Looking to buy a dataloging system but i want to be able to record as much as possible. I was looking at Zeitronix but it only does afr,boost,rpm,egt and throttle position. I would like to be able to see timing and knock as well. This would be my first time buying and using a datalog system and i just dont want something i wont be happy with.

 

Now i know there are members on here that datalog, what setups are you using when you datalog for tune purposes? what type of information are you dataloging?

 

I believe the dashdaq will give you all that information, you use it with the Zt-2 if you want boost from the mani's and afr's from the wideband.

 

I have a dashdaq with the zeitronix unit and a wideband AFR. Its a good combo. However, according to some reading I did on the web after I bought it there are more accurate AFR's than the zeitronix, but as with everything better costs more. I think MrPhotoman posted a link to an AFR wideband shootout that was pretty informative.

Anyway, the dashdaq is handy, as it will log any of the OBDII signals, as well as inputs from other popular sensors/loggers like the zeitronix. Conveniently, you use an SD memory card to hold the logs, and you just pop it out of the dashdaq and into a PC to read the files.

Unfortunately, the dashdaq doesn't come with any software that is good for reviewing the log files. (You'd think for $500 that they would include something like that!) So you're pretty much at the mercy of your own Microsoft Excel skills. There's a free program that you can download that will read in the logs, but it's not very user friendly, and I find its easier to just use Excel.

Lastly, one other thing I don't like about it is that since you're reading most of your sensor data from the OBDII port, you're stuck with the OBDII port's update speed. When you're logging several sensors (such as MAP, RPM, Throttle Pos, Timing, MPH, etc.) there's a marked delay between updates of each sensor. This isn't the dashdaq's fault, because the OBDII port only supports so many updates per second. So if you need very precise and immediately up to date signals to compare with each other, you may want to invest in additional sensors to reduce the load on the OBDII port. The fewer items you log from the OBDII port the more frequent the updates for each OBDII-based sensor.

I'm considering adding the zeitronix boost sensor so that it's one less OBDII-based readout and I'd get faster updates on my other data. But it's about $100 for the boost sensor...

 

Linky to the wideband shootout:

Wideband O2 Sensor Shootout! | FordMuscle Magazine

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/r...B_Shootout.pdf

 

Thanks thats what im looking for! $500 is a hit to the wallet tho but i gues you pay to play.

 

i use this and the scanxl software

ElmScan 5 USB - ScanTool.net

and the scanxl software made for it.
ScanXL OBD-II Diagnostic Software - ScanTool.net

 

Hey Photoman, how's the software? Does it make nice easy to read graphs where you can overlay several data streams on one graph? (such as RPM, AFR, boost, and timing?)

 

yes, you can pick from a few hundred parameters if i recall correctly.

here are 9 being datalogged at once, watch in hq

YouTube - Elmscan 5 USB and ScanXL demo

photos of screens are in my photo thread.

you can pick any items you want, any graph, chart or gauge or combination and record. it also exports them into nice neat excel files for you.