- When it comes to the wiring on our cars, the relay is one of the elements we rely
on in order to be able to switch high current outputs from a low current drive from
the likes of an ECU.
I'm here with Reid from Kaizenspeed who's got an interesting take on the relay and
it's not often we see something that's a relatively new innovation with what is
a very well developed technology so, Reid, what was wrong with the conventional
mechanical relay for a start?
- OK so since 1985 nothing's changed in the relay world.
They're electrical or mechanical, they can't be pulsed, exposed contacts is pretty common
and even the ones that are weatherproof require crimped connectors, pins and a lot
of forethought.
So I've been installing relays for a really long time, every time I install one I think there
has to be a better way to share power and ground and create power distribution that
isn't a PDM that's so expensive and requires a lot of forethought.
- Let's just go back there a little bit because you've used a couple of terms
I want to dive into.
So PDM, power distribution module and that's something we're seeing a lot in
professional motorsport.
Solid state relays essentially that are controlled via a complete unit but also
quite expensive, and then you've also talked about the mechanical relays there with the
exposed contacts so you've gone away from that technology as well,
you've gone to a standalone solid state relay so something sort of between a
conventional relay and a power distribution module?
- That's exactly right.
So we've tried to fix everything about a regular relay and then we have a
product that does a lot of the things that a PDM can do but it's one at a time.
So the barrier to purchase is a lot lower, right, there's no big barrier to purchase,
if you can afford and install a relay, you can afford and install a Kaizen relay.
- So where's the advantages with the Kaizen relay over and above the fact it's a solid
state relay?
- OK so most importantly they interconnect so if you can apply power to one relay,
the second, third and fourth relay gets its power and ground simply by interconnecting.
No additional wire splicing whatsoever.
- So this is really, the idea of basically simplifying your wiring installation,
because this can be quite a time consuming process when you are wiring up a number
of relays, you've got to run power, loop that across to each of the relays so you do
this internally?
- That's right we do it internally with pogo pins and the pogo pins can handle 40 amps
per unit and 100 amps per bank of relays.
So really what we're trying to do is just reduce wiring and make it easy.
Because let's be honest, usually what happens is someone will need one or two,
maybe three relays as opposed to an entire PDM.
But what happens with every project is they grow so one, two and three turns into
four, five and six.
And so what we're trying to do is make that easier on the installer and you really
just clean up the wiring and make it easier to install.
- So when you're daisy chaining these relays together, adding an additional relay onto it,
what's the physical process of attaching that second relay, how do you go about doing it?
- Sure so they just connect together and rotate and lock.
And as soon as they're locked together they're permanently that way.
So you would literally just insert, rotate, they're locked together.
Now the other thing that we do is every one of our devices can be installed without tools.
So that's really important to me because while a lot of motorsport guys are very
passionate about their crimped pins, We're using spring cage technology which
is widely accepted internationally in fact for industrial automation, ridiculous amount
of shock and vibration resistance so I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of that
spring cage technology being used in motorsport.
- Let's just talk about that a little bit because this is quite interesting,
I do come from that background.
With motorsport wiring we are very pedantic about using the right connectors and crimp
tooling, time consuming etc so that technology, well tested,
you're absolutely confident, vibration, the motorsport sort of scenario's not
going to cause an issue to it?
- I think it's better in fact and I think that that can be very reasonably argued.
So I just think that right now because it isn't something that we're used to,
the old guard's going to say I like this my way and god bless ya.
- So you're going to have to change a few minds in order to get this across the line,
fair to say?
That's right and wouldn't be fun if we weren't doing that.
Alright so talk to us about how that actual connection process goes,
you've got your wire, obviously conventionally we would wire strip some insulation off that,
we'd crimp on a terminal and then connect that to our relay.
So talk us through the process you use for the Kaizen relay.
- Sure so a wire would come in, it's got insulation to the end, you'd strip off a
section of insulation, lift up a lever and on our device that compresses a spring
cage clamp, you'd insert the wire through an elastomer seal and then snap the lever
down and now that is permanently there until the lever is lifted again.
- So really does make it easy to both connect and disconnect and no special
tooling required.
- Yeah no special tooling, most importantly, think about this, if you need to pull your
wire harness through a firewall, you're going to have to depin your connector and
with ours you're not going to have to do that.
So there are a lot of advantages that I think are going to become clear over time as
people use this and kind of, their eyes widen as it becomes useful and little
things make it easier to work around the vehicle.
- Now when you're inserting that wire you said there's an elastomer seal so is this
relatively protected from moisture ingress?
- Absolutely so it's the same type of seal that you'd see on like a Deutsch connector
or something like that.
- Alright so now actually actuating the relay.
So again conventionally with a mechanical or a solid state relay, we're actuating it with an
electrical signal from the ECU.
I believe you can still do that with a Kaizen relay but you've got another
interesting option for actuating these relays, can you talk to us about that?
- Sure so we have a control module that also can click right on the side in the same way
that you can interconnect, you can interconnect the control module.
That control module's very small, very very small.
Single CAN bus, three analog inputs and three analog outputs.
- OK so you can then control the output of up to those three relays using a CAN
signal from the likes of an ECU or a dash logger?
- Absolutely, any aftermarket ECU, OEM CAN bus and most importantly the
hardware's inexpensive enough that it makes sense for manufacturers to
include it with their kits and write their own firmware that is vehicle specific
or application specific for those products.
- But of course for those who aren't running a CAN bus in their car, or don't have the
ability to write a custom template for the CAN bus, you can still actuate these relays
conventionally?
- Of course you can switch high or switch low and it can be pulsed up to 20,000 Hz.
- Now the other nice feature I've seen on these relays is you've actually got some
LED sort of status indicators on that.
Now conventionally when we're testing our systems, sometimes it can be a little
bit tricky to know if you've got a relay that's not working, you've got a wiring
issue or a control issue, so can you tell us how those indicators work, how you can
test the relay?
- Yeah absolutely so we just did what should be done on any even conventional relay
which is an override button.
So as soon as you're done with your wiring you can just depress a non latching momentary
button to verify that everything's working.
We've got two LEDs that will indicate to you that everything's working.
One LED lights up with trigger, one LED lights up with output.
And the right LED actually will also turn red if the device is starting to be
overloaded.
- So you've got a bit of diagnostics built into that as well.
- Right a little bit of feedback, at a glance feedback.
- Now you also did touch on this earlier on but I just want to bring this back.
So again one of the advantages with the solid state relay, whether it's yours or
any solid state relay, is it can be pulse width modulated.
So fair to say this then allows you to do speed control of the likes of fuel pumps
or thermofans?
- Absolutely, light bars, anything, we can strobe, we can dim and brighten lights, control motor
speed, fans, pumps, yeah, soft start as well.
- Now you've won the SEMA Launchpad award this year at SEMA 2019 so I think
that's a $10,000 cheque that you get to take away.
Obviously this is still in development, can you tell us what the likely timeframe
of when people will be able to buy these and what are they going to be expecting
to pay for them?
- Sure so this is going to be end of 2020 so a year from now they'll be available.
They'll be $100 a piece, so $100 a relay and $100 a control module.
So if you compare, well first of all there's nothing that you can compare this to.
But the control module, very inexpensive, the reason we do that,
we want manufacturer, shops, OEM suppliers to take this hardware, create their own
firmware for it and sell it as their device.
- Now I think it's probably worth mentioning here about the cheapest PDM that I've
come across so far is still north of $1000 USD so it is a very cost effective solution.
Particularly for those people, as you've mentioned, who are only looking at
adding a few relays.
Look great technology there Reid, really applaud you on the innovation
and wish you all the best.
If people want to reach out and find out more, how can they get hold of you?
- Sure so please check out our website, kaizenspeed.com.
- Thanks Reid, good luck for the rest of the show.
- Appreciate you sir.
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