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Spartan Lambda WBO2 Sensor - Review

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Old 11-30-2012, 03:54 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by hochkis
I was looking to buy one of these but I don't like that the controller and sensor don't have a connector in between them :(
I'm not a fan of it either, though I'm sure it's possible to replace the sensor itself via wire splice, I'll bet the calibration would then be off. <shrug> For the price, I figured I could buy two and be just fine.

The flip side is, who wants individual cylinder trimming for cheap? $400 is almost reasonable.
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Old 11-30-2012, 04:19 PM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by hochkis
I was looking to buy one of these but I don't like that the controller and sensor don't have a connector in between them :(
This is why there is no way/need to calibrate it. Or at least thats my assumption. They calibrate them in the factory.

Oh and you can buy an LC1 without the gauge for 120, and at the rate that I normally go through those bosch sensors, the LC1 will pay for itself in 8 months, by only having to pay for a 50 dollar sensor rather than a whole new unit. Though we'll see if the better placement on my wrx of my old LC1 results in better sensor life.
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Old 11-30-2012, 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by hochkis
I was looking to buy one of these but I don't like that the controller and sensor don't have a connector in between them :(
Hmm unless they glued them together, then the controller is in the black piece near the gray wire. The part that goes up is all part of the sensor and there's the connector.



This is what the sensor looks like on its own.
Attached Thumbnails Spartan Lambda WBO2 Sensor - Review-spartan.jpg  
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Old 11-30-2012, 11:27 PM
  #24  
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They are glued together. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, but it appeared to be clear RTV.

I bet if you REALLY wanted to, you could sacrifice the O2 sensor connector and take it apart. I don't know about calibrating it, but you could probably replace the sensor.
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Old 12-01-2012, 12:48 AM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by Loren
They are glued together. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, but it appeared to be clear RTV.

I bet if you REALLY wanted to, you could sacrifice the O2 sensor connector and take it apart. I don't know about calibrating it, but you could probably replace the sensor.
If its just clear RTV might be able to heat it up enough to pull it apart. I'm dumb though I thought it was all one piece. Didn't look closely enough at the pictures.
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Old 12-01-2012, 02:16 AM
  #26  
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I'm sure somewhere along the line, someone will pull one apart and attempt sensor replacement. Might even be me... when the time comes.
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Old 12-01-2012, 08:39 AM
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Now i wonder how good the factory calibration will be with the new sensor.
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Old 12-01-2012, 11:52 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by triple88a
Now i wonder how good the factory calibration will be with the new sensor.
I'm pretty sure that the Spartan controller is not factory calibrated to any specific sensor.

The sensor itself is what receives the calibration, by the factory, at the time of manufacture. If you look closely at the first picture in post 23, you'll note a sort of rectangular lump protruding back from the connector on the sensor side. This is what's inside that lump:



Like all other wideband sensors which are specified for an OEM application, that lump contains a calibration resistor. At the time of manufacture, Bosch / NGK / whomever expose the sensor to a reference gas, and then laser-etch the calibration resistor (which is printed on a circuit board) to a value which corresponds to the observed offset of the sensor. This calibration is read by the ECU (or wideband controller) on its own wire. In the diagram below, it is the green wire labeled RCAL:




Thus, all AEM and 14point7 need to do is emulate the behavior of an OEM ECU in this regard. Read the calibration resistor, and adjust your internal software offset accordingly. If you swap the wideband sensor in an OEM application, you don't need to re-calibrate anything- the ECU just reads the new calibration resistor value. Same thing here.


Innovate has got us all convinced that controllers "need" to be uniquely calibrated to specific sensors. Well, they sort of have a point, at least in their design. Innovate recognizes that electronic devices change in performance as they age, especially when they're bathed in a stream of hot exhaust gas all the time. In their literature, they cite this Bosch technical document which gives a tolerance spec for that particular sensor of ± .15 AFR at 11.76:1 (± 0.01 at 0.8λ), degrading all the way to ± .59 AFR at 11.76:1 (± 0.04 at 0.8λ) after 2,000 hours, and cite even worse numbers on the lean side. So, they've decided that to differentiate themselves in the market, they will completely ignore the factory calibration resistor and instead allow the user to uniquely calibrate the sensor as it ages. As a result, you must calibrate new sensors with the Innovate controllers, as they lack the ability to read the factory calibration resistor on the sensor.




TL;DR:

With the 14point7 and AEM systems, the controller itself is not factory calibrated at all. It reads and automatically adjusts to the calibration value of whatever sensor is plugged into it. Thus, you can swap sensors at will without having to manually re-calibrate anything.
Attached Thumbnails Spartan Lambda WBO2 Sensor - Review-wide_b2.jpg   Spartan Lambda WBO2 Sensor - Review-wbpinout.gif  
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Old 12-01-2012, 03:24 PM
  #29  
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Mine is on the way too.

Sorry for the noob question, How do I hook it up to my diypnp ?

Thanks !
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Old 12-01-2012, 08:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
If you swap the wideband sensor in an OEM application, you don't need to re-calibrate anything- the ECU just reads the new calibration resistor value. Same thing here.
That all makes perfect sense. I was wondering if that was the case.
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Old 12-02-2012, 06:51 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by elior77
Mine is on the way too.

Sorry for the noob question, How do I hook it up to my diypnp ?
This isn't exactly a "how to" thread. Perhaps you should start a new one for your question?
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