Hey all....

To anyone that was wondering, installing the APEX'i AVC-R is insanely easy...don't let anyone deter you from doing it!

I would say that it took me ~3 hours to install, with the custom mounting of the pressure sensor and solenoid taking the longest time.

Honestly, the harness work took less than a half an hour....if you have the proper pin-out for your ECU, it is cake.

I have NEVER done any electrical work before, and this really wasn't hard at all.

Hooray for stable boost and the ability to switch boost levels and tune boost/duty across the RPM range in all gears!

 

im about to buy one of theese. do you also have a boost gauge or do you just use this?

 

i had a boost gauge, which is still installed, so i now have both

The boost reading on the AVC-R is more accurate, so you can uninstall the gauge afterwards if you want to

 

i just bought a avc-r and a defi blue racer gauge. i wanted to mount the avc-r in the spot where the ashtray is in my s14. and i wanted to mount the boost gauge on the piller for ease of view. i wont be installing it until my car is done in about febuary. but i was looking through the directions and it seems like this thing i pretty hard to use. atleast thats what it looked like from the directions. but i also think the directions sucked pretty bad. anyone have any problems with the avc-r being to complicated for a a basic street car?

 

another thing. can you set this to read psi or does it just read metric?

 

It is easy to install, as long as you can make sure you have the proper ECU pinout....

Not THAT hard to use....it automatically sets itself up, with the exception of a few minor things

When you first set it up, properly set the # of cylinders, throttle position (arrow up or down), and speed sensor...it tells you what to do for these


Then, for setting boost levels, it will auto-calibrate itself, as long as you give it a reasonable guess in the beginning.

Can't get it to read psi....it only reads bar....

1 bar = 1kg/cm^2=14.22 psi

 

cool info. ive been reading up on piggybacks for alittle bit and am starting to understand them better. good to hear its not that hard to install.

 

Again, the critical part is making sure you have the correct ECU Pinout.....

It's not as hard to operate as you would think....once you have it in front of you and go through the menus and all on the unit, it isn't as bad....

 

ya the only thing i dont really like is that it doesnt read PSI. i guess i will be using a boost gauge. just to make it easier to look over at on the go. i dont understand the self learning thing.

 

basically to start, you should put it on self learning in each gear.....it will automatically calibrate the duty cycle at each rpm point so that you always hit the boost you want....

it will show *** for the boost duty, under the pressure goal, once it is self-learning....it takes a few solid pulls for it to learn at first.

Then from there, you can go in and make specific changes....if you need to know more, just ask me

 

so it just self learns the duty cycles. and from there you set your desired boost levels? and could you please explain duty cycle.

 

Ok here goes my long attempt haha....

The solenoid effectively acts to modify the amount of hot pipe pressure that the wastegate actuator actually "sees"

It does this by rapidly opening and closing a valve...this is the solenoud duty...the higher the solenoid duty, the more percentage of the time the valve stays closed

As a result, the wastegate actuator "sees" less pressure at the hotpipe, and stays closed longer...for lower solenoid duty, it is open more, and allows more pressure to get to the actuator, allowing the wstegate to open

Now, you first go to the settings screen, and select boost....here, you set your "target boost", and give a guess for the duty cycle that would give this boost....you should always guess low, so that you underboost at first.

Now, do a few pulls at that duty cycle, and see what the max boost you hit is....if it is above your target lower the duty cycle, if it is below your desired boost, raise the duty cycle.

After you get close, just leave it alone....as you do more and more pulls throughout the entire RPM range, the AVC-R will automatically adjust the duty cycle at each RPM point (+/- a few % probably from where your best "guess" was)....this allows a variable duty cycle so that you hit your target boost all throughout the RPM range.


Summary: Pick a boost level, set the duty cycle low (I have a T25 stock turbo, and for 0.9 bar of boost (13.75 psi or so), it is around 57% duty cycle).......do a pull or 2, see the highest boost you hit....adjust the duty cycle accordingly....when you get close, leave it alone, and just drive the car...when it is fully self-calibrated, it will display *** in the spot where you previously inputted the duty cycle

 

Ok here goes my long attempt haha....

The solenoid effectively acts to modify the amount of hot pipe pressure that the wastegate actuator actually "sees"

It does this by rapidly opening and closing a valve...this is the solenoud duty...the higher the solenoid duty, the more percentage of the time the valve stays closed

As a result, the wastegate actuator "sees" less pressure at the hotpipe, and stays closed longer...for lower solenoid duty, it is open more, and allows more pressure to get to the actuator, allowing the wstegate to open

Now, you first go to the settings screen, and select boost....here, you set your "target boost", and give a guess for the duty cycle that would give this boost....you should always guess low, so that you underboost at first.

Now, do a few pulls at that duty cycle, and see what the max boost you hit is....if it is above your target lower the duty cycle, if it is below your desired boost, raise the duty cycle.

After you get close, just leave it alone....as you do more and more pulls throughout the entire RPM range, the AVC-R will automatically adjust the duty cycle at each RPM point (+/- a few % probably from where your best "guess" was)....this allows a variable duty cycle so that you hit your target boost all throughout the RPM range.


Summary: Pick a boost level, set the duty cycle low (I have a T25 stock turbo, and for 0.9 bar of boost (13.75 psi or so), it is around 57% duty cycle).......do a pull or 2, see the highest boost you hit....adjust the duty cycle accordingly....when you get close, leave it alone, and just drive the car...when it is fully self-calibrated, it will display *** in the spot where you previously inputted the duty cycle

 

thanks for the explanation i pretty much understand all of it. do yo uuse the replay feature on this at all or not really. and can you set the speed to mph or is that only in kmph

 

I am pretty sure you can only view kph....

Replay works well, but I try not to use it unless there are 2 people in the car....you can get it set up, then push the start button, then do your pull, then push that button again, and look at it later....