O2 sensor controller – Innovate & AEM

[robsanab]

I am trying to decide between these two… I’m not sure if I am going to go with a gauge or just the controller… both products are now offered with either option.

There is a lot of opinion about both of these (and others) on many different forums… much of it goes over my head. It seems as if the Innovate had some issues several years back but they seemed to have been fixed… these past few years the Innovate products have been highly regarded.

1) Is it nice to have a gauge or not really needed? (I don’t have a turbo or anything and I won’t be racing)

2) What has been the most reliable for you folks?

I will have be working with an experienced Megasquirt tuner who is willing to work with either one. They say the AEM evidently is requires no calibration, where as the Innovate does. I don’t know if one method is better than the other. As long as it’s reliable and accurate either is fine with me I think. Opinons?

[ray_]

Run the gauge.

Jake likes this stuff -- no calibration needed.

http://14point7.com/

I'm going to dump my Innovate for it, which has been falling out of calibration.

My 0.02.

GL,

[02Coastie]

FWIW I'm running an innovate unit in my Bosch injected '76 (simulated narrowband output). The only time I've "needed" a gauge was when tuning...and that's when I just bring my laptop along. I've had the unit for about 4 years (swapped it between vehicles) and likely 10k miles installed on the '76 with no issues. Just remember to do the calibration as required and you should be set.

[TobyB]

The nice thing about having the gauge along is that it's a good indicator

of how the whole car is doing. It'll catch a misfire, a sinky float, a clogging

air cleaner, anything.

So if you're running an adjustable system like Megasquirt, it's certainly

going to be a help to keeping the car running well.

But then, I like gauges.

t

[jimk]

Innovate is not reliable if located in a hot area of the exhaust. See EFI101.com and search on Innovate. These guys are the pros. I went thru 3 sets til I tossed it and now run an AEM and a Prosport on two different vehicles in the exhaust locations that the Innovate took a shit in. The sensor location in my E30 IX is at the stock locaton. My 2002 has been EFId since 2005 and also shows a highway exhaust temp (located within 2 inches of the O2 sensor location) of anywhere between 950-1050F depending on speed and headwinds. I even tried the heat sink by Innovate and it didn't help.

[TobyB]

Huh- I haven't had much trouble with Innovate (I have an old LM1) in the

header collector of 2 race cars, now.

And the pyrometers at 3" out of the head show 1600- 1700 at WOT.

However, I HAVE had trouble with water in the E30- the darned thing spits

so much (combustion byproducts) on the startup cycle that it's done in

one sensor. (open heater) Moving the sensor higher on the pipe seems to have fixed

that so far...

t