TECH: PLX Devices SM-AFR

After my Innovate LC-1 wideband failed, it was time to get a new wideband... But because I was on a budget, I couldn't get another LC-1... So a cheaper alternative that I found was the PLX Devices SM-AFR.

Let's have a look at it!

Uh Oh: ...No Wideband?!

One sunny day,
I was cruising along,
with the wind in my hair,
doing nothing wrong....

At the corner of my eye,
I just don't understand..
I know that I'm not high...
..but what happened to my wideband?!

It seems my wideband readings are stuck. Whether I accelerate or decelerate, it seems I'm at a AFR of 10 LOL.

As I drove home the readings slowly went down until the gauge began to flash; which meant the AFR was lean at 0.. or there was no signal.

The first thing I checked was that the sensor was still physically in the bung at the exhaust, which it was. The next thing was to see whether the gauge was broken. I connected up the AEM FIC to my laptop and brought up the gauges. In my setup, I had another sensor feed from the Innovate LC-1 to the the AEM FIC, providing it wideband info for the Universal Exhaust Gas Oxygen (UEGO) readings. Yup, looks like the sensor or the LC-1 was buggered.

So I took the Bosch sensor out of the bung and proceeded to calibrate the LC-1. I held the button to begin calibration but the LED never lit up. Weird. I connected up the LC-1 to the laptop to see what is going on and... Fail. It wouldn't connect. After several attempts the LC-1 continously would not connect the computer...

Looks like the LC-1 has failed.

Well, not a bad run. I ran the LC-1 for nearly two years. But still, I didn't expect that component to fail...

Ah well, so it is time to get a new wideband computer... But which one? This unfortunately has happened during trying times so I can't blow away moneys away for an expensive solution, so I need a cheaper alternative. After looking around I found the PLX Devices SM-AFR!

Let's see how it goes!