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Wideband setups, tell me about yours...

Iron Indian

Iron Indian

New member
I know several of you run Wideband setups... tell me about yours. What is it? How much? Pics? How do you watch it (scanner or gauge)? Is it installed full time?

What I'm looking at... I want something to be installed full time. I'll most likely put the sensor in the old rear O2 sensor hole. As for monitoring it, I have a Powertuner but i'd like to be able to watch it without that I think. Not sure if I want to run another 2 1/16" gauge though, I would have to get a Hud pod in that case (Already have a triple pillar) and run another gauge too. I know you can tie into the Aeroforce gauge, I don't think I want one of those though, I love my trusty Scanmaster! :-) I'm wondering if there is something small I could get to mount in the cluster or something. I donno exactly how i'll do it, but i'm curious what you guys are doing.

Appreciate it guys...
 


Didn't buy one, but a friend lets me borrow his Ls1m WB when ever.

I screw it into the pipe where the u-bend once was, and zip tie the wires up under the car, I then run the wire through the fender, into the door jam and on into the cars interior. I use the read out that was supplied with the kit, and then a laptop hooked up with my Power Tuner running when were tuning.

I was having a lean condition at WOT and everyone said, well its your fuel pump, buy a new one, and then scan with a WB. We were scanning with a narrow band and was giving us a pretty god reading of the lean mixture, adding in the WB only confirmed that.

Turned out everyone was wrong...fuel pump was fine, MORE than fine as the gauge was reading 60 PSI the while time never dropping, but they kept saying it was. Turned out it was the PE mode in the computer program, instead of adding fuel, it was taking it away on purpose. Guess we forgot to add the little - in front of all of the numbers.

:th_scratchhead:

~F~
 
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Forgot to add to the end of the story, now shes running a little rich now.

So my PB of [email protected] was run with a mis tune. Now that we got it figured out...that time should drop dramatically, cause after the 1/8th she kinda had no more.

~F~
 
im running the PLX SMR-AFR and apparently the angle of the WBo2 sensor is on the driver-side at like 8 o'clock, which is somewhat bad. the gauge is mounted in the 2-gauge pod beside the HUD. for the price it wasnt bad, but after reading the article on comparing various WBs, the PLX brand came off as one of the worse. my idle AFR si like +16 to +17 for some apparently reason while my commanded AFR is +14.7. also my WOT is showing 10.2-10.5 that i can run knock-free even w/o the alky i have disconnected. im gonna get another WB and have it installed and see what it reads. im currently have my sights set on getting the JAW WB since its cheap and relatively something i can do as a small project and report it back to you guys whenever i get it done. i heard ppl using the innovate WB and love it.
 
I just recently installed my autometer wideband. I have it permanently installed in the car. So far it seems to be reading dead on. If you do install one i've heard that you shouldn't install it that far down on the exhaust system needs to be closer up to the manifolds.
 
I use an NGK AFX wideband for tuning cars as I wanted something more on the portable side as opposed to a 2 1/16" gauge. NGK is one of the best known 02 sensors for accuracy. I had an LC1 setup and I had a handful of problems with it and after looking at Innovatives forums it is chocked full of problems. It quit working so I returned it for a brand new one and was fine and then I got rid of it. The LM1 from Innotative is a well know good setup also but is rather bulky and is not something you can mount in your car. I did a lot of homework on widebands especially on the HPTuners forum and the NGK came highly recommened from some top programmers and tuners for factory calibrations. It is a roughly 2x4" box with large red leds on the front for numbers. It is a very simply and plain setup but it works and works well which is all I wanted. I bought it through summit racing over a year ago for around the $275 mark and I have never had a single problem with it. It doesnt record or have its own software as some of the other setups but I have the MPVI Pro HPT cable which allows auxillary inputs and I scan wideband readings with everything else during a tune. For a permenant in car unit I really like the PLX-SMR setup and is what I will be putting full time in my cars. Its advantage is that it self calibrates, so no manually or re-calibrating every few months for best accuracy as it is all automatic, but is also a 2 1/16" gauge. If you dont want the gauge itself and just want to scan with it then you dont need to install or buy the guage and can just get the module and sensor and hook it into your tuner/scanner but it is nice to always have the gauge to keep an eye on things at wot.
 


I would LIKE to have one, but there seems to be no hands down winner. I hate problematic things.

The NGK AFX Dave uses seems like it may be the most reliable and accurate.
 
once i get my tax refund, im planning on getting the JAW WB and getting the O2 sensor from the VW and wiring it up and see how it compares to the PLX SMR-AFR. total amount should be under $160-170. once i get everything up i'll let u guys know. however one thing im somewhat concerned with the JAW WB is the requirement of recalibrating it every so often whereas the PLX WBo2 doesnt need calibrations at all. any input on the recalibrating scheme?
 


The whole recallibrating deal can be an annoyance but it really needs to be done every few months for best accuracy. The PLX automatically does this so there is no need to manually do a calibration like almost all other wideband setups. The NGK AFX requires recalibrations also after a lot of use but it is not a big deal as I use it to transfer between cars. The sensor needs to be in free air to calibrate, NOT in the exhaust system which requires removing the sensor. You could do it in the exhaust after the car sat for a few days to clear way of eliments in the exhaust but it is not recommended as it can cause the sensor to read innacurately.
 
dave, couldnt the recal. be done the next day b4 even starting the car whne its cold to do it?
 
Most wideband instructions tell you specifically not to recal with the sensor in the exhaust stream, even if the engine has not run in the last 24 hours as there is the posiblity of exhaust eliments in the air in the pipe that can distort the calibrationa and why calibrating it in free open air is best. Some guys have said you could put a shop vac on the tailpipe and open the throttle body up to allow fresh air to pull through for a while and then try it but still isnt suggested for the most accurate read.
 
trannyman, I've been trying to wrap my head around this one for a bit. Questions I'm still lead to are, which one to get get - I see a bunch of them at Ballenger Motorsports - High Performance Electronics which one for a 2000 gtp? I'm looking to hook in with the hp tuner. Do these go in place of the stock o2 sensor? It'd be great if there was a sticky regarding the details of this wonderful device :) A noobs guide to knowing what one is, differences between them, how to select for your car, for your application, how to install, what can be achieved, benefits of keeping installed, maintenance.
spose for me, any points in the general direction would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I have the PLX SM-AFR wideband controller with the standard Bosch sensor. The SM-AFR is simulating the narrowband signal back to the PCM, so I only have one permanent forward sensor installed at the top of my custom downpipe.

For a gauge, I have the PLX DM-100, which displays up to 4 parameters at one time, but can receive signals from 32 different sensors.

I also have the output from the SM-AFR controller wired directly to my HPT pro for scanning.

Pic of the gauge when I first installed. I only had two sensors at this time, which is why they display twice (the other is intercooler water temp).
PLXGauge1.jpg
 


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