ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System

[wedged]

I'd like a price for a 3 cell starter kit, RF control, dashboard harness & inCode programmer.

[mantaray]

smitty67

You allready pm'd me a few days ago on the deal so far, but I have some questions. First how will ordering & payment be handled, I haven't been in a group purchase before. Second I am not quite sure what I really need. I have a 1970 vette with a mast motorsports vvt motor going in it & it comes with a m-90 ecm, wire harness & fuse/relay box. It seems to control all aspects of the motor, plus. I would also like to include a push button start/stop like on the new vette, I just don't like the idea of using a key to energize the ignition then pushing a button to start. I can,t seem to find this info. on the isis site, or a phone number that I can talk to a real person to get answers I can understand. Is there a phone number for isis that I can get to talk to someone to make sure I am getting what I really need? Very much want to get in on the group purchase, but I want to get the right kit for my project.
Tim

[Smitty67]

Hey everybody. I have heard from ISIS and will have details for you later today, I'm just getting clarification on a couple things so be on the lookout for a PM from me today; probably late morning early afternoon your time. He also responded to some of the questions we have been asking on this thread and I've inserted his answers below. More to come, stay tuned... I will say this, for those still on the fence, this is a great deal that keeps getting better and I encourage anyone who is one the fence, to seriously consider getting on board. I will be in touch with you all as well later today.

Starting with your reliability question, we do not have any true reliability metrics for the system. Measurements like MTBF, MTTF and FIT are not commonly used in automotive applications, rather these are used in electronics components and systems. However we have spend a significant amount of time testing the system. What is probably most important for the guys out there is that ISIS was originally designed for the off-road, truck, bus, construction and agriculture environments. Think about machines like tractors, combines, military troop transporters, terminal trucks, class 8 trucks, skid-steers, etc. Restorations and kit cars see some pretty harsh environments, but nothing like what Caterpillar, Navistar or Bobcat expect. Considering the environments, all of the plastics used in the systems are UL listed materials. The nylons used are glass filled for strength and rated to 155 degrees C. The polycarbonate used in the covers is impact resistant and rated to 160 C. The POWERCELLs are rated to 125 C, which is the OEM standard for under-the-hood. The MASTERCELL is rated to 85 C, the standard for in-cabin. All of the interfaces are gasketed and the systems are rated to IP67, which means that the systems can be immersed in water up to 1 meter.
We are using standard sealed Delphi Packard Metripack and Micropack connectors and terminals. These are widely accepted in the passenger car OEM space as well as the off-road, truck, bus, construction and ag markets.
In the off-road, truck, bus, construction and agriculture markets, there is no single testing standard that applies across the board, so we started with one of the passenger car baseline standards. The spec is the GM3172 and is covers everything from vibration, to mechanical shock, to chemical exposure, to thermal shocks, to heat & cold soaks, to humidity exposure and everything in between. It also covers a broad range of electrical overstress including electrostatic discharge testing and load-dump testing. ISIS passed all of these tests with no issues.
We also spent a significant amount of time testing the software and the transmission protocols. We use a version of CAN 2.0b as the protocol to pass data between the cells. CAN as a protocol is inherently robust. Based on how the transmission is structured, it is practically impossible to pass on a corrupted data stream. To test this, we run a test called a bit-error rate test or BERT. In this test, we pass two million commands from the MASTERCELL to a POWERCELL. We use a computer to verify that no transmissions are corrupted or a errant command was issued. We have passed this test every time that we have run it. To address the MTBF question, do the math and figure out how many times you need to turn on a switch in your car to hit two million commands.
Just to verify this, every kit that we ship out goes through our burn-in test. We load the kit onto a standard test rack and use a computer to cycle the inputs. We start the test at 5 cycles per second, and end it with one cycle every 5 seconds. Over the course of the test, the system is cycled several thousand times. The outputs of the POWERCELLs under test are connected to a high-wattage load resistor, selected to draw 25-amps each. We run the POWERCELL at its full rated current of 125 amps and use current sensors to confirm that the outputs turn on and off when the MASTERCELL gets the command. During this test we monitor the system temperature and the load on the CAN system to make sure that there are no transmission or thermal concerns.
ISIS is a distributed intelligence system, but all of the cells need to be healthy and communicating for the system to function. If the MASTERCELL fails or you lose the connection to the POWERCELLs, the system will not work. We mitigate this in a few ways. First, all of the CAN lines in the bundle are duplicated so if a wire were to get damaged, it has a redundant pair to keep the system running. We also have distributed charge pump circuits on the cells. These are what actually control the gates of the MOSFETs. If a charge pump were to fail on one POWERCELL, the redundant charge pumps on the remaining cells will keep the system running through the CAN cable.
We can honestly say that of the 125 plus systems in the field today, we have not had a single report of one failing. We have had several issues with customers damaging the systems in install but we have taken several steps to correct this. An example that we learned from some of our earlier kits is that if you don’t follow the programming instructions and connect the inCODE programming header on backwards, it can damage the controller. We corrected this by changing the header and its mating connector with a keyed combination that can only be plugged together in one way. We also had a 5-volt reference line on the second MASTERCELL input connector that would blow the primary fuse on the board if you shorted that to ground. We fixed that in the new version of the MASTERCELL by adding a limiting resistor to that line. We had an interesting scenario with a customer building a kit car that had us scratching our heads for a week. He connected his system to his battery for the first time and the POWERCELLs smoked, in addition to his radio and EFI controller. After we went through a few different kits with him, he put a multi-meter on the battery and found that its polarity was reversed. He had actually charged it backwards. We learned that it is possible to reverse the polarity of a battery by charging it backwards.
Trust me, we take no offense in your simplification to what ISIS is. I usually dumb it down even further and describe it as a system that turns things on and off. You are pretty close describing the system as a PLC, with the exception that it cannot control outputs based on combinational logic with the code that exists today. We are working on an additional programmable logic array (PLA) that will be added to the base configuration that would allow for more PLC type functions.
Each POWERCELL has an override header on it. If the MASTERCELL were to fail or the CAN cable were to be severed, you can use jumpers to control the gates on the MOSFETs directly and bypass the micro-controller. There are 10 pairs of headers. Going left to right, they correspond to outputs 1 through 10. You can activate an input with these jumpers easily if you need to limp home. The next version of the manual has details on how this works.
inMOTION uses almost the same enclosure as the POWERCELL. There are a few changes that we need to make internally to clear some of the components on the board. For all intents and purposes, the form-factor is identical to the POWERCELL. The cost will be pretty close to the cost of an individual POWERCELL, around $350.
If you are unfamiliar with inMOTION, Jay discussed it in the podcast with V8 TV. It is an additional component that will free up outputs that would be used to operate two-way motors, i.e. power locks, windows, convertible tops, etc. As it is now, two outputs are needed per motor, one for up, one for down. inMOTION eliminates the need for both of those outputs on a powercell. It essentially adds another component, the equivalent of a powercell, to the system specific for running these motors. I don't know specifics of how it works but I'll be picking one up at some point when it's available because I'm running power locks and windows, including the quarter windows, which would work to be 10 outputs needed for those items alone.

I'll be in touch with everyone later today. Will

[Smitty67]

Originally Posted by mantaray

smitty67

You allready pm'd me a few days ago on the deal so far, but I have some questions. First how will ordering & payment be handled, I haven't been in a group purchase before. Second I am not quite sure what I really need. I have a 1970 vette with a mast motorsports vvt motor going in it & it comes with a m-90 ecm, wire harness & fuse/relay box. It seems to control all aspects of the motor, plus. I would also like to include a push button start/stop like on the new vette, I just don't like the idea of using a key to energize the ignition then pushing a button to start. I can,t seem to find this info. on the isis site, or a phone number that I can talk to a real person to get answers I can understand. Is there a phone number for isis that I can get to talk to someone to make sure I am getting what I really need? Very much want to get in on the group purchase, but I want to get the right kit for my project.
Tim

I hope to know this afternoon how we will handle the order and payment process. I hope ISIS will handle it directly. For support, I would use their contact process http://www.isispower.com/Contact.html and request a call back. Everything I have read does imply they are responsive. You can also jump over to the Pro-Touring forum and bounce some questions off the guys.

http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58157

http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49119

[Smitty67]

Originally Posted by wedged

I'd like a price for a 3 cell starter kit, RF control, dashboard harness & inCode programmer.

We should have final pricing this afternoon.. I'll PM you when we get it.

[Smitty67]

Unfortunately guys I can't get the final information out to you because the process is being worked out and we want to get all the information out at the same time. I hope to get everything to you all tomorrow. For now, it's bed time for this guy. See you online tomorrow.

[Smitty67]

We received details regarding the GP discounts. I have PM'ed everyone to my knowledge that expressed interest. If you are interested and have not received the information, let me know.

Thanks.

Dave

[camaro2nv]

Cmon guys keep em coming! That way we can get that dash kit! Im just worried guys that dont view this section are going to be missing out.

[Smitty67]

PM sent to B Schein

Let us know if your in..

[Smitty67]

I just registered this morning. I'm excited about this product and the features it will add to my project. I know everyone has until the 3rd, but really sooner is better, so everyone will know where we stand on the discount and freebies.

I know it's a fair amount of money, but it is a bargain for what we are getting and what you would otherwise spend to do just some of these things with the add-ons to a traditional harness.

Keep it comin guys...