By David Koehler
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Nitrous progressive controllers have gotten a bad rap in some corners of the
pits. It may be deserved due to poor electronic design, but installation errors or
improper nitrous tuning also account for some of it. However, most of the time it
is due to a lack of understanding about what is realistically possible when using
the controllers. While most racers got along fine, there were some unexplained
things happening on track.
Mike Swann (photo)
of Racing Instrumentation
is a PSCA racer that
runs copious amounts
of nitrous through his
tire-limited race car.
Due to the class tire
limitations, traction is
at premium and he
has incorporated
various brands
and types of nitrous
"progressive" controllers and band-aids to allow him to launch the
car without blowing the tires off or standing it straight up.
Mike is in the electronic industrial control business and he felt strongly that
these intermittent and engine damaging issues were flat unacceptable, so
he embarked on a quest to solve the mysterious problems. After a year of
study, the Twilight Zone problems he was experiencing were narrowed down
to the progressive boxes. In more than one case it was determined that one
of the worst offender was electrical interference. The energy emitting from
the ignition system would scramble the box, and the signal to the solenoids
would be either incorrect or incorrectly timed. This would either force the
solenoids closed or wide open at the wrong time. Sometimes it was only
the nitrous solenoid and sometimes the fuel solenoid.
True to his background, Mike is passionate about electrical shielding as he
works with a diverse collection of electronic equipment on a daily basis.
Those of you who have fought garbled data from your data logger can relate
to this. Unfortunately, no amount of shielding on every other wire and item
in the car would solve the problem. This scenario is not a good thing. What
to do? He couldn't run the car without some kind of nitrous launch control.
Under the banner of his
Racing Instrumentation
Company, Swann set out to
whip the electrical
interference problem and
then design a computer
program to allow setting the
controller parameters from a
laptop or desktop computer.
RI has designed a bullet
proof, industrial grade control
unit to suit the needs of drag
cars. Bullet proof means it is
immune to electrical
interference while carrying
out its duties.
PROGRESSIVE USE IN THE REAL WORLD
Review of Racing Instrumentation's  Nitrous PROgressive Controller
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Urbana IL, USA    217 531 1770     M-F  9 - 5 CST
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Urbana IL, USA 
217 531 1770  
M-F  9 - 5 CST
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