For Eddy Current, Hydraulic, and Water Brake style absorber dynos.

We offer controllers for most any type of absorber (brake) dyno, electric Eddy Current dynos, dynos with hydraulic pumps for a brake, or water brake dynos.  The dynos can be chassis dynos for testing the engine in the vehicle, or engine only dynos for testing the engine only out of the vehicle.  

  click to enlarge image of new, hand held controller  NOTE:  USB connection is 10 ft long, so controller needs to be within 10 ft of your computer.

for movies of our DataMite 4 with our Water Brake Controller

Eddy Current Dyno Control System

Standard 120 VAC System

Optional 240 VAC System

Some users have put 2 Power Control Units in parallel to provide more amps. 

Eddy Current Controller with 2 Power Modules (to handle more power absorption)   

Water Brake Dyno Control System  part#  DT4-WBC  

Older Black Box power control module compared to newer die cast power control module

Optional SuperFlow tm Actuator Gen 2  part#  DT4-WBCSF2
  

Graph showing good repeatability from prototype water brake controller

Here are some graphs from Nate Gillem's water brake dyno.  Nate does some tests accelerating and some decelerating.  The graph below shows the RPM change over time.  You see that the 2 accelerating tests of RPM vs time (dark blue and green) are almost identical, which is what you need for good control and repeatable data.  The light blue shows a decelerating test for the same engine.

   click image to enlarge

The graphs below show how well the 2 accelerating graphs match each other, but the decelerating test shows a much higher torque and HP.  That is because when accelerating you are absorbing extra energy in the engine's rotating inertia.  When you decelerate you are releasing that energy and the numbers are higher.  This is what actually happens on the track also and is the main reason you want an engine with low rotating inertia, for example with a lighter flywheel.

   click image to enlarge

The Dyno DataMite has a feature which lets you correct for these inertia effects so that as the acceleration rate changes or goes from accelerating to decelerating, the program will report the same number.  We turned on that feature in the graph below and adjusted the inertia number and you will see that now the accelerating and decelerating numbers also agree with each other.

  click image to enlarge

The Eddy Current controllers get their feedback from RPM, which means the controller is controlling RPM, not power absorption level.  If you do not change the Manual Control knob, but increase power by opening the throttle, the RPM will stay constant.  Also, as you dial the knob up or down, the RPM will increase or decrease as controlled by the knob.  (There is also a manual power level mode, which controls amps to dyno with knob, and does not use RPM feedback.)

The Water Brake or Hydraulic Pump controllers (which control the opening of a valve) use valve position as the feedback, not RPM.  Although RPM feedback would be better, it can also go unstable and produce severe oscillation in the valve and then load and RPM at the engine.  So what we offer now is the more conservative position feedback.  That is what produced the RPM graphs above which shows very good and repeatable ramping up of RPM during the tests.

The typical power test procedure consists of:

NOTEs:  

If at any time during the test (when the controller is ramping the engine RPM), you manually move the control knob, control returns to the manual control knob.  This allows the user to override the automatic control should you sense something is not going correctly during the test.

The current Water Brake Controller is not controlling to RPM, but to water valve opening.  When you start your test, the valve opens at a constant, repeatable rate.  This works well for engines which have fairly stable (no big "holes" in the) torque curves.  We're still developing the RPM feedback method, and controllers you purchase now can be retrofitted, probably by just reflashing the PID controller board and updating the PC software.

Latest version of the software lets you do an accelerating test, and now a decelerating test (starting at a high RPM and pulling the engine down to a low RPM).

for an explanation of the Water Brake Control and running a test.

for an explanation of the LCD screen on the hand held controller.

for an explanation of the PID setup screen for Eddy Current Control and running a test.

for an explanation of additional PID setup screen for Eddy Current Control features.

for an explanation of the screen for finding and setting travel limits for the Water Brake valve actuator.

for the Dyno DataMite v4.2B User's Manual which discusses updates, including the dyno controller starting on page 239.

DataMite III USB or DataMite 4 USB dyno data logger.

Controller systems as pictured above.

More Information, Download Demo:

to go to our Dyno DataMite downloading page to download a FREE Dyno DataMite Demo.

for movies of our Prototype Brake Dyno Controller.

for prices.

To Order:

Call 248-473-9230. Visa or Mastercard accepted.