Innovate LC-1 Air/Fuel (lambda) sensor -- Serial connection?

[Ground Loop]

I'm using an Innovate Motorsports LC-1 with the DL1 now.
I have it connected via two 5v analog inputs.
My LC-1 is programmed to send a 0-5v signal on each one, with one being "narrower range".

This works alright, but it's noisier than I would like, and seems to drift a bit, probably depending on heater current and battery voltage.

The LC-1 has a serial RS-232 output at 115,200bps also. I'd like to feed this serial data right into the DL1 for logging, and get the lambda value directly from that. It's all there, and the protocol is apparently documented by Innovate.

Has anyone done this before?

[RTUSA]

You might try a capacitor across the analog input and ground to reduce the noise, the wideband O2 sensor that we sell comes with one for that purpose, not sure of the value off the top of my head.

The DL1 will certainly log the serial data once everything is set up, but you will have to do a bit of programming to decode the data on the back end - in the PC that is.

[Ground Loop]

Thanks! I've been experimenting with the "Smoothing" function in User Variables, and it helps some. I'd still prefer to smooth the analog input itself to remove some of the noise -- if you have a guess as to what size cap is used here, that would be nice. The Innovate LC-1 analog outputs are really fast response -- supposedly fast enough to show individual surges of exhaust gas from my one cylinder.

I don't mind programming a bit if I have to write a DLL to translate the Innovate serial stream to DL1 variables.. that would rock. It would also free up two analog DL1 inputs.

The LC-1 runs at 19.2kbps, so I've configured my DL1 serial port for that rate (using DL1 Config). Now I just have to figure out what to do with the logged serial data.

[Ground Loop]

Just a post to warn people to NEVER connect the LC-1 to the DL1.

The data in the other direction (DL1->LC-1) will actually KILL the LC-1 dead as a nail. Apparently, the stream of live data from the DL1 will somehow put the LC-1 into firmware upgrade mode, and erase the existing firmware!

Stupid, but true.

Once the firmware is erased, the LC-1 will never boot again. So it won't light the O2 heater any more, so the heater will load up with carbon and be damaged.

So this pretty much sucks.

[Dave E]

Thanks Ground Loop for the warning; was going to be connecting up a similar set up this weekend. and would of probably tried doing it like that.

[Ground Loop]

No problem. I'll do it again when I get a replacement LC-1, because I still believe Digital is the way to go, only I'll make a special serial adapter that only connects Tx&Rx in ONE direction LC1->DL1 and leaves the DL1 output disconnected.

I should have done this in the first place.

That said, the idea still sounds promising. I was able to get the serial data into DL1 Analysis, and a simple DLL plug-in should provide maximum-accuracy lambda and A/F at 12 frames per second.

[Dave E]

A serial connection for logging purposes does seem to be the optimum way to go; at a stroke it eliminates any LC1 analogue out "issues".
I'll keep an eye on the thread with interest, be good to know someones sucessfully managed it!

[glider]

This sounds interesting .... has anyone managed to get the LC1 data logged on the DL1 and/or imported into the analysis application?

Adam

[jlucas]

Use a NGK AFX instead. Lots of satisfied customers.

[Applejack]

I've been using a Zeitronix wideband O2 quite a bit with good success.

[TheOtherEric]

Just a post to warn people to NEVER connect the LC-1 to the DL1.

The data in the other direction (DL1->LC-1) will actually KILL the LC-1 dead as a nail. Apparently, the stream of live data from the DL1 will somehow put the LC-1 into firmware upgrade mode, and erase the existing firmware!
...

FYI, your post says that the DL1 and LC1 can never be used together, but your post on the Innovate forum says that you killed your LC1 due to hooking up the serial connection.

So it sounds like analog connection is fine, but a serial connection doesn't work. No big surprise there, I guess.

[glider]

If you email Innovate they might provide the serial protocol specification. Ive had a read of this and can see that the LC-1 can receive commands on the serial port, eg commands to re-cal the probe and program it etc. Now Im not sure how the DL1/LC-1 combo will react - but sounds like "Ground Loops" suggestion of only connection the LC-1 Tx function (and not the Rx) is a good idea.

I thought that the LC-1 could simply stream the lambda values out on its serial port - without any (serial) commands being needed to initiate this. I already have the format of the LC-1 data stream, so a bit of s/w code to decode it shouldnt be too hard.

Im now considering going down the route of simply logging the LC-1 on a DL1 analogue channel. Hopefully any "noise" etc will be minimised with careful grounding, and/or even using a diff input stage on the DL1.

[RTUSA]

I have a wideband O2 sensor (the one we sell) in my race car, just feeding an analog input on the DL1. Data is quite acceptable with no special provisions - no shielded cable, no filter caps or anything.

The DL1 does have some high freq filtering on its analog inputs, and the software allows more if needed. I did mount the wideband controller right on top of the DL1 and the leads are only a few inches long.

Our wideband controller comes with filter caps to be added if needed, I have not even bothered.

So I'd expect good results in most situations with a simple analog connection.

[TheOtherEric]

I finished hooking up my LC1 thru the analog line, and seems to be working just fine.

Any advice on monitoring the data over the Dash1 display? I tried using a long bar graph style, but the bar graph barely changes since it's scaled probably 0 to 30. Can the bar graph be manually re-scaled to something usable like 10 to 15?

[Support]

FWIIW... I would think that just using an analogue channel was the best way to go. It would certainly be possible to take the data into the DL1 using the serial connector, but there would be limited advantages and it would be more complicated to sort out.

With regards the bargraphs on the DASH1, I think these autoscale to the data... so if the AFR was always 10->14, then it would scale to display 10->14.

Kind regards,

Andu