Apexi Power Fc Vs Unichip

[dj_davo]

well? :D

[Stu8]

Power FC is a Stand Alone ECU

Whilst the unichip is a piggy back ECU.

oh and they are two totally different budgets aswell.

If your just after abit more grunt then the Unichip will be the cheapest and best option for you.

?

[EarL]

If you're going to run a different (bigger, aftermarket) turbo, injectors, fuel rail etc, then the Power FC is a must, but as Stu said, if you're just going to up the boost and have a decent remapable solution, then the UniChip is the way to go.

Unichip - £500 - £600 fitted and mapped.

Power FC - ££££££££££ (Depends on your set up).

Your choice

[Jimlad]

Unichip can still cope with a larger turbo etc. Quizzed dastek on this before in the past.

[EarL]

Unichip can still cope with a larger turbo etc. Quizzed dastek on this before in the past.

←

No doubt mate, but not to the extremes that the Power FC can.

[dj_davo]

i should have mentioned too - if money was no object.

i obviously do prefer the idea of an fc and commander, but playing devils advocate you have to buy a power fc exclusively for every make of car dont you?, and at least you could pull out the unichip and use a different loom to re-use it on another car?

[EarL]

i should have mentioned too - if money was no object.

i obviously do prefer the idea of an fc and commander, but playing devils advocate you have to buy a power fc exclusively for every make of car dont you?, and at least you could pull out the unichip and use a different loom to re-use it on another car? 

←

Spot on mucker

[Rikki]

If money was no object Motec :P

[EarL]

...Mines.

[GSB]

Heres a fact to consider when you're looking at these different chip options:

For a given amount of petrol, and a given amount of air, you will get a defined amount of energy released. It doesnt matter what computer you use to control the spark and injectors...

With that in mind you can see that given a set map dictating boost, fuel, and ignition advance, you will gain no extra power from switching computers between Unichip, apexi, mines etc... That said, the stand alone apexi unit and the unichip do have other advantages unique to their types that have nothing to do with the peak power outputs.

The apexi unit, as a stand alone ECU, has to mapped from scratch. You have to set it up for every rpm, every throttle position, every boost eventuality... The list goes on and on, but depending upon how thourough you are, you will be able to guarantee that given the right fuel, you will be making the maximum power at every throttle positon and engine speed. weather it be at 1500 rpm and 50% throttle, or screaming its pods off at 7000 rpm and 100% throttle. This is perfect for racing. Also when using special fuels, you are able to reach out to ignition advances that the stock ECU, plus the unichip, may not be able to muster.

However, with the advantages comes lot of minus points. Not least of wich is that although (using normal pump fuel) you can acheive the same sort of peak power as with a Unichip (which can and will drive extra fuel rails, big turbos, nitrous, water inj, etc...) and probably more power at low throttle openings, you are getting rid of the stock ECU which has programs within that will start the car under almost any circumstances, and warm it up in a controlled manner with a special fuel and ignition map, you give up the stock ECU's ability to compensate for any altitude, a function programmed into it by toyota engineers over thousands of hours of tuning. You lose all the ECU's ancilliary functions, for example on the mk3 MR2, and nearly every other car built in recent years, the main engine ECU is home to aircon control, power steering control, engine immobilser and alarm supervision, on board diagnostics, data output to instruments, and a whole pile of other things that the stand alone computer either wont support, or will cost you a pile of money to adapt. Again, these are all things you dont need on a race car, but are pretty important in road appliactions.

The Unichip and other piggyback ECU's let you retain all this functionality, yet give you full power at wide throttle settings, which is more than enough for most people.

If you modify your engine way beyond the realms that the stock ECU was meant to work with though, and then ultimatley it will have to go, as it will be trying to run your mega engine like it'd run your nans corrolla.

[Stu8]

I've got the Power FC and what you've said is codswalope to me.

I dont see any minus points when installing the Power FC.

For starters the map isn't from scratch, the ECU has several base maps to choose from.

You dont loose you power steering, air con, or anything.

The ECU detects any drop in idle and compensates, the stock one does it and so does the apexi.

This malarky about the imobiliser not working, I dont whether thats an issue on later Factory installed cars, but for the sw20 there's no problems at all with that.

[GSB]

I've got the Power FC and what you've said is codswalope to me.

I dont see any minus points when installing the Power FC.

For starters the map isn't from scratch, the ECU has several base maps to choose from.

You dont loose you power steering, air con, or anything.

The ECU detects any drop in idle and compensates, the stock one does it and so does the apexi.

This malarky about the imobiliser not working, I dont whether thats an issue on later Factory installed cars, but for the sw20 there's no problems at all with that.

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Ok I stand corrected re: the selection of base maps, but surely these cant be for the 500bhp monsters that would nessesitate the fitment of the apexi over a piggyback type? They'll still surely need considerable tweaking to make them work properly? The point is that the main benefit of piggybacks is that 98% of the time they leave the stock ECU to get on with things as designed, all the development and rolling road time has been done for you. A complete change of ECU is a different matter, which is going to involve a lot more expense and effort to get right.

Also the ECU's on more modern cars are far more integrated than those of only a few years ago. Reactive control over the idle air valve is still used, but the ECU itself controls much of the I/O of systems like the air-con. The functions that were taken care of by a seperate systems like air con computers, are now built into the ECU's. The air con is controlled and monitored from within the ECU, as as the Power steering sytsem. A data bus sends info to the instruments and other systems like the SMT gearbox computer, even the odometer reading is stored on board the main engine ECU. Things like transponder key identities and immobiliser circuits do nothing without going through the main ECU first. Its a lot of stuff to either circumvent or do without entirely. This, and the fact that the tuner has ultimate control over every single aspect of the engine without interference from the stock, road based ecu is what makes the apexi perfect for racing.

[Stu8]

Fair do's on modern cars,you could be totally right on what you saying. :)

(I've never researched or asked any tunners about those issues)

All i'm saying is that with an SW20 there is no problems with installing a Stand Alone system.

[EarL]

If anyone cared to read what I was saying...

Horses for courses.

[KiwiMR2]

I posted some good info on this thread with regards to aftermarket ecu's & 3sgte's :)

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...opic=25112&st=0

Cheers

KiwiMR2