Spartan 3D Lite v2 Diesel Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge Kit 52mm

If you are the owner of a Diesel motor, you would be pretty used to using good old EGT’s as your primary way of keeping track on how the motor is fuelling and is tuned. And while EGT is good for this, it’s really not the best way you can go about it just using EGT’s alone. If you really want to make sure your motor is tuned right and fuelling correctly, the gold standard is using both EGT’s and air fuel ratios also known as AFR’s. If you take your rig to a tuner, they will be doing it this way, so if you are looking at wanting to do a bit of tuning on your Diesel yourself, or just like to keep an even closer eye on everything after your motor has been tuned, then grabbing a Diesel wideband gauge to monitor your air fuel ratio would be a great idea.

With petrol motors, monitoring air fuel ratios and making sure the motor doesn’t run lean is what you are looking for when using a wideband to make sure you don’t melt pistons, but with Diesel motors it’s the other way around, you want to monitor the air fuel ratios of these motors to make sure they don’t run too rich, or engine damage can occur. Having one of these Spartan 3D Lite diesel wideband gauge kits installed in your rig will give you the ability to keep a close eye on how your diesel motor is fuelling and if you are running lean which means lost power, or if running too rich which is something you do not want.

The Spartan 3D Lite v2 is using the latest wideband technology from 14Point7, after nearly a decade of the Spartan 2 hardware being in the market and being one of the most robust, reliable & affordable wideband products in the world, 14point7 have been quietly working away on the next generation of wideband controller technology to bring to market what we believe is the pinnacle in wideband technology. Unlike a lot of other wideband products on the market which are now using hardware and firmware designs that are ancient in comparison, and made by companies that aren’t solely about producing wideband products, the 14point7 Spartan 3D Lite Diesel wideband is using brand new hardware & software controller technology, all freshly developed and based off years of real world research and testing from a company that’s sole purpose is to produce kick ass wideband products.

Below you will find a ton of information on what makes this diesel wideband gauge kit such an amazing package, a breakdown on the main features of the Spartan 3D Lite itself, info on the included JRP Edge 52mm air fuel ratio gauge which will be displaying the AFR’s, and we feel once you read this information we have no doubt in no time these units will fast become the first choice for diesel customers out there looking at monitoring air fuel ratios on their vehicles.

EDGE 52MM LCD AIR FUEL GAUGE

Included in this diesel wideband kit is one of our JRP Edge 52mm LCD air fuel ratio gauges, we bundle all of our single sensor wideband kits with these gauges and were made by us here at JRP to our strict high standards to be the perfect companion to the Spartan range of wideband products from 14Point7. These gauges have a dedicated diesel mode selection which changes the gauges from displaying the standard 10-20 AFR range to the expanded range outputted by the Spartan 3D Lite of 10-40 AFR which is the requirement for tuning diesel motors. The Spartan 3D is pre-configured to output this expanded AFR range of 10-40,  and with a sample switching of the gauges to diesel mode after install you are ready to get tuning.

The JRP Edge 52mm LCD range of gauges are an absolutely stunning gauge design, beautifully finished black alloy body’s, thick scratch resistant tempered glass fronts with a modern look without going over the top. The are perfect for pillar pod mounting, or they also come with their own gauge pod which you can place anywhere in the vehicle you wish simply and neatly. The crown jewel of the Edge 52mm LCD gauges is the amazing VA type LCD panels that were developed for these gauges. The LCD panels used in these gauges took over a year in development, they are one of the most clear and easy to read LCD gauges on the market, they are capable of being extremely bright for an LCD using that high quality VA panel, and of course also have brightness adjustment for night time operation. As soon as you see these light up you will know right away these are not your typical LCD gauge, the have an amazing clarity to them. There is nothing about these gauges that looks cheap or boring, and you will see this right away.

They have been named Edge simply because the LCD panel has been able to be made to run almost to the very edge of the gauge creating a seamless and stunning looking air fuel ratio gauge. The gauges are also a 10-colour gauge, allowing you to select from 10 different colours to suit your own personal preference. These gauges are a truly stunning and perfect companion to the Spartan 3D Lite Diesel wideband controllers.

Diesel AFR Range Of 10-40

One of the main differences between the Spartan 3D Lite Diesel wideband and standard wideband products is these have an expanded range of 10-40 AFR, standard widebands which are intended for petrol applications lack the proper air fuel ratio range to be able to tune Diesel vehicles, most standard wideband controllers have a fixed range between 10 to 20 AFR and this falls short of the wider range required for tuning Diesels. Most diesel vehicles will be shooting for AFR’s of between 18 to 26 in various conditions like idle, cruise, full load etc. So a wideband with a range of 10 to 20 AFR just wont cut it for Diesels, so this is one of the major differences between the Spartan 3D Lite diesel wideband gauge and others is that these units have a wider air fuel ratio range of 10 to 40 to make sure diesel customers have that wider range required for tuning and motoring these motors throughout their various operating conditions.

Bosch 4.9 02 Sensor

One of the most important parts of a wideband gauge kit be it diesel or petrol is the oxygen sensor itself, this is the sensor that will be placed in your exhaust stream and reads the mixture ratio of air to fuel and is what the Spartan 3D Lite controller uses to determine this so it can give you an AFR readout on the gauge. Being Diesels can be very rough on 02 sensors, we only use 100% genuine Bosch motorsport 4.9 02 sensors, we specifically import these sensors from the USA from Bosch motorsport division to here in Australia to bundle with this kit, you can be assured when buying the Spartan 3D Lite Diesel wideband air fuel ratio gauge kit from us that you are getting a genuine Bosch oxygen sensor. Bosch themselves have given these sensors a use rating for both Petrol & Diesel applications, so you can also be assured as well that these sensors are the perfect companion to this dedicated diesel wideband gauge kit. We are currently in the process of doing real world testing of our JRP 4.9 02 sensors in diesel applications, once we have completed that testing and are happy with the results in a diesel environment, we will also be offering these kits with our JRP 4.9 sensors for a slightly lower cost, but for the time being these kits are only sold with the industry standard Bosch 4.9’s.

0.01 Lambda Accuracy

Apart from build quality, durability and a reasonable cost for the product, accuracy of a wideband controller is paramount, you want to have confidence that the AFR readout you are seeing on the gauge is a true representation of what is going on in your exhaust stream.  14point7 takes extreme pride in the accuracy of their Spartan wideband controllers, and because of the high-quality components used and their extensive factory calibration process each unit goes under, this little unit boasts a 0.01 Lambda or 0.15 AFR accuracy out of the box. 14point7 have been in the wideband game for well over a decade, and when buying and using the Spartan 3D Lite diesel wideband you can rest assure that the air fuel ratio you see on your gauge is really what is going on with your motors fuelling.

Monitors 02 Sensor Temp

Another nifty little feature of the Spartan 3D Lite diesel wideband is that it can measure and report sensor temperature, some of you might not know why this can be helpful, so we will explain. It is important when placing your oxygen sensor in your exhaust to not only angle the sensor correctly, but also to place it where the sensor is not exposed to too much or too little heat, getting either of these incorrect can lead to premature failing of the 02 sensor. The Spartan 3D Lite comes with a little LED on the wideband controller itself which will blink slowly if the sensor is too cold, or blink fast if the sensor is too hot or stay solid if sensor temp is optimal. One of the main causes of premature sensor failure is related to improper placement or treatment of the sensors, with this added little feature you can be confident your sensor is running at its optimal running temperature and have peace of mind in that area of your install.

ARM Cortex Inside

The Spartan 3 range of wideband controllers have had a major update in the microcontroller side of things, all units in the range are now equipped with a ST Microelectronics ARM Cortex M4. The Microcontroller used on wideband products are important as they are responsible for handling the very time critical computations required for fast response times, analog to digital conversions, features like CAN Bus, being able to flash update the firmware on units, and to a large degree overall how the wideband will perform in the real world. The ARM Cortex M4 is an extremely impressive microcontroller on paper and 14point7 have made use of this powerful little unit to be the heart and soul of the Spartan 3 range of wideband controllers. When buying any of the Spartan 3 range for your application you can rest assured you are getting a unit with an extremely powerful little microcontroller working behind the scenes to bring you one of the fastest, most accurate and durable wideband products on the market today.

Dual Power + Noise Filtering

Another high-end feature that you will find on the Spartan 3 range of wideband controllers is 14point7 has separated both the power & ground circuits for the wideband controller electronics and the 02 sensor heater. There is a dedicated power source required for both the wideband controller electronics & for the oxygen sensor heater. So, with the Spartan 3’s there are two +12v power feeds and 2x grounds required when installing. There is a couple of good reasons for this design choice, the major one and was also present on the Spartan 2’s in the form of a dedicated ground for the 02 sensor heater is having the second ground has proven to stabilize and reduce overall noise on the outputs which is where your wideband signal comes from when connecting to gauges giving a much more stable and accurate reading coming out of the controller to your interfacing device, such as gauges, ECU’s etc. You will find in high end wideband controllers they also run a dual ground setup like the Spartan 3 has and for a good reason. Most other wideband controllers like Innovate, AEM etc do not do this or if they do it is on models at much higher prices, so this is just another reason why the Spartan 3 is a cut above the rest in this price range.

Another good reason for adding the second power source instead of just another ground is now the wideband controller electronics is protected by a 250ma fused circuit, where the 02 sensor heater is protected with a 5A fused circuit. As you can see there is a major difference between the electronics draw and the heater draw. Having the two separated and only allowing a max 250ma draw before a fuse pops on the electronics side is going to go a long way to protecting the wideband circuitry.