AiM solo 2 DL: zeroing accelerometer?

[kyrix1st]

Recently got this babe for data logging.

However, vertical G always shows -1.0G when it isn’t placed laterally..
Kind of annoying as I want to see my laps real time so I place near the iDrive screen. Is there any solution to this?

[TZANIDO777]

I have the MXL2 so may be different but in RS3 there is an auto calibrate feature and I just do that to zero everything out like that once I am at the track and on a level (as much as possible) surface.

[dogbone]

I've chatted with AIM about the Vertical Acc parameter. For a regular track car guy, it has no use. Don't worry about that parameter. Lateral and Longitudinal (Inline) are the ones to worry about.

There are three sets of G-force parameters you can consider.

-The "LateralAcc" and "InlineAcc" parameters near the top of the list come from the Solo 2 DL's Internal accelerometer.
-The "ACC_LONG" and "ACC_LAT" parameters in the middle of the list are from the car's CAN bus (if you have the CAN bus connection.)
-The "GPS_LatAcc" and "GPS_LongAcc" parameters near the bottom of the list are calculated/derived from GPS positioning.

In my car, the CAN bus ACC_LAT is totally worthless. Maybe something is wrong with that sensor in my car? The GPS and accelerometer Lateral Acc at least generically follow each other to some extent.

For Longitudinal, the CAN bus and GPS agree to a decent extent, but the accelerometer seems off in it's own world.....hehe who knows.

Here's a picture of the AIM data. The top chart shows Lateral. The bottom chart shows longitudinal. The blue lines are the ECU, the red lines the GPS and the green lines are the accelerometer. (All the parameters are set to the same scaling so they are relative to each other.)

[kyrix1st]

I tried calibrating through race studio 3 but it still shows -1.0G on vertical acceleration. Oh well. My data also doesn't show any RPM (stays 0)...did I do something wrong?

[dogbone]

How did you connect the device to the car? Via the CAN bus? Or the OBDII port?

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by dogbone

How did you connect the device to the car? Via the CAN bus? Or the OBDII port?

It is connected through OBD II.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

It is connected through OBD II.

Are you getting other parameters like pedal position and Intake Air temp?

Honestly, if you were asking me, I would tell you the AIM Solo 2 DL can do SO MUCH more via the CAN connection than OBD. The device has it's hands tied behind it's back when only connected via OBD. Things like the brake pedal pressure, individual wheel speeds, caliper activations, oil temps, steering angle, ambient outside temps----these things are very useful for doing analysis. And none of them show up on OBD. If you have a race shop or good mechanic in your area that could install the CAN connection for you, I would get the CAN connection harness and go the CAN route. And make them wire the power connection too because the Solo 2 DL chews through the battery very quickly---especially because it turns itself on between sessions when it sniffs CAN data.

If you want to try wiring it yourself, M-World makes a more user friendly complete CAN harness that makes the connection easier. M-World AIM CAN harness

I've never dealt with the AIM OBD connection, so I can't help troubleshoot it too much unfortunately. In the USA, AIM's support staff is very very good. AIM's website lists a distributor in Japan. Perhaps try them. If they can't help, and you can swing the phone call to the USA, I would call USA support. All the contact info is on the AIM website.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Are you getting other parameters like pedal position and Intake Air temp?

Honestly, if you were asking me, I would tell you the AIM Solo 2 DL can do SO MUCH more via the CAN connection than OBD. The device has it's hands tied behind it's back when only connected via OBD. Things like the brake pedal pressure, individual wheel speeds, caliper activations, oil temps, steering angle, ambient outside temps----these things are very useful for doing analysis. And none of them show up on OBD. If you have a race shop or good mechanic in your area that could install the CAN connection for you, I would get the CAN connection harness and go the CAN route. And make them wire the power connection too because the Solo 2 DL chews through the battery very quickly---especially because it turns itself on between sessions when it sniffs CAN data.

If you want to try wiring it yourself, M-World makes a more user friendly complete CAN harness that makes the connection easier. M-World AIM CAN harness

I've never dealt with the AIM OBD connection, so I can't help troubleshoot it too much unfortunately. In the USA, AIM's support staff is very very good. AIM's website lists a distributor in Japan. Perhaps try them. If they can't help, and you can swing the phone call to the USA, I would call USA support. All the contact info is on the AIM website.

It is weird because I can see my rpm on the device and it gives me shift lights as well yet it didn't log my session with these gauges. Perhaps I messed something up on the device settings. Will check later this month when I go to Suzuka.
I also agree that CAN connection is the way to go, but I must first get the window mounting device It does consume battery very quickly.

[dparm]

Why do you need vertical G? Are you using this as a proxy for something else like suspension travel?

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by dparm

Why do you need vertical G? Are you using this as a proxy for something else like suspension travel?

Plain curiosity. This is the first time working with Solo 2 DL so I want to make sure everything correctly checks out.

[dparm]

When you say "see your laps real time", are you looking at your splits during the lap? That's way more useful than looking 2+ minutes later and wondering where you lost X seconds.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by dparm

When you say "see your laps real time", are you looking at your splits during the lap? That's way more useful than looking 2+ minutes later and wondering where you lost X seconds.

If you are a relatively consistent driver, the red and green time difference lights on both sides of the display window are more useful and responsive than sector splits while on the track. They illustrate in realtime how a lap is going, so you can see if you gained or lost time from a single corner. And you don't have to stare at the device while driving to see how thing are going. You can catch the lights out of the corner of your eye.

I mention being consistent because if your lap times vary too much, the lights won't be useful. Mine are setup so that each light is 0.1sec. So with 5 green lights and 5 red lights, I can see if I'm up to 0.5 sec faster and 0.5 sec slower from my best of the day. If someone is a more novice driver with higher variations in lap times, they can set the lights up to be larger increments---let's say like each light is 0.3 sec---then you could see 1.5 sec faster or 1.5 sec slower with the red and green lights. If you set the light increments to be much more than 0.3 sec per light, it will be hard to see the small variations in timing from a single corner.

[fe1rx]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I've chatted with AIM about the Vertical Acc parameter. For a regular track car guy, it has no use. Don't worry about that parameter. Lateral and Longitudinal (Inline) are the ones to worry about.

There are three sets of G-force parameters you can consider.

-The "LateralAcc" and "InlineAcc" parameters near the top of the list come from the Solo 2 DL's Internal accelerometer.
-The "ACC_LONG" and "ACC_LAT" parameters in the middle of the list are from the car's CAN bus (if you have the CAN bus connection.)
-The "GPS_LatAcc" and "GPS_LongAcc" parameters near the bottom of the list are calculated/derived from GPS positioning.

In my car, the CAN bus ACC_LAT is totally worthless. Maybe something is wrong with that sensor in my car? The GPS and accelerometer Lateral Acc at least generically follow each other to some extent.

For Longitudinal, the CAN bus and GPS agree to a decent extent, but the accelerometer seems off in it's own world.....hehe who knows.

Here's a picture of the AIM data. The top chart shows Lateral. The bottom chart shows longitudinal. The blue lines are the ECU, the red lines the GPS and the green lines are the accelerometer. (All the parameters are set to the same scaling so they are relative to each other.)

The problem with the CAN bus ACC_LAT channel appears to have arisen from the latest version of the AiM BMW PT6 protocol. Up unit this year, I have successfully logged the ACC_LAT channel on my original Solo DL, but I recently replaced it with a MXS 1.2 dash logger running a later PT6 protocol (the latest) and ACC_LAT started misbehaving.

I have also looked at the ACC_LAT channel using live data from Protool, and that shows credible lateral acceleration values, so clearly it is an AiM problem not a vehicle problem.

I have supplied data logs to AiM so they can see the problem, and perhaps fix it.

[fe1rx]

The latest version of the AiM PT6 protocol has fixed the problem with the ACC_LAT channel.