Looking for input on logging IAT and boost numbers to verify the (in)effectiveness of an eBay intercooler. I plan to do baseline tests on my car, 2010 MCS 100% stock, and then install the eBay IC and repeat the same tests. I will also do some static pressure drop tests on the eBay IC and the stock unit out of the car, for what it's worth.

Is it as simple as a OBDII cable and some logging software? Any recommendations on the software? I already have a BMW DCAN cable that I have used with NCS Expert, will that work? A Bluetooth option would be cool, if the samples/sec is high enough. What about Bytetronic Dataviewer or other "Mini specialized" logging software compared to generic OBDII logging software?

 

OBD2 - Bluetooth adapter (about $15-20 online) and Torque app for your Android phone ($5.) Plug and play. You can datalog anything the ECU reports along with GPS data from your phone and effortlessly upload via gmail, dropbox, etc. and mess about with the data on your computer.

RaceChrono for Android has the same capability plus you can replay your laps and see how the logged values change relative to track position. I have logged MAP and IAT with this combination at the track, great fun and very informative.

Lots of threads and posts about Torque and similar iPhone apps, do a search.

 

How is the data rate over BlueTooth? How many data points per second?

 

I haven't tried to push it, I have had multiple pages of gauges going real-time, but I thinkTorque is smart and only pulls data for the screen currently being viewed. I can get 6 gauges on a screen.

Datalogging with Torque I have logged 6 channels at a rate of 1Hz with no problems, but again I haven't pushed it to find the limit, and I don't know if I'm losing any detail. RaceChrono (another cool Android app) can also pull from the OBD-2 over Bluetooth, it has high priority channels for quick changing data (RPM) and low priority channels for slow data (temps.) The RaceChrono manual says OBD2 can generally handle 2-4 requests /second, and recommends no more than 3 high priority channels. My last track day I had 4 high priority and 2 low priority channels going with no apparent problems. I imagine that different ECU models and different OBD2-BT adapters may have different performance limits.

Sorry to not have a precise answer. In my experience the data rate has been good enough to tell me what I want to know, and has helped me learn a lot about the behavior of my MCS on the track. It has also helped me diagnose a few problems with my other cars.

 

Can it capture boost solenoid duty rates? What about throttle body angle?