Normally Open ) terminal on the micro switch. The shield is not terminated at this end, that means that it must not be earthed at this end. It is usually covered with black heat shrink. The Wide Open Throttle switch shows as the Light Magenta ( purple ) stripe at the top of the computer monitor.

The thin cable ( Green heat shrink ) goes to the clutch / MSD two step / transbrake / line lock / brake light switch. This is the "Voltage Seeking Record Inhibit" line and shows as a Light Green stripe under the Light Magenta stripe on the computer monitor. It takes 12 v into the computer. If the data logger is being fitted to a blown car that doesn't sit on the start line at full throttle, then this input must be earthed. It then relies on the WOT switch for tripping the recording. Now it must be understood what part these two switches play in tripping the recording. The recording starts when the WOT is clicked over AND THE OTHER INPUT IS OFF. The cable going to the two step / trans brake / line lock / brake light is called ' RECORD INHIBIT '. That is, it will prevent the recording starting when the throttle is wide open, and the recording will start immediately this line LOOSES its +12v. (You must still be on full throttle to trigger the recording) The reason being that there is usually some action which indicates the start of the race, that is either the clutch is dropped, the transbrake is released, the line lock is released, or for a street car the foot brake is released. In each of these situations, there is a very definite action to indicate the start of the run. This is what sets the ' Time Zero ' on the screen.

Short white cable with black heat shrink is the Earth.

White wire with the red heat shrink is the +12 volts. Be aware that it is not permissable to connect the computer directly to the vehicle battery without going through the main isolator switch. The customer should provide a small +12 v battery separate from the vehicle battery. It MUST have its negative terminal connected to the vehicle earth at a point close to the computer, if possible a lug welded to the chasis or roll cage.

If the computer is turned off at any time, the data is IMMEDIATELY LOST FOREVER. Have the on off switch in such a position that it can't be turned off accidently, or deliberately by an opponent.

If the vehicle battery is used and the power comes through the main on off switch, the same thing can happen if the main switch is turned off. If possible, shorten the earth wire. This will improve the resistance to interference. If there is ever an interference problem, there are two places to start looking for the cure. First is the main earth point. It must be clean and electrically connected to the car chassis. Second is the coil. Note that the HT spark plug wires are generally not the problem that most people think they are. It is the collapsing magnetic field around the coil that causes the problems. Interference from an MSD or Dyna is rare and usually indicates a broken high voltage spark plug lead.

If the vehicle has a magneto, then it must have suppression leads. THIS IS A CONDITION OF SALE. If you use solid core spark plug leads, then you will have masses of interference.

For the FXL23: (Superceded blue box logger) If the thermocouple amplifier module and thermocouples were purchased, then the seperate Yellow cables are for the thermocouples, marked left and right bank. The individual pairs are labled but not cut to length. When the cables are being installed, run the cut end to the furtherest thermocouple and tuck any excess cable into any hidden spot so that if you ever need more cable, it can be pulled up, so to speak. Dont cut the excess off. This cable cannot be soldered, it can only be crimped, so if a wire breaks near the thermocouple, the excess is available. If the wire is cut too short, then there are real problems. I recommend that the cable be covered with heat shrink to act as a ' sacrificial covering ' . When the cable is in its final position, carefully skin the yellow outer sheath off only as far as necessary. Inside it is an aluminium foil shield and a clear plastic cover. Very carefully skin this off. It will also have a bare wire. This is only connected at the computer end and is already done. This is cut off. Now you will find four pairs of red and yellow cables and a single orange wire. Cut the orange wire, it isnt connected to anything. DO NOT unravel the pairs. They MUST be kept together as this is one of the ways of reducing interference. Cut them to length so that there can not be any confusion as to which wire goes where. Be aware that the RED wire is negative and the YELLOW is positive. This standard was laid down in 1911. There is a technique to terminating the ends into the yellow connectors. Strip off 12 mm of insulation from both the red and yellow cables, then using a fine pair of needle nose pliers, bend the end around so that there is 4 mm straight, 4 mm U turn, and another 4 mm up to the insulation. Take apart the connector, and be ready for it to drop bits every where. Only terminate when you are sure that the cables are in their final position as the small screws inside the connector WILL strip on the third attempt( Guaranteed WILL strip ) Red goes to the - terminal, yellow to the + terminal. Note carefully that this is back to front to what you would normally think.

Strapping the Loom: All models. When strapping the individual cables, strap ( zip tie ) from the sensor end and tuck any excess cable into a hidden place. Be aware of sharp edges and things like where people put their big clumsy feet. Is it going to get ripped out accidently?

Make ABSOLUTELY sure that the front wheel has unrestricted freedom going lock to lock, and through the up down movement. Put the front of the car up on the jack to see if the cable gets tight when the wheel drops, because this will happen during a wheel stand.

Check that the pinion sensor cable goes backwards from the bracket before coming forwards and that it has full travel when the diff is fully extended and that it CANNOT get caught by the driveshaft. Consider even if the driveshaft breaks and thrashes around, can it cut the cable?

If an RPM sensor is used on the front of the crank on a supercharged engine to get engine rpm, then make sure that the cable cannot get ripped out if the blower belt breaks. This has happened to one customer.

Consider where the cables are to be routed along the chassis. If the cables go under a frame rail, will it get squashed if someone puts a jack under the car? What about when the car is being pushed up onto the trailer, will it get caught when the bottom of the car gets stuck on the top of the ramps, as they always do?

Fitting the Magnets: The magnetic collar has to be turned internally to get it to fit. The customer may skim either side of the collar to make it fit better, but must keep the magnets on the center line, that is to skim off equal parts from either side. The collar must not be any narrower than 17 mm. The current practice is to press fit the magnets into the collar. The customer may make his/her own collar, bearing in mind that the magnets must be South facing out. The South on a magnet will attract the North pointer on a compass.

The front wheel magnets are mounted at the customers discression, somewhere on the Right Front Wheel rotating assembly. This is because the right front wheel is the last to leave the ground and the first one to return to ground after a wheel stand. All magnets must be fitted so that they are ' South Facing Out '. It should be fitted into a hole or counter sink so it isn't thrown off by centrifugal force.These are Super Magnets and have a slippery surface, so make sure it is clean and use a strong glue like Super Strength Araldite or similar. Be aware that Super Strength Araldite only gains full strength after 72 hours, so consider fitting the magnets first before anything else. 5 minute Araldite is not really good enough. Just before fitting and glueing, temporarily place the magnet on one of the magnets on the Pinion collar. These are correctly oriented, and the free magnet will automatically orient itself correctly, then carefully remove the magnet ( it's easiest to slide it off sideways rather than trying to pull it off ) and apply the glue, then fit it.

When fitting the Engine magnets on a magneto equipped vehicle or if running anything but an MSD or Dyna ignition, the magnets must be fitted in such a way that they go past the sensor at approximately the same time at the spark goes off. For example, if the ignition is normally set between, say, 30 and 40 deg BTDC then the sensor and magnets should be positioned to pass each other at 30 degrees BTDC. It is essential to go to this effort, as the computer times the reading of the thermocouples approximately half way between sparks to minimise interference. With an MSD or Dyna ignition, this is automatically achieved as the Engine rpm sample is taken directly from the MSD tach drive and is therefore automatically synchronised to the ignition.

Turning On The Power For The First Time: The Data Logger is Reverse Polarity protected, that means that if power is connected back to front, no harm should come to the Data Logger. (This is not the same as connecting the earth wire of the logger to the positive of the battery. This can destroy the logger. It has destroyed one logger and caused serious damage to another).

Check all the wiring to be certain that it is all installed correctly. At this stage, it is not necessary to run the engine. Turn on the power to the computer and to the clutch/transbrake circuitry to ensure that +12 v is available for the Voltage Seeking Record Inhibit input.

If using an FXL23, then only four of the six LEDs on the front should light up. If no LEDs light, then there is either a problem with the +12 v supply or the Earth wire. Toggle the WOT switch several times and see that the Green LED closest to the side of the computer goes on and off correctly. The Amber one beside it is the Clutch / Transbrake / Line Lock / Brake Light RECORD INHIBIT switch and should not be lit yet. Apply the Clutch / Transbrake / Line Lock / Brake Light and see that this LED comes on . What do the leds mean and what are they for. From the left: Green : Wide Open Throttle ( WOT ). Normally not lit. Toggle the WOT switch to confirm it works. If it is on with the throttle relaxed then the switch is either incorrectly adjusted or the blue / white wire is connected to the NC ( normally closed ) contact of the switch. This is incorrect. Otherwise, if the LED never comes on, there may be a wiring fault. The unit must be tested in a dummy run first as it could be a LED failure. Amber: Switch 1, Clutch / Transbrake / Line Lock / Brake Light . Not normally lit . Apply the Clutch / Transbrake / Line Lock / Brake Light and see that the LED come on. If not then look for a wiring fault or the switch not adjusted correctly or the wire fitted to the wrong terminal. Red: Always appears to be on. Engine rpm. With an MSD ignition, remove the computer wire from the Tach drive and put it to +12 v. The LED must go out. This will tell if the wiring is OK. With the engine running, the flicker is too fast to see. For a magneto equipped car, turn the engine over with a wrench and see that the LED goes out as the magnets go past the sensor. Check ALL four magnets. If the LED doesn't go out, then either all magnets are in the wrong way, or the gap is wrong or the alignment is wrong or the wiring is faulty or damaged or the sensor is faulty. If the sensor is suspect then substitute either a spare sensor or the Front Wheel sensor or the Pinion sensor. If the LED lights on one or more magnets but not all of them, then it is probably a gap / alignment problem or a damaged magnet. Green: Should always appears on. Input Shaft sensor indicator. If no Input Shaft sensor is fitted, then it will never go out. If an Input Shaft sensor is fitted, then it will go out when the magnet passes the sensor. If it does not, then the gap may be too much, ( Check and adjust gap ) or the magnet may be out of alignment ( realign ), or the magnet may be broken or missing (after a run ) or in the wrong way around,( if it has only just been fitted ) or the cable may have been damaged or the sensor may not be plugged in or have failed. Check in that order. If the sensor appears to be faulty, temporarily substitute either a spare sensor or the Front Wheel sensor or the Pinion sensor to confirm the fault. Amber: Should always appears on. This is the Driveshaft sensor. It is common for it to not appear because there are four, six or eight magnets in the collar and a magnet may be close to the sensor.' Rock ' the vehicle to move the driveshaft and confirm. If it still doesn't light, go through the same procedure as for the Input Shaft sensor: gap, alignment,missing magnet/s, magnets in wrong way around ( unlikely ) cable damage or not plugged in, then substitute the sensor with one of the others to confirm the fault in that order. Red: Should always appear on. Front Wheel sensor. Same as the above. Lift the wheel off the ground and pass the magnets SLOWLY past the sensor. The LED will go out briefly as a magnet goes past the sensor. Test every magnet. If there is one or more not tripping the sensor but others that do, then the result will be an erratic trace on the screen.

For other computers like the FXL8, FXL9, FXL12, FXL17 FXL22, FXL25 or FXL32 a multimeter is needed to test the sensors, although it is recommended to do an engine run on stands to confirm the system is working first.

Recording for the First Time: All Models Practice Recording. Engine does not have to be running. It is recommended that you do several practice recordings until the sequence is understood. It is no good trying this for the first time at the race track. Turn the OBC on, wait approximately 2 seconds, then trip off the recording with the sequence of switches, that is, press the WOT switch with the record inhibit line off ( Clutch / Transbrake / Line Lock / Brake Light ). Wait longer than 25 seconds.

Attach the downloading cable to both computers. You must know which Comm port you will be using on the IBM. By tradition, the mouse goes on Comm 1 but there is no guarantee of this. If you dont know about Comm ports, have someone else standing by who understands these things. Make sure that most of the crew are able to operate the entire system. It is no good to have just one person who knows what is going on, because if that person is not able to be at the meeting or is unable to remain there or skips off for some reason, then you may be ' lost ' at a critical time. Have all crew members who are interrested go through the entire process several times to thoroughly familiarise themselves with it. It isn't good enough to just watch, they must do the actual hands on to become familiar.

Run FXL.BAT and the screen will go automatically to the last file downloaded, as this is always the one of most interrest. You must know the diameter of the front wheel accurate to 0.1 inch. It must be entered into a file called FXLCUST.CFG which stands for FXL CUSTOMER CONFIGURATION and during the downloading, the IBM will use this number to calculate the vehicle speed. If it is not entered correctly, you will have the option of entering the correct diameter or just accepting what is there. Once the speed is calculated it cannot be changed, so have this info correct before hand.

When you are ready, press F8 and Enter. The screen will go magenta ( purple ) and then just follow the instructions on the screen.

The system automatically makes its own file name now, based on Customer Number then run number. This is stored in a file called FXLCUST.FIL This is a unique file specific to the individual customer. When downloading a dummy run, without the engine running, there will be lots of zeros. It will take about 90 seconds. After the downloading is finished, the IBM will automatically return to the Graphic Screen. It will display and show practically nothing, except the light magenta stripe for the WOT and the Light Green stripe for the clutch pedal / transbrake / line lock / brake light switch, if it was used.

Recording the first Engine run : Do this before going to the track to make sure everything is going to work. You should have done a ' dry run ' first to make sure the system works before doing an engine run. When ready, put the vehicle on stands, OBSERVE ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS, have consideration for the neighbours, cats, dogs, birds, fish, horses etc, then do an engine run. When the engine is running satisfactorily, turn on the OBC, wait about 2 seconds, then trip the WOT switch by hand, no need to go to full throttle. Have the engine at about 2000 rpm or so, ( not critical ), then go through the gears. You only have 11.33 seconds for an FXL23, 17.24 seconds for an FXL17 or 25.2 seconds for an FXL12 from when the WOT is tripped.

After this time is up, switch off the engine, do the downloading sequence, and then look at the graph. There should not be any interference. We have never had trouble with MSD or Dyna ignitions and only minimal interference with magnetos which was cured with a spiral wound HT lead from the coil back to the magneto cap. When you are at the track : It is highly recommended that you do a practice run to ensure that everything is going to work before doing the engine run. This makes sure that all the computer side of things are going to work. Then do another recording during the engine run. This should be standard practice every time you go to the track.

Deleting the unwanted practice runs etc. Obviously, there will be unwanted files made during practice downloads. These may be deleted by pressing F9 and changing the run number. BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT YOU ARE GOING BACK TO A PROPER RUN, AND NOT GOING TOO FAR. If you reset the run number incorrectly, then the next run downloaded will over write deleted files. If you make a mistake as you are changing the run number, then redo the sequence by going back into F9.

Never delete actual run data. Some customers have been of the opinion that an aborted run is worthless, and some dont even bother to do the download. This is a totally wrong attitude. All data is worthwhile. Remember that this computer is a fault finding device. If you did perfect passes every time, then you would not need a computer, and theoretically, you would not be able to improve either. Even with an aborted run, there is still an enormous amount of information to be gathered like startline rpm, how far into the run was it aborted, was there wheel spin, clutch slip, breakage? You should still enter the ET's into the FXLTIMES file, because you may have had a good 60 foot time before aborting the pass.

Making backup copies. It is absolutely vital that you make backup copies of all runs onto floppy disks and keep them in a safe place. If other members of the crew or friends normally have copies of the data, then arrange that too. Be aware that when any new files are to be run on another computer, then their FXLCUST.FIL file will have to be updated through F9. This is the first thing to think of when they try to run the program and cant find the new data.

Scenarios: If the OBC is turned off before the data is downloaded, THEN THE RECORDED DATA IS LOST FOREVER.

Consider where to mount the On - Off switch. It must be in a place where no one can accidentally or deliberately turn it off ( jealous competitor ).

What to do if you are downloading and the cable is pulled out. Dont panic. Dont try to push the plug in immediately. The Data Logger will go back to the start of the data after 1.2 seconds. However, the IBM will have to be restarted, the FXLDOSDR program has to be restarted, then push the plug back in, and just go back into F8 and begin the download again. What to do if the mains power goes off during a download. It does happen. The IBM and the OBC are both always ' talking ' to each other during the download. The IBM sends a character and the OBC sends a data character. If the mains power goes off, when it comes on again, reboot the IBM and start again. The data that was originally downloaded is lost. Go into the purple screen again F8 and start a new download. The Data Logger will automatically go back to the start of the data if the download is interrupted.

What happens if there is a downloading problem? Downloading problems are always because of a conflict with Windows. This is a DOS program and if the worst comes to the worst, then you may have to set up the IBM autoexec.bat as if Windows is not installed, and rename the original autoexec.bat to something like q.bat or a.bat or z.bat and simply start up in DOS and if you want Windows then just press q or a or z and the IBM will run though the startup procedure again, although it will be much quicker this time. Only change the autoexec.bat file as a last resort, and only if you understand what you are doing. If you choose to do this, get a second opinion from an experienced computer programmer or serious hobbiest.