Knock Indication Duration SETUP – KSC3
June 12, 2024The KSC3 indicates engine knock visually and electrically using a 0-5v signal. The knock indication duration in the KSC3 can be set to 0.5 seconds or 3 seconds. What are the benefits and negatives of each setting?
Duration – What does it mean.
Duration, in the context of knock indication duration on the KSC3 means the time the KSC3 will output the visual and electrical knock signal after the last incident of knock has been detected. If a new incidence of knock is detected within the knock indication duration, the indication timer will be reset.
Which to use and why?
If we are in the process of tuning the engine then the 0.5 second duration is recommended.
If we have the engine map where we want it and we have the KSC3 permanently installed on the engine, then the 3 second duration is probably more suitable. It will tell us when knock is detected and at 3 second duration it is easier to see/less chance of us missing it.
However, for tuning, the 3 second duration will skew our datalogs because the KSC3 will still be outputting the warning, even if our knock retard strategy has quelled the knock.
How do we use the indication to tune the ignition timing.
The LEDs can be used to give us a real time indication of how the engine is performing because we can see them easily, as the engine is being used.
Here are two articles dedicated to reading the LEDs for tuning. Here & here
Indication with the 0-5 volt signal is more suitable to data analysis after the fact.
Here is an article dedicated to using the 0-5 volt signal to tune an engine.
But generally both the LED and electrical signal can be used in real time to tell us a story.
For data analysis after, only the 0-5 volt signal can be logged (unless we were using a camera to record the LED and the camera is synced with out datalog. An example of this can be found here.
Variable Output
The KSC3 has a 3 step, variable output to indicate knock severity. This is massively helpful when we are using a knock sensor signal to tune our ignition timing. This article explains the benefits.
