Innovate LC1/XD16 Rant!

[Cobra912]

Well I gotta rant. I spent the last 4 days trying to get my POS Innovate LC-1 XD-16 gauge kit to work.

I bought it brand new from a dealer on Ebay and had it shipped to me. I installed it per their instructions which by the way are confusing. Maybe just me? But everything was double checked and wired nicely with proper soddering and grounds.

Anyways I could not get the LC1 to communicate with the XD16 gauge for NOTHING! I tired everything. I emailed Innovate several times and the only reply was them asking me if the sensor was hot. It was and I emailed back for more solutions. Well the only answer I got was - send it back. WTF. I paid for shipping and then stupid customs fees and now I'm gonna ship a new wideband kit, pay for repairs, and pay for return shipping and then more customs fees because god forbid the government doesn't get their money. I think not!

So...............I had to go buy a serial port to usb adapter for my netbook because innovate ships only a serial cable with the kit. Even though no stinkin laptops come with serial ports anymore. Anyways, after screwing around for hours trying to get the adapter to recognize the LC-1 or the XD16 without success.

The next day I finally get them both recognized and open using the LM programmer and Logworks. It would only read from them when I plugged in the adapter, then the cable to the adapter, then power the ignition. Very finiky. After two solid nights of this I finally say screw it,I try to update both unit's firmware from their website. Wow, low and behold the gauge is now reading from the LC1. Again, it wouldn't make sense for it just to work out of the box............no .........that would make sense. Now the gauge shows the heater warming up and then goes to a an error message (E2). Well of course there wouldn't be a list of error codes in their manual or their website. And you can't find them because their forums are down for overhaul. So where do I have to go? To an RX7 forum. Wow. The E2 error is a heater error (open loop).

So......I said to myself there is no way this thing is crap right out of the box. So I re-did all my wiring again by moving my grounds and eliminating any uneeded length of wire or connections. Grounds are unbelieveably critical!!!! The system is super sensitive to this. After screwing around forever I finally get it working!!!!!!!

The gauge is super nice, and I like it's options.

Ease of installation, and troubleshooting

Innovate's technical service

 

[mob]

So it was just a bad ground? How is that the gauges fault?

 

[NIKwoaC]

Man, I keep hearing horror stories about Innovate stuff. Good to hear you got it working.

 

[millhouse]

Good to hear you got it working. I do agree, it's a huge flaw not including at least a USB adaptor. I will say however, I had no issues when I installed my setup…none whatsoever. I followed the directions 100% to the T (they really are not that complicated) and made sure the grounds were correct (they make several references to this in the directions), as it really is sensitive equipment.

As for the error codes, it's right in appendix C in the manual….

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/support/manual/LC-1_Manual.pdf

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/support/manual/XD16_Manual.pdf

 

[90lxcoupe]

I installed myne and it worked fine, but i did have a little trouble with where the RCA connects to and figuring out what went where, i did call innovative and they were helpful, the gauge is a quality piece and they make widebands affordable for the average guy.

it sounds like it was frustrating for you but you cant really bash on innovative for bad grounds, if you would have done it right the first time you wouldnt have even needed to call innovative and it sounds like it was just bad timing that their forums were down when you needed help

 

[Cobra912]

I was having a bad night!

Anyways it was the gauge's fault because the laptop would read the LC-1 but the XD16 wouldn't until I upgraded the firmware. Least that's my story.

The system is crazy sensitive to the grounds. I had tried both bare metal engine and chasis grounds multiple times until I was able to get it to finally work. It's not like I just took bare wire and looped it around a bolt in the car. A search of the web shows that I'm not the only one who has experienced this same problem.

I guess the kit I received was an earlier one, the instructions are slightly different than the on-line. My fault the error codes were there in front of me. So innovate I apologize. I used the LC1 instructions first and screwed around installing the calibration wire, momentary button and LED light (that I went and bought) just to find out that in the XD16 instructions it states it is not neccessary when using this gauge. UUUgggghhhh, I gotta learn to read. One set of instructions would be nice for us knuckle draggers.

Sometimes it's better to walk and away and come back to it the next day. I just thought a little technical assistance would be better than telling someone to ship it back. A 1-800 phoe number would be nice. Now I'm just being picky

Overall it's a nice kit and the gauge is pretty damn cool. You can adust the individual colors to 30 000 different combinations. The lack of USB is pooh IMO.

 

[90lxcoupe]

Sometimes it's better to walk and away and come back to it the next day. I just thought a little technical assistance would be better than telling someone to ship it back. A 1-800 phoe number would be nice. Now I'm just being picky

Overall it's a nice kit and the gauge is pretty damn cool. You can adust the individual colors to 30 000 different combinations. The lack of USB is pooh IMO.

I agree, when i did myne i couldnt figure it out and went in the house frustrated, but the next day i went at it with a clear head and figured it out quick, and im with you on the USB thing, i never got to hook myne up to a laptop for that reason.

 

[mob]

Thats why I went with the AEM when choosing a wideband, I heard good and bad things about the LC1, I heard nothing but good things about the AEM, I got it for very cheap through my work as well.

 

[jrichker]

If you have spent much time around the 5.0 Tech forum, you probably would have seen the "Grounds are important to any electrical system" tech note I post in response to ground problems. Your experience just amplifies that conclusion.

 

[Cobra912]

If you have spent much time around the 5.0 Tech forum, you probably would have seen the "Grounds are important to any electrical system" tech note I post in response to ground problems. Your experience just amplifies that conclusion.

Haha I believe I have. However I had no idea one of the issues was a ground. I mean I really thought I had it covered. Grounded to bare metal, proper soddering, no excess wires, no splices, grounded to same lugs, tried seperate lugs, tried grounded to engine block ground, battery ground, ecu ground, frame rail ground, you name it I tried it!