Race Technology

i have a dl1 with motec ecu interface and a dash3. i have many high/low warnings set up such as high/low oil pressure, overboost, water temp, oil temp, etc.

The problem is that when an alarm is activated the screen just changes to display the warning and the shift lights no longer illuminate. its just not eye catching enough and in the heat of racing i do not see any of the warnings. is it possible to have the alarm trigger an external light at the same time or even have it strobe the shift lights or something? seems pointless having an alarm if you cant see them! i do have a separate high intensity low oil pressure light but not for anything else.

Thanks, Dan

The DL1 and the Dash3 do not have external drivers to turn a relay on/off.

Does your Motec?

You will need a newer DL1 mk3 or a new Dash2 pro (?)

I have a DL1 mk2 and a Dash2. Though the warning lights are there, I have the same problem with differentiating warning from shift light operation.

So, I use a set of standalone Longacre warning lights for low water pressure and low oil pressure. In my opinion, those two can change rapidly and cause a catastrophic problem. Oil temp and Water temp will change more slowly, so a standard gauge scan will catch an issue.

That's absolutely stupid. What is the point of being able to set up a warning system if there is no proper warning? I have no gauges in the car at all and was planning on using the warnings to alert me of any problems. The motec does have an output for a warning but I have all of my inputs going into the dl1. I am sure it wouldn't take a lot to have the dash 3 strobe the shift lights when an alarm is activated.

The shift lights should still work. I agree about strobing the lights to indicate a warning condition and will work to have the firmware changed for the next update.

Martin

sideways-dan wrote:That's absolutely stupid. What is the point of being able to set up a warning system if there is no proper warning? I have no gauges in the car at all and was planning on using the warnings to alert me of any problems. The motec does have an output for a warning but I have all of my inputs going into the dl1. I am sure it wouldn't take a lot to have the dash 3 strobe the shift lights when an alarm is activated.

Sorry, not sure about the stupid comment.

The issue isn't with the warning lights. At least on a Dash2 they are bright and flash. (sorry, not sure about a Dash3). The basic problem is they are below my field of vision when looking down the track. They will appear on a gauge scan during a straight, but it's not as apparent as a set that I have mounted higher on the dash. (car is a BMW M Coupe. Dash 2 is mounted in front of the stock dash.)

I use redundant warning system because it's redundant.

can you confirm the next update will fix this problem? when will the update be? should be a pretty easy fix rite?

Wow, firmware update for Dash3? That'd be very cool, would like to keep appraised...

That said... I originally set mine up to do similar... but I've found it to be a bit less useful than expected. My primary problem is that the LCD screen of the Dash3 is too hard to read in an open-top car (sports prototype)... poor contrast, poor text font (see my prior requests for a better, more legible font), and way too fast of a car to spend time reading the paper... so any warnings on the LCD screen are useless. I in fact mostly cannot use my dash except on cooldown laps, and for the shift lights... sample video:
https://vimeo.com/70074430

Otherwise I am mostly just using the system for the DL1 as a logger... and have nowhere near enough room to fit a Dash2. Maybe someday a Dash4 will be in my Christmas stocking...

As Osborni suggested, I've added separate Longacre warning switches and LED indicators - works much better (as can be seen on the video).

I also added an additional feature with the dash... I have created a math channel which is oil pressure and RPM... if the oil pressure falls below 3bar when the revs are above 5000rpm (keep in mind it's a bike motor), I force display of one of the Dash3 screens which I have configured to show a bitmap that covers nearly the whole screen, says "OIL" in white on black background.

The only other item displayed on that screen is the measured pressure.

Have a pic or video of that posted somewhere; it's pretty hard to ignore, even in this car. So I have a lasting indicator of poor oil pressure. Even better, that's a much higher threshold than will turn on the 20psi Longacre oil pressure switch, providing even earlier notification of engine damage, before I have to worry about parts coming out at high velocity.

So consider using the automatic screen display function... I found that was the one thing that's really seeming to work for me.

Hope that helps, reply if you need more details...

can you confirm the next update will fix this problem? when will the update be? should be a pretty easy fix rite?

Hi,

I'm sorry - we are hoping to update the DASH3 to use it's shift lights, as above this is that the DASH4 does at the moment, I agree this is a useful thing - but I can't give you a date I'm afraid.

Also to confirm: the DL1club/pro etc have output drivers as does the DASH2PRO, so you can drive external lights etc for warning indications.

Kind regards,

RT Support (A)

To clarify, when you say DL1 Club/Pro (have output drivers), I assume you mean the Mk3... which seems to match the specs...

correct

I've been meaning to set up the shift lights so they are activated based on another variable. Then set that variable to be equal to RPM, provided whatever condition you're monitoring is ok.

Then, set it equal to whatever RPM flashes all the lights when your alert condition is met. This could be multiple nested IF loops for all the conditions you are concerned about.

So far, laziness and a blown engine have kept me from it, so I'm not sure it'll work.

can you confirm the next update will fix this problem? when will the update be? should be a pretty easy fix rite?

Of course we fix bugs as quickly as humanly possible, but this is a new feature request - you want it to do something that it's not intended to! So we will get onto it, but I can't promise any particular time scale at the moment as we are very busy. Changing the function is only a days work, but then we have to update the PC software, change documentation, retest with new and old versions etc - so it's not viable to do just this, it would need to be included as a "package" of updates.

As an alternative I would be happy to offer you a 100% value trade in on the DASH3 to a DASH4PRO which does exactly what you want already.

Kind regards,

RT Support (A)