[RetroGamerJP]

Has there been any updates on when Vishnu is planning on shipping out the XEDE? I ordered one back in early December and have tried to follow the progress since. Anyone receive theirs yet? I know they are migrating to the solenoid-less version so a delay is expected.

Shiv, any update?

Many Thanks.

[IMJUSS2NASTY]

Wow waiting to receive your xede is like waiting for your 335i to arrive.

[edgarj]

His last post regarding the ship date mentioned having an estimate by last Friday, so he should be updating us soon It's not as bad as waiting for the 335, but it does leave me wanting everytime I floor it.

[daisy16905]

I called today wondering the same think (I ordered mine in early December). I was told that Shiv is working on getting control of the factory boost solenoid vs using secondary non-factory boost solenoid (he has received feedback from many beta testers that is would be better to look more stealth and not have all the boost lines spliced). I was told the first 20 or so orders will go out end of January and mine around early February

[edgarj]

Originally Posted by daisy16905

I called today wondering the same think (I ordered mine in early December). I was told that Shiv is working on getting control of the factory boost solenoid vs using secondary non-factory boost solenoid (he has received feedback from many beta testers that is would be better to look more stealth and not have all the boost lines spliced). I was told the first 20 or so orders will go out end of January and mine around early February

Great, so another month at least for me. I didn't order until just before New Years. It's nice to know, so I can stop dreaming and enjoy the car as it is for the time being. Don't get me wrong though, I want it to be well tested before I get mine, but the wait is painfull with all of the glowing reviews from the beta testers teasing me.

[OpenFlash]

Hi guys,
Still messing around with a couple of different boost control strategies. As it stands, there are pros and cons associated with the solenoid version and the solenoid-less version.

The solenoid verions will provide the most flexability as we can adjust duty cycle to acheive the desired boost while allowing the factory solenoids to be the drive by the factory ECU within the duty cycle range assoicated with a stock car. Downside is that you see it when you open the hood. It's not totally obvious. But if you look, you'll see it.

The solenoid-less version works the same way but it effectively offers a fixed bleed (non adjustable). The bleed fitting we use (which basically emulates a solenoid) can be sized perfectly to acheive the desired results. The only potential problem is what happens when the conditions change (say an increase in altitude for instance). In such a case, the factory boost control system makes up for the altitude change by running its boost solenoids at a higher duty cycle. If those duty cycles operate outside of the "normal range" expected by the factory ECU, a diagnostic code is tripped.

So I'm going to take some logs of the factory boost control system today and quantify the allowable range of factory duty cycle performance to see if it's wide enough to a wide range of boost pressures with a fixed solenoidless bleed oriface. Fun, huh? lol

We know both approaches work just fine as they are currently being run on cars with good success. We just need to make sure they the solenoid-less version offers the same level of potential flexability for future growth/mods/changes in conditions.

Cheers,
shiv

[bronco]

keep up the good work!

[MichaelATL]

Keep up the good work Shiv. Don't let us rush you. Just use what is best, even if we need a solenoid.

[bnj]

I love solenoids.

[RetroGamerJP]

Shiv,
What if we are fine with having the solenoid version? I'm not concerned with the absolute stealth requirement. Are there other issues that make the solenoid-less version the right way to go?

[daisy16905]

Shiv,

Are you working with the solenoid-less one due to the issues with the 100 octane maps a couple weeks back? If not, have you made any progress on the 100 octane map?

I am also not in a big hurry to have you bring the product to market, until you feel confident that it is ready, I will wait!!!

Thanks for all the great work!!!!!

[edgarj]

I'm completely OK with the aux. solenoid if it speeds up delivery, and especially if it has even a minor (even theoretical) advantage over the stand alone. What's with all of the concern about the stealth factor? Is this mainly a CARB concern for the CA crowd? I'm certainly not leaving it in when I take it in for service given the simplicity of removal.

[adriver]

Shiv no worries here, Take your time and do things right is what we all know will be the best for everyone in the long run. Besides I dont pick up my car for another 5 months.

[Vinobien]

5 months ... what are u doing here

[OpenFlash]

lol

[teknochild]

Originally Posted by edgarj

I'm completely OK with the aux. solenoid if it speeds up delivery, and especially if it has even a minor (even theoretical) advantage over the stand alone. What's with all of the concern about the stealth factor? Is this mainly a CARB concern for the CA crowd? I'm certainly not leaving it in when I take it in for service given the simplicity of removal.

because almost all dealers are bastards when it comes to mods, they will tell you totally unrelated parts of your car are voided "sorry we cant fix the giant hole in your engine becuase of a defective rod because you have aftermarket springs" granted in the end you can get them to do it but its a PITA getting to that point

just better if they dont know

[edgarj]

Originally Posted by teknochild

because almost all dealers are bastards when it comes to mods, they will tell you totally unrelated parts of your car are voided "sorry we cant fix the giant hole in your engine becuase of a defective rod because you have aftermarket springs" granted in the end you can get them to do it but its a PITA getting to that point

just better if they dont know

Like I said in my above post... I will take the XEDE out of the car when I have it serviced regardless of the solenoid set up. The aux solenoid dosen't sound like it adds that much extra work to the install or reverse. Even with the stand-alone EXDE, if you take it in to the dealer with the mod present, you are on your own as far as any powertrain issue goes. Not to mention a lazy tool, especially if BMW-NA cracks down on this fashon of soft-mod.

[radgator1]

Originally Posted by edgarj

I'm completely OK with the aux. solenoid if it speeds up delivery, and especially if it has even a minor (even theoretical) advantage over the stand alone. What's with all of the concern about the stealth factor? Is this mainly a CARB concern for the CA crowd? I'm certainly not leaving it in when I take it in for service given the simplicity of removal.

It doesn't look quite as simple as you might imagine to uninstall and re-install it, especially if you have the aux solenoid. In fact as far as I have heard, I don't think anyone has installed one yet besides shiv and I am pretty sure no one has done an uninstall/reinstall yet.

I'm assuming you've seen this:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40385

[Ryan.M]

Shiv,

I have a customer in Chicago that would love to do a XEDE on his 335i. Let me know when they are ready to ship.

Cheers,
Ryan

[edgarj]

Originally Posted by radgator1

It doesn't look quite as simple as you might imagine to uninstall and re-install it, especially if you have the aux solenoid. In fact as far as I have heard, I don't think anyone has installed one yet besides shiv and I am pretty sure no one has done an uninstall/reinstall yet.

I'm assuming you've seen this:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40385

Thanks. I saw that and know that it involves some wire swapping, but it's not (in propper form as he would have shipped it initially w/ aux solenoid) any more challenging than pulling and plugging wires from harness to harness... no soldering, etc. With good instrictions, it would be pretty easy, though a bit more time consuming than the stand-alone. No one has installed it because Shiv is beta testing it.... not because it would be too challenging with the aux solenoid. Even if it was a one pull, one plug opperation, he would be doing it for the beta crowd at this phase.

My point was that no one is going to look under my hood with XEDE in place. Period. As long as any iteration can be installed and uninstalled within an hour w/o soldering, its fine by me.

My original question was ... why the concern for stealth? Is it a Cali CARB issue? Are people planning to take their car to the dealer with XEDE in place, albeit on a stock map? Is this about some boy-racer thing where you open hoods before getting 2 fast/furious and want it to look stock?

[bnj]

All the phases appear straight forward. I would not worry about warranty. Car is new, so I did my first oil change at 300 miles at the dealer, but after that no need to go there for a looong time. Even if I go there it might not be related to under-hood stuf. If there is a reason to open the hood, they are not looking for Xede and might not notice it. Even if they notice it, they are not going to write up what mods are found in each vehicle... Even if they write it up and something engine specific comes around, its their responsibility to show the proof that the Xede that once were there (according to the note they did not make) is responsible for the fault. How are they gonna do that? Not possible since first, I don't believe Xede is the reason for any faluts, and secondly if it were theoretically, do you think they are going to manage against me in the court... Yeah, not. They lose hands down. If there are any potential benefits in the solenoid version, I'd prefer that one.

[OpenFlash]

Quick update:

Spent about 40 hours this week playing around with boost control. Things we've have done/learned so far:

1) The factory boost control solenoids aren't standard PWM solenoids. They are continuously variable valves. Our first attempted to drive them directly with our computer's closed loop boost control logic was an utter failure. All the pre-spool logic that is employed by the factory ECU is there for a reason and trying duplicate it with an external boost control using factory hardware is hopeless.

Next we added our own boost control solenoids (two of them) and relieved the factory boost control solenoids of all duty. Using revised closed loop boost control logic, we actually got amazing results. Instantaneous boost resonse with no spiking, oscillation, creep or any other undesired boost boost artifacts. Next, we tried control boost with just one solenoid. Under steady state conditions it worked just fine. But under normal/dynamic driving conditions, we saw boost spikes, slow spool and all other sorts of wackiness. Turns out that there are two boost control solenoids in the stock car for a reason: To adjust the vacuum pressure in the wastegate actuator lines quickly. If the pressure in the lines doesn't change quickly enough, the wastegates dont respond quickly enough (hence, boost spikes and/or slow spool depending on what the vacuum condition was at that specific time).

Ok... back to having to use two solenoids it is. But wait... isn't it kind of silly to use 2 add on solenoids when there is a perfectly function pair already there? Ok.. so back to hooking up the factory solenoids and figuring out a way to design a system that allows the turbos to generate anywhere from 5 to 20psi of boost (our goal) depending on electronics (mapping). And more importantly, it has to be able to do this without the factory ECU driving the solenoids with any more or less duty cycle than it would in a completely stock car, running stock boost. We wouldn't want there to be any wierd logged data in the ECU, now would we?

I'm happy to announce that it looks like we figured out how to do it. And it doesn't involve adding on any solenoids. And it still retains the factory ECU's low boost-till-the-engine is warm feature. And it can still run anywhere from 5psi to 20psi. And it still doesn't over or under-work the factory solenoids while doing so. So far, we've tested in sea level conditions. This weekend, I'll go up to 4000' and test it again. But so far so good.

"So what about all the current kits of the road? How is this different/better?" you ask

The approach we've employed with the early adopter beta folks works just fine. But the range of available boost is only beteen stock (7-8psi) and 11psi. And boost doesn't seem to be as rock solid as with our new approach. Of course, early adopters will easily be able to retrofit this changes once we put the setup through its paces.

It's been a productive week and I just wanted to share it with you!

Cheers,
shiv