Wiring in an oxy sensor and is a relay needed...........

Trying to figure out weather a relay is needed or not in line on the power and grounds. It was suggested but it's not on the Innovate sight...............

Dom, what i have is a Painless wiring fuse box for all my added accessories. It has its own relay and holds 7 fuses. I have my Innovate plugged into this box as well as all added acc. Only thing wired to the original fuse box is what came on the car. Hope this helps.

No, the unit doesn't draw much power. If you have noise problems try running your power and ground for the controller right to the battery.

I have the 6 switch version of the same box and I run my lm-2 from the switched 12 volt engine run switch and grounded to a bulkhead stud for grounds this has all my grounds tied together and a main ground wire back to the battery including the engine ground I am also using the rpm function and that has the tach signal coming straight off the tach post on my 7al and grounded to the same battery ground, no relay, have not seen any goofy readings with mine.

Man, it sukz not knowing electrical stuff but am slowly figuring this stuff out thankxx to you guys...............

No relay needed for it, but I'm pretty sure it calls for an inline fuse...if doesn't, add one.

Wire 101: Run a large isolated ground from battery to mid point in the car and ground everything to that, don't use the chassis for ground.
How large of a ground you ask? add up your amps used and grab a chart off Google. Once you realize power flows out of the negative side of the battery it all makes sense

something most miss, or don't understand. thank you for posting this.

And since the data logger is seeing 0-5 volts the ground reference should be the same ground as the data logger. But that's only important if you want to see accurate readings.

Actually found a page where the relay is used so I'm under the dash now and going to see if I can burn this thing to the ground............

So, I had the wb gauge hooked up directly to my ign. switch which went directly to my msd box so I installed the relay in line w/the gauge and hooked the batt. lead to ign. on and same damn thing. Gauge goes crazy till I turn the headlights on.............I'm lost and totally wiring challenged so maybe a filter of some sort?????????????

Just called Innovate and they said at LEAST run the 12 v feed to the battery stating that it acts as a filter so I will tackle that right now and go from there..........

Yes. Use a relay. Provides best power straight from the battery and is switchable with low amps. Some drag guys like to turn them on to let them heat and stabilize before making a run. You can switch a relay with ground instead of power going through the switch.

Thankxx, so what size wire from under dash to the trunk............

10 gauge is fine.

Just for a test I ran a 14 gauge wire straight to the battery and boom, problem solved...........I feel super stupid but lesson learned and a battery IS a filter........

Well, this whole time it's been wired wrong and even though I got readings, they were not stable like now at least at idle and will test drive tomorrow. Older cars like some of ours especially w/stock wiring, don't have any filters/relays like the newer stuff so it makes sense as an Innovate tech told me today that the battery IS the filter in my case and in similar cars/trucks..........I appreciate all of the help and it opened my eyes a lot about automotive wiring and charging systems so we'll get er tuned in cos the wb used to show rich and the plugs said otherwise. We will find out soon when I go back to the track w/ft. n rear Viking shocks and tubes in the QTP's shootin for a 1.29 60, 6.000 at 113+ mph................

Any feel for how different the old vs new readings are?

FYI, a single o2 sensor draws <3 amps when warming up. When i am warning up all 8 O2's at the same time, the power draw is 23 amps.


Joe

The difference is that it reads solid now instead of variable/scattered readings and will test later to see how the whole range is from idle to 7000+ rpm's............I really do learn something new now and again so thankxxx...............

We use one of the Innovate O2 systems on our dyno at school. They are prone to RF noise. Points distributors, and even the orginal point style dash voltage regulators can mess with them. Most likely the relay helps with the RF. As they mentioned ground right to the battery works best.

The ground wire goes from the relay to a common post out of the relay but the 14 gauge hot is on the + post and all good now and a road test here soon...........

Finally got to test the Dart this morning and the readings are now rock solid and am a bit fat as expected at 12.2 afr's at wfo on my 1/8 mile test road but should be real close where I race which is at least 2000 feet lower............I will get ft. shocks next then track time oh, Shiloh's rear shocks plant the rear now like never before............ The NGK #8's look real good now at least to me and the car is pulling hard so time will tell............

Glad it worked out. Can't wait to hear what it does at the track! Let me know when you are going and I'll come hang out!

Shooting for a week from next thu. at Irwindale and that would be cool cos my dumb ass does everything wrong it seems when at the track...............lol Need a pro to teach me some stuff......

Are the readings now typically richer or leaner than before, or simply more consistent?

Just consistent now within two tenths of a point instead of wandering all over the place and this profiled Dommy main body is a beast and so damn smooth on the street........... 6.0's coming soon......

Please make sure the line is fused even when using a relay. If the O2 runs 3 amps when heating up, I'd fuse the line going to your #30 spade with a 5-7.5 amp fuse.

Relays make getting clean and sufficient power to items easy while avoiding the OEM wiring harness. I only use the OEM harness for triggering which is usually in the .3 amp or less range for most relays.

I had a similar issue when using the cigarette lighter for power on an innovative system. Scattered readings.

Do you mean the line to the battery? It's not fused but the wire from the gauge on the + post of the relay is............

If you are using a relay, whatever wire is hooked up to the 30 terminal should be fused.

Anything from the battery to the end device should have some type of circuit protection in it.

My O2 is heated through the connections at the main box, so the wire feeding the box is fused.

Got the first covered and the wire from the battery goes into the relay directly...........