Enter your username:
Do you want to login or register?
  • Forgot your password?

    Login / Register



    Results 1 to 11 of 11
    1. #1
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States

      Anyone running a Power Distritbution Module for the chassis harness?

      I'm going to be rewiring my '64 Corvette this winter, and I've been doing a lot of research into some of these solid state PDM/PMUs. Generally they're only meant for race cars due to their minimalist nature, but I've drawn out the circuits in my car and both the ECUMaster PMU16 and the RyWire P14 PDM will more than cover the very basic electrical system in my car.

      Neither is cheap, but a very simple, clean electrical system devoid of fuses, relays, etc. is very appealing....especially in my relatively small Corvette. I'm also interested in going this route just for the learning experience. I've messed around with the software already, and assuming you pin all your connectors properly, its all relatively intuitive. The other up side is that individual circuits are infinitely configurable....if the electric fan sees an initial inrush of 20 amps, but stabilizes at 7, you can set the circuit to ignore the 2 seconds of inrush and set your fuse to trip at 10 or 15 amps. Another cool feature is the ability to configure functions which cover multiple outputs via one input. For instance, you open the drivers door and the door switch grounds, which tells the PMU to send power to the dome light....AND power to prime the fuel pump. This way, you dont need to put the key to ACC and wait 2-3 second before turning it. By the time you sit down and buckle up, she's ready to fire. Lots of neat little features you can mess with...and once its all wired, you can change what input is associated with an output just via the software.

      I suppose the downside to the set up is that if the module were to fry, theres no capability for a side of the road fix. That being said, these were all designed for motorsports applications, so I would imagine the reliability is a good, if not better than your standard aftermarket fuse/relay block. The other negative is you need a lap top on you to monitor the system, but that is the same for any ECU these days.



      Anyway, just looking for input from anyone that's used one of these systems.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Jun 2001
      Location
      Orlando, FL
      Posts
      10,603
      Country Flag: United States
      I'm a big fan of the ECUMaster PMU16. I would recommend it for your Corvette, though you may find that you need more circuits than it supports. You can buy two and use one as a "daughter" of the other in that case, though the price doubles, lol. ECUMaster also has a motorsports version with more circuits, thought that uses an autosport connector. In either case, snag one with logging.
      John Parsons

      UnRivaled Rides -- Modern upgrades for your ride.

      UnRivaled Rides recent project -- LS9-powered 69 Camaro

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      The City of Fountains
      Posts
      15,971
      Country Flag: United States
      One of my customers uses the Racepac PDM products and it works with the Holley Dominator ECU.

      Andrew
      1970 GTO Version 3.0
      1967 Cougar build
      GM High-Tech Performance feature
      My YouTube Channel Please Subscribe!
      Instagram @projectgattago
      Dr. EFI
      I deliver what EFI promises.
      Remote Holley EFI tuning.
      Please get in touch if I can be of service.

      "You were the gun, your voice was the trigger, your bravery was the barrel, your eyes were the bullets." ~ Her

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by parsonsj View Post
      I'm a big fan of the ECUMaster PMU16. I would recommend it for your Corvette, though you may find that you need more circuits than it supports. You can buy two and use one as a "daughter" of the other in that case, though the price doubles, lol. ECUMaster also has a motorsports version with more circuits, thought that uses an autosport connector. In either case, snag one with logging.
      Yea, I was leaning towards the PMU16 autosport. Not cheap, but I really like the way the battery connects to that unit, in addition to my desire to learn how to pin autosport connectors...just for the education....albeit, and expensive one. The additional amperage capacity over the standard PMU16 is nice as well given that in the Corvette, you're stuck running a single large fan...Id hate to have to piggy back two outputs to meet the draw and waste 2 outputs. With the autosport version, thats not a problem.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by andrewb70 View Post
      One of my customers uses the Racepac PDM products and it works with the Holley Dominator ECU.

      Andrew

      Thanks Andrew. If the Corvette project goes well, Ill probably use the Racepac PDM in the Suburban when I do the rewire and make the shift to port injection over the current TB injection set up. I already have the Dominator ECU, so that set up should work well in the truck.

      BTW, after your tune, the truck ran great all the way across the country. No issues. Also knocked down 16 MPG at 70 MPH.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Jun 2001
      Location
      Orlando, FL
      Posts
      10,603
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by Andrew
      One of my customers uses the Racepac PDM products and it works with the Holley Dominator ECU.
      Nice!

      I like the ECUMaster products because they are completely configurable and support CANbus 2.0 and J1939 specs, which means they will work with any ECU that supports CAN, including the Holley ECUs. In fact, I have an ECUMaster PDM working with an Eaton CAN keypad, MoTeC ECU (including the ability to emulate the MoTeC PDU back to the M150), an AiM MXS dash, and a custom removable steering wheel (with directional signals and rotary switches). That's one CANbus on 1Mbps 2.0, and one 125Kpbs on J1939.

      It's extraordinarily configurable -- if you are comfortable with CAN and J1939.
      John Parsons

      UnRivaled Rides -- Modern upgrades for your ride.

      UnRivaled Rides recent project -- LS9-powered 69 Camaro

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States
      I sat down today and fully mapped out all of the required circuits to set up the car with the Holley Terminator Max, Hyper Spark distributor and box running port injection on the original SBC motor. As it turns out, you guys were correct and 16 outputs won't be enough, even for my pretty bare bones street car. Things like the flip up head lights, dome light, individual gauges, etc. all eat up valuable outputs.

      I still like the idea of the solid state PDM, but it looks like the Racepac might be the right one to go with in this application.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States
      Went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Race Pack (street) smart wire system today. I'm a little ways off from needing it, but with the international shortage of pretty much anything electronic, and a ship date from Holley listed as TBD, I figured I'd bite the bullet while Summit had 3 left on the shelf in Arlington. I went with the street system as it comes with the connectors already pinned and a flying lead harness which will save some time. I would have liked to go with the ECUMaster PMU16 motorsport, but I couldn't find a clean way to get away with only 16 outputs in a street car....namely because the Corvette has things like flip up headlights that need power to the motors and the bulbs. The 30 outputs offered by the Race Pack should be plenty.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Jun 2001
      Location
      Orlando, FL
      Posts
      10,603
      Country Flag: United States
      Let us know how it works for you. I've not used the Race Pack, so new information would be welcome.
      John Parsons

      UnRivaled Rides -- Modern upgrades for your ride.

      UnRivaled Rides recent project -- LS9-powered 69 Camaro

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States
      Will do. I've spent the last week or so pouring over the manuals for both systems, and watching every youtube video I can find covering the programming interface. From what I can determine, the PMU16 is geared a little more towards true motorsport applications and the Racepack a little more towards the club sport or street car application. Even with cutting the circuits down to the bare minimum, I couldn't get below 18 required outputs for a street car. With the 30 available outputs on the Racepack, I can keep things like reverse lights, interior under dash and dome light, power radio antenna, etc.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Jan 2014
      Location
      Austin, TX
      Posts
      636
      Country Flag: United States
      Racepack just arrived. I won't get the project going for a while but I did open it up. Interestingly, the harness is labeled just like many of the other harness suppliers. The PMU also comes preprogrammed for a generic street car set up. Ill be changing that somewhat to facilitate the specifics of my application, but a lot of the prepinned outputs can remain the same. I'm excited to get this started.
      1972 C20 Suburban
      1964 Corvette Coupe





    Advertise on Pro-Touring.com