Power Commander or no?

[Quick636]

What is your opinion on these little computers? I have heard great things about them, and I have heard terrible things about them.

Worth it or no?

[towneh]

greetngs jay636n,
i'm asking the same kind of question... it seems that if you change the exhaust system (reduced backpressure) and the flowrate on the intake thru a performance airfilter/modified airbox/etc., then you need some way of tweaking the mixture and/or timing over the rpm range. i'm studying 2 options that address this issue from a Suzuki standpoint:

1. power commander (for moi.. dynojet 312-311 PC IIIr ) --abt $300
2. Teka SFI by FactoryPro ---------------------------------------abt $600

option 1 requires a laptop to build a custom map from a baseline map that bears the characteristics of your bike. there are some tweaking capabilities on the power commander itself. settings are made, then tried

option 2 is a pricey little box that lets you make the setting changes dynamically without the use of a laptop. more finite than the PCs

the Busa has oodles of power; i'm thinking about dropping the heavy stock exhaust and in doing that the beast will probably run quite lean. the ECU might be able to correct for the shift but we are located at one of the most extreme environs of the country... and i know that i will be running under load at sealevel. one end o' the spectrum to the other.

option 2 attracts my fancy because the adjustments are made while the engine is running; immediate feedback! but the engineering economist in me says that option 1 is the best bang-per-buck solution. also, there are more people (experts???) familiar with the Power Commander.
i haven't gone either way yet but i am familiarizing myself with the PC software.... that's my take (so far),
henry

[brian38]

Couple of notes/observations. The Teka box works well but you almost need a dyno to setup properly (same with the powercommander). Some of the Factory dyno guys have the box they use so you don't have to buy it.

On the Powercommander, I would go with the USB model not the PCIIIr. Typically the USB powercommanders have finer RPM adjustments (every 250 RPM instead of 500) and we have found the PCIIIr timing adjustments to be unecessary. The USB unit is a bettrer one.

Feel free to ask any specific questions.

Brian

[Quick636]

Was it you that dyno'd my bike Brian? 03 ZX6r putting down 102.3 hp

I pretty much know what the pc COULD do for my bike. More power, smooth out the flat spots to the a/f is a nice curve...

My main concern is with the box itself. I have heard numerous accounts of them causing starting problems with bikes, randomly shutting off the bike, and randomly dumping maps for no apparant reason. Feedback on that Brian?

[KooLaid]

For the zuki, don't forget the Yoshimura box thing where you twist a set of dials and tweak the factory map in the stock ECU. No add on modules. For me, I LOVE my PC3, I'd have my bike stolen if it didn't have one. The difference from moving from california made the bike feel PITIFUL up here. After a couple days of tweaking and messing with maps, I finally got one that worked GREAT. It's nice to have, if you need it like my F4i, if you travel between extreme elevation changes often, all you do is plug it into your palm top and change maps. But for stock ECU and mild bolt ons, the stock ecu appears to work fine. I've had ZERO problems with mine.

[brian38]

I think I have only seen one actual "bad" powercommander. And it was a batch of them, something in the manufacturing went wrong. There were problems in the Suzukis, especially the "r" models. That was due to the difference in tolerances in the ignition pickups. If the pickup was on hte outside range of the specs the bike would work fine without the PC3 but wouldn't have the signal to drive the box and the bike. I think the actual failure rate is pretty low and when we saw the bad ones it was immediate.

On a side note, I had an F4i with the PCIIIr and the bike started cutting out until I unplugged the ignition connector. Worked great until the next weekend when the ignition pickup died. Moral of the story is that the PCIIIr amplified the problem but was not the problem.

Brian

[yakuza]

I recall Jim (MileHighGsxr) having the same problem with his Gixxer 1000 and the "r" model, where the ignition was messing up and causing the bike to cut out. He unhooked the ignition timing connector and the bike ran fine.

[KooLaid]

The ignition cutting out, I recall some RC-51's had that problem possibly, but not sure exactly. I also remember something about the RC cutting out when you let off the throttle.

[UglyDogRacing]

I recall Jim (MileHighGsxr) having the same problem with his Gixxer 1000 and the "r" model, where the ignition was messing up and causing the bike to cut out. He unhooked the ignition timing connector and the bike ran fine.

It actually turned out to be a loose battery terminal.

[yakuza]

You're kidding me? I thought said the bike worked fine after unhooking the PC3r. Well at least it wasn't a flaky component.

Sorry for the mis-info above.