Wideband lambda system

The engine runs excellent. But is it also properly tuned?
Or is the engine not running properly, but you have no idea where it is?
You will only find out if you can measure the mixture correctly.

An engine that runs on a too rich mixture often runs very nicely and picks up well.

Unfortunately, due to the incomplete combustion, a lot of soot is released and fuel is lost. For the most part, the soot and excess fuel through the exhaust will be vented into the atmosphere.

Precious fuel is wasted, the engine has higher wear due to degreasing of the cylinder wall, contamination of the piston ring grooves and dilution of the oil with fuel. This is not a desirable situation. A smoothly running engine runs economical, clean and powerful.

With a wideband lambda system you can determine while driving whether your engine is running on the correct mixture.

There are roughly 2 types of lambda sensors:

• The "narrowband" sensor
• The wideband lambda sensor

The "narrowband" sensor

The "narrowband" sensor owes its name to its output characteristic. Its output voltage is between 0.2 and 1.2 volts. With a stoichiometric mixture, the "narrowband" sensor will emit a voltage of approximately 0.7 volts. However, the measuring range is so tight that in practice we will see the voltage "jump" from 0.2 to 1.2 volts. The mixture compositions that are important to us are outside the measuring range of the jump sensor. The jump sensor is only used by manufacturers to have a follow-on control in part load in order to be able to meet the emission requirements. Under full load the jump sensor is ignored by the standard ECU.

The Wideband Lambda sensor

This sensor can detect the mixture in a very wide range. In the case of the Innovate Motorsport LC-2, those values ​​are between 7.5 and 22.5 kilograms of air with 1 kilogram of gasoline. Ideally, the engine runs lightly loaded on a mixture of approximately 15.4 kilos of air on 1 kg of gasoline and fully loaded on approximately 12.6 kilos of air on 1 kilo of gasoline. Both values ​​are outside the range of the "jump" sensor, but well within the range of the broadband lambda sensor.

A wideband lambda system is very important so that the fully freely programmable ECU can be set properly.
The right mixture under the right conditions ensures a long service life and optimum performance

The highest burning speed is important for optimum performance. That is why the air-fuel mixture must be exactly right. A too rich mixture means waste and will cause the engine to become dirty and wear out and will yield less efficiency / power.

A too poor mixture will give a very high combustion temperature, which can cause the engine to detonate. Detonation is very dangerous and can completely destroy the engine within a few seconds.

Physics determines for us that we want different mix compositions under different circumstances. When the engine is lightly loaded, it runs more economically on a somewhat poor mixture. When the engine is heavily loaded, it gives a higher power on a slightly richer mixture at cooler combustion temperatures.

A freely programmable ECU in combination with a wideband lambda system gives you unprecedented freedoms for optimum engine performance, efficiency and service life.