MW Dyno's

I remember someone, (Moresmoke (?)), in this forum saying they had an old M&W dyno that they had hooked up to a laptop(?) to get HP readings, (maybe to avoid using the dial that comes with them ?) .I was wondering if one can hook a M&W P2000 to a laptop.
I am planning on putting a digital pressure gauge on it.
It has a digital tach on it as well.
I think the M&W 4450's can be read of a laptop but not sure if the P2000's can be set up that way.

You have a better memory than I do. Yes, I have my P2000 set up to read with a laptop. It’s not that I don’t want to use the gauge on the dyno, that works just fine. But the laptop lets me have a live readout of HP, or I can record and graph the power curve. As I’ve used it, I have found that my HP calculation might be off a little, especially on smaller tractors, but it still works great for tuning as you can see any changes right now and all I am really worried about is more or less, not really an exact reading.

Anyway, what I did was to install a T in the pressure line to the gauge for a pressure sensor, and a second tach pickup. These are hooked to a Dataq data acquisition box that connects to the laptop via usb. There may be other and/or better products out there these days, it has been 6-7 years since I set this up. The Dataq software is free, but if you want to do live calculations there was a add on that had to be purchased to make it work.

There pressure reading can be converted to torque. If you look at the gauge, there is a pressure scale, you can cross this to the torque scale. Then with torque x RPM/5252 you get horsepower.

I used a 1500 psi pressure transducer and a speedometer cable sensor to feed a Dataq 1100 data acquisition module that has a USB output to interface with a laptop. Use the Dataq export function to get the data into an Excel spreadsheet. I start to record with the engine at full throttle, no load and gradually turn the dyno throttle wheel until the engine stalls out. It's then a simple matter to use the spreadsheet functions to chart the data and to very accurately determine max HP, HP at rated PTO speed, max torque in ftlbs, etc. (I also added a real time torque, rpm, HP display using analog circuitry.) The setup has come in handy for tuning engines for maximum power. Email me and I'll send you a pdf file of a sample test report.

Thanks for getting back w/ me , Moresmoke.
I recently bought a P2000 from Pete Holtgrew in Iowa, (maybe I should have tried to get an older AW dyno instead). I want to be as accurate as poss. in reading it.

I understand the old M&W's are NOT as accurate as a newer Dyno will be, but reading the results through a laptop, (in my thinking), would lead to better accuracy, (or at least as accurate as one can expect to be with an M&W).

I'd like to talk to you about the specifics of what you did as I'm lost when it comes to some of what you said in your post.
My email is in my post if you wouldn't mind giving me a ph# to talk to you about it.

Thank you
Darrel

E-mail sent, MFjohn.

Thanks !

I haven’t received your email yet.

I added something similar to my AW375. Mine is a bit more stand alone. I used an Arduino to collect and display the data.
In its simplest form it displays on an LCD Rpm, tq and hp as well as peak hp and tq with the rpm they occurred at plus a button to reset them.

In addition it has a SD card data logger as well, I can record a run to the SD card then pull the data latter.

Shoot me an email and Ill send you my number.
[email protected]

I sent another email, but YT said there was no email on file, so.....

My email [email protected]

Thanks
Darrel

Will do.

Thank you
Darrel

Being accurate is not the reason for a dyno, checking and comparing, breaking a new engine in are the best purposes.Making changes and keeping notes, high hp numbers mean nothing if it is not :USEABLE : power

Being as accurate and consistant from one pull or test on a dyno to the next, "IS" important to me.

Especially since mine is an M&W which may not be as accurate and consistant as a newer machine will be.

AND what I want it for, those things "ARE" important to me .

That's why I asked what I did, and I asked some who have responded, "how" they use their M&W's to make them more consistant.

mine had a worn point on the pressure valve, humidity,air temp and barometric pressure all need to be compensated for consistency, each day will be different,numbers mean very little, unless you are having a numbers contest.ten hp,means nothing if you drive wrong, do not have close ratio gears, place weights wrong, misjudge track, ect, have fun, concentrate on bigger things.LOL Most lie about numbers and each dyno is so very much off, it means very little in reality, go for it because you want to.