LC-1 Wideband Rules!!!

[float_6969]

Alright, so I purchased an LC-1 wideband controller from Innovate motorsports. It's nice because most of the widebands out there do WAAAAY more than I needed it to. The installation is very straight forward, 12V+ switched and fused, 3 grounds, 2 analog outputs, and a calibration wire. It comes with a little momentary switch and LED so that it's easy to calibrate it and to read what the LC-1 is doing. (info via various signals from the LED)

I had some trouble getting the laptop and the LC-1 to connect, but it was on my end, and not with the LC-1 (wrong driver on my USB to Serial adapter). After I got into the programmer (software came with the wideband) programming it was as simple as telling it what voltage at what AFR (or Lambda) I wanted (ie; .5V@10:1 and 4.5V@20:1), hit program and you're ready to go. One of the analog outputs comes pre-programmed to simulate a narrowband O2 sensor so you could plug it straight into the stock ECU if you wanted w/o having to program it. I reprogrammed it so that it would feed my AFR gauge a more linear signal.

After that, the beauty of the SDS O2 logging system was evident. It is going to make tuning the AFR's sooooo much eaiser. I didn't really get to do any tuning today, but I did make a couple of little runs to see if the O2 logging was working or not.

It was nice to see that I was making 1.5-2psi of boost as early as 2250-2500. I heard it knock though, so I've definatly got some tuning to do still.

[themadscientist]

I can't wait to get mine. keep us posted.

[Not_a_sr]

so what were your AFR's ???? how you gonna tell us about it buy not give any numbers?

[boost_boy]

Alright, so I purchased an LC-1 wideband controller from Innovate motorsports. It's nice because most of the widebands out there do WAAAAY more than I needed it to. The installation is very straight forward, 12V+ switched and fused, 3 grounds, 2 analog outputs, and a calibration wire. It comes with a little momentary switch and LED so that it's easy to calibrate it and to read what the LC-1 is doing. (info via various signals from the LED)

I had some trouble getting the laptop and the LC-1 to connect, but it was on my end, and not with the LC-1 (wrong driver on my USB to Serial adapter). After I got into the programmer (software came with the wideband) programming it was as simple as telling it what voltage at what AFR (or Lambda) I wanted (ie; .5V@10:1 and 4.5V@20:1), hit program and you're ready to go. One of the analog outputs comes pre-programmed to simulate a narrowband O2 sensor so you could plug it straight into the stock ECU if you wanted w/o having to program it. I reprogrammed it so that it would feed my AFR gauge a more linear signal.

After that, the beauty of the SDS O2 logging system was evident. It is going to make tuning the AFR's sooooo much eaiser. I didn't really get to do any tuning today, but I did make a couple of little runs to see if the O2 logging was working or not.

It was nice to see that I was making 1.5-2psi of boost as early as 2250-2500. I heard it knock though, so I've definatly got some tuning to do still.

Ryan, congrats on the install of your wide band o2 set-up. Tomorrow when I get off work, I'll call you or you can call me (around 1300 hours) and I'll walk you through some parameters which should get your car tuned super crispy and save you all the real drama associated with tuning standalones, so when you go to the dyno, you can already be ahead of the game.

Dee

[float_6969]

Much appreciated Dee. Is that your time, or mine? I think you're a couple of hours ahead of me. Not a big deal, as I'll be working on it all morning. I've got to call it quits about 2pm central though. Anway, I'll give you a call about 1pm your time. Thanks!

[float_6969]

not quite ready for the dyno yet. There will be lots of pictures when I do though, I promise!

[WeldingHank]

i'm about to purchase my own LC-1 with a small digital display so i can do my own tuning on the fly. now lets see some numbers!

[float_6969]

Update: DON'T PUT THE SENSOR IN THE STOCK LOCATION!

I, unfortunatly, didn't listen to the advice listed in the owners manual and put the sensor closer than 6" from the turbo. About 1-2 seconds into boost it overheats and resets. Now I've got to pull it back off and get it fixed. The problem is that trying to put it anywhere else is going to be a pain. I could put it near the test pipe, but SDS says that the sensor needs to be w/in 3 feet of the motor or the O2 logging will lag. GGGRRRRRR

[Not_a_sr]

put in into the downpipe just before the test pipe. also make sure when you hook up the 12V directly to the battery or somthing that will give you 12v all the time or else you will get bad readings.

[WeldingHank]

the LC-1 directions also say that you can use a heat-sink to allieviate any overheating problems. i'm going to try mine in the stock local 1st myself.

[float_6969]

Jon- It's running off of a switched 12V source. The manual says not to run it off of the batter as it will pull power constantly and drain the battery. (It will keep the O2 heater up to temperature the whole time)

WeldingHank-DON'T DO IT MAN! the EGT'S get wwaaayyy hotter than what the sensor is designed to handle. And the copper heat sink didn't work either, I tried that too. I didn't want to mess with trying to use their $90 heat sink. There is actually a very nice spot on my down pipe that is about 12" away from the turbo and only 2.5 ft from the motor (SDS says up to 3 ft is OK)

I'm pulling the DP back off tonight and going to get it welded again tomorrow. I won't be able to get back with results again till Thursday though so keep checking back here.

[float_6969]

Well darnit, it's not fixed. I got a new bung welded on the downpipe and the O2 sensor put back on. Just for safety's sake, I did a heater and O2 calibration. I went to fire it up today and it's still doing the same thing. I thought I was getting a code, but it almost acts like it does when it's powering up. All I have is an LED for a diagnostic light, so it's hard to tell. I moved my heater ground farther away from the rest of my grounds thinking that might be it. The only thing left to try is to try moving my positive feed wire. It's possible it's got a bad connection. outside of that, it seems to be working really well.

[btustison]

I have an LM-1 unit that I use off and on, I just put the sensor right on the straight section of the downpipe next to the bellhousing and run the sensor wire up over the tanny and through the firewall (FWIW) Are you having any problems with the Sensor Timing errors? I don't like to do 70mph blasts in my residential neighbor hood, but half the time I get a sensor timing error before I can get to a good open section of road to datalog on.

[r34 gtr]

im so jealous of you people and your wideband o2 sensors...and engine management systems. my car still doesnt run right.

- tim

[float_6969]

I finally figured it out tonight. It happened to be dark when I was working on it and I happend to have the headlights on. When I turned them on, the car bogged down really bad and was idling at about 700-750. When I turned them back off, it came back up. Also, when I had them off, the LC-1 was fine, when I turned them on, it started trying to heat the sensor back up. Hmmm, I though. Let's test something. So I turned EVERYTHING on. Headlights, fog lights, dome light, gauge and dash lights, rear defrost, hazards, interior fan, and cooling fan. At that point the car was really having a hard timing idling, and my SDS said the input voltage was only about 10.8V. The LC-1 just continually blinked and wasn't able to heat the sensor up. So I got out the volt meter and started testing stuff. The SDS was pretty close. I was measuring w/in .2V of what the SDS said at the fuse for the SDS. At the battery, I was reading about 1V higher than that, but I was still discharging, but barely. So I used a fused lead I had and hooked the LC-1 straight to the battery. It then warmed right up and went solid. It never reset again after that. I can't leave it like that, so I'll have to find the source of my low voltage. But it works now!!!

[biosehnsucht]

what voltage are you getting with minimal load while running, and with car off, across the battery terminals?

maybe the alt regulator is going out, or maybe the cells in the battery are..

[float_6969]

Sehn, I'm going to start a new thread on this... please reply there. Thanks!edit: Here's a link for your lazy butt... zerothread?id=135245

[veilside180sx]

I'm using the LC-1 to pipe into my AEM for my SOHC KA too. I figured since I don't need to see it for anything but tuning (via laptop) what's the point of having a display.

Good writeup Float.=)

[Not_a_sr]

hook it up directly to the battery using a relay. wire the relay to open the circuit on a switched power source, this will allow it to take power directly from the battery, but only be on when the car is on.

the widebands are very voltage sensative. we have alot of customers locally that have problems and most are due to voltage.

[float_6969]

hook it up directly to the battery using a relay. wire the relay to open the circuit on a switched power source, this will allow it to take power directly from the battery, but only be on when the car is on.

the widebands are very voltage sensative. we have alot of customers locally that have problems and most are due to voltage.

This was going to be my last resort. With the way I have things wired, it wouldn't be hard to do, but I'll have to go get a relay, do MORE wiring (which I'm sick of after installing the SDS), ect.

I put a regular battery in there and it didn't make a difference. I'm going to pull the alternator and have it tested. If that doesn't get it, I'll wire it directly to the battery on a switched relay.

[float_6969]

Ok, so I re-wired it tonight. It was actually MUCH easeir that I thought. $15 in parts and 45min later, I've not got 14.5V @ the SDS and wideband and it hasn't acted up since. The car seems to idle more smoothly now too.

Now for that darn turbo...