The regular Unichip units:
The 3D ignition map:
The 2D ignition map:
The 3D fuel map:
The 2D fuel map:
An adapter used to connect the chip to a PC:
A kit used for tuning the chip:
An Autronic kit:
A Quick recap:
The UNICHIP is essentially an additional computer (ECU-bis) installed in a car, by definition it harbors some of the functions of the stock ECU (such as: cold-start control, temperature corrections, etc.). In most cases, the UNICHIP allows for the adjustment of the ignition and the composition of the actual fuel mixture in a total of 13 throttle positions with 400RPM steppings.
If the UNICHIP's ignition and fuel maps are "registered" with zeros (000000), the car operates under stock parameters. For every point on the scale of RPMs vs the Load, the tuner can readjust (retard or advance) the ignition and set the mixture to rich and/or lean (all of this in real time on a running engine) until a desired effect is achieved. There is (now) more than 300 map-able points. Older models has about 200-250 points.
It is also unnecessary to fine tune the entire map. The chip can actually approximate the values of the points found between the set values.
Furthermore, the UNICHIP changes the signals of cam location/placement and the loads imposed on the engine. The newest models can (in addition to the stuff above) control boost pressure, water injection and nitro injection. Their parameters pertain to additional tables activated if and only if they are actually needed! The UNICHIP can introduce a nitro cut-off at specific RPMs and control the water and/or nitro injections over a customizable RPM range.
UNICHIP key features:
1- modifications of tweakble fuel maps (separate maps for daily, economical and sport settings) - in real time
2- modifications of a tweakable ignition map - in real time
3- the fuel and ignition maps divide into:
3a- a neutral-gear map,
3b- a full-throttle map
3c- an intermediate throttle positions map
4- wastegate control, boot pressure control
5- variable valve timing & lift engagement/range control
6- additional nitro, water injection control (separate maps)
6a- additional fuel injectors control (up to 4 extra injectors)
7- removal of the rev-limiter or change of its RPM location
8- removal of the speed governor
9- rescaling of the electronic speed gauge (following a wheels swap)
10- an upgrade of VAF, MAF equipped vehicles to full MAP sensor status
11- launch control (a.k.a. - a variable RPM limiter for the clutch control)
all graphs, dynos, xplnations as to what not is
found here
Briefly, the Unichip is a separate programmable ECU which interfaces to the existing ECU and is used to optimise the fuel, ignition advance / retard and boost pressure across the entire RPM range and at all throttle positions.
It does not alter cold start, knock sensors, temperature compensation, air conditioning or auto trans control etc. Unichip will drive a number of other items such as water spray and auxiliary injectors, delete speed limiter etc. The construction of the Unichip is circuitry mounted inside an extruded aluminium casing and then resin filled. This ensures the highest reliability and resistance to vibration and heat.
Primary use for Unichip is to optimise the EFI strategy for the exact requirements of the that particular engine with whatever modifications made to it. Basically the optimum power and torque across the throttle range and at any point in the RPM range with the best possible throttle response and driveability along with the best fuel economy under cruise conditions.
Self Learn
1: The factory ECU is an intelligent self learning unit. Once the UniChip is tuned to the car, how does the Unichip cope with the learning characteristics of the factory ECU?
Modern ECUs employ a number of different mechanisms to optimize engine performance, emissions and engine durability. Closed Loop - An O2 sensor is used to monitor the air/fuel ratio and is used primarily under cruise conditions at light throttle opening (generally below 25% throttle opening) to achieve air/fuel ratios within a predetermined window of values. Ideally lambda 1 (14.7:1 Air Fuel Ratio). The standard ECU trims injector duty cycle (amount of fuel) only and does not trim ignition advance in closed loop.
The Unichip promotes closed loop operation by running an optimum ignition map at part throttle in an effort to make it easier for the ECU to achieve lambda 1. This learning facility is necessary and enhances fuel economy and is mandatory for ADR/emission compliance. One needs to understand that the standard O2 sensor is a narrow band sensor which reads mixtures from around 14:1 to 15.5:1. Outside this range, the O2 sensor does not operate and adjust the air fuel ratio.
Once the ECU is out of closed loop, it reverts to predetermined fuel and ignition tables. There is no or little learning facility in this mode. It is very easy for you to bring the ECU out of closed loop. A light stab on the throttle will bring the mixtures outside those able to be monitored by the O2 sensor.
If the knock sensor system activates (detonation) the ECU will reduce boost and ignition timing for the sake of engine durability). This takes some time to come back. The Unichip does not affect this function. We see it as an important safe guard for long-term engine durability. This function is also often confused as "self learn". Let's take a step back and look at it in general terms and ask a fundamental question. How does an ECU know if the engine is producing more power?
a. Boost pressure: It is logical to assume that when a high boost signal is seen by the standard ECU, it will deduce that the engine is making high power. With an interceptor style ECU, the standard ECU will never see high boost (i.e. instead of say 5 Volts, it only sees 4 Volts). The ECU is satisfied and will not attempt to adjust boost or affect other functions.
b. Mass air flow meter: The standard ECU may see normal boost (when it is actually high) however the signal from the air mass meter may be very high. It is logical that the standard ECU may think that it is producing high power. Again with an interceptor ECU, the ECU may never see that high signal, so the ECU is again satisfied and will not attempt to affect other functions. There is no facility for the standard ECU to say that at a particular RPM point and at a certain throttle position, it should see a certain air flow value. Otherwise the ECU would not cope with altitude changes etc. In a nutshell, the standard ECU does not try to pull values back to predetermined levels. It tries to keep mixtures within limits at cruise and the ignition timing off the knock sensor circuit. Both good things to do.
2: How does the Unichip compensate for the factory ECU's closed-loop system "tuning out" all the adjustments made? In closed loop the ECU makes adjustments to air fuel ratios and not ignition timing. We generally do not alter air fuel ratios in closed loop. The only instance where we do alter closed loop fuel with Unichip is when say aggressive camshafts are used which push the air fuel ratios outside the O2 sensor's narrow band. The Unichip is used to bring the air fuel ratios back within range so that closed loop will again operate correctly. The reason we do this is so that at cruise, the optimum air fuel ratios are achieved - good economy and throttle response. Closed loop equals perfect air fuel ratios for cruise conditions. I'm not sure why anyone would want to run anything but the optimum air/fuel ratio at cruise - which is exactly what the ECU controls in closed loop. As I mentioned above, we tune engines to have optimum ignition timing when in closed loop to gain more torque, the best throttle response and optimum fuel economy.
3: Does the Unichip have to be retuned on a regular basis? Once programmed the Unichip does not need attention or reprogramming unless some other modifications are made which change the EFI strategy requirements - such as poor quality fuel or a fuel pump begins to fail (low fuel rail pressure).
4: Assuming the airflow meter signal is being "controlled", if adjustments for fuel are made does this affect the ignition timing as well? How about boost control? The Unichip is used to adjust fuel, ignition advance/retard and boost pressure - not just fuel. On highly modified engines, items such as auxiliary injectors, water spray or injection, etc. can be controlled and accurately mapped. There is also a good deal of Boolean logic which can be programmed within the Unichip to make intelligent decisions for control of other devices. The 3 primary parameters for engine performance are fuel, ignition advance/retard and boost pressure. The optimum values for these change markedly depending on the throttle position, engine RPM, temperature etc. etc. Take boost pressure as an example, the optimum boost pressure at 3,500 rpm is different to that at 5,000 rpm. Rather than running a single boost pressure throughout the RPM range, the Unichip is used to set the boost pressure at each point in the RPM range. This means that aggressive boost pressures can be programmed where it is safe to do so (typically in the mid RPM range) and to pull boost pressure down at higher RPM. Of course, as the boost pressure is varied, the air fuel ratios and ignition advance must be corrected - A single ECU should perform this task. By running the optimum safe boost pressure, fuel and ignition at each point in the RPM range, the engine will produce the maximum safe power and torque without having to sacrifice engine durability or performance. In other words, you do not have to run modest boost pressure across the RPM range to keep things safe up high.
5: Is there any way of INDEPENDENTLY adjusting fuel, ignition timing and boost pressure? See 4 above. The Unichip controls the parameters independently. The Unichip tuner is presented with 3D ignition and fuel maps along with a boost vector. The ignition and fuel maps contain 17 RPM points times 12 throttle position load sites - 204 separate adjustments for air fuel ratios, 204 separate adjustments for ignition advance/retard and 8 separate boost values throughout the RPM range.
6: How many wires have to be cut and spliced? Can this be done by anyone with the appropriate instructions? The Unichip *must* be installed and tuned in real time by a trained Unichip EFI specialist.
7. Can the Unichip product remove: - Speed cuts - boost cuts - RPM cuts? The Unichip will remove speed cut (180 kph on the STI for example) and fuel cut under high boost situations. The Unichip rev limit module is currently undergoing testing and should be available early 2001.
8. If the intercepted signal is modified excessively, can this cause the factory ECU to flag the input as a fault and go into a limp-home mode?
In normal operation this is not an issue. You would have to do something very radical to have this happen.
9. There are many myths about self learn and aftermarket ECUs from people without direct experience. What do your customers have to say Apart from the extra power the part throttle response was amazing. Just a quick note to let you know that the REX is great, what a rush. It's like a completely different car, my friends and I can't believe the transformation you've done. I can feel the extra power at 1/2 throttle. And it feels goooooooooood ) Apart from the extra power the part throttle response was amazing. I have had this in the car for six months with 4 track days and can tell you the myth about the factory ECU learned and "tune out" the UniChip adjustments are just that "myth". The car still drive like it was when i first had the UniChip Installed. I have just had a Unichip installed last week and let me say that the improvement over what the car previously was immense. The car drives exceptionally well and the power and torque gains are amazing to say the least. The power is much smoother and feels more like a large (read: VERY) capacity engine, than a 2 litre turbo. 155kw at the wheels and 4500 Newtons of tractive effort out of a little car is ballistic in my view. I just wrote to say thank you for installing, fitting and tuning a truly excellent piece of automotive equipment, and for transforming my car from something very quick to something out of control!!! I must thank you for all your help you have given me over the last 3 months. I am glad I ended up getting the unichip instead of the XXX plug and play MY99/00 EMS. My unichip provides everything necessary for my car. My car now gets to 100Km/hr 0.8 seconds quicker with the unichip and a little more boost, bringing it down to 4.6 seconds..With an AUTO !!
:smile:
contact info (just in case u want it):
Jack Friedman, General Manager
Unichip of North America
707.481.2355 jack@unichip.us
ECU learning... there aren't any learning issues to be concerned with because
we're working in open loop where learning doesn't/can't occur. Learning requires
feedback, otherwise there's nothing to learn from, and in open loop there is no feedback
because the richer air-fuel ratio is outside the 02 sensor's sensing element's responsive
area... it's therefore incapable of measuring what's happening, and therefore incapable of
providing feedback for the ECU to learn from.
Learning can be an issue in closed loop where the 02 sensor can measure, but it
isn't an issue for us because we tune in closed loop to what the car wants to see anyway
(a 14.7-1 air-fuel ratio). The only time it's ever really an issue is on highly modified
vehicles.
The harness already includes a switch which allows you to cut power to the ECU
(which we include as an anti-theft feature and to provide an easy way to clear CE lights)
which will fulfill that task should it be required. When the ECU power is cut for long
enough, all of the volatile memory dumps (all learning and fault codes)
The GB will be open a few more days at least but not much longer due to the time frame it takes to have all the parts on hand and the units assembled and programmed. We are at 12 or 13 right now counting a couple of mail ins and one I will use on an upcoming turbo kit for a customer.
The planned delivery date is just in time for Christmas Everything should work out to make this happen, only worry is the holiday mail slowing things up.
Once you have your unit, on the GB only, you get one free retune if you make a mod to your car, for the lifetime of the original owner, whenever you need it, you just pay the shipping costs. None GB or additional retunes will be somewhere around $35 plus shipping.
Jack is working on an idea to have a fast turnaround setup where you make a deposit, he sends a retuned unit out, once you get it just swap them out and mail the old one back, cost is still the same, no downtime and still warrantied. This would be made feasable for Jack by having a pool of units that are reissued so they would not be new each time, makes sense when you look at it that way. No problem, low cost and garranteed, sounds great to me!
For the 04 XRS air pump, that is believed to be a non issue, they work in closed loop configuration and all the unichip areas are done in the open loop areas, anyone want to bring a car to them they will verifiy that as well.
The stock ECU will handle cold start, altitude changes, warm up, normal driving even, just when you start getting on it does the unichip need to take over, this way we get the best of both worlds, good driveability and performance.
The tuners that are tuning the plug and play units have tuned many thousands of cars, they really know their stuff, makes me feel very warm and fuzzy knowing it will be done by such experienced individuals.
That'd be nice but it says only '03 + Corollas?? Why? My 1zz is the same as in the 03+, and it's not like fitement would matter like it does with intake/exhaust components.
Bah, anyway I don't have that kind of money!
Post up the results when people get them instyalled though
Originally posted by mistamatrix The GB should've happened AFTER testing and final results.
IMO.
Totally agree with ya Mista!
That is how I would have preferred it to go down. But, since I dont have control over the situation, I decided to go for it now and save some $$$ in the long run.
I look at it like this, I didnt hesitate to drop $600 on a CAI and exhaust without seeing a dyno of the combo on my car setup. I guess I'm banking on the Unichip providing at least the same performance gains that I received from the CAI and exhaust.
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) Apart from the extra power the part throttle response was amazing. I have had this in the car for six months with 4 track days and can tell you the myth about the factory ECU learned and "tune out" the UniChip adjustments are just that "myth". The car still drive like it was when i first had the UniChip Installed. I have just had a Unichip installed last week and let me say that the improvement over what the car previously was immense. The car drives exceptionally well and the power and torque gains are amazing to say the least. The power is much smoother and feels more like a large (read: VERY) capacity engine, than a 2 litre turbo. 155kw at the wheels and 4500 Newtons of tractive effort out of a little car is ballistic in my view. I just wrote to say thank you for installing, fitting and tuning a truly excellent piece of automotive equipment, and for transforming my car from something very quick to something out of control!!! I must thank you for all your help you have given me over the last 3 months. I am glad I ended up getting the unichip instead of the XXX plug and play MY99/00 EMS. My unichip provides everything necessary for my car. My car now gets to 100Km/hr 0.8 seconds quicker with the unichip and a little more boost, bringing it down to 4.6 seconds..With an AUTO !!
Linear Mode
