"Home Dyno" program. Still around?
 

SECOND UPDATE:
I've been trying to get it to work, but I can't get the WAVE file to come out quite right. I think it has to do with my inductive pick-up set up. I'll need some help. Check it out in post #11.

DOWNLOADS:
Download for Street Dyno
https://www.beretta.net/goodie_bin/street.htm
Download for PowerDyn Trail. (Can't use horsepower and torque, but you can use the tachometer feature it has)
https://www.powerdyn.fr/powerdyn/setup_us.exe

Original:
I've run into several sites where people mention a program called the "Home Dyno." It basically is a pickup you connect to your spark plug wire, and then you plug the other end into a recording device. You follow the instructions, something like get in second gear and floor it from 1000 to redline or rev. limiter. Then you upload the audio file and the Home Dyno program analysis the spark data you collected based on a large amount of data you input (car weight, temperature, altitude, coefficient of drag, etc.) and it will output a dyno graph for you. I've heard this is more accurate than G-Tech.

However, I cant seem to find this anywhere. The links to its homepage are down. I think the company was bought out and the product was discontinued (sadly), but I'm not sure. Does anyone have any information about this and where I could get one? I'd really like to get my hands on one.

If its discontinued would it be unlawful to put to put software file on the internet for free download and put the schematics for the pickup on internet as well? If it'd be legal could someone do this if they have this product?

Here are some links about it.
https://autospeed.com/cms/A_110474/article.html
(They talk about it in the first paragraph under "Dyno Numbers")

https://www.team3s.com/FAQhomedyno.htm
(Lots of information about it.)

https://members.fortunecity.com/jasoncuadra/id47.htm
(This guy wrote his own program based on the Home Dyno)

I don't know anything about this particular program, but the concept of putting up unavailable software for people to download for free is pretty common; you may be able to find some legal opinions on it by searching for "abandonware".
https://www.google.com/search?q=abandonware+legal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware

I suspect that it will be illegal to do, however, IMO it's unethical NOT to do.

I'll keep updating this post with software as I find it.

I happened to find this

https://www.ontrackdigital.com/

Thankfully its still in production, looks similar to Home Dyno but I'm not sure if it allows you to input frictional losses through the drivetrain and the coefficient of drag and such. At least it still uses weight and weather conditions.

What do you guys think of this? Would it be worth it? I'd like one of these over G-Tech cause I heard that G-Tech isn't usually accurate. Especially when it gets off balance from 0 because the vehicle gets slightly higher when accelerating hard.

I have that software somewhere. I look for it tonight or tomorrow.

See this, another guy did it...
https://members.fortunecity.com/jasoncuadra/id47.htm

Sounds like one just needs to translate data from an audio file into a bunch of numbers that a spreadsheet could handle and knock up a spreadsheet for it.

Could just use injector data like for that java fuel economy calc.... hmmm... combined with that you should be able to make BSFC maps.

I'm sure it'd be fairly simple to write a program for someone with the experiance. I don't have any programming experiance at all, so I'd rather purchase a program than spend a few years just trying to figure out how to program. What are BSFC maps anyway?

I'd be nice if someone made a program, especially one with an open-source so others could add in features if they wanted. That way we could use MPGuino for fuel economy (or ScanGuageII or SuperMID) and a dyno program to see our HP and torque numbers. It'd be very helpful when tuning to move peak power to lower RPMs and it'd also be interesting to see how much fuel economy and how much performance you gain at the same time by increasing engine efficiency.

FOUND SOMETHING!
This link has a schematic of a home built pick-up, its simple.
https://www.drivewerks.com/tech/street_dyno.htm

This link has a newer version of Street Dyno than the last link.
https://www.beretta.net/goodie_bin/street.htm

Sorry just got a tad excited for a second. This is Street Dyno, and old program that is similar to Home Dyno. This program was also discontinued, I don't think it was ever actually sold, just a free program. It looks fairly good. I'll have to test it out as soon as I buy an inductive lead. I'm looking forward to this.

Landon,

Sorry, I must've accidentally skimmed over your post earlier. It'd be great if you could find the software. From the screen shots I've seen, it looks better than Street Dyno. How many times did you use the software and what was your opinion of it? I'm anxious to start trying these out so I really appreciate you taking the time to look for it.

If you have an Iphone or Ipod Touch, this is for you.
https://www.dynolicious.com/

Well, I tried putting together a pick-up for the spark plug wire signal. I connected it directly to the spark plug wire and used a 50K 1/2 potentiometer to try to knock the voltage down low enough. Looks like I've blown the pot for obvious reasons but at the end of the mic jack my DMM was saying I was only putting out around 220 millivolts. My goal is around 60-75 millivolts. So I added in another pot of unknown value I found around the house. It dropped the voltage down to around 200milivolts. The pots with sometimes have a spark on the inside if I turn them up too high (probably because they are blown.)

What type of device would I use to drop the voltage down to 60-75 millivolts? Should I buy some standard resistors rated at 10M Ohm? I understand my main problem is the resistors aren't made to handle that kind of watts, but I'm not sure what else I could use. Any ideas? I can wire stuff together, but when it comes to what each component does and how it does it I'm not very knowledgeable.

I'd rather build something cheaply than pay $25 plus shipping for an inductive pick-up built for these programs. Any way to built an inductive pick-up that isn't directly in contact with the spark plug wire and getting 30,000volts?

How to wire inductive pick-up?
 

Here's a link to download the pictures and files to better understand my situation. It was too big to just attach it as a file on here.

https://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=6...fc4b85d405c0ff

Alright, I got a few questions if anybody can help. I ordered an inductive pick-up off of ebay. I clipped it to the spark plug wire, and I wired the other to a microphone jack with a 50k potentiometer in between. I can't get the street dyno program to work right though. I put in my WAVE file and my configuration file and hit the start button but i get the message "Invalid Floating Point Operation". Then if I click the start button again it says "Floating Point Division by Zero". I'm pretty sure I have all the stats filled out so I don't know why it says floating point devision by zero.

I think it may have something to do with it how I have the inductive-pick up hooked up. I'll attach the audacity files of my three runs. I'll also attach a the audacity file of the sample run (that came with the program) that works. You can tell a distinct difference in the how my wave files look compared to the sample wave. I'll also attach a picture of my set-up on my car. Does anyone have any ideas of why my WAVE files look so different? I believe this is where the problem is.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Might be inverted input, flip the pickup on the wire and try again.

I put the pick-up has a side that says "Spark Plug Side" and I put it on according to that. But it is used so it may have broke at some point and someone repaired it but switched some wires around backwards. I'll try flipping it, hopefully it works.

Well that's a fix for if you wired it crossed to the jack. (Or have the audio header in the computer on backwards or something)

I tried it backwards, same results. I also tried it on my dad's single-cylinder Wildfire Truck. The wave file was a lot closer to the sample file than the wave file from my Chevy Lumina. I think it may be detecting the spark from some of the other cylinders on my Lumina. I got it to put out a dyno graph from one of my runs on the old version of Street Dyno 0.6.0, but it was way off, only went up to 2000RPM, and said peak horsepower was 4 when the graph showed 100 at 2000 before it cut off. I tried some other WAVE files from my other runs but the program decided not to work anymore.

I think most people go with the method where you use the negative terminal on the ignition coil, however I'd really like to get the inductive pick-up working So I can use it on some of my families newer vehicles with multiple coils, such as my Lumina. It'd also be a lot faster to switch between vehicles with inductive pick-ups. I don't think there is a way to wire it into the coils negative terminal on the new muti-coil setup, not easily at least.

Hmmm, don't have a "wasted spark" system on that do you? Meaning you get a spark during the exhaust cycle as well.

Hmm, I hooked it up to my '87 Civic today (distributor ignition). It put out a similar graph as my Lumina. I also downloaded the trail of PowerDyn and used the Tachometer feature (in real time, not with a wave file). I set it at 2 sparks per revolution and 35 trigger high. and it was showing the same RPMs as the tach in my car. So, I'd assume that its also sparking during the exhaust stroke. Since the graph is similar to that of my Lumina, I'd also say that its sparking during the exhaust stroke.

Street Dyno doesn't have a sparks per revolution input, however Home Dyno and Road Dyno do. Home Dyno being the free one, I hope I can get my hands on it.

I also noticed that it liked whenever the wire was under the hood the PowerDyn tach would jump around, probably picking up some of the spark from the other wires. So I'll probably have to find some RF shielding foil or something of the sort to surround the wire to wipe out the interference.

Or you could rewire it with coax, vehicle ground to the outer sheath.

I just got done wiring up some coax instead of the extension cord wire I had before. and I took the RF chokes out, i figure they didn't help much and may even be choking the one spark signal its supposed to detect. I'll test it out tommorw, hopefully I'll get a cleaner signal. then on to the problem of the wasted spark ignition system.

They coax helped cut down on the interference by a lot. I've been using the tachometer feature of PowerDyn to check for interference, I watch how much it jumps around. There is still slight interferance, I figure this is from the inductive pick-up since there is no insulation around it, just a plastic cover. I'm going to wrap some aluminum foil around it and hope this keeps the last little bit out.

Hi John!
I just saw your thread about this HOME-DYNO.
How can I gathering my engine?
Wich device can I use to get my spark plug cable activities?

Thanks in advance;
Gabriel