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Boosterplug anyone ?

Haven't tried one in my NC but I did install one on an bmw r1200c Montauk. Turned out to be a wonderful upgrade to improving smoother running from idle to cruising speed. Also improved gas mileage ; a great mod for our fuelly folks as well. If I remember correctly how it works is it basically overrides the current settings in the fuel injection system and "takes over command." A neat little component that did make a difference on the beemer. Thought about installing one but putting my $ towards other farkling for now. Would have absolutely have no reservations on anyone trying this and was super easy to install:).
 
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I don't but now I'm curious also looks cool if it works as advertised
 
Hmm, very interesting. A simpler install than the Bazzaz controller.

I wonder which is better


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By the way it reads, it is nothing more than a resistor and another NTC- or PTC-resistor.

For testing if it even does something, you could solder a potentiometer or just some 10k resistor in-line with the NTC that sits in the air-box.
 
They work fine at first. They con the ECU into thinking it is colder and it shoots in a little more fuel. But, in closed loop mode, when the oxygen sensor detects excess fuel, The ECU will start trimming it back until the target lambda ratio is again achieved. At that point, fuel trim has offset the increase that was initially provided by fooling the sensor. Lambda is the air/fuel equivalence ratio and is the actual air/fuel ratio divided by the theoretical (stochiometric) air/fuel ratio. A lambda greater than one is a lean mixture, whereas a lambda less than one is a rich mixture. For the change to stay, one needs to put a different lambda goal into the controller.

One device that does this is the AF-XIED...

AF-XIED for BMW Control Unit

Lee
 
Hi Beemerphile, I don't know if you've read all the detailed explanation (second link) but in this article it looks like they get rid of it...
I'm not saying you'are wrong and they are right as I have very little competence (read not at all) in electronic or mechanic, but the guy as me curious...
 
Hi Beemerphile, I don't know if you've read all the detailed explanation (second link) but in this article it looks like they get rid of it...
I'm not saying you'are wrong and they are right as I have very little competence (read not at all) in electronic or mechanic, but the guy as me curious...

It has been hashed to death in several other places. I can point you to a nice 79 page discussion that I don't really want to recreate here (or participate in). The difference is in how the process of adaptation is either explained, or explained away.

I have owned both. My booster plug is around here somewhere because I wasn't even willing to take someone's money for it. My AF-XIED is still installed and operating on my R1150R. The NC fuels so well that I haven't any incentive to muck with it.
 
It has been hashed to death in several other places.
The difference is in how the process of adaptation is either explained, or explained away.
My booster plug is around here somewhere because I wasn't even willing to take someone's money for it.

Well that's enough for me...that close the file, thanks Beemerphile !
 
If you want 6% more performance, just open the throttle more. Putting unburned fuel out the exhaust pipe isn't going to help you. I would think you'd get better results changing the sprockets.

Also, the rest of us need to breathe air, so don't mess it up too much.
 
Sounds like the kind of person that would frown on me taking my catalytic converter and charcoal canister out. Oh yeah I did go to a 41 tooth rear sprocket, dropped it down a couple hundred RPM'S at 70mph or so
 
Sounds like the kind of person that would frown on me taking my catalytic converter and charcoal canister out.

We have to live in a world with other people. What if everyone did that? We'd have air quality like mainland China and lots more people dying of lung disease. If you think it doesn't matter so long as only you and a few other people do it, then you somehow see yourself as special or privileged.

Here's a heart-breaker - you are just like the rest of us with rights, but also with responsibilities. If you are courteous, you will bend your will in favor of the needs of others. If you are not, you will do whatever the F you want and they can get over it. Which is 1 Corinthians 10:24 greatly paraphrased.
 
If you want 6% more performance, just open the throttle more. Putting unburned fuel out the exhaust pipe isn't going to help you. I would think you'd get better results changing the sprockets.

Also, the rest of us need to breathe air, so don't mess it up too much.

This is a good point. I am not lacking power on a bike until I'm riding around at full throttle and still need/want more. I'm not sure I've ever opened the throttle more than three quarters on my NC. The only bike I ride at full throttle is my 50cc Ruckus.

And yes, we share the environment, so please be respectful and responsible.
 
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Thank you for showing such patience with my snide remark, that was a great response
 
I'm a little surprised that a post questioning a product takes this turn ... I was just curious about the potential of the product, if someone had already tried ... etc ... Beemerphile has responded very well my questions and I thank him. For the rest, I'm sorry if I offended anyone about the environment, I had absolutely no such intention.
I need no one to take my hand and tell me was is good or bad about environment, I think I'm mature enough for that ...
 
I actually just purchased this Boosterplug and registered to comment on its performance. As described in the VERY detailed literature, it does compensate for the Lambda sensor. The cheap knock-offs don't, also sold on e-bay. Beemerphile I suggest you read the literature. After installing this unit I noticed an immediate increase in mid range torque. When I roll on the throttle there is a much faster "pickup" than before. Also seems snappier just off idle, but no difference in full throttle. For the price I am very pleased with how it re-tuned the engine and would buy it again. All my friends have BMW's and they swear by the Boosterplug, so I had to try it. Plus they've had their units for several years and the performance has been consistent, not regressed back to the old settings because of the closed loop Lambda sensor. The fueling of the NC appears to be excellent as is, but if you like to tinker like I do then it's a cheap experiment that does earn its price. I have no regrets and would buy one again.


Here is a passage describing how it works in a closed loop system unlike the cheap knock-offs:

How it works - Full Version



These are the original notes from Jens, the inventor of the BoosterPlug.

A lot of Tech-Talk in here, but very interesting for the gearheads among us :)

You may want to start out with the "Compact Version" by clicking this button.





The Research & Development Notes


These notes contain the following chapters. Click to go directly to a chapter, or just scroll down.

Basic ECU Theory
Basic Resistor tuning
The Problem
The Solution




Basic ECU Theory

To understand the idea of tweaking the Air Intake Temperature (AIT) Sensor, you first need to understand the basics of the Fuel Injection ECU (don't worry, I'll stick to the basics :)

Any modern Fuel injection software consists of a basic fuel map plus a number of add-ons related to ambient conditions. Period.

Fuel injection Open loop Chart


This is a schematic view of the ECU. You won't be able to actually see any of the modules inside the ECU – it's just software.

The basic fuel map is a grid of typical 12x12 or 15x15 lines. One axis is the throttle position sensor (TPS) - the amount of throttle you're applying, the other axis is RPM.

So, if the grid is 15x15 lines, we'll have 225 crossings of throttle position and RPM. For each crossing, the factory programmers have decided on an injection amount. Got it ? Depending of the amount of throttle you apply and the RPM of the engine, the basic amount of fuel injected is determined here.

Unfortunately, this is not sufficient to inject the correct mixture. We must consider temperature and air pressure too.

First add-on is oil temperature. The idea is to determine if the engine is cold or at running temperature. At zero degrees Celcius, you'll see a fuel add-on amount of aprox. 35%. This amount will be decreasing to 0% at about 50 degrees C. This part is about the warm up phase of the engine – we are not changing anything here.

Next add-on is the Air Pressure Sensor, which will tell the ECU if the weather is changing or if you are going up the mountains. Your ECU will maintain the correct fuel/air ratio at the new higher altitude. The reduced amount of air available at a higher altitude will require a reduced amount of fuel to maintain the correct ratio. This is all taken care of by the Air Pressure Sensor. No worries.

The add-on for the Air Intake Temperature will read the AIT Sensor and make the mixture richer as the weather gets colder. The amount of extra fuel needed to compensate a certain temperature drop will be the same for all engines, as this relates to the variation in density of air molecules as the temperature is changing.

This may sound very technical, but the good thing is that we know that any fuel injection ECU will richen the mixture 3% when the temperature drops 10 degrees Celsius. This is the interesting part, so remember it for the next chapter.

If the factory engineer did his job properly, we now have a qualified estimate of the correct amount of fuel to inject to the engine, under all combinations of load, rpm's, temperature and altitude/weather.

But it's important to understand that this setup provides no feedback from the engine if the estimated amount of fuel injected was right or wrong. This is called Open Loop Operation



Tolerances of different components, adjustment of Throttle Position Sensor or fuel pump pressure, wear in the injector nozzles etc. etc, will all cause the mixture to differ slightly.

So it's nice to have some kind of feedback from the engine, to tell if the injected mixture is correct or not.

It's done by placing a Lambda Sensor in the exhaust pipe (Also known as Oxygen Sensor or O2 Sensor). The sensor will provide feedback to the ECU if the injected mixture was too rich or too lean. This feedback is entered in another add-on module in the ECU where the the final adjustments are taking place. So if the Lambda Sensor measures traces of rich mixture, the ECU will make the mixture a little leaner. This is Closed Loop Operation.

Fuel Injection Closed Loop Chart


If the Lambda sensor feedback could work without a delay, we wouldn't need the basic fuel map and the other add-ons.

Unfortunately, there's a certain delay, and the Lambda Sensor feedback can be nothing but an add on module to the open loop ECU.

To have closed loop operation function properly, it requires a base map that is correct within 20%.

Most newer bikes have ECU's with Closed Loop programming – Check if you have the Lambda sensor in the exhaust header pipe.


Basic Resistor Tuning


Pay attention now – This is how it works.

If we are able to make the ECU think the air temperature is 20 degrees Celsius lower than the actual temperature, it will raise the entire fuel map by 6%. This is the sweet spot we're aiming for to achieve the positive effects mentioned earlier.

You may ask why the factory's engineers didn't add a little more fuel if it's such a good idea ?

These guys are certainly not stupid, and they would love to richen the mixture a little for power and rideability – but they are not allowed to do this due to legal and environmental requirements.

That's why there's a market for Power Commanders, Tune Boy, Rapid Bike, Power FRK, etc. and of course the BoosterPlug :)

The simple way to richen up the mixture is to add a fixed resistor in serial connection with the Air Intake Temperature Sensor to increase the resistance as measured by the ECU.

The basics of resistor tuning

The Air Intake Temperature Sensor is always a NTC resistor (NTC is short for "Negative Temperature Coefficient", which means that the electrical resistance will drop as the temperature rises).

Temp -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Typical AIT 61024 48162 36833 29040 23442 19090 15232 12691 10141 7690 5283 4070 3067 2182 1837 1377 917
AIT + 10K Ohms 71024 58162 46833 39040 33442 29090 25232 22691 20141 17690 15283 14070 13067 12182 11837 11377 10917


Take a look at the chart above. Top line is the temperature (Degrees Celsius), and the second line is the resistance of the AIT. The ECU is programmed with the knowledge that 5283 ohms resistance from the AIT input means that it is 20 degrees Celsius outside, and will adjust the mixture accordingly.

Note that the NTC resistance values stated are just an example. I'm not stating real values for a specific bike here, but of course the correct resistance values for each bike are used to calculate the BoosterPlug.

You should know that there are plenty of different NTC's on different bikes.

Bottom line shows the typical modification with a fixed resistor in serial connection with the AIT. In this example I've used a 10.000 ohms resistor.

The ECU will now measure 15283 ohms at 20 degrees Celsius. (5283 ohms from the AIT and 10k ohms from the extra resistor). But as the pre-programmed ECU calculates the temperature from the middle line of the chart, it will “think” the temperature is around 0 degrees (15232 ohms is 0 degrees C.)

The mixture injected to the engine will therefore be 6% richer, and we have achieved our goal.

It's a brilliant and simple way to richen up the mixture, but you must understand that it will work differently on Open Loop and Closed Loop ECU's (See previous chapter for an explanation of Open Loop and Closed Loop operation).

If you don't know whether your bike runs Open Loop or Closed Loop, check if you have an Lambda (O2) sensor in the exhaust. Only Closed Loop bikes have this sensor installed.



On Open Loop bikes you will add 6% of fuel to the entire fuel map (6% is just the example from above - it can be something else with another resistor). This means that if your current fuel consumption is 5.0 liters per 100 km, it will be raised to 5.3 liters. A small fee to pay for an improvement you will enjoy every minute on your ride.

If your bike is Closed Loop, the resistor tuning idea is even smarter. The lambda sensor will try to adjust the mixture back to the pre-programmed level, but the time delay mentioned earlier will work to our advantage.

In conditions where you maintain constant RPM and throttle opening, the feedback from the lambda sensor will adjust the mixture back to the original level, and our small tuning device will sit idle and wait for something to happen. This is fine – you don't need the richer mixture at level speed.

As soon as RPM or throttle opening moves, the fuel map will shift horizontally or vertically on the 15 x 15 grid, and the lambda sensor feedback will be temporarily disabled. This means that the ECU runs open loop for a short period every time we change RPM or throttle, and the enrichment from the AIT sensor modification kicks in exactly at this point.

As the enrichment will only be effective under these conditions, the extra fuel consumption will only be aprox. One third of the 6%, so if your usual fuel consumption was 5.0 liter / 100 km, it will now be 5.1 liter. Still while maintaining all the positive effects.

Bloody marvelous job for a small resistor :)
 
Beemerphile I suggest you read the literature.

Beemerphile didn't form his opinion by reading about it from the guy selling it. He formed it after extended use of it on a BMW. As far as its application to the NC, I don't see anything there to solve. The bike fuels very well in my opinion and I am happy to leave it alone. Welcome to the forum.
 
This seems to be common on these type of gizmos. I went through the same type of thing when I tried the Icat on our DS bikes. I had put one on Cathy's Xt225 and it was a very noticeable improvement in power. Pulling the same hill the bike would consistently pull a higher gear. On my L I did not notice much difference other than my gas mileage seemed to go up a bit. I was told by many that it can't do anything and it was stupid to buy one.

So now we have two different users of the same device with dramatically different opinions. Now what?
 
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