Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Its interesting that the Wolf has 4 injector outputs vs the fc's 6 injector outputs. I'd always assumed the Wolf had 6 injection and ignition outputs, so it was at least as good as the factory ecu, but only 4 injector outputs would put the fc slightly ahead in terms of fuel economy and even power per cylinder.

Not to say the Wolf doesn't do an admirable job, its the closest plug-in competitor to the fc and its programmable outputs do come in useful. A top of the line Autronic is also lacking compared to the fc - 6 injector outputs but only 4 ignition outputs. Running waste spark would stress the rb's coil packs. And even with Motec, you'd have go to a top of the line M800pro for sequential control of injectors and ignition.

Both the Wolf and fc have flaws, just have to trade off on features you do and don't want.

  • Replies 175
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The PowerFC would be perfect if the lap top programability was readily available. However in SA its not so I guess Wolf3D is the next best.

But really does the sequential injection offer that much more power and fuel economy over the wolf3d style of injection.

I.e Microtech vs PowerFC.

Freebagins Microtech'd R33 (195rwkw) is making that tiny little bit more power than gregpins R33 (190rwkw) running a PowerFc. The PowerFC power curve does look slightly smoother and power drops off earlier. This was at the Tilbrooks Dyno Shoot-out.

So I guess it would be excellent IF we could have a back to back PowerFC vs Wolf3D on the same car.

It would be very interesting.

Given the Wolf3D has air temp compensation I am going to have to go for it. IF and only IF the PowerFC had the laptop software in SA with a good tuner would I get a PowerFC as then it would be able to tap in to the air temp compensation.

It gets damn hot in Adelaide, I don't want a little bit of detonation destroying my new motor for a tinny little bit better fuel consumption.

Originally posted by Gradenko

Its interesting that the Wolf has 4 injector outputs vs the fc's 6 injector outputs. I'd always assumed the Wolf had 6 injection and ignition outputs, so it was at least as good as the factory ecu, but only 4 injector outputs would put the fc slightly ahead in terms of fuel economy and even power per cylinder.

Not to say the Wolf doesn't do an admirable job, its the closest plug-in competitor to the fc and its programmable outputs do come in useful. A top of the line Autronic is also lacking compared to the fc - 6 injector outputs but only 4 ignition outputs. Running waste spark would stress the rb's coil packs. And even with Motec, you'd have go to a top of the line M800pro for sequential control of injectors and ignition.

Both the Wolf and fc have flaws, just have to trade off on features you do and don't want.

I am pretty sure that the plug and play version 4 ecus for skyline do have 6 injector and ingnition drivers. If it batch fired, how would Paul be running rotational idle?:D

The website, last time I checked it, was way out of date and didnt reflect this

Originally posted by -Joel-

Given the Wolf3D has air temp compensation I am going to have to go for it. IF and only IF the PowerFC had the laptop software in SA with a good tuner would I get a PowerFC as then it would be able to tap in to the air temp compensation.

It gets damn hot in Adelaide, I don't want a little bit of detonation destroying my new motor for a tinny little bit better fuel consumption.

You'd want to have a lot of faith in your Wolf's tuner, because there is no knock sensor warning. At least with the PowerFC you will get warning by the way of the dash light (or you can monitor the exact readings with the hand controller if you have one) and if it increases in hot weather, just richen it up and/or decrease the timing slightly.

I haven't heard of anyone blowing up their RB25 due to hot weather combined with a PowerFC. It's probably happened, but rare enough that I don't think it's a major concern as long as it's tuned right. As Emre said, generally speaking the settings you cannot change with the hand controller are usually pretty well spot on.

Ok, i've said this b4, but anything i add to this is for me to learn coz im stoopid :D

You guys seem to be held up on the fact that the Wolf has no Knock sensor. With this, does anyone know on good authority how Apexi scale this "Knock level" shown on the hand controller? (not "my tuner said 30 is bad. He's smart")

Wih the wolf and the Air temp compensation, if the EMS is setup properly, would it not be up to the Wolf to determine a bad level of tune and pull timing/fuel if the air temp/water temp or whatever was considered to be at an unsafe level? ie self correcting. No need for knock sensor then. Do i have this right?

Does the PowerFC do the air temp correction thingy, or would it stay at a certain level of tune unless you had to play with the hand controller? Then this would warrant the need for the knock sensor, to tell you when to "de-tune"?

:(

Power fc on gts doesnt have air temp - which would be very, very handy as pointed out.

having a knock sensor IMHO is absolutely vital in aftermarket management - unless you have the car up on a dyno regularly.

One bad batch of fuel and its time to rebuild, fouled plugs from too much stop start traffic - same story.

You can acutally buy an aftermarket knock sensor - all it gives you is an amplitued reading from a particular frequency.

No, a knock sensor is not perfect, but on a gts, it will pick up knock before your ears can hear it.

How to scale? Buggered if I know, but I work on when the light flashes, I back off immediatley and my engine hasnt done any ringlands yet so I am happy.

What I can tell you though, is that if you drive around and you have a knock reading of around 30-40 on occasion, it doesnt hurt, normally mine sits around 5-15, with an occasional excursion to around 20-25. The excursion normally only happens when the car comes on load off the line, not when giving it heaps.

I have used it, and I find it is a great comfort.

And you can get knock detectors designed to give you a visual warning that is scaled with the amount of knock detected - would well be worth having, just ask anyone who has lost their ringlands to a bad batch of fuel etc.

I am going to look in to how much an aftermarket knock detection is and weigh up the pro's and cons.

Is there any one in SA that has the laptop software for the powerfc?

I dropped Steve Taylor a line at wolf, this was his reply:

Hi Joel,

   Unfortunately we do not have knock detection, since it is difficult to implement accurately on a wide variety of engines.

 

If tuned correctly, using the appropriate fuel, and with a safety margin in the ignition map, you should not have any problems.  Also, there is an Air Temp vs Ignition Timing modification table that  you can use to reduce the amount of delivered ignition timing as the intake air increases.

 

Regards,

 

          Steve..  

So it still comes down to getting that bad batch of fuel. I thought Adelaide had no problem with the "Petrol mixing", or bad fuel? When was the last time someone here got bad fuel?

"having a knock sensor IMHO is absolutely vital in aftermarket management" - Would you not agree having Air temp corr. then eliminates the need for a knock sensor (bar the bad fuel)?

Thats true Bl4ck32, BUT you need a tuner that knows what he is doing.

I guess without a knock sensor there is no real way of telling how the tuner has tuned her. If it is knocking slightly or not.

A good tuner should know the ecu they are tuning and the engine.

Notice how Martin has had a little trouble with the Microtechs and cracking ring lands. Maybe this is due to him not having much experience with them and maybe when he tunes the PowerFC's he uses its knock sensor. Hence why he tunes PowerFC's really good without engine breakages but breaks Microtech's ecu'd cars.

Air temp correction helps, and it is a good thing, I wish Power FC had it for GTS but it is not fool proof, and is only as good as the tuner - what happens when not enough retardation is allowed for the 40deg summer day, or when you have been sitting in a traffic jam????

Bad batch of fuel is definately not the only thing that will cause knock - going up a hill and using a bit (not alot) of accellerator on in too high a gear, plugs fouling, fuel surge.... the list goes on, even more probs if you are tuning from MAP rather than MAF but that is a different story.

I am not saying that you cant get a decent tune without causing knock, or that if you dont have one you will destroy your ringlands, all I am saying is that if you spend 2K on a decent ecu fitted and tuned, why not spend a few hundred and get a decent knock warning? Makes alot of sense if you dont have one with the ecu, especially when you consider that the manufacturer thought it important enough to have knock detection and automatic retardation of the ignition in the stock, unmodified car IMHO

At the end of the day, I have knock warning, I am happy:)

Another thing to think about, I have it on very good authority (ie someone who works in the refining process) that the only company that actually cracks its fuel at 98ron, ie doenst use additives to increase it octane rating is BP.

This means that if you buy a 98 ron from any other company, the fuel may be below 98 by the time it reaches your engine, esp if it has been a while since they refilled at the station, or your car has been sitting for a while.

In WA this isnt an issue, as the only 98 ron available is from BP, but be careful if you are in another state.

Another thing not already mentioned is that a MAP based ECU isnt as flexible at running different boost levels.

Say you have a 400hp odd turbo, and have low boost at 12psi, and high boost at 18psi. You would obviously tuned the ECU at 18psi, which in my expereince leaves the car running pretty ordinary when you are tootling around at 12psi.

Well that was my experience with my old RB20 running Microtech... but with a WOLF and memory card, i imagine you could easily enough have different tunes.

Can anyone else confirm this...

You can have 2 different maps you can switch between using an external switch to go from the internal memory map to one stored on the external cartidge. Or to quote from the user manual:

"You can use an Auxiliary Output to toggle the Auxiliary input to switch maps. The aux. output is setup to switch using any of the available inputs at the desired state. When the Aux Out toggles to switch maps.

Hi guys, something I posted in another thread that has significance here (sorry if you have already read it)....

I have tested 2 boost gauges side by side, one with a long vacuum hose and the other with almost none, and there is a noticeable difference in the transient readings. ie; the one with the short hose shows boost before the one with the longer hose. The absolute value is the same, it just takes more time for the air to pressurise the longer hose. This is particularly noticeable on rapid upchanges through the gearbox, say when doing a 1/4 run.

This is one of advantages quoted by Trust for their electronic boost gauges due to no hoses, that being, quicker response to changes. So I am not the only one who has seen this.

This does not show up during a dyno power run when testing a MAP sensor with long hoses as the dyno ramp rate is slow enough to enable the MAP sensor to keep up with boost rise. Plus you don't change gear on the dyno. So it would only show up when driving on the road or track with F&W lambda sensor and display connected. Since we run fuel enrichment under boost, if the MAP sensor is slow in responding you could have (in theory) boost without sufficient fuel until the MAP sensor caught up. I haven't tested it and I was wondering whether anyone else had.

Moving on, I keep seeing quotes saying that two of the big advantages of a Wolf is that you don't have to run AFM's and it is P&P. In my opinion the advantages are mutually exclusive ie; if you run AFM's then it is plug and play, but if you don't want to run AFM's then it is not P&P.

Hope that adds to the post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • First up, I wouldn't use PID straight up for boost control. There's also other control techniques that can be implemented. And as I said, and you keep missing the point. It's not the ONE thing, it's the wrapping it up together with everything else in the one system that starts to unravel the problem. It's why there are people who can work in a certain field as a generalist, IE a IT person, and then there are specialists. IE, an SQL database specialist. Sure the IT person can build and run a database, and it'll work, however theyll likely never be as good as a specialist.   So, as said, it's not as simple as you're thinking. And yes, there's a limit to the number of everything's in MCUs, and they run out far to freaking fast when you're designing a complex system, which means you have to make compromises. Add to that, you'll have a limited team working on it, so fixing / tweaking some features means some features are a higher priority than others. Add to that, someone might fix a problem around a certain unrelated feature, and that change due to other complexities in the system design, can now cause a new, unforseen bug in something else.   The whole thing is, as said, sometimes split systems can work as good, and if not better. Plus when there's no need to spend $4k on an all in one solution, to meet the needs of a $200 system, maybe don't just spout off things others have said / you've read. There's a lot of misinformation on the internet, including in translated service manuals, and data sheets. Going and doing, so that you know, is better than stating something you read. Stating something that has been read, is about as useful as an engineering graduate, as all they know is what they've read. And trust me, nearly every engineering graduate is useless in the real world. And add to that, if you don't know this stuff, and just have an opinion, maybe accept what people with experience are telling you as information, and don't keep reciting the exact same thing over and over in response.
    • How complicated is PID boost control? To me it really doesn't seem that difficult. I'm not disputing the core assertion (specialization can be better than general purpose solutions), I'm just saying we're 30+ years removed from the days when transistor budgets were in the thousands and we had to hem and haw about whether there's enough ECC DRAM or enough clock cycles or the interrupt handler can respond fast enough to handle another task. I really struggle to see how a Greddy Profec or an HKS EVC7 or whatever else is somehow a far superior solution to what you get in a Haltech Nexus/Elite ECU. I don't see OEMs spending time on dedicated boost control modules in any car I've ever touched. Is there value to separating out a motor controller or engine controller vs an infotainment module? Of course, those are two completely different tasks with highly divergent requirements. The reason why I cite data sheets, service manuals, etc is because as you have clearly suggested I don't know what I'm doing, can't learn how to do anything correctly, and have never actually done anything myself. So when I do offer advice to people I like to use sources that are not just based off of taking my word for it and can be independently verified by others so it's not just my misinterpretation of a primary source.
    • That's awesome, well done! Love all these older Datsun / Nissans so rare now
    • As I said, there's trade offs to jamming EVERYTHING in. Timing, resources etc, being the huge ones. Calling out the factory ECU has nothing to do with it, as it doesn't do any form of fancy boost control. It's all open loop boost control. You mention the Haltech Nexus, that's effectively two separate devices jammed into one box. What you quote about it, is proof for that. So now you've lost flexibility as a product too...   A product designed to do one thing really well, will always beat other products doing multiple things. Also, I wouldn't knock COTS stuff, you'd be surprised how many things are using it, that you're probably totally in love with As for the SpaceX comment that we're working directly with them, it's about the type of stuff we're doing. We're doing design work, and breaking world firsts. If you can't understand that I have real world hands on experience, including in very modern tech, and actually understand this stuff, then to avoid useless debates where you just won't accept fact and experience, from here on, it seems you'd be be happy I (and possibly anyone with knowledge really) not reply to your questions, or input, no matter how much help you could be given to help you, or let you learn. It seems you're happy reading your data sheets, factory service manuals, and only want people to reinforce your thoughts and points of view. 
    • I don't really understand because clearly it's possible. The factory ECU is running on like a 4 MHz 16-bit processor. Modern GDI ECUs have like 200 MHz superscalar cores with floating point units too. The Haltech Nexus has two 240 MHz CPU cores. The Elite 2500 is a single 80 MHz core. Surely 20x the compute means adding some PID boost control logic isn't that complicated. I'm not saying clock speed is everything, but the requirements to add boost control to a port injection 6 cylinder ECU are really not that difficult. More I/O, more interrupt handlers, more working memory, etc isn't that crazy to figure out. SpaceX if anything shows just how far you can get arguably doing things the "wrong" way, ie x86 COTS running C++ on Linux. That is about as far away from the "correct" architecture as it gets for a real time system, but it works anyways. 
×
×
  • Create New...