I Donated thefultonhow Posted February 14, 2012 I Donated Share Posted February 14, 2012 how to buy? http://gtboostgauge.com/shop/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drogos Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 so, all the new units come with latest software compatible with PLX right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 Nice work! Any plans to add support for the lc-1's serial bus? I will look into this. Not sure how much demand there is, also not sure if LC-1 publishes their protocol like PLX does (thanks PLX). So far the VBG1 is working great and is displaying AFR via my PLX SM AFR. Compared the readings with romraider/VBG1 side by side and they are spot on. Really impressed with this gauge, thanks lossol! Excellent - thanks for beta testing. so, all the new units come with latest software compatible with PLX right? Yup! Current version is 1.05b4 VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Va_lgt Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Just so I understand this correctly one display can show boost and one can do afr when hooked up to a plx sensor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Correct VBG1 is primarily a boost gauge however it allows 1 input for AFR or Oil pressure display. Right now AFR data can be sourced digitally from the PLX-SM-AFR. Setting this up is as easy as connecting the 3.5mm serial (audio cable) from the plx sending unit TX port to the VBG TX/RX port. See the manual for more info: (page 8) http://www.gtboostgauge.com/VBG1%20-%20Manual%20for%20V1.05.pdf Other options to display afr are via an analog connection to an LC-1 (page 7) Currently you can do oil pressure monitoring with the gauge via analog sensor see this link: http://www.gtboostgauge.com/VBG1%20Aux%20Oil%20pressure%20wiring%20instructions.pdf In other news: I hope to get the VBG1 setup to do oil pressure via PLX. Is anybody using the PLX Oil Pressure Sensor Module ? Do you guys like it? I'm curious because there have been mixed reviews about the Prosport oil sender. Hey beta testers: Thanks for beta testing! Any updates on 5th Gen Beta testing? Would love some pics! Any issues on AFR monitoring via PLX? VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby2.5 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Mine has been doing great. Still reading 13.7 instead of 14.7 AFR though. I need to get around and check the voltage.....been really busy with work. At least I know it is consistent. Voltage is within .2 vs my Escort Radar detector readout hooked to the cigarette lighter. Boost seems to be fairly accurate vs my factory boost gauge as well. Eveyone that has seen it loves it. Great Work man, I have had no issues to speak of with the 1.05 I do need to order an update cable from you one of these days so when you have new software I can update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayway Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 So far so good using the PLX for AFR. One thing I'm still trying to make a habit is to turn the ignition to the on position, wait for the gauges to sweep and for the VBG1 to display 'CONNECT PLX' then start the car. If I don't wait the VBG1 will flash PLX BAD COM and won't read AFR's while driving. VBG1 must be powered before engine start. Not sure if this is the same with the LC-1, might be helpful to add this to the doc to avoid possible user confusion. Love this gauge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Scooby2.5 - great news, looking forward to hearing about that voltage. jayway - great feedback, I'm glad you said something again? (I may have mis-read your PM.) Anyway I am gonna try and get a fix for this. I would like it to function regardless of power up sequencing. I wouldn't want to wait...and neither should you, this really is a bug in my mind. I'm curious if the sm-afr is powered from the same fuse tap (IG2)? If it is, the SM-AFR may brown out during cranking, disrupting the serial packet stream, the vbg1 may not be correctly re-syncing to the data. I'm gonna get on this and let you know when I have an update ready. VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowImg Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (very) Delayed 1.05 feedback - between the holidays, travel out of the country, work, etc, I am just now getting around to it (worthless tester!) I think my feedback is not really 1.05 specific, as I haven't run into anything noteworthy yet. I don't have my PLX hooked up yet, I'll get to that soon hopefully. The 18ga wire off the harness is a bit tough to use with most automotive connectors. To do the ground connection I ended up using a 16-14ga spade, crimped down onto the 18ga and then soldered to make a solid connection. If there's any way to make the bare wire end of that harness with 16ga, it'd make things easier -- but from looking at the connector I can see it's probably not possible. The add a circuit fuse link is a good demonstration of it. The ribbon cable wouldn't "crease" very well for me as described. It worked well enough, but it would still slightly interfere with the louvers. I ended up taping it in place to hold it flat. I don't think there will be any ill effects, did anyone else have to do this? With connectors/wires on all 4 sides of the sensor module, I had a rather difficult time finding a good mounting spot. I ended up using 3M mounting tape to the outside of the metal bracket in there -- I'll take some pictures of it. In searching through all of this, that was one thing I didn't find anyone mentioning/taking pictures of. Same thing with the grounding point. I found a nice ground screw buried back behind all of the harnesses in the fuse panel, but there was just no easy/reasonable way to get to it. There is a bolt I ended up using that is metal on metal and attaches to the same metal plate. I'm not terribly happy with this, but it's the best I could find. I'll post pictures of that too. Alarms -- I tripped one somehow, it wasn't the max boost, so it was probably the low voltage (I set it to 12v just to see if I'd hit it). When it goes off, is there any way to actually tell what alarm you've tripped/when/what level it was at? I'm going to try to upgrade my firmware to b4 before I head off to 100 Acre Wood this weekend. I'll try to take videos/photos of that process and post it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseenlo Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Just a little review on my VBG. I purchased one of the the first few units that were made. I've actually ordered two now. I'll explain later. Installation was a breeze with just a hiccup with the add-a-fuse. If aynone has any issues, this thread has plenty of well documented information on how to get everything hooked up. So far the gauge has been extremely reliable. Occasionally it will crash with a beep and the LEDs would be stuck in vaccuum. But it usually self-heals on its own after a few minutes of driving. The piece is always turning heads especially when people sit in the car. A buddy with an OBXT wanted one the moment he saw this. He loves his as well. When I got my car dyno'ed at a shop, everybody was giving me compliments about the boost gauge and said how clean it was. This puts a smile on my face every time. I need to make the swap to v1.05 so I can have upgradeable firmware. Also waiting patiently for the center mounted version to have individual gauges for boost and AFR. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this product and will not hesitate to make the purchase again. Thank you for making this great gauge and will support all future products. -Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praedet Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Very happy and initial conclusions are positive. Very easy to install and the PLX SM-AFR seems to be working. Should have some more test time tomorrow. I am not having any of the power-on hiccups noted above... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayway Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Very happy and initial conclusions are positive. Very easy to install and the PLX SM-AFR seems to be working. Should have some more test time tomorrow. I am not having any of the power-on hiccups noted above... How did you power the PLX? I tapped into the cig lighter to power my PLX, maybe that's causing the issues I'm seeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowImg Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Quite possibly, the cig lighter actually turns off while you crank if I recall, where the ignition fuse that it's suggested you tap the VBG1 from is always on when the ignition is on. Really to make the gauge accurate you should ground them to the same physical point, so you may as well power them from the same point too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praedet Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I lied, mine does have the sequence problem as well. Other than that, my statement stands. I will probably be selling the PLX Gauge... Having things set-up to not have the hesitation step would be great for when my wife drives... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmmspecb Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Still trying to figure out which wideband system I want to run with this... Right now there are only 2 fully functional with the VBG1 currently correct? LC-1 and the PLX. Here is what may sway my decision. It appears the LC-1 has 2 outputs which would be perfect for me. One output to the vbg-1 for afr display and the other output to my laptop for romraider logging purposes. Can the PLX do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praedet Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 yes. I had LC-1 and switched to PLX... Go with PLX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayway Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 +1^ You will need a serial Y splitter and the USB serial cable that PLX sells to connect to your PC. The cable is mighty pricey but NSFW did a write up on how to build your own cable for 1/2 the price if you want to go that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 I like the plx interface better too. In fact I'm going to try to support PLX oil senders as well. I believe I have found the bug with the PLX power up issue and will probably have an update to the firmware out by Monday. Also I am 99% sure that plx cable they are selling on the website is available at digikey: Also I believe it's Identical to the programming cable I sell. http://www.plxdevices.com/datalogger.html http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/TTL-232R-3V3-AJ/768-1098-ND/2285997 or mouser: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/FTDI/TTL-232R-3V3-AJ/?qs=Xb8IjHhkxj4CJ2SCCMHPLQ%3d%3d VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmmspecb Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Just bought the gauge along with all the other accessories I thought I may need: the cable, new tubing, add a fuse etc... There wasn't a discount code I didn't know about was there? Or was that just for beta testers? Going to go buy the PLX system now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Discount codes have been issued to beta testers only. In other news: 1.05b5 Firmware released for the VBG1 can be downloaded from the website. This fixes power up sequencing issues related to PLX-AFR described above. You can find the download under the "Version" section of the VBG1 page. VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmmspecb Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Discount codes have been issued to beta testers only. In other news: 1.05b5 Firmware released for the VBG1 can be downloaded from the website. This fixes power up sequencing issues related to PLX-AFR described above. You can find the download under the "Version" section of the VBG1 page. I figured as much. Will the one I bought today ship with 1.05b5 firmware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Yup, sure will. VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated thefultonhow Posted February 28, 2012 I Donated Share Posted February 28, 2012 Is the firmware on 1.05 still stored in the display unit? i.e. could I just buy a new sending unit and upgrade the firmware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 The Microcontroller is located in the display unit. The programing cable is connected to the sending unit and there is a serial interface to the display unit in which the firmware can be uploaded. Also I will note that version 1.05 display units are not compatible with version 1.00-04 sending units, due to changes in the ribbon cable wiring. VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby2.5 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Does the cable to update software HAVE to be one of the ones you show on your site or is there any other cheaper type cable that can work. I hate to by a special cable just for updating this device. As it stands now I have USB to serial for the LC1, Cobb cable for the AP, etc etc... You have to have a 20 dollar cable for everything it seems these days. If that is all that will work I will place my order for my demo unit 2005 VBG v 1.05 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now