Wideband Sensor

[94blacksnake]

Ok guys, I need your opinion on what WB to buy. i am looking at two of them both by Innovation MS. Here is the link to both.
Innovate Motor Sports On-Line Store
And the other one.
Innovate Motor Sports On-Line Store

 

[98$vt]

Aem has never failed for me, I know it's all personal preference but I've had a few friends have trouble with innovative.

AEM Electronics Digital Wideband Air/Fuel UEGO Gauge Kits 30-4100 - Mobile SummitRacing.com

 

[98fourvalve]

Ok guys, I need your opinion on what WB to buy. i am looking at two of them both by Innovation MS. Here is the link to both.
Innovate Motor Sports On-Line Store
And the other one.
Innovate Motor Sports On-Line Store

The second one gets my vote. My brother has one in his 5.0 and it's done it's job perfectly.

 

[mwolson]

They're both good. But the reason I wouldn't buy either for my car is I hate having to calibrate them. You have to pull the sensor out and calibrate them in free air every once in a while.

You will have to pay about $100 more for a self calibrating unit, but I think it is worth it to never have to mess with the WB. I run an old self-calibrating PLX M300 wideband and love it. PLX doesn't sell it any more, but they now sell the M300TE: PLX M-300 | Wideband O2 Air Fuel Meter

 

[94blacksnake]

They're both good. But the reason I wouldn't buy either for my car is I hate having to calibrate them. You have to pull the sensor out and calibrate them in free air every once in a while.

You will have to pay about $100 more for a self calibrating unit, but I think it is worth it to never have to mess with the WB. I run an old self-calibrating PLX M300 wideband and love it. PLX doesn't sell it any more, but they now sell the M300TE: PLX M-300 | Wideband O2 Air Fuel Meter

Unfortunately I do not have that extra 100 to throw out for that as I have a baby on the way. I am trying to get everything done before the baby gets here because I know once it arrives I will not have any free time or money.

 

[2004TBV]

I just bought an innovate and it works great. Bought it off of Amazon for $160, search there first dude, save yourself $40 bucks.

 

[94blacksnake]

I just bought an innovate and it works great. Bought it off of Amazon for $160, search there first dude, save yourself $40 bucks.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[antcjr]

I have the Innovate Lc-1 And I can't complain with it! It does it's job fine. And the free air calibration is not hard at all and doesn't need to be done frequently. Paid $160 off ebay!

 

[94blacksnake]

Thanks for the help guys! I think I will get the second one off Amazon.

 

[crazycarlo]

Alot of guys recommend runnign the ground all the way up to the battery. They say it reacts faster to the changes. I plan on doing the same for my AEM soon.

 

[Blakonblak94]

Alot of guys recommend runnign the ground all the way up to the battery. They say it reacts faster to the changes. I plan on doing the same for my AEM soon.

Unless your running it to a data logger that is based off the ECU, then you use the ECU ground so that ground offset isn't so much an issue between the two.

Rooted/Rommed SIII

 

[mwolson]

Alot of guys recommend runnign the ground all the way up to the battery. They say it reacts faster to the changes. I plan on doing the same for my AEM soon.

Not true. Any good chassis ground will work and the WB will be just as fast and just as accurate.

But, what blakonblak94 says it true about dataloggers, plus it helps to avoid ground loops, which can be hard on the electronics.

I recommend grounding it to the PCM ground for datalogging accuracy, if not for you, for the next owner.

EDIT: My recommendation here is wrong. See below.

 

[crazycarlo]

Where is the PCM ground found at?

 

[Blakonblak94]

Where is the PCM ground found at?

Honestly not being an asshole, but right by the PCM(ECU). Well right below it, if its the same as my '94.

Rooted/Rommed SIII

 

[mwolson]

Where is the PCM ground found at?

I just looked it up in the EVTM, and the PCM power is grounded at G104, which appears from the drawings to be up near the battery.

The ground under the PCM is G201, which is the ground for signal returns and shielding.

G201 is the better ground to use for the wideband to avoid ground offset when datalogging.

EDIT: My recommendation here is wrong. See below.

 

[SVTContique]

They're both good. But the reason I wouldn't buy either for my car is I hate having to calibrate them. You have to pull the sensor out and calibrate them in free air every once in a while.

You will have to pay about $100 more for a self calibrating unit, but I think it is worth it to never have to mess with the WB. I run an old self-calibrating PLX M300 wideband and love it. PLX doesn't sell it any more, but they now sell the M300TE: PLX M-300 | Wideband O2 Air Fuel Meter

I ran my car for 3 years without calibrating the sensor and it never failed or gave me a false reading. Its not a necessary thing, more like when there is an issue.

Personally, i loved my LC1/XD-16 combo but the new guage is really nice IMO.

Innovate has been around a long long time. They have always been good IMO.

 

[mwolson]

I ran my car for 3 years without calibrating the sensor and it never failed or gave me a false reading.

Just out of curiosity, how do you know it was still calibrated?

 

[crazycarlo]

Honestly not being an asshole, but right by the PCM(ECU). Well right below it, if its the same as my '94.

Rooted/Rommed SIII

No man I deff feel ya. I figured it might be right there but you never know with these cars so I thought id ask. Right now I have it just grounded on the metal lower panel beneath the steering colum with my gauge ground and it seems to be working fine.

I just looked it up in the EVTM, and the PCM power is grounded at G104, which appears from the drawings to be up near the battery.

The ground under the PCM is G201, which is the ground for signal returns and shielding.

G201 is the better ground to use for the wideband to avoid ground offset when datalogging.

Thanks Mark

 

[Blakonblak94]

From my understanding, the gauge will generally always read true, however its the data log that will vary depending on the ground. Of course there is a way to determine the ground offset and factor it in to account for variances

Rooted/Rommed SIII

 

[mwolson]

Ground offset compensation is possible, but why go through the hassle?

You know what? I set it up wrong in my car when I grounded it to G201 due to that being the signal ground for the PCM.

If you are using a datalogger such as the SCT Xcal2 I use (or the X3), the analog output from the WB is wired to the analog input to the datalogger. The SCT handheld gets grounded by the grounds of the OBD2 port, not those of the PCM. The signal ground of the OBD2 port is actually G104, so that is the one you should be using.

Since G104 is up by the battery, we are essentially back to what crazycarlo said, but for a different reason.

I guess crazycarlo isn't so crazy. And I am sorry for misleading you guys.

The good news is, I had no noticeable ground offset for my wideband when I grounded it at G201.