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APEX Speed Technology · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 726 Location: Venice, CA

Wiring switch panels can be a time consuming, and even the best ones are big points of failure on racecars. I should still have nightmares about the Synergy Racing Porsche-Doran Grand Am Daytona Prototype, which had this insane relay/breaker panel on the passenger side that had a dozen Bosch 5 pin relays, probably 20 assorted circuit breakers and lots of cascading/interwoven circuits. There were huge bundles of wire going through multiple connectors running to the driver's switch panel and out around the car. It was quite a job to do anything behind that panel.

Later on, we did a restoration on another Synergy Race Car, this one the 993 GT2 Turbo that was the last podium-finishing air-cooled Porsche at Daytona. It was a technological tour-de-force during its time, with ABS, electronic boost control and advanced data logging, but those switch panels were frightening. 3 of our engineers worked on reverse-engineering that panel at different times, and the work to rebuild them was really time consuming.

So these Power-Distribution-Modules have really gotten our attention. They're basically solid-state breaker/relay centers that allow you to laptop-program how things turn on and off, and what the current capabilities are. You eliminate all those relays and breakers - just have switches and wires going to devices. I'm going to do a blog post on those soon, as their prices have gotten into the range where a lot of club-race cars and custom builds (the next Singer Porsches will likely have some sort of PDM) can really benefit. In the meanwhile, MOTEC has come up with something brilliant - CAN keypads. These button pads, which can have custom icons, have 4 wires coming from them - CAN Hi/Lo, power & ground. With 4 wires you can control up to 15 functions, and you can have multiple panels throughout the car. And the panels are priced less than $600!

So as someone who wires race cars for a living, I'm excited about this. Check out our blog post here:

http://www.apexspeedtech.com/motec-racegrade-motorsports-keypads-more-of-our-favorite-products-of-pri-2012

-Neel
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Neel Vasavada
Apex Speed Technology
2947 S. Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-314-2005
www.apexspeedtech.com

MrDomino · Joined: 01 Oct 2009 Posts: 188 Location: Indianapolis, IN

Can you use these without a Motec ECM? I'd really like one of these for my track car since the turn signal/wiper stalk is about to die.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer.

APEX Speed Technology · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 726 Location: Venice, CA

Since these are CAN devices, they have to be connected to some sort of system that can read them. So on the receiving end, you have to have a user-definable CAN stream. Technically, you could probably setup products from other companies such as Bosch Motorsports or Pi Research that have this capability.

-Neel
_________________
Neel Vasavada
Apex Speed Technology
2947 S. Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-314-2005
www.apexspeedtech.com

stevieturbo · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 846 Location: Northern Ireland

I assume the keypad is just another extension of the PDM though ?

So that's $600 + PDM ? The keypad just allows the user easy access ?
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APEX Speed Technology · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 726 Location: Venice, CA

Aurélien · Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts: 137

APEX Speed Technology · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 726 Location: Venice, CA

MrDomino · Joined: 01 Oct 2009 Posts: 188 Location: Indianapolis, IN

Do you know of anything that exists similar to this but without CAN? I'd like something like this for my racecar so I can get rid of all of the turn signal stalks and just run all of the wires to a keypad like this.
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I am a Mechanical Engineer.

Matt Cramer · Joined: 25 Sep 2007 Posts: 278

How about an Isis Powercell?

http://www.isispower.com/

Still CAN based, but not tied to any specific engine management.
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Matt at DIY Autotune

TurboNova · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:20 am Post subject:

We are using the isis system on my Nova during this rebuild. You can even assign channels to your Iphone to control anything you have hooked to the circut.
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APEX Speed Technology · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 726 Location: Venice, CA

I got an ISIS system early on, and since they came out I've done 3 ISIS installations. Since the MOTEC lower-cost PDMs came out, I haven't sold a single one.

In the end, I found them to be lacking in features for the price - my customers want something programmable and CAN is a big benefit. It seems like every time we spec a car out, when we get into the differences between a PDM & ISIS, everyone ends up springing for the PDM.

-Neel
_________________
Neel Vasavada
Apex Speed Technology
2947 S. Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-314-2005
www.apexspeedtech.com

TurboNova · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:54 am Post subject:

We are using the ISIS for the features, I like the Iphone programmable switch feature. I can put on all my turn signals, head lights, intercooler pump ect.. on my Iphone. If I forget to turn on my head lights after the burn out box, my wife can do it outside the car. There are alot of cool things you can do with it.

They are also going to install a kill switch in main module so someone at the starting line can kill the power to the car in case of a crash.

I have looked at some of the others but this one fits for us.
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Brian Macy
EFI University Instructor
Horsepower Connection
www.horsepowerconnection.com