EMU Black PnP MINI R53 — recommended solution for additional temperature and pressure sensors

Hi everyone,

I am planning an ECUMaster EMU Black Plug-in ECU on a MINI Cooper S R53 with TVS900 and W2A charge-cooler setup. Before making the additional harness, I would like to confirm the best supported architecture for adding several temperature and pressure sensors.

In the stock R53 PnP configuration, the main ECU inputs are already assigned as follows:

Analog Input 1 — OEM MAP sensor

Analog Input 2 — DBW throttle plausibility signal

Analog Input 3 — main DBW throttle-position signal

Analog Input 4 — OEM A/C pressure sensor

Analog Input 5 — accelerator-pedal plausibility signal

Analog Input 6 — clutch-pedal sensor

TPS input — main accelerator-pedal-position signal

CLT input — OEM engine coolant-temperature sensor

IAT input — OEM intake-air-temperature sensor

Other OEM inputs: crank, cam, knock sensor, brake switch and OEM CAN

I also plan to use:

EGT1 and EGT2 for two K-type thermocouples

The internal EMU Black wideband controller with a Bosch LSU 4.9 sensor

RS232 Tx/Rx for an EDL-1, both for SD-card logging and eDash Bluetooth functionality

I would like to add the following measurements:

Air pressure and air temperature before the W2A intercooler

Air pressure and air temperature after the W2A intercooler

W2A coolant temperature before the charge-cooler core

Oil temperature

Oil pressure

Fuel pressure

Ideally, retain the OEM A/C pressure measurement as well

This means I need at least:

Four 0–5 V pressure channels: pre-W2A pressure, post-W2A pressure, oil pressure and fuel pressure

Four NTC temperature channels: pre-W2A air temperature, post-W2A air temperature, W2A coolant temperature and oil temperature

Potentially one additional 0–5 V channel for the OEM A/C pressure sensor

The OEM one-wire oil-pressure switch will remain connected to the factory warning lamp as an independent last-resort safety backup.

Could you please recommend the most appropriate and supported ECUMaster solution for these additional sensors? I am open to any cost-reasonable compatible solution.

I would specifically like to clarify:

Is it possible to move the OEM A/C pressure sensor to an external module or CAN-based input, freeing physical Analog Input 4 for a direct 0–5 V oil-pressure sensor, while retaining the original A/C clutch control and low-/high-pressure protection logic in EMU Black?

Can external or incoming CAN pressure/temperature values be assigned as proper Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, A/C Pressure, IAT or temperature sources and used in EMU Black strategies — including Engine Protection and A/C control — rather than only for dashboard display and logging?

What ECUMaster hardware would you recommend for:

Four NTC temperature sensors

Four 0–5 V pressure sensors

Possibly the OEM A/C pressure sensor as an additional 0–5 V channel

Logging all channels with EDL-1 and displaying them in eDash

Is there a recommended wiring example, CAN configuration, or base project for EMU Black PnP R53 with external analog sensor expansion?

I would appreciate any advice on the preferred architecture and any limitations before I finalise the harness.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Sashgun,

We’ve replied to your email as well. Here’s a summary for anyone with a similar R53 setup:

Oil pressure on the A/C input: yes. The OEM A/C pressure sensor uses Analog #4 (0–5 V). With A/C removed, connect the oil pressure sensor there, calibrate it in Sensors setup / Pressure and assign it as the oil pressure source.

Other sensors: use a CAN Switch Board V3 or our new CAN I/O Expander. The I/O Expander is based on the Switch Board and uses the same CAN stream, but comes in a housing with a connector, so it’s easier to wire. Both have 8 × 0–5 V inputs, which covers your remaining 3 pressure and 4 temperature channels and leaves 1 spare. For NTC sensors, add an external pull-up resistor to +5 V on each temperature channel (recommended value 2k2)

CAN values in strategies: any sensor without a dedicated physical input can use a CAN channel as its source, so it works as a proper sensor source, not just for display and logging. There is no dedicated IAT-based engine protection, but you can build one with the Custom rev limiter and Functions, for example by limiting RPM above a chosen post-W2A air temperature.

CAN bus: all devices share the bus with the R53 powertrain stream at 500 kbps. Termination on the EMU side is enough. Watch for ID conflicts; the Switch Board default base ID is 0x640. EDL-1 logs all channels and eDash can display them.

Wiring: we don’t have a base harness project for this; the full pinout and spare pins are in the R53 PnP application note.

Software: We recommend EMU Black software V3. It gives you much more flexibility with CAN inputs and custom strategies.