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LC-1 Wideband to twEECer Install

Intro

To take your tuning to the next level, a wideband O2 sensor is mandatory - the guide below will get a twEECer R/T setup to take the 0-5V signal from an Innovate LC-1 wideband WITHOUT disabling your EGR system. The DataQ is used to accept the signal for the wideband. If you need to log other non-EEC inputs (like a MAP sensor to log boost), the DataQ can be used for that as well.

Hardware Used

  • Dell Inspiron 6000D
  • Serial (DB9) to USB on COM 4
  • Innovate LC-1
  • 4 Channel DataQ DI-194RS
  • DynoTune AFR Meter/Calibrator

Software Used

  • Windows XP Professional
  • CalCon v1.0A7
  • DataQ WinDaq Lite
  • Innovative LM Programmer

Overview of Steps

  1. Install Bung
  2. Install O2 Sensor
  3. Mount Controller
  4. Route/Connect Controller Wires
  5. Route/Connect AFR Gauge/Calibrator
  6. Calibrate O2
  7. Install O2
  8. Install Serial (DB9) to USB Cable (Optional)
  9. Connect/Program Wideband Controller
  10. Calibrate/Connect DataQ
  11. Connect twEECer
  12. Potential Problems and Tips

Install Bung

Have an exhaust shop install the sensor bung for you. According to the manual, the sensor should be oriented between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock to avoid coming in contact with condensation in the exhaust.

Be sure to bring your sensor to the exhaust shop with you to verify that it fits, they are a bit wider than regular O2s. Cap it off with the supplied plug until you have your wideband controller wired up.
I had my bung welded at 2 o’clock (the only spot with enough room to install the O2).

Mount Controller

The controller is the brain of the wideband O2. I zip tied mine out of the way on the frame rail.

Route/Connect Controller Wires

This is the most time-consuming part of the entire install. The best way to route your wires is to follow the factory wiring harness.

First remove the passenger side fender liner. It is held in place by the factory “christmas tree” plugs and a few phillips head screws.

Next locate the bundle of wires at the top of the fenderwell. They run into a pill-shaped grommet in the firewall.

Feeding wires through the grommet

I pulled the grommet out the firewall a bit and cut an “X” in the grommet to slide the wires through. I also bought some wire loom to put the wires in and zip tied them every 12 inches from the grommet all the way to the wideband controller.

Then reinstall the grommet and cinch your wire loom up to keep water and moisture out.

Once your wires are routed, connect the RED wire to a 12V source that is only powered when the key is on. I found a red wire with a green stripe in the harness with the black connector and tapped into it.
The WHITE and GREEN wires should share the same ground as the EEC.

The BLUE wire should be grounded separately from the WHITE and GREEN wires.

The YELLOW and BROWN wires are your outputs for the wideband signal.

The YELLOW wire goes into the first channel of your DataQ.

The BROWN wire is used to connect to your AFR gauge.

Route/Connect AFR Gauge/Calibrator

With my LC-1 I got a basic “DynoTune Display” that has a basic gauge and calibration button.

The BROWN wire from the gauge is tapped onto the RED wire from the controller

The BLUE wire from the gauge is grounded along with the GREEN AND WHITE wires from the controller

The BLACK wire from the gauge is connected to the BROWN wire from the controller

The WHITE wire from the gauge is connected to the BLACK wire from the controller

Calibrate O2

  1. With the O2 sensor not yet installed in the exhaust, send 12V to the LC-1 for 10 seconds
  2. After 10 seconds have passed, switch the 12V supply off
  3. Connect the sensor to the sensor interface and switch on the 12V source for 2 minutes.
  4. The status LED on your AFR calibrator will blink and eventually stay lit to signify that it has been warmed up and is ready to install.

Install O2 Sensor

Switch off the 12V source and screw the sensor in - be sure to have a touch of anti-sieze on the threads.

At this point you can reinstall your fender liner and test out the O2 sensor and verify it is reading correctly.

Install Serial (DB9) to USB Cable (Optional)
If your laptop doesn’t have a serial port (most newer ones don’t), install your Serial to USB cable software now. Be sure it ends up on COM 1, 2, 3 or 4 as CalCon is only setup to read these COM ports.

Connect/Program Wideband Controller

Install Innovative software and connect the wideband controller to your laptop (using supplied serial cable and terminator)
Using the Innovative software, program the wideband controller to make the first analog output (YELLOW wire) match the settings in the “INNOVATE.dbf” file in your twEECer’s data directory. You can open INNOVATE.dbf in Excel.

The settings I used are 1V @ 10 AFR and 2v @ 20 AFR.

Calibrate/Connect the DataQ

The DataQ must be calibrated on its first use.

  1. Install the DataQ software on COM 1, 2, 3 or 4, (or the same COM port as your Serial to USB cable is on) this is necessary to be visible in CalCon
  2. Connect a jumper wire between CH1 and GND.
  3. Start the “DI-194 Acquisition” Software
  4. Select the Channel 1 box (a black square will surround the “1=1″ equality)
  5. From the “Edit” menu click on “Low Calibration” and put in the value 0 into the “Low Cal Value” box.
  6. Repeat steps above for channels 2, 3 and 4
  7. Connect a wire between CH1 and Dig1
  8. Using a voltmeter, record the voltage between CH1 and Gnd
  9. Select Channel 1 in the software and from the “Edit” menu select “High Calibration”.
  10. Enter the voltage you measured in step 8 into the “High Cal” box.
  11. From the “Scaling” menu click on “Limits”.
  12. Enter 10 in the “Top Limit” box and -10 in the “Bottom Limit” box.
  13. Repeat these steps for channels 2, 3 and 4
  14. From the “File” menu, select “Save Default Setup”

Once this is done, you can connect the Analog 1 output into channel 1 of the DataQ. Also be sure to ground the DataQ from the GND channel using the same bolt you used for the WHITE and GREEN LC-1 grounds.

Connect twEECer

From CalCon go to the “Setup” tab and enable the “DATAQ 4 Channel Logger” on the Com port you installed it on.

Select the channel your wideband is connected to (Channel 1 if you’re following these directions) and select “INNOVATE” and “AFR” in the dropdown boxes.

Potential Problems and Tips

  • I had a problem with CalCon Alpha 10 crashing when I enabled the wideband. I installed Alpha 9 and the problem went away.
  • Make sure you do a final calibration on your wideband controller. I had the sensor unplugged while I ran to the exhaust shop and it lost its initial calibration causing me some head scratching on why the controller was sending me crazy readings.
  • You can use Windows’ Device Manager and the “Ports” icon in the Control Panel to modify the COM port settings.
  • When you have your wideband bung welded in, have the sensor there to make sure that will will fully thread in and seat in the bung. To avoid damaging the sensor, be sure to remove the it from the exhaust pipe and cap the pipe with the supplied threaded plug when the sensor is not connected to a 12V power source.

What if the twEECer is seeing a different voltage than what the Wideband is putting out?

I had this same problem with my setup. Even though everything was grounded at the same location, I had a bit of a voltage drop by the time the wideband signal got to the twEECer causing CalCon to think my car was running really rich.

Here’s how I fixed it.

  1. Set your wideband to output 2v for both the high and low values. This is done in LMProgrammer
  2. In DataQ’s WinDaq, read in the signal - it will most likely be less than 2v. Find the difference (2v-1.85v = 0.15v)
  3. Set the LMProgrammer to output 1v for the high and low values.
  4. Back in DataQ’s WinDaq, again find the difference. It will be close if not the same as the difference you computed earlier (1v-.84v = 0.16v)
  5. Back in LMProgrammer, enter the high and low values as what your twEECer is expecting + the difference you computed. (2+.15=2.15 and 1+.16=1.16)
  6. Fire up CalCon using the Innovate file (it’s based on a 1-2v range)

What you are doing is boosting the voltage by the exact value it is dropping so that when the signal gets to the DataQ, you are seeing the expected voltage.

Finished!

That’s it - enjoy your new wideband integrated into the twEECer datalogs.