The Calibration grade sensor is good for low-AFR fuel like methanol. For a street/gasoline car just get either Bosch 4.9 or NTK production grade sensor.

 

I was planning to run some ethanol from time to time, or at least a blend of it and pump. Would the production sensor be good enough?

 

is the wideband that comes with haltech CAN wideband considered reliable and accurate? My entire map is based on this single sensor, so I wanted to make sure.

 

The production NTK sensor has lasted me several years with a mix of gasoline and ethanol exposure. In my opinion, the brands that consistently eat sensors do so because of poor heater and/or pump cell control. The sensors themselves are OE quality and designed to last for hundreds of thousands of miles. So why do they puke with regularity when mated to all things Innovate and AEM?

 

The sensor is a Bosch 4.2. In my experience, the Haltech controller works well and allows the sensor to live a long, happy life. See my remarks in the post above.

 

great! thanks. yea makes sense what you said.

 

Thanks for the info Ludwig.

Would WI reduce the life of a sensor?

 

So which other brands are good ones?
I was going to get the AFR500 but it will end up costing around $530 AUD, whereas I can get a PLX for half that amount for example

 

I've been using a techedge w/ an LSU 4.9 for a a few years now (Australian based) and have only gone through 1 sensor. and that's because I ran the car with it unhooked by accident, which is a no no.

 

why would running the engine w/o being connected damage the sensor? I'm just curious.

 

the sensor gets covered in carbon and can't burn it off because it's not being heated.

 

Bumping this...
It makes sense that it would be the controller.
I originally had the AEM UEGO and the sensor would last a fairly long time of continuous use, say +/-10k miles. I switched to the innovate when I switched to the Adaptronic ecu and it seems I need a new sensor every 1k miles. It’s just ridiculous. My tuner recommend an NTK sensor this time around but I think I’m going to try out the afr 500 controller and hopefully it will last as long the UEGO at least.

 

You won’t be disappointed. Let us know how it goes.

 

Not that I am an authority in all things but the afr 500 indeed is best. It's made by the same people as the old afx. I recently bought the newer ngk wideband and while it's ok, it's not nearly as good.

 

As good as the old AFX? Accuracy and lifespan of sensor is what matters. Not sure what you're justifying and measuring this by. Come back in 10yrs when you have the same $350 NTK sensor still working and tell that to all the Innovate and AEM boys.

 

I'm at 3 years old now.

 

All any of us on here were saying was that the Ballenger AFR 500v2 is a superior unit to the current offerings by AEM, Innovate, etc due to the fact that it is capable of running Bosch or NTK sensors for a LONG time without destroying them.

 

I wasnt in disagreement dude. I was adding to the agreement.

 

So is it the sensor dying or the controller killing ??

i will be running the haltech controller, and the multi guage (if needed), are there reliability issues with these?

is there a newer version of any of the above sensors since the start of this thread is a few yrs old now??

i looked at the link by c.ludwig and they also use the Bosch sensor with an option to upgrade.

another novice question, is there the need for the guage? I want to keep my dash as original as possible with using the OBD connection (via Bluetooth) and my ph or a tablet that i can simply remove when i dont need the gauges, reason I’m asking is, when the tuner is doing his thing, he has all the data on his laptop thats going thru the ecu, so the guage is really only for tuning yeah??

im running an elite2500,

krem

 

The controller's sole job is to keep the sensor from dying (by using the correct heating algorithm) and to keep it at the right temperature so that it gives an accurate reading...

I've had a few innovate controllers w/ LSU 4.2s that have died (while also killing sensors) and a a techedge w/ LSU 4.9 that hasn't been great at keeping sensors alive either. I've been pretty impressed with the afr500v2 w/ an NTK sensor. It's still going strong on the original sensor.

I have no experience with the newer haltech units...

new o2 sensors don't come out very quickly. Even the LSU 4.9 isn't that much of an upgrade (mainly improved for lean readings)


No, you don't need a gauge especially if the controller is communicating over CAN BUS like I assume the haltech unit will be. the only reason for a gauge is to verify you're ECU and wideband controller don't have different ground voltages causing a reading skew.