2017 E-Locker

Awesome, this looks like a good starting point. I kinda want to see how well the andrino board works and bench test that

 

Sounds good.
Read over the beginning of that linked thread, to get an idea of the duty cycles, etc. I assume use the ardiuno to switch a transistor, to do the heavy lifting?

 

Correct, use the board to mimic the duty cycles with a transistor inline.

 

After spending the night researching it, I think I have an idea of where to go. I believe I will need to use two arduino boards. The first will have three states : PWM 3.7A @ 77%, PWM 3.7A @ 50%, and null amperage all controlled from an a constant on/off switch in the factory location. https://www.arduino.cc/en/tutorial/PWM I will use these signals to power the a diode grounded circuit through the + and - side of the locker. If the PWM is high enough frequency, it should be able to directly power an LED, but if not, I will use a secondary arduino to read each state of the first and power the locked indicator lights.

BigWhiteTRD, do you still have the techstream readouts that show what frequency the ECU PWM is at?

 

Drive train specialties has new E-locker take outs that are fairly cheap. Gear housing is the same in all the TRD models, I will just need to remove the plugs on the top of the housing for wiring.

 

Okay, I have the board laid out. It can all be done on one board which is nice. So here goes my idea: The board will have a switched input that will send a PWM signal to a 3.4A 12v mosfet at 77% cycle for the first 5 seconds, then switch to 50% cycle for maintenance, off will be no signal. The second function will be ohm monitoring on the locker, I will have to establish a baseline once it is on the bench, but then I will have a safety function that will turn off the PWM signal if resistance increases over a certain threshold. The third function will be an tri-LED, red for over limit resistance, yellow for the 5 second 77% locking function and green for 50% locked signal. Let me know what you all think. I am currently working on the code.

 

when I got my Yellow fever shot it made me sick as a dog for a about a day or so

 

subd

 

And that's why I bought an O.R.

 

Yeah, but you don't get 2 wheel drive locked donuts and 75mph in the desert!

 

I dont THINK the 5 sec is a good idea. It can be a pain to get it to lock sometimes (in my opinion) and 5 seconds isnt a lot of time to get it lined up unless you are doing it right. However, you can always cycle it again, or dont activate until you are doing S turns, etc.

I would think you could use the lock feedback to tell the board which program to run (77% or 50% based on the grounded pin or no). But I have only played with those boards once, so not an expert...

I would do led red for power to the lock circuit but the lock feedback shows unlocked, green for power to the lock circuit and lock feedback shows locked. Maybe green for feedback shows locked, power or no power...

I wouldnt personally bother with any resistance monitoring. I would personally just fuse or breaker the power to the coil...

 

Before I build the full board, I am going to try BigWhiteTRD's idea of a resistor in line with a flyback diode. The locker was just delivered and everything else should be here in the next few days. I will report back with some bench tests.

 

Love threads like these, thank you for doing cool things. Good luck!

 

Would you have a link for them? Seems to be many with same/similar names.

 

Here is the link
https://www.drivetrainspecialists.com/toyota/toyota-84-tacoma/toy-875-e-locker-2016andup.html

 

Anyone have a suggestion on how high of an amperage resistor to use to get the power down to about 4 amps?

 

Thank you for the link. Also, thank you for all the info... It's pushing me to build a 9.5" Tundra/200 Series Land Cruiser axle for my truck, rather than do the swap you are pioneering. Nice work!

 

Try a 1.5 ohm resistor as a first shot. (That is best estimate based on coil resistance at rest, when locked it might be a bit low).

I would go with a 1.5 ohm 100watt resistor. (2 pack about $10 on Amazon)

Otherwise try a zero to 5 ohm potentiometer and get it dialed in manually on the bench. (only about $12 on amazon)... depending on how it goes you can then buy the right resistor.

 

Dumb question...

Didnt the TRD Sport come with the 8.0" diff and the Offroad with the 8.75" ???

Pretty sure I read that somewhere.

I do appreciate you techno guys geeking out over a solution to this.
Im too old school and if a PNP solution isnt created...most likely will just send 12v to the locker via toggle switch.

 

The non TRD models came with a 8.0" rear end. Sport, Offroad, and Pro all are 8.75".