Vems knock detection, is it good?

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  • Jonas_R
    S2Forum Possessed
    • Jan 2004
    • 3781
    • Country: Denmark

    #1

    Vems knock detection, is it good?

    Just wondering about the knock detection in Vems.

    How good is it?

    Can it be used while tuning to avoid knock? I mean instead of getting a knocksense kit or similar.

    Cheers

    Jonas
    Sleeper S2 Avant +450

    A6 Avant 2.7t Stage 3

    Audi S2 Coupe RS2'ed
  • Bram
    S2Forum Fiend
    • Aug 2006
    • 2582
    • Country: Netherlands

    #2
    I read somewhere it works as good as with Motronic, so you should be safe. But I can not tell you from first hand experience
    Last edited by Bram; 25 July 2009, 07:38.

    Comment

    • A80Avant
      S2Forum Obsessed
      • Sep 2005
      • 10873
      • Country: Greece

      #3
      as you may have read, Marc does give the proper settings but 99% of all aftermarket ECUs do not have good capabilities of knock detection because of added noise to the rise of revs of the engine. Thus although the settings are there, im not sure if they are usable. Besides if you ask all professional tuners,they will tell you that they tune with possibly headphones and then experience to prevent knock,and are taking things safe,rather than put their faith in a system that may not provide adequate safety

      Comment

      • Bram
        S2Forum Fiend
        • Aug 2006
        • 2582
        • Country: Netherlands

        #4
        But if all aftermarket ECUs can not guaranty knock detection, how can a OEM ECU do it then? They must suffer from the same issue of added noise to the rise of revs of the engine

        Comment

        • A80Avant
          S2Forum Obsessed
          • Sep 2005
          • 10873
          • Country: Greece

          #5
          it appears that to some extent they do suffer,but i have read that on OEM ecus they have more complicated ways to filter noise through possibly maps of frequencies that enable to read the knock more clearly.I have read that this is very difficult and expensive to achieve in aftermarket ecus,that is why it is not implemented

          Comment

          • quattro84
            S2Forum Maniac
            • Mar 2006
            • 947
            • Country: Netherlands

            #6
            An OEM ECU is internally matched to that specific type of engine in therms of filtering noise on knocksignals.
            Still there is no 100% accurate way of electronicly spotting knock on an engine. Knock can't be defined at a certain frequency or intensity.

            Do you know how the OEM ECU copes with this problem? It wil advance your ignition until it hears knock. Then is will retard it back again to be on the safe side. This proces continues on and on.

            The only way of being accurate is by measuring in-cilinder pressure. But then you have to know the cilinder geometry to place the probe at the right place because of rapidly expanding/changing flamefronts due to squish areas and/or potential hotspots like sharp edges on piston crowns.

            Proper way is to spot (high speed) knock is to mount a pipe boulted secure to the engine, from the engine compartment into the passenger compartment connected to a pair of hearing aids. (But then you need to know what knock sounds like obviously).

            Aftermarket knock sensing aids are rubbish. You can alter the frequency on the device to an extend whereby you think that what it displays isn't knock anymore.
            I've seen people hammering with spanners on the block to define the right threshold for the knock sensing kit...

            Knock is the hardest part of mapping/controlling an engine. It defines the limit of the engine's capabilities with that given fuel.

            Comment

            • Jonas_R
              S2Forum Possessed
              • Jan 2004
              • 3781
              • Country: Denmark

              #7
              Originally posted by A80Avant
              as you may have read, Marc does give the proper settings but 99% of all aftermarket ECUs do not have good capabilities of knock detection because of added noise to the rise of revs of the engine. Thus although the settings are there, im not sure if they are usable. Besides if you ask all professional tuners,they will tell you that they tune with possibly headphones and then experience to prevent knock,and are taking things safe,rather than put their faith in a system that may not provide adequate safety
              I have not read this anywhere, could you give some more details?
              Sleeper S2 Avant +450

              A6 Avant 2.7t Stage 3

              Audi S2 Coupe RS2'ed

              Comment

              • peter_jensen
                S2Forum Enthusiast
                • Jun 2007
                • 103
                • Country: Denmark

                #8
                Vems knock

                Hey Jonas, and congratulations on the new Vems

                Knock is very difficult to measure at high revolutions and self oem controllers have difficulty in doing so they often run on the safe side at high rpm
                Some controllers disc increase ignition 3-7 degrees if knock is dected at low rpm or switch to another soft Ignition Map.

                Many have tried to make electronics that could detect knock but with negative results.

                Andrey has made a firmware 1.1.51-1.1.52.2 that should be good fore knock (knock table)



                As quattro84 say hearing aids is the best way to dected knock.

                As you are new to Vems I will not advice you spending time to understand haw Vems is controlling knock it’s simply to complicated.

                Good luck

                Peter
                Vems since 2004

                Comment

                • A80Avant
                  S2Forum Obsessed
                  • Sep 2005
                  • 10873
                  • Country: Greece

                  #9
                  peter,do you know when the new official firmware will be available?

                  Comment

                  • S2central.net
                    Retired OG Mod
                    • Jul 2003
                    • 16590
                    • Country: Northern Ireland

                    #10
                    I heard from a reliable source that Jaguar recently spent several million pounds in an R&D program to improve knock detection on one of their engines / ECUs - this is complex stuff - there is so much noise at high revs and its hard to program a computer to recognise it accurately. I think they had a bunch of DSP involved doing FFT analysis - looking for characteristic signals that could more confidently detect knock and ignore the other noises.
                    Paul Nugent
                    Webmaster http://S2central.net
                    Administrator http://S2forum.com

                    1994 S2 Coupe ABY - aka Project Lazarus
                    2001 A6 allroad 2.5TDi - family tank
                    2003 S4 Avant 4.2 V8 - daily burble

                    Purveyor of HomeFries and Exclusive agent for Samco hose kits (S2/RS2)

                    There are only 10 kinds of people that understand binary - those that do, and those that don't

                    Comment

                    • Jonas_R
                      S2Forum Possessed
                      • Jan 2004
                      • 3781
                      • Country: Denmark

                      #11
                      Thanks Peter,

                      I will look at that

                      Just gathering some information right now, think I wont try it out before september, have to much other stuff that needs to be fixed right know

                      Cheers

                      Jonas

                      Originally posted by peter_jensen
                      Hey Jonas, and congratulations on the new Vems

                      Knock is very difficult to measure at high revolutions and self oem controllers have difficulty in doing so they often run on the safe side at high rpm
                      Some controllers disc increase ignition 3-7 degrees if knock is dected at low rpm or switch to another soft Ignition Map.

                      Many have tried to make electronics that could detect knock but with negative results.

                      Andrey has made a firmware 1.1.51-1.1.52.2 that should be good fore knock (knock table)



                      As quattro84 say hearing aids is the best way to dected knock.

                      As you are new to Vems I will not advice you spending time to understand haw Vems is controlling knock it’s simply to complicated.

                      Good luck

                      Peter
                      Sleeper S2 Avant +450

                      A6 Avant 2.7t Stage 3

                      Audi S2 Coupe RS2'ed

                      Comment

                      • GazzaG60
                        S2Forum Freak
                        • Mar 2007
                        • 4133
                        • Country: United Kingdom

                        #12
                        the system consists of microphones basically. they are prone to wear, suseptable to interference from water lines, they even use the coolant as a medium to pass the signals. most are on good after 60k or so.

                        If you get bad fuel, a boost spike through a failure or other threatening issue is it gonna save the motor?

                        i would never trust any knock/ retard based system like that. det cans are the way forward or maybe for everyday use a knocklink or similar. knocklinks use bosch mic sensors like our factory ones. however if not over a water jacket or too close to the gearbox they light like a christmas tree. also thats not the sensor that will save the engine so its what the real one sees thats most important

                        Comment

                        • peter_jensen
                          S2Forum Enthusiast
                          • Jun 2007
                          • 103
                          • Country: Denmark

                          #13
                          vems knock

                          Originally posted by A80Avant
                          peter,do you know when the new official firmware will be available?
                          A official firmware release is problematic because Vems is not a official company but a kind of open source. Some of the firmware is made by volunteers from around the world and its hard to blame anyone if something wrong with the code. See the new firmware´s as experimental. You can upgrade with grate results but always keep the engine under observation. I have been using 1.1.44 the parts year and the car is feeling great yes better then ever Vems is the best thing happen to Audi s cars the past years I think and you will get a lot of power in even a stock S2. 5 cyl 20v maybe the best engine ever made by Audi you joust have to control it by Vems and you will get a big smile on your face.

                          Tnx Peter
                          Vems since 2004

                          Comment

                          • peter_jensen
                            S2Forum Enthusiast
                            • Jun 2007
                            • 103
                            • Country: Denmark

                            #14
                            Originally posted by GazzaG60
                            the system consists of microphones basically. they are prone to wear, suseptable to interference from water lines, they even use the coolant as a medium to pass the signals. most are on good after 60k or so.

                            If you get bad fuel, a boost spike through a failure or other threatening issue is it gonna save the motor?

                            i would never trust any knock/ retard based system like that. det cans are the way forward or maybe for everyday use a knocklink or similar. knocklinks use bosch mic sensors like our factory ones. however if not over a water jacket or too close to the gearbox they light like a christmas tree. also thats not the sensor that will save the engine so its what the real one sees thats most important
                            We have great results with this KLM knock unit
                            Vems since 2004

                            Comment

                            • GazzaG60
                              S2Forum Freak
                              • Mar 2007
                              • 4133
                              • Country: United Kingdom

                              #15
                              looks very similar to knocklink too. my mate used to be uk suppliler for them at one point. lots in subarus with good results. the subaru box makes more noise than the average engine though.

                              Comment

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