Microtech Or Autronic???

[lumpy]

its certainly bash microtech week isnt it........

i was talking to sean today, (supercrown) and he pretty well sumed it up. for your normal person who has a car that competes in the odd bit of motor sport and is driven on the street like most of the people on this forum any ecu be it autronic, microtech, EMS etc will do the job in the hands of the right tuner. sean, having an autronic on his crown said most people dont really have the need for all the extras the SM4 offers unless they are racing in V8 super cars or the top level of motorsport, which last time i read, not to many people on this forum race in.

feel free to keep bashing the microtech product, the current product offerings are good units and there are plenty of happy owners, which i am one of and i will continue to use the product whilst ever i am involved in motorsport.

too true! I'm sure a lot of the armchair experts would love to see the shitbox laptop sean used to tune the supercrown even though he has a "woo woo" autronic!. I'm no mircotech fanboy but it's funny to think that the 1j-747 does race in it's top level of motorsport (sport compact) and uses a microtech. Having seen a little bit of autronic stuff in action I do like the ease of tuning and how you can jump to the value you want to correct on the fly just by hitting the spacebar.

People unfairly bag out microtech based on past assumptions/performance/features. By that rationale you should all be hating microsoft for giving such a pissweak feature set in windows 2.0.

[takai]

People unfairly bag out microtech based on past assumptions/performance/features. By that rationale you should all be hating microsoft for giving such a pissweak feature set in windows 2.0.

But we do. Only Microsoft has given us so many more wonderful reasons to hate them as well....

[lumpy]

But we do. Only Microsoft has given us so many more wonderful reasons to hate them as well....

sure, but 99% of the world still runs perfectly fine on windows......... (despite the odd BSOD and massively frustrating moment).

Lets all hate microtech for making cheap, easily accessible ecus that do the job most of the time but fail to provide to provide some of the features super racers sometimes use.

[monstadore]

These pissing contests make me laugh every time. We all know we each have our loyalties, yet we somehow firmly believe that through constant bombardment of a particular brand, that oneday everyone will suddenly go "Shit!! He's right you know, they are better... I've got it wrong all this time!".... Definitely good reading though.

You cant get much simpler than a microtech to install and tune - and be reliable!
From PERSONAL experience though, you cant beat the resolution of the autronic.

Make mine an Autronic - with a side order of jiggy!

[IN 05 NT]

lol.........

[IN 05 NT]

ok, who has the sm4 and how do they find it?

tax time is coming up, so i'll have cash for one!

[MR 1JZ]

I wired a microtech

and im an idiot

they are very simple...and thats good sometimes!

but i just helped my mate aussie buy an SM4 and me and the bigworm will be fucking around with it sometime next week id say...should be funtimes ahead

[The Real Roadrunner]

my vote is bigworm will take teh smoke out of teh wires hehehe.

[STREET 4ST]

the autronic have a lot more features and control alot of aux ports as well plus there base mapping is far greaster than a microtech
the microtechs are for more race apps with very little mapping mainly for wide open throttle
the autronics are alot more expensive though

[Mos]

I have an SM4 but haven't had it running yet. Best way to check out specs is to download the software and have a play.

From a technology perspective they are awesome - no heatsinking on anything internally - all the FETs are high current, fast slew rate, extremely low turn on resistance meaning they heat very very little and the copper pad on the pcb is sufficient to keep their thermal dissipation in check. Some of the FETs have internal over current, over temp, over whatever protection and hence cannot be blown by shorting outputs etc.
All of the extra outputs are 3.5A FETs, but the rated current is sometimes limited to 2A presumably due to pcb track width and connector pin size.

The push pull drivers for stepper motors, and also the ignition outputs, are the outputs of a 4 channel, 1A, half H bridge driver chip - also with protection so shorting won't blow them.

The case, even though it looks like a heatsink, it's purely a mechanical and EMI component. Why does any of this make a difference? Well, it's designed to run cool, so you don't have to worry about where you put it because airflow doesn't make a difference and output components having their own internal protection increases reliability.

There are also a number of areas that allow plug in daughter boards to be added later - I'm guessing that's where the knock control idea comes from.
From a PCB assembly side they are top notch - nothing can be faulted in terms of soldering or placement of components. While maybe not quite medical grade assembly, the construction is definitely not a cost-cutting area.

The internal MAP sensor is a 29PSI absolute pressure device, meaning it's only 2 bar.

The software contains wiring diagrams and pinout diagrams including details on the type of output/input - ie push pull, pull down, internal pullup, etc.


The choices to run the VVTi 1UZ were limited to Wolf V500, Autronic SM4 and Motec products. The Motec products, while considered by everyone to be top of the range, are simply cost prohibitive - the choice was then between the V500 and the SM4.
After speaking to several tuners and enthusiast the V500 was scrapped off the list - one of the reasons was the suggestion that newer Wolf products tend to be underdeveloped (M$ syndrome?), so while having an impression feature list, not all features work properly (in contrast to features not being there ). The Autronic product has a much better reputation, and is also considered by some as on par with Motec.

While I have no experience with Microtechs, my opinion is that the general concensus is they are a lower quality offering than the Autronic products and are aimed at a different market. With that in mind, I have no issue with Autronic's support structure - end user support is an expensive proposition, one that is passed on to the dealers. In reality you can get plenty of information out of the right people if you ask nicely.


My only gripe is the 4 ignitions outputs, meaning the need to run a multiplexor if you don't want to run COP coil packs in wasted spark config on a 6 or an 8.

One reason why some factory ignitors don't like running wasted spark is that in factory configuration they only ever fire one coil at a time - wasted spark basically doubles the current through internal components and some ignitors are not designed to handle this extra current so they burn out internally (eg on the ground conductor).


In terms of the Micro$oft comment - market share has nothing to do with quality.

Mos.

[IN 05 NT]

the autronic have a lot more features and control alot of aux ports as well plus there base mapping is far greaster than a microtech
the microtechs are for more race apps with very little mapping mainly for wide open throttle
the autronics are alot more expensive though

this is exactly whats going thru my head....

the celica is being used/set up for track, and wont see the road to often....

so in the terms of racing applications, would it be worth $2200 for the SM4 for track application, or $1200 for the microtech and spend the money elsewhere...ie susp...?

would there be any power difference between ecu's once they hav been tuned?

what do you guys think of the above?

[Joshstix]

There will be no peak power difference but quite possibly there will be differences in the transient response where the microtech does not have the resolution required to get it perfect.

On the question of is it worth it for track to get the more expensive, if you're serious definately. The datalogging is an awesome tool for improving the performance of the car as a package.

[IN 05 NT]

There will be no peak power difference but quite possibly there will be differences in the transient response where the microtech does not have the resolution required to get it perfect.

On the question of is it worth it for track to get the more expensive, if you're serious definately. The datalogging is an awesome tool for improving the performance of the car as a package.

yeah good point......got a reca meeting in a couple weeks, will speak to a few of the guys that have aftermarket ecus...see what there opinions are on the issue

[stumpygt4]

this is exactly whats going thru my head....

the celica is being used/set up for track, and wont see the road to often....

so in the terms of racing applications, would it be worth $2200 for the SM4 for track application, or $1200 for the microtech and spend the money elsewhere...ie susp...?

would there be any power difference between ecu's once they hav been tuned?

what do you guys think of the above?

I recently purchased a M4pro with loom, MAP sensor, air temp sensor, water temp sensor, boost control valve, all new for $2900. I thought that was a reasonable price

[The Real Roadrunner]

i seem to get in this arguement quite regularly but in terms of the autronic stuff if you just want a track car i would only look at the SMC with a reluctor box for mag sensors.
what do you need to control in a race application. pumps,fans,boost and thats pretty much got the aux stuff covered

some ppl say the sm4 is only for race purposes (NFI)
the sm4 has all the extras for lots of reasons, mainly so you can have your cake and eat it to, by that i mean it can be configured so you have a car that starts with the turn of a key and walk away while it warms up and you finish your coffee.
fuel economy is better
with aux O/P wired properly when the a/c or fans switch on you wont know it becuase it holds the same idle
its all there for a better all round daily car that you dont want to hold your foot on the throttle while it warms up, you want good economy, you want to be able to drive it home in limp mode if a sensor dies,blablabla.
the advantages far out weigh the price tag that i garuantee.

moss you forgot that you can order a 4bar map aswell