Saturday, June 11, 2011

SLC DIY Wideband Lambda Assembly

Got some spare time today and decided to assemble the SLC DIY Wideband Lambda Controller that was delivered two or three weeks ago. Excited to do it, to be honest, since soldering stuff and electronic kits are my hobbies since junior high. Now, i've got the chance to apply these hobbies for my other one: working on The Dog.

Since i'm assembling this away from Jakarta (and my car), i'll only focus on the electronic part first and skip the wiring and welding of the O2 sensor bung later. These are some photos of the build in process.

The kit supplied is pretty neat and easy for DIYers to work on. Every component is wrapped and labelled individually so you'll save a lot of time from having to identify them one by one.


With so many components and parts involved, i was worried that there might be some parts missing. However, as the build progressed, my worries too gradually dissipated. Truly everything you need is included in the kit. Here's the resistors and diodes soldered in place.


The kit didn't include any manuals or documentations. However, those can be downloaded on their website. You can find them here. The guide itself was very clear and helpful. It minimizes possible mistakes and gives you warnings before you do something you might regret. You can actually "feel" the guide was written from actually working on the kit. For example, it'll warn you to cut off leads of the 7-segments since it might cause short to the main board. You can't see this if you don't build the kit yourself.


I also bought the optional boost sensor with the kit but i decided to not install it yet. With no boost sensor soldered to the board, i also didn't install the switch which toggles the display between AFR, boost and EGT. For now, i'll only use the display for AFR reading. Installing the boost sensor can be done later.


I started building the kit at 11.00AM and finished by 18.00PM. Yeah, i took my time. Besides, i had to pause as The Incredibles was showing on Star Movies.. lol. Here's the kit all done, front and rear view.



As i said, everything you need to build what you see above, is included in the kit. Even the screws to hold the main board to the case (which i earlier thought they forgot). Final check as informed by the guide seems to show no problem. Let's hope it actually runs when i get to install it on The Dog later.

By the way, the kit i'm building is the SLC DIY 1 which is now no longer offered on the website. A bit shame actually as the successor, SLC DIY 2, is more expensive. Even the boost sensor is no longer available but this is more of a good news as now they supply the remote version, meaning you don't have to solder the sensor to the board (and drill a hole on the display case for the air pressure line). Instead, you can bolt the sensor to the firewall, close to the engine. Just like most MAP sensors.

If you're good with soldering, this the best bang-for-buck solution for Wideband Lambda Controllers. I highly recommend this. It's simple and everything just integrates nicely for that professionally built look. Your friends won't realize this is DIY!

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