NefMoto

Hi,

Has anyone used an me7 as a Standalone?

Thanks

delete immo...all you really need to start on the engine stand. delete everything else from the ecu that isn't needed.

I am fairly sure Marty has done ( afaik) and prolly loads more others.

Also I love when I see shit like this ( on discussion stock vs standalone for 1.8T):

(https://i.imgur.com/2s4XeG2.png)

good stuff but it is valid. especially since aem has a me7 plug and play harness now for the infinity platform.

Had me at "where".

Maybe it is valid maybe its not. But its a fact that ME7 is a very sophisticated ecu for its time, and it was 15 years ago, and it is now, I can prolly bet that there are ecu's out there that still dont match it today( obviously not VAG but lower end cars). And I'd argue that they control 1.8T the best, since I have yet to see an ecu to do what it can do. If you read throught FR you'll loads of quirks that a standalone cannot simply do. It is no doubt it has limitation such as the internal pressure limits which can be overcomed, not suitable for true speed density without doing a lot of work etc. If you need those obviously you'd go for a standalone.

These are the people that tell you me7 is shit because they removed the maf and fitted a bov and now the engine is stalling everytime its coming to a stop, what a piece of shit ecu.
Oh and I dont even wanna screenshot the rest of the argument :D if you can call it that.

Ive used me7.5 on ka's, aba's, my es1 d17 civic lol. If youre determined enough...

Standalone's are for ease of use, i.e. quick changes at the track - the oem stuff has a ton of micromanagement by comparison for all the legislation, millions in warranties etc - save for the addition of custom code/jumps additions and delete's - then there's parts between models (base fuel pressure for example and maths changes there) between models/engines/ecu revisions/after-market parts used etc -  then main things are, for example, negating the need for this micro-management - setting coolant temp trips for open loop fuelling, setting 0's for any additional changes/functions that could relate to changes in the fuel map so it's reading off the 1 map you want at all loads if at the track and need quick changes and so on - main thing is tracing all the mini functions/maps and rendering them useless so you can change just the one map.

Standalone ECUs are a solution to an enthusiast's needs just as more sophisticated OEM ECUs are a solution to auto maker's needs. Most engines will run just fine with a properly calibrated full featured aftermarket ECU. For OEMs they must not only meet world wide exhaust emissions standards they must design in all sorts of safety features to prevent engine damage in the event of for instance excessive exhaust, oil, coolant, CAT,  turbo, etc. temps. They also program in default modes so that when certain electronic sensors malfunction the vehicle will still operate at reduced power. These additional inputs and functions can be assets or unnecessary depending on the goal of the application.

The Bosch ME7 series ECUs were meant to be all things to all people for ICE at the time of their design allowing speed-density, mass air flow, and torque based operation. As history has shown all of these strategies can deliver exceptional performance when properly calibrated. Bosch Motorsports sells an expensive off-road only ECU that is based on the ME7. It has full capabilities but a lot less superficial inputs and compensations compared to an OEM style ME7 ECU illustrating that more is not always needed or better for a given application.

I agree with others in this thread that the problem with using ME7 as a standalone isn't that it's impossible or even that hard - but that it does require a very specific set of hardware and a lot of fiddling around with things that don't matter to an enthusiast. Plus, there's so much less flexibility to use different crank/cam triggers, batch/sequential schemes, throttle bodies, sensors, and so on than there is with a standalone.

It would be really cool to build a ground-up "just the basics to run a car" OS (RusEFI/Megasquirt style) for older hardware that can be found for nearly-free in a junkyard. ME7 with C167 is probably too esoteric, but an early Tricore ECU with GCC support and FreeRTOS might be a happy middle ground between "modern and has CAN" and "can be found at the wrecker's." Certainly reversing the board would be a bit of a project, but with the existing binaries and often, schematics out there, it shouldn't be too hard to find what drives what.

The more I read the more I realize how good the me7 is. Pretty incredible hardware for its time and definitely still holds up today. Got aeb dbc converted to me7.5 dbw installed in the Jetta truck runs great.