I run an apex'i ecu and commander.
its very nice and does exactly what it should.

in normal driving I have knock and water temp displayed (knock for obvious reasons and water temp so I know if the ignition will be retarded >93degs.C).


the question is thus:
is the commander an adequate replacement for a knocklink?

 

IMHO no it isn't - KL will sometimes pickup noise that the ECU misses.

Andrew...

 

bugger, thought as much

 

They use the same type sensor, any difference in signal will be due to the location of the sensor on the engine.
You can set the Apexi warning as low as you like, normally I set them at 40 on a 0-100 scale, that equates to first amber on most knocklinks.

Andy

 

I sold my Knocklink after getting the Apexi...... due to the graph display you can see spikes very easily so normal engine noise is simple to identify. Something the KL can't do, you don't know if its engine noise or knock just from flashinh LEDS.

It's your choice but i'd get £100 in the pocket for the KL and stick with the commander display. No reason to double up... unless you like to have 2 oil temps, 2 oil pressure dipalys etc just incase one reads wrong

Tony.

 

Nice one boys

what sparked it off Andy was the Scoobymag™ pictures of your 5-r, it has commander and KL

Andy

 

I don't have enough experience of the PFC to speak authoritively but I would assume that the knock sensor signal is to a small extent averaged, it has to be as it takes a finite amount of time for a digital system to sample an analogue voltage, this means that very short spikes may be missed. Personally I like the added safety of having both an analogue and a digital system, to me it's more like having a WB AFR and an EGT gauge rather 2 identical systems.

Agreed £100+ is expensive and IMHO overpriced for such a simple device, even taking into account normal electronics industry markups - I wouldn't pay that much for one.

Andrew...

 

You never bl**dy have too

Tony.

 

The Apexi knock signal is very quick, it can pick up some sparkle 'ticks' that a KL (and my det cans) would miss, not sure the sampling frequency but it's much faster than the EcuTek Deltadash for example.
The advantage of the knocklink is that it is more 'in yer face' where as the cel could go unnoticed, especially on track.

Andy

 

Im going to run both anyway

better to have all bases covered and be 100% sure,
cheers for the replies

 

I've thought about wiring an extra bright red LED (ALA KL) to the CEL more in the line of sight for that reason..... anybody tried that yet?

Tony.

 

Andy, some more views here, including my own. If mine weren't mounted in the dash i'd have lost it when i got the Commander.

 

 

"Andy was the Scoobymag™ pictures of your 5-r"

Sorry to be O/T but where can I find those pictures??

 

scoobymag.

 

Is that only sold in the U.K.?? Sorry have never seen it, living in Switzerland...any chance to get a copy?!?