What would be the best place to splice power for the plx m-300 wideband?

thewird

 

any switched +12V ignition source would work, but you could strip a wire on the ignition harness and use that. That's what I did on my LC-1. On an FC it's a 10 gauge light blue wire on the ignition switch, on an FD I'm not sure what color it is. Just strip some of the insulation back and twist the wire around it, then tape up. You could solder as well but you're better off not soldering than doing a bad solder job if you don't have much experience soldering.

 

I know how to splice the power, I just wasn't sure where would be the best place. I could just just attach it to where I spliced my boost controller with barely any effort. However, I was just worried about creating inaccurate readings from having different power source as the PowerFC & Datalogit. So I don't have to worry about this and just wrap it around my previous boost controller splice? Thanks.

thewird

 

it's the ground source that really matters

 

the ground is important

 

the 12 V is as important as the grounds....
lack of 12V can happen to old batteries...
it can cause the Wideband to read as AFR 9.... it's actually temporary switched off due to low voltage. that happen to my LC-1.

i've solved the ground issue, now the 12V issue. grounding on the car's grounding point specified in the manuals..

 

I was thinking of using AN1(+5v) and AN2(ground) respectively. So if I splice the power to any ignition cable that provides 12v it will be fine I think?

thewird

 

I usually find a 12v switched source at the fuse panel in the drivers side kick panel. Not all the fuses may be needed for factory options so there's usually one or more spots where you can use a spade to plug into the fuse panel and get a solid 12v power supply.

 

Yep, just get a voltmeter and check any open slots in the fuse block for 12V switched (when the ignition is ON). I've got power to my boost controller, WBO2 sensor/display, and gauge lighting from there You can also open up another slot that's already occupied with one of these:
Just go to PepBoys, they have tons of them

 

What would I need to hook it up to an open fuse instead of splicing off an existing wire? Thanks.

thewird

 

spade terminal should do the trick (male)

 

a trick to make sure your ground is good is take a multimeter and set it to as if your checking for voltage and then put one side to the negative battery post and then the other to where you want your ground and it should go to zero if it goes above that it is not a direct ground.

 

I'm in my car right now. I decided to splice the power from the place i spliced the boost controller. When I started the car, neither the boost controller, nor the wideband showed signs off life. I have it connected to the datalogit and its reading 5 volts on AN1 and AN2. Is it possible there isn't enough power to power both devices? I thought these things barely used any power. I guess I should try taking it off but now I have to wait until the car warms up fully.

edit - I figured out why the boost controller wasn't working. I forgot to reconnect the ground. After I reconnected it, the boost controller worked just fine but the wideband still shows no signs of life. Does the narrowband need to be plugged in? Any ideas?

thewird

 

You don't need to plug in the NBO2. You're better off tuning the car yourself to achieve the A/F ratio you want. See Chuck's notes.

About your connection: if you don't connect the WBO2 to a good ground, it won't work. If you have power (5V at the white wire when ignition is on and motor is off) at the white wire that's great, just ground out the unit and it should work. If you're going to use the delta (AN1-AN2) on the auxillary section of the Datalogit monitor, you have to ensure that you wire the same ground from the WBO2 to the AN2 terminal (assuming you have the white wire in AN1). I used a 10mm bolt behind the passenger kick panel. If you want me to take pics, I can do that, can't get it 'til tomorrow though.

 

Yah, I already bought Chucks notes, just need to get the wideband sorted out. Ok, so I think I got confused on how to wire the grounds. Am I supposed to hook up the ground to some peice of metal on the car AND an2? I just plugged it straight into AN2. Is that what I did wrong?

thewird