Power Commander V bug.

cwalker2

Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
224
Reaction score
204
Just wanted to give a heads up to users of the PCV. Found a strange glitch. When mapping and using it like a standard PCIII (one map for all gears) all worked well. When the speedo frequency input was hooked up and learned for each gear all was good. Then I promoted the map to advanced mode for gear dependant tuning and that's when the glitch happened.

What was previously a smooth responding bike became very glitchy at 2000 to 2700 rpm. Now normally I don't spend anytime there so I'm nit picking here, but what I found was surprising. I put the bike back on the dyno for a quick check expecting to find a lean condition at 2000 - 2500 rpm. Well, I did and it appeared in all gears, but what was strange was the test results. I put the bike in third and selected the third gear map. The flaw was at 2% throttle and 2000 to 2700 rpm. I enriched it and no change. It was running around 16 to 17:1 so it was real balky. I wound up increasing fuel by 50% and zero fueling change. Didn't matter if I sent table or sent map (had that issue before - sometimes PC's need to be persuaded with a 2x4). Even with positive values in the 2% column the pulse width would shrink as the bike passed through 2 to 2.5K rpm. Had the same issue in all gears although less pronounced bucking in the higher gears. Still the same super lean issue and no control over the fact that the PC was trying to remove pulse width regardless of gear.

I observed the "% Fuel change" values and they read -25%. Hence a 4 - 5 mSec pulse width was dropping to 3 mSec as the bike reved through those cells. I went back to the basic map (same one for all gears as the original and still using the values of 5,6 and 10 in the PC Bins) and the issue went away. Happily running with values of 5, 6 and 10 in the 2000, 2250 and 2500 rpm bins at 2%. No longer experiencing a 25% fuel cut.

I contacted Dynojet and got the usual clueless response.

So, this is just a heads up to anyone who does not have access to a dyno and is using a PC-V. Going to advanced could yield an issue and throwing bigger values at it trying to enrich the lean spot may not have any affect. If you have an auto tune module hooked up and are expecting the module to come up with new values for the PC, you might chase your tail wondering why the bike still runs like poo. Fortunately I was able to observe all the goings on in real time on the dyno so I was able to catch the goofy -25% fuel change pop up out of nowhere and then disappear as quickly as it arrived (5% throttle and above worked fine as well as all other rpm bins).

I have not upgrade the firmware in my test PC-V so it may well be fixed, but the tech at Dynojet was unaware of any issues or fixes like I mentioned. I'm going to reflash this bike's PC-V with the new firmware and try again. Hopefully we can do it next week.

cwalker2

Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
224
Reaction score
204
OK. I can't help myself so I went out and performed the test just a few minutes ago.

So I was running PCV software version 1.0.2 a while ago (since released) and I upgraded to the latest 1.0.3.2 and that's what I was running during the most recent test. So control center software is up to date. Therefore it was time for a reflash of the firmware.

I was running V0.1.2 and I upgraded to V0.1.4.0. Not without a stumble - of course. Had one loading issue, but it seems it didn't like the folder I placed the firmware file in, so I moved it into the program files/Power Commander 5 folder and the next attempt recovered. I then tested the same map with the new firmware. Everything worked just as well as previous with a single Basic map. 2K through 2500 at 2% worked just fine.

We then promoted to gear advanced and pasted in the same map to all gears. We saved the map to file and then downloaded the map to the Power Commander. I ran the bike in third gear and put the map selection on the third gear table. Final result - at 2% throttle and 2000 - 2500 rpm even with positive values in the cells (the same as the values that work in a basic map) the Power Commander starts subtracting fuel and shows a -25% fuel change and the bike goes super lean (17:1) - same as before.

I then reverted to the single basic map and all is good again. Correct fueling (or at least the intended and requested fueling, i.e. where a 6 is entered we see a 6% positive change).

So the big firmware reflash = No workie. That wasn't the cause of the problem. The Power Commander in Advanced Gear mode is simply bamboozled and has no idea what to do regardless of firmware version.

Again, this isn't a problem internal to the Busa. The Power Commander is intentionally removing 25% of the fuel as it displays the intended fuel change on the Control Center software screen. For some reason however it simply does not match what is entered in the appropriate rpm/TPS bin.

I hope that helps any of you who have been chasing your tails trying to tune on the street without the aid of real time displays.

smac

Donating Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
2,153
Reaction score
15
Get rid of the pcv and get your ecu flashed! That is the way to go..JMHO...

Draco1340

Registered
Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
791
Reaction score
18
gear based mapping has never worked

It did with the PCIII with USB Hub. I used gear based mapping on my PCIII succesfully for 2 years before going over to ecueditor. Sounds like they screwed it up when they combined the Hub functionality into the PCV.

Johnnycheese

Registered
Joined
Feb 21, 2000
Messages
3,953
Reaction score
38
could be
let me restate the gear based doesn't work it does but 99% of the riding folks doesn't need it
Back
Top