Sensors for: turbo boost, oil pressure, afr, egt, oil temperature etc. [tutorial]

Tips for UTCOMP's features and tutorials for assembling additional sensors in vehicles.
ArT
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Sensors for: turbo boost, oil pressure, afr, egt, oil temperature etc. [tutorial]

Postby ArT » Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:01 am

In this short tutorial I'd like to answer the question:

What sensors do I need to measure:
  • Boost Pressure (Turbo)
  • Oil pressure
  • AFR or Lambda
  • EGT
  • Oil temperature
  • Coolant temperature
  • ...

1. Boost pressure (turbo)

You will need any MAP sensor (Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor). MAP sensor is attached to the intake manifold (directly or with the air pipe). It responds to changes in the intake manifold pressure and provides voltage reading (typical 0-5V) proportional to inlet air pressure. As a results you can have exacly pressure value (e.g. in BAR or PSI) displayed on the gauge.

MAP_sensor_examples.jpg
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Most engines with electronic injection already have stock MAP sensor. You can use signal from stock mapsensor (there is no need to assembly additional one). If you do not have such sensor than you can assembly it. It's recommended at least 0-3bar MAP sensor with 0-5V output. Most vehicles have such sensor so you can use it from other car. 3 bar BOSCH Map sensor on REVELTRONICS' shop.

Typically it has 3 pins in connector: VCC input (power supply +5V), GND input (ground 0V) and signal output (0-5V proportional to intake manifold pressure). If you already have stock MAP sensor than you will need only to connect signal wire to analog input of the device for measurements (AdcX in case of UTCOMP). If you assembly additional sensor, than you will need also to power it - you can get +5V power supply from ECU or from UTCOMP (e.g. from DS18B20_VCC pin: A6 or A18 or B6 or B12).

Sometimes it has 4 pins in connector. These type of sensors has built-in inside air intake temperature sensor (NTC type). You do not have to connect wire for NTC sensor if you do not want to use it.

In UTCOMP you can display pressure in BAR or PSI and also oscillosope screen to view pressure changing on the chart in real-time:
boost_pressure_on_utcomp-pro.jpg
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2. Oil pressure

You will need any oil pressure sensor. It's recommended 0-10 bar. There are 2 types of these sensors: (1) resistance sensors (e.g. 240-33 Ohm, 3-160 ohm etc.) and (2) voltage sensors (e.g. with 0-5V output). Both types can be used, but need different connections.

Resistance sensor has typically 2-pin connector (power with signal and ground) or 1-pin (only power with signal, ground is on the thread).

oil_pressure_sender_0-10bar.jpg
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For 2-pin sensor you should connect vehicle ground to one pin and signal with voltage reference (from measurement device) to the other pin. For 1-pin sensor you should connect only signal with voltage reference. In UTCOMP there is dedicated input for resistance sensors - it is called AdcVccX (pin A20 or B8). It is analog input with voltage reference power on single wire.

Here is an example of assembling resistance oil pressure sensor with UTCOMP-PRO.

Voltage sensor has typically 3-pin connector: VCC input (power supply +5V), GND input (ground 0V) and signal output (0-5V proportional to pressure). 150 PSI (10 bar) pressure sensor on REVELTRONICS' shop.

oil_pressure_sensors_0-10bar_voltage.jpg
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If you have already such sensor in the vehicle and it is already powered from ECU than you will need only to connect signal wire to analog input of the measurement device (AdcX in case of UTCOMP). If you assembly additional sensor, than you will need also to power it - you can get +5V power supply from ECU or from UTCOMP (e.g. from DS18B20_VCC pin: A6 or A18 or B6 or B12)

3. AFR or Lambda

For AFR (Air Fuel Ratio) measurements you will need wideband o2 sensor with controller device (e.g. Innovate LC-2). Sensor should be connected to wideband o2 controller. Controller output (0-5V) should be connected to analog input of the measurement device (AdcX input in UTCOMP).

wideband_o2_sensor.jpg
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Most vehicles do not have stock wideband o2 sensor, but they have narrow o2 sensor (lambda o2 sensor).You can also use signal from such sensor, but you can not get exacly AFR value. Lambda sensor gives 0-1V on output, where low voltage (~0,2V) means lean mixture, and high voltage (~0,8V) means rich mixture. In UTCOMP you can activate oscillosope screen and see real-time chart with 50 samples per second (it should oscillating between reach and lean mixture).

4. EGT

For Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) measurements you will need thermocouple probe (e.g. "K" type sensor) with amplifier (e.g. EGT-K). Thermocouple should be connected to amplifier's input. Amplifier's output (0-5V) should be connected to analog input of the measurement device (e.g. AdcX in UTCOMP). Please take a look at EGT measurements tutorial.

thermocouple_type-k_with_egt-k_amplifier.jpg
thermocouple_type-k_with_egt-k_amplifier.jpg (64.02 KiB) Viewed 15873 times


5. Oil / Engine / Water / Coolant temperature etc.

For temperature measurements you will need temperature sensor. There are two types of these sensors: analog (NTC type) and digital (e.g. DS18B20).

Analog NTC sensors are commonly used as stock sensors in vehicles. It has variable resistance in function of temperature (it is not linear!). It has typically 2-pin connector (power with signal and ground) or 1-pin (only power with signal, ground is on the thread).

NTC_temperature_sensors.jpg
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For 2-pin sensor you should connect vehicle ground to one pin and signal with voltage reference (from measurement device) to the other pin. For 1-pin sensor you should connect only signal with voltage reference.

In UTCOMP there is dedicated input for resistance sensors - it is called AdcVccX (pin A20 or B8). It is analog input with voltage reference (measurement + power on single line). Please note that if you already have stock sensor and it is already powered from vehicle's ECU than you should connect signal to buffered analog input (without voltage refefence) - e.g. AdcX in UTCOMP.

Analog sensor needs calibration (you need to know it's characteristics e.g. resistance table in function of temperature). Please take a look at calibration process description for UTCOMP. In REVELTRONICS' shop is available calibrated NTC sensor with 1/8" NPT thread.

There are many types of digital temperature sensors. In UTCOMP there are used DS18B20 sensors (manufactured by Maxim) and it is used for many purposes. It has -40C...+125C range with 0,5C accuracy. In comparision to analog NTC sensors it has better accuracy, does not need calibration (it is "plug and play"), but it has limited range of +125C (you can find analog NTC sensor with +150C or even +180C temperature range) and it may need modification to assembly it in engine block. Please take a look at short tutorial how to assembly DS18B20 sensors.

DS18B20_digital_temperature_sensors.jpg
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In UTCOMP-PRO you can set up to 6 temperature values (engine/coolant, oil, inside, outside, user1, user2) with customizable alerts:
utcomp-temperatures.jpg
utcomp-temperatures.jpg (37.05 KiB) Viewed 15861 times

HMartins
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:46 am

Re: Sensors for: turbo boost, oil pressure, afr, egt, oil temperature etc. [tutorial]

Postby HMartins » Mon Nov 14, 2022 4:27 pm

Thanks in advance.
Just ordered UTCOMP PRO with display.
As soon as it gets here, i'll have a specialist looking at it and install it.
I'll take your tutorial to him for help, I'm sure he will nedd some.


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