Author: Tim

We will be moving to Portland, Dorset next week and will also be taking on a small office/workshop. This will greatly improve our ability to do wiring looms etc – but will put us out of action for about a week from Wednesday 19th February.

Worse than that, due to a monumental BT c*ck up, our business number has been cancelled 1 week early and there seems little chance of it being re-enabled.

So we have activated our new number – 01305 534535 – which I can only access from a softphone on my laptop for now, but I will do my best to answer calls. If not, they will go to voicemail and I will respond as soon as I can.

Thanks all 🙂

Previewed at the Autosport Show, 2014, we will shortly be launching an 8-LED shift light module. With ultra-bright multicolour LEDs, CANbus control, and a small physical size, this unit will make a great add-on for your Toucan, as well as having capability to be connected directly to suitable Engine Management Systems.

More information to follow.

Nearly ready for @Autosport_Show #ASI14. New product prototype just about ready, and just waiting on the graphics, due tomorrow #LastMinute

— JT Innovations (@JTinnovations) January 6, 2014

Toucan firmware V1.30 and corresponding new User Guides are available for download now. 

V1.30 is a significant release with a host of new functionality and, most excitingly, support for MoTeC MBE ecus.

New functionality is as follows:

• MoTeC Support. Allows Launch RPM adjustment, LC on/off and ALS map selection and on/off).
• MBE Support. Allows Launch sector selection. Choice of OBD-II or Superseal connection leads.
• Turn display off to avoid distractions by press-and-hold the manual display dim button (all)
• Adds AFR text to lambda gauge
• Return to previously viewed large gauge by press-and-hold any gauge on the main screen (all)
• Flex Fuel gauge (with text in % as well as gauge) (Syvecs)
• 12,000 rpm gauge as alternative choice to 10,000 rpm gauge (all)
• PIN protect first CAL added – can selected alone or along with last CAL (e.g. Valet mode aas well as immobiliser mode) (all)
• Increased sleep timeout when switched live removed – display more likely to remain alive during cranking if wired so that switched live feed is not active during cranking. (all)
• Injector duty display on Injector Duty large alarm gauge (all)
• Ignition Knock Retard per cylinder on large knock alarm gauge (Syvecs, AlcaTek)
• New “list” mode that shows all available parameters as text rather than as a gauge
• Added wastegate duty and ignition advance to the list display (all).
• Manual editing of Syvecs CAN frame/slot assignments, especially for vehicles using a CAN bridge or other non-standard CAN definitions. Can be used to disable parameters if not needed (e.g. knock retard on cylinders not present). (Syvecs)
• Display of current traction control (TC) CAL on the main screen, and ability to name each TC CAL as per main CALs (Syvecs).
• CANbus control of CAL selection (frees up an input pin) (Syvecs).
• CAL override to jump directly to a CAL pre-defined in SCal, when using CANbus control of CAL. Selectable on any or all of the 4 pages through the gauge setup screens (Syvecs).
• ALS on/off from the screen, when using CANbus control (Syvecs – already supported on AlcaTek and MoTeC).
• CAL output voltage wire will follow TC selection menu rather than CAL selection menu when CANbus control of CAL is enabled (Syvecs).
• Currently connected ECU shown on “More” pages –also shows if ECU is not connected to assist fault finding (all)
• 500kbit/s CANbus mode (MBE)
• Some help pages added
• Labels on main screen for CAL, ALS and TC now picked from first 5 characters of the entered text rather than hard-coded (all).

All versions are available for purchase from the shop, with AlcaTek and Syvecs versions ready for immediate dispatch. MoTeC and MBE deliveries will commence week of 9th December, once the connection leads are available.

Special price on flex fuel sensors. Buy now for just £150+VAT including AN6 fittings, £140+VAT without.

When Jack from Holeshot Racing contacted us about lambdas and a Toucan for a Syvecs Ltd S8, little did I know it was for Topspeed Hayabusa motorbike. After a few email exchanges, I provided a custom Toucan build with a 12,000 rpm rev counter.

Jack said

Looks good on the bike

and I tend to agree 🙂

Paraphrased from a customer who has a Toucan fitted to his Spec C, with an ECU from AlcaTek ECUs mapped by Martyn at Enginetuner Ltd

Martyn took me for a test drive and to show me the various features of the Alcatek ECU and Toucan touch screen display, I am really impressed by how well everything works and the features / functions you can access.

The good thing about launch control is that you can now choose to have it off or on just by selecting it on the Toucan, whereas before it automatically engaged at a selected RPM when you were stationary and in first gear with the clutch pedal depressed (5000 rpm on my car from memory).

Switching maps, engaging launch control and switching the anti lag on/off is a breeze with the Toucan, as well as the warning alarms for the sensors is great. You don’t need to constantly watch the Toucan scanning for faults, if there is a problem you will get an audible warning as well the visual one.

When I had gauges fitted I found that I spent too much time watching them for oil temp and pressure constantly worried in case something went wrong.

Toucan firmware V1.20 is now available for download here.

This release includes a raft of new functionality, as follows:

• User configurable gauge pages allowing you to choose exactly what gauge you want on all of the 4 main gauge screens
• A new fuel level gauge (Syvecs only – needs fuel level sensor wired to Syvecs)
• New “USA” units, with imperial units for all gauges except for boost and MAP which are in kPa
• 12 CAL support (Syvecs only)
• Second EGT gauge support (Syvecs only)
• Second lambda gauge support (Syvecs only)
• 3.5 bar boost gauge in addition to the existing 2.5 bar gauge
• Alternative “gear” display using numbers/letters rather than “H” pattern
• Lean Lambda alarm – alarm triggers if boost and rpm are above adjustable thresholds and lambda then exceeds an adjustable value (i.e. lambda has gone lean on boost)
• Limp and cut warning/alarm displaying the reason for the limp/cut mode (Syvecs)
• Dynamic minimum markers – allows you to see the minimum value seen in the last few seconds in addition to the existing dynamic maximum markers.

We now have available 1/8″ NPT weld-in stainless steel bosses for our EGT probes. Also added is an M18x1.5 to M12x1.25 stainless steel adapter, allowing an EGT probe with our M12 compression fitting to be fitting in a standard lambda sensor boss.