05-10-2022, 05:15 AM
(05-10-2022, 03:16 AM)Dave_imp Wrote: Hello PowerDubs, I am so sorry this happened: I know how expensive this will be. Your situation, and a situation I am experiencing now, has prompted me to ask the following question to the forum: I am having difficulty finding OEM parts for my 20 year old Honda VFR800 right now - simple parts like a mirror, plastic, and believe it or not, mounting bolts to attach the mirror (yes, one official Honda distributor listed these common bolts as unavailable). What is a person to do when an uncommon part, such as the ECU or any other electronic sensor or control breaks and an OEM part is no longer available? After market manufacturers don't supply most of the electronic components our modern bikes use, and I don't expect to find many CB1100 parts through wrecking yards. So, if an ECU fails on a CB1100 in 8 or 10 years from now, and Honda says "So sorry, part is no longer available", do we just park our bike in the back of the garage and forget it, or advertise it on Craig's List?
If one can determine the functional requirements of the ECU, it is not unrealistic for somebody to build an emulator - say maybe using an RTOS on a Raspberry Pi Zero (if that meets specs) - and program it appropriately.
Think of it as a heart transplant with a machine version.
I think the hard part is getting the ECU requirements. This is the Honda proprietary sauce. This is not just the parameters, but the functional algorithmic units too. Once that is known, emulation is a re-engineering exercise.