Wide band AFR sensor

Andre/fellow tuners,

I am in the market for a wide band sensor to start my tuning. I know Andre uses the LM2 from innovate but I've been doing some research and I'm afraid I have lots of mixed reviews on the LM2.

What do you guys recommend?

AFR500 (with the optional NTK sensor)

Thanks a lot Ludo. Hopefully I get some more feedback from Andre and the other guys before I make a final decision.

If you're looking for a controller only, take a look at the 14point7 Spartan 2

Andre use the Motec PLM on the dyno, but that's a different budget.

Still on the high end, you also have the ECM AFM1000

And on the extreme, there is things like that LambdaCAN

Ludo,

I am looking for a portable meter with display that can be used to tune cars in different locations.

Budget is around that of the LM2.

As for the AFR500, is it worth paying more for a higher end NTK sensor with it or is the standard NTK good enough?

The NTK "production" is good enough (that the one you would find on Honda)

You could start with the Bosch LSU 4.2 (found on MANY cars) , but the NTK sensor are known to have a better life span.

I understand that the LM2 has a lot of mixed reviews and there are many tuners out there who haven't had much luck with them. Personally I've only used the LM2 for my road tuning for the last 8 or so years (basically since it was released whenever that was) and the only trouble I've had was the connector for the lambda sensor input broke where it was soldered to the PCB. I'll put this down to years of rigorous abuse though rather than poor design. So from my experience I can't fault it.

I have a Ballenger AFR500 (replaces the discontinued NGK AFX) that was supplied with our Mainline dyno and I'd have to say I'm not personally a fan. This unit was supplied with the Bosch LSU 4.2 sensor but my issue with it is that it read considerably differently to the Motec PLM I installed along side. I've used a Motec PLM on my old dyno for about 13 years and hence I tend to trust that if I tune to XX lambda, I know where I am.

Of course this opens up a bit of a can of worms about what is accurate. I don't have the ability to verify 100% the accuracy of any sensor or wideband - That would require a laboratory facility. All I can say is that the Motec PLM reads identical to the LM2 which gives me a consistent base to tune against.

Andre, did you try to use a NTK sensor with the AFR500 ?

(As far as I know, the AFR500 is still made by ECM)

Hey Ludo, no I didn't and I agree that the NTK sensor is accepted as the sensor of choice for the AFR500. I just happened to have a PLM hanging around so I used that instead. The other reason I used the PLM was because I could input lambda via CAN into our Mainline dyno. I guess I'm reasonably vocal about my dislike for transmitting lambda data via analogue voltage :)