Turbo Timer Install - How hard is it?

[Rallimags]

Hey guys, just wondering who has installed a turbo timer in their car? Did you do it yourself or did a shop do it? How hard is it?

Any info would be great.

Cheers

Mags

[Macca]

Best bet is to either buy the blits plug in loom or make your own plug in loom if you has the skillz..

They are not too hard, But with making your own loom you need to use decent sized wire and own crimping tools.

[skyrex]

If you gonna make, you can steal the info from this thread for pinouts etc:
http://www.rcolt.com/showthread.php?5102-Ignition-wiring-colours

It's not hard to make a loom, just need to know where to tap off for the IGN1, IGN2, Oxy, ECU Gnd, etc)
Hardest part is getting to the ECU wiring for Oxy, and ground because our ECU's are in the engine bay and not conveniently in the passenger kick panel or behind the glovebox.

[Rallimags]

Thanks guys. So if the unit comes with a universal plug setup I can just plug this into the ecu? Electronics and me just don't mix... hence the noob questions.

[Macca]

Nah it still won't be plug and play.

Also oxy??WTF is that needed on a turbo timer lol I have never bothered with one.

[Rallimags]

Hey Guys, Im in a spot of bother and for the life of me cannot figure it out. I got my apexi turbo timer in the mail and started the install today. Built a harness etc using the supercheap plugs as described in another thread, hooked up the hand brake wire and just left the oxy sensor wire out as I don't need it. Earthed the correct wire from the module. heres the problem: turned the ignition on (after putting the negative terminal on the battery of course) and the timer does not light up. WTF!! I thought i might not of have earthed it properly so whilst the ignition was still on i pulled the earth wire off and reconnected it to the same earth, just holding it there with my hand. The timer then turns on!! WTF. I then switch off the ignition and it starts counting down. when it hits 0.00 the dash switches off and bob's your auntie with a dress on. so i tried it again. with me still holding the earth wire in place i turn on the ignition and nothing happens. take away the earth wire and then put it back on whilst the ignition is on and by fuck the timer lights up. switch the ignition off again and sure as eggs the timer counts down and does its thing.

Can someone please tell me WTF is going on as I am going bald rapidly and will have to look up on the net Ashley and Martins phone number!!

Cheers.

Mags

[Corosith]

You didn't mention anything about whether you engaged the handbrake or not - pretty sure the timer will not operate unless the handbrake is engaged, just a thought!:confused:

[Rallimags]

Hey coro. yeah, the hand brake switch is working fine. i tested it and if the hand brake is not on the timer will not activate. when i take away the earth and then put it back on whilst the engine is running and the hand brake is not engaged, the timer just switches off and the engine dies straight away, which is what it's supposed to do. This damn earth wire!!

[Corosith]

But what I am saying is that you may need to disengage/engage the handbrake everytime you want the timer to work ie. it is the trigger for the timer to go off. If you just have the handbrake on all the time it may not trigger it off and the removal/reconnection of the earth lead might acutally trigger the timer to go on, as if the brake were being operated. Once again a blind guess but you never know!

[Corosith]

I guess it should actually be on all the time once the ignition is turned on, especially if you want to use the voltage & O2 sensor functions, you shouldn't need to have the brake on to view these.

[Rallimags]

Cheers coro. I just double checked it and to no avail. Hand brake on/off it doesn't matter. I simulated like i was coming to a stop, neutral gear, apply hand brake and then switch off the ignition. Timer did not come on. did it again whilst engine was running, neutral gear with hand brake off, reapplied the earth wire and timer came on. applied the hand brake, switched off the ignition and the timer worked fine. Ashly and Martin, here i come.......

[Corosith]

Where abouts have you got the earth going to, sounds like the issue. I know that if you not using the O2 function you don't have to use the ECU ground, but i gather you have it earthed elsewhere.

Help Macca!

[Macca]

So you took the earth off where you connected it? Where did you connect it? a bolt somewhere, and then held it on with your hand to the same point and it worked.

Sounds like a shit point to earth.

Got some spare wire? Connect it right to the battery terminal -ve and see if it works, should do, but sounds like a bad earth when done up with a bolt.

[Rallimags]

just ran a cable from the battery negative to the wire for the earth on the module. same shit. FUCCkk!!

[skyrex]

If it's the apexi as like I have, though I haven't fitted it yet due to not having the frikking car....

The install sheet says, ground should be sourced at ecu, maybe that's the prob?

[Rallimags]

Yeah skyrex, i read that as well. you only have to connect the earth to the ecu if you are utilizing the 02 sensor function, otherwise you can earth to ground.

[Macca]

Just read the instructions for the turbo timer from here

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CDoQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.apexi-usa.com%2Fcontent%2Fpdf5492.pdf&rct=j&q=apexi%20turbo%20timer&ei=HT4DTYL0IMjQrQfTtYyRDw&usg=AFQjCNFA9GE8rLJDwYTH_0-Tvjnq-JAe4Q&sig2=1pOfO0yHXiyE9qV1pQ-FWg&cad=rja

Note the part on the parking brake

Splice the gray parking brake wire from the relay to the parking brake switch. (With the IG key ON, be sure to check that the parking brake switch reads 0 V when the parking brake is up, and 12V when the brake is down.)

So it needs +12v when the brake is disengaged and 0v when its armed

Ours doesn't work like that. We have a switch, it switches an earth on the ECU out when grounded

It just grounds the wire for parking brake ON or UP or engaged. Which gives an earth to the lamp in the dash lighting it up.

Your unit is strange, I bet if you re did the earth and took the handbrake wire off it will work.

Need some custom relay action going so a relay when relaxed its open, and when its powered its closed allowing 12v to the unit, when its handbrake is up the coil will arm and OPEN the relay allowing 0v, this will use power when the car is off thou, as the relay coil will be powered when handbrake is up.

Thinking about it, Use a constant for the supply to the relay switch, fused of course. Then use an ignition for the control to the coil. 12v will be there when you go to arm it, as the car will be on, then the timer will work, when it turns off it will also remove power to said relay and make the turbo timer think handbrake is now off and it wont draw current when car is turned off as the relay power is taken from ignition. That should work. but then I have been up from 4am LOL

But yeh try what I said above take the handbrake wire off and it should work, apply 12v to handbrake wire and it should cut out.

Macca wins again (i hope)

Some more relay info.

I have no idea how much current the handbrake wire will need, I doubt it would be much at all, but an overkill relay here

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SY4046&keywords=12v+relay&form=KEYWORD
SPDT 30A Horn Relay 12V Cat SY-4046

The above relay shows a loop resister for feedback sort of thing for when the coil shuts down, When large coils shut down the magnetic field shitting down causes a reverse current in the coil creating current spikes that can cause havoc if not fed back though the coil.

Has both normally closed and normally open contacts as you can see when you expand.

Pin 1 to earth

Pin 2 to Ignition

Pin 3 Constant

Pin 4 Hand brake switch (double check Pin 3 and 4 should connect when no power is applied to relay)

Pin 5 Not used

So when there is no earth on pin 1, pins 4 will have 12v from pin 3 giving 12v to turbo timer (Handbrake Down)

When there is earth on pin 1, the relay will energize, putting 12v to unused pin 5 (insulate this pin) and give 0v on Pin 4 (Handbrake Up)


MORE PARTS


MAY HAVE DIFFERENT PIN NUMBERS TO ABOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Relay
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SY4070&CATID=28&form=CAT&SUBCATID=754
Base
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SY4069&CATID=28&form=CAT&SUBCATID=754

[Rallimags]

macca, thats some serious research. Cheers for all the help guys. the support this forum has is worth bottling and supplying to other forums. I tried the timer also before the hand brake was connected, and it had the same symptoms. then i thought " ok you clever buggers, Ill connect the hand brake and that should fix it" but to no avail. If I had a short circuit somewhere in my harness that i constructed, surely i would have blown a fuse or something?.... Too many scotch and cokes now. fuck this car leads you to drink sometimes..... not such a bad car after all!!

Once again, thanks for all the input guys........ i will triple check everything in the morning (when im not too pissed, and yes i was sober when i did the wiring) and if it doesn't work, then its in the bin. and macca, get to bed man!!

Mags

[Rallimags]

Just a thought, I spliced the park brake wire after the relay. what if i spliced it before the relay? would that work?

[Macca]

What relay?

Handbrake doesn't have one.

12v----Light in dash------Handbrake switch (Open when Down and Closed when up)

[Rallimags]

there is a black box before the handbrake lever. i tapped in after the black box. should i tap into prior the black box? the black box is located under the panel that you can take out prior to the handbrake lever.

[Macca]

Yeh that black box has nothing to do with the handbrake. It's the g and yaw rate sensor.

What did you tap into that for?

[Corosith]

Sounds like you may have sourced the issue, the box is for the asc, so hopefully if you locate the handbrake switch all will be sorted!

[Rallimags]

I didn't tap into it. there's some wires that go to it and there is also a branch off. i tapped into th single wire that runs to the switch at the hand brake. the timer cuts out as its supposed to if the handbrake is not engaged, so i have the right wire there.

[Macca]

did you wire the right wires up to the ignition switch?

[Rallimags]

If i understand the instructions correctly, this is how I wired it up - Red wire (12 v constant) went to p1 white/blue stripe from batt, Green wire to p2 blue/black stripe ign 1 1st click, and then blue wire p4 blue/red stripe run pin powered when car is on 2nd click.

oxy sensor did not get wired in and the instructions advise to just ground the black wire instead of going to ecu, and the grey wire went to the handbrake wire.

should the red wire go to the accessories 1st click p6 blue/yellow stripe?

[Macca]

Did the instructions tell you which colour wires were what? Or did you guess?

Also have you tried with the handbrake wire disconnected ?

[Rallimags]

Yes, i followed the instructions regarding the colour of the wires and where they had to go too. red wire going to 12v constant, blue wire to ig2 out put, and green wire going to ig1 out put. And yes i tried without the handbrake connection as well.

[Macca]

Maybe its broken.

[Rallimags]

Yeah, i think i have come to that conclusion as well. Everything else is exhausted. Thanks for the help macca. Much appreciated.

[Rallimags]

sorted the turbo timer issue......it's called a refund!!

[Corosith]

Was it knackered or just all too hard? Personally I can't see the need for one, just as long as you give the colt a bit of a slow run to cool down after a fang, or let it idle down for a few minutes when you pull up.

[Rallimags]

yeah, the unit was faulty.

[Corosith]

That's annoying, bet you thought you were going crazy when it was just the poxy timer!

[ob1tanobey]

thread revived! ahaha, hey guys do we really need a turbo timer? my mechanic asked me if i had one, i thought new turbo cars these days doesn't need turbo timers?

[skyrex]

Some say no because they are oil/water cooled and not just oil cooled.
Some say yes to minimise the buildup/coking of oil in the lines/channels through the turbo...
I have one just to err on the side of caution, only runs for 60sec each time. The only time I override it is when garaging the car of an evening, by the time I reverse down the mountain (driveway), open garage and get the car in it's more than enough time to allow it to warm down.

It's nothing fancy, just one of those real fake apexi ones on ebay. You could get a jaycar timer if not fussed on brand names. It was originally bought because I used to use the car for work so being in and out of it up to 10 times a day it was just peace of mind and meant I didn't get into trouble for wasting time.

[runuts]

http://gallery.me.com/toddmunkman/100222/IMG_1085/web.jpg

Ark design turbo timer! Looks factory, plug n play, perfect

[ob1tanobey]

http://gallery.me.com/toddmunkman/100222/IMG_1085/web.jpg

Ark design turbo timer! Looks factory, plug n play, perfect

Yeh saw this one on ebay, thinking about it. did they provide an installation manual? easy install??

[runuts]

Yeah if you get the plug and play harness, it's straight forward. However, the plug doesn't fit through the factory hole. You could file it out, or cut and join the wires as I did

[lovecolt]

Just drive slower a few corners before getting home. Save the $100 odd dollar on turbo timer, which is really not that necessary nor is it legal. Problem fixed ;)

[Macca]

You can also make your own plug and play harness. But you need some decent gauge wire in it, and proper crimps preferably.

I made a plug and play harness for my engine start button

This is the plug used directly off the ignition barrel

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PP2024&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=990#1

[rokkuchan]

i have the ark design button too. 5 minute to hook up the wires with plug n play harness. The real trouble is making it fit in the spare slot - I just used my gas solder knife to cut bits off with ease. Then you gotta hook up the handbrake wire - not too hard either - you can find this wire near the handbrake then splice and solder it.

[kalt]

thread revived! ahaha, hey guys do we really need a turbo timer? my mechanic asked me if i had one, i thought new turbo cars these days doesn't need turbo timers?

It kept my groceries cool when I left my car to do an errand today (A/C left on with the engine, locked the doors). <5 min later back in the nice cool car. That's not misuse is it?