It has arrived - Aldon Amethyst Mappable Ignition

Discussion in '16-valve' started by Craigcorson, Mar 17, 2015.

  1. Craigcorson

    Craigcorson Forum Member

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    Just stuck on the distributor wiring. Can't seem to find what the wires do. I can find what pin they go to on the tci system but not what they do....
     
  2. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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    Looking at some instructions there's only one distributor connection. The green wire to the points or reluctor in this case.

     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2016
  3. Craigcorson

    Craigcorson Forum Member

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    That's correct finite but the system is not designed for using the hall sender so you actually need to power it.

    I also think that the hall sender is 5V rather than 12 so I don't think it'll last long with that going thru it
     
  4. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    I would be speaking to the guys at Aldon
    Jon
     
  5. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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    Sorry that was an incorrect answer. I'd just quaffed a beer and was about to watch a film.

    Hall sensors are 4.5-24v

    http://www.hallsensors.de/Hall-Vane.htm
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
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  6. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    So, these are three wire devices, with a 12V supply, earth and an open collector transistor near square wave signal output?
    One square per target going past.
    Presume red, black, green resp.
    Never given much thought to them, but that link is useful.
    Good luck with the wiring. You have done the right thing. Never connect anything till you are sure its correct. Fuses don't protect electronics, they are far too slow to operate.
    And take no notice of my opinion either!
    Jon
     
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  7. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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  8. Craigcorson

    Craigcorson Forum Member

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    I have spoken to aldon about this before but they told me it was allready in their instructions. They also told me that I was to turn the engine over by hand and to make the light on the aldon to come on just after TDC.

    If it were me selling my own product I would do everything I could to open a new market rather than MGBs and minis but they werent really interested. It says on the bottom of the manual that if you find another way of doing it to let them know and they will add it to their documentation. Not very helpful in my opinion and pretty lazy.

    [​IMG]

    Thank you finite for educating us on Hall senders, I might actually get this thing wired up after almost a year!
     
  9. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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    That is such a poor offer it's a bit like the crew of passenger ship saying "We've no idea where the lifeboats are, but give us a shout if you find one and we'll jump in whilst you lower it".

    Why would anyone bother telling them. Now if they said 50>100% refund and full credit. They might get somewhere.
     
  10. rubjonny

    rubjonny Administrator Staff Member Admin

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    if its any help:

    1 - brown/white - earth
    2 - green/white - hall signal
    3 - red/black - live

    looking at the docs the ecu needs a negative trigger I believe, from their troubleshooting guide:
    If wiring appears OK, disconnect Amethyst green wire and touch it against earth a few times. LED should light when green wire is earthed, and extinguish when it is disconnected. If this test fails, the Amethyst unit is faulty.

    and the middle wire on the hall sensor is an earth trigger looking at the testing procedure in the haynes 'Using a length of wire, earth the centre terminal of the distributor multi-plug briefly. The voltage should rise to at least 2 volts. If not, there is an open-circuit or the switch unit is faulty.'

    only thing is if putting 12v to the hall sender is a problem, worst case you could wire the TCI unit in and have that just powering the hall sender :lol:

    edit: looking around various threads with google VW hall senders can either be 5v or 12v so I dont see a problem powering it up with a 12v signal mind.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2016
  11. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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    I agree with you there the hall sensor perhaps ought to be on a regulated voltage. I did find a MS page with various configurations 5V/12V + an Optocoupler, but I can't remember the search terms now.

    With a 1K pull up resistor across live and signal/sensor out it's a leading edge trigger. They at least have this covered with a software toggle, but leading is the default.
     
  12. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    Not sure I can see why the hall sender needs to be on a regulated supply. Its a switched output producing a digital output. Whether that's 5V pk-pk or 12V or 14.2V shouldn't affect how the signal is received.
    But, I've been wrong before..
    Jon
     
  13. Craigcorson

    Craigcorson Forum Member

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    You guys are losing me now!

    In preparation for all eventualities i bought this

    [​IMG]

    In failure of all that I have this

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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    It's just this basically.

    113349.jpg

    Also in the pdf the Electrical characteristics are tested at Vcc = 12V so imo that is the best voltage. Regulation might not be important, but not knowing how robust the Aldon is prevention is better than cure.

    You might want to test or enquire to see if that CPT unit will be happy producing 5V on a load of 10's of mA.

    EDIT: This seems to be the reason for the lack of technical support. It was contracted out.

     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2016
  15. Craigcorson

    Craigcorson Forum Member

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    Had to totally abandon it. Spent all day faffing around with it and I couldn't get it to work.

    Back to TCI and my vacuum dizzie
     
  16. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    The pull up resistor converts an open collector output to a voltage out and effectively inverts it. Transistor ON is a near 0V output. Transistor OFF is the line voltage.
    A DC-DC converter (12V to 5V) like the one listed should provide enough oomph drive. Looks like a useful little unit to know about. It likely to be switched mode, so may be a noise source. Screened cable needed, probably
    Jon
    Craig: Don't give up, I'm sure this is fixable....
     
  17. Finite

    Finite Paid Member Paid Member

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    I guess it's best to take tried and tested to Donington, but how far did you get with it?
     
  18. Craigcorson

    Craigcorson Forum Member

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    I got it totally wired up and installed. The cars wiring is finished apart from the fuel pump and fan.

    I had butchered my TCI loom to maintain a factory look however I couldn't get the Aldon to do anything. Buzzed all wires out to check continuity and everything was fine but still no light on the Aldon.

    I was using the original cool but I read that the coil must have a resistance of 1.5 ohms. The oem one was 0.86 so we tried it with the could they supplied. Still no light from the aldon.

    Then we started checking all the voltages and that they went to the right place. 5v for tps, 12v for hall sender and coil.

    Still no luck. Tried phoning aldon but they were busy on the rolling road. At this point no spark or light from the aldon so I chopped it all out and I'll save it for another day. Might build it on the bench before going thru all this again!

    I need the car to be finished by this weekend so there's no time for messing with it.

    Just taken the tci loom bits home and made my own loom. Much shorter and neater for my purposes so I'll stick that in on Thursday and hopefully get a spark
     
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  19. Toyotec

    Toyotec CGTI Committee - Happy helper at large Admin

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    Stick with it. You are almost there!
     
  20. Tristan

    Tristan Paid Member Paid Member

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    Bad vibes from Aldon.
     

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