Scenario, want a cheap AFR gauge just for peace of mind whilst street tuning MS.

What do people think about using the no-brand el-cheapo gauges that ebay has to offer with the LC1? Most of them work with a narrow band sensor but that's ok because the LC1 can emulate narrow band.

The question is, will it give useful data to make it worth buying a digital read out gauge or would it be better to have a basic indication of mixture from a guage like the one below? Bearing in mind that when I'm tuning I'll have a laptop, the guage is just to warn me if I'm about to melt a piston.

Opinions?

 

get a cheap digital led gauge. you'll thank me later.

 

Like this one?

 

We've rigged LC-1s to drive these types of gauges before. It's actually better to set it slightly different from narrow band emulation - have it give you 1 volt at 10:1 and 0 volts at either 18:1 or 20:1. Not as good as a gauge designed for it though; if you don't already have an LC-1, it's probably going to be cheaper to order one bundled with a DB gauge.

P.S. The gauge in your first post looks like it's actually from Auto Meter's cheap gauge division, unless it's fake.

 

Yes.

 

Already got one :(

I'm not after any useful data really. I just feel naked without having a laptop on my passenger seat and I want an indication if anything is VERY VERY wrong.

 

I use 0-1v 17-10:1

 

You can do this, but you don't program the analog out for NB emulation, there would be no point in that. Set it up something like 1V=10:1, 0V=20:1.
Or you can get a cheap panel display voltmeter like THIS. Then set up the analog out for 1V=10:1, 2V=20:1. Most of these elcheapo displays give you an option of setting up a 10x multiplier to move the decimal, meaning if your air fuel ratio is 10.5:1, the display would read 10.5 because the LC1's analog out would be sending 1.05V to the gauge, 1.05 x 10 = 10.5. Get it?

 

Are you not happy with your sweepy dot gauge Brain?

They do seem an awful lot cheaper

Loving the getto voltmeter idea!

 

The cool part about a numeric gauge is that you know when you're .1 off from where you should be. I was running 11.8:1 on the track before I tuned for heat soak. Now its back to 11.3:1 on the track in boost.

 

Here, this one is listed as being scalable
New Digital Red LED DC 2V Volt Panel Meters rescalable - eBay (item 250558674057 end time Jan-05-10 23:34:22 PST)

 

Damn that thing looks brilliant! I can thinks of loads of applications for it.