HomemadeTurbo - DIY Turbo Forum - Standalone review: Microtech LT-10s

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Standalone review: Microtech LT-10s

Given the current market it's reputedly bang for the buck. $1200 buys the LT-10s ECU, "IGBT" ignition enhancer (think multi-coil capable MSD6A with built in ignitor), individual coils (four cyl application - Bosch units with short plug wires), serial cable dongle and software. AEM EMS price but includes all the ignition upgrade you'll ever need. Seems like a pretty good value, right?

Prepare for a user-interface disaster, guys. If you aren't up on your engine theory, and don't read stereo instructions for fun, you will very likely be lost.

The LT-series laptop software is a crude reskin over the outdated Microtech hand controller interface - it even has a graphical representation of the controller on screen for those who are more comfortable using it... the whole Microtech architecture is designed around their silly antiquated hand controller, and while the backbone of the LT-10s itself is VERY robust the laptop GUI is a crap design that perpetuates the limited hand controller interface. Values have to be adjusted, or sometimes toggled, one at a time with no ability to grab onto more than one value at a time and make sweeping changes.

The problem is this: using the hand controller interface defaults with only two RPM scalars that can be adjusted; 500 rpm aka "IDLE," and 4000 rpm aka "LOAD," across a plethora of MAP scalars ranging from -30 in/Hg to 30 psig. The fuel maps are projected from 0 to 9000 rpms along a line connecting those two points. Pretty caveman, to put it mildly. Now I know why old school V8 rednecks have referred to it as "the best cheap standalone." :l

Unlocking "matrix mode," which allows RPM scalars in 500 rpm increments from 500-9000 to be edited in a familiar MAP X RPM tabular format, is confusing. You have to shuffle through hand controller oriented "screens" to unlock matrix mode - don't ask Joey why. Once that was done... plod through and increment or decrement injector durations one cell at a time.

At first I found the manner in which Microtech handled ignition mappings very crude, but frankly the end result looks just like every Big Name Tuenar's 2D ignition maps that I've encountered. I can plunk through the ignition settings the Microtech way now without blinking, but the interface is still annoying. The "t_RPM" table is the main ignition line, NOT a table; essentially you have a line going from 500 rpms to 9000 rpms with adjustment points every 500 rpms, and you raise or lower it to the desired value at the desired rpm. The "t_MAP" table is another line broken up along all the familiar MAP scalars that gets a +/- adjustment in degrees; it allows deg/psi advances and retards, allowing me to dial in more timing at part throttle vacuum and do the desired ignition retard under boost. Eh, I would have preferred a 2D table, but I can't say I see any problem with doing it this way... except for the fact most people are too innumerate to visualise what is taking place to utilize it correctly.

There are all the usual fuel and ignition tweaks that can be made in referrence to CTS and IAT readings - startup enrichment, cranking fuel, post-cranking fuel, various ignition manipulations, the works. The "pump" functions were interesting, took a minute to play with and grasp fully, but they worked very well - it's two stages of tip in enrichment that can be configured (or disabled) to activate based on a user-defined rate of change in either MAP or TPS, and there were several styles of fire from asynchronous pulses between main injector events to additional duration added to main injector events. There are also a large number of options, not all of which are supported by all of the Microtech line or available with all equipment configurations, but most are with the rest of the LT-series. All crippled by the hand controller theme, but they work.

My biggest problem with the Microtech offerings is lack of AFR logging function. The LT-10s software logs AFRs all right - narrowband AFRs on a logarythmic scale divergent from the one the AEM UEGO that was utilised provided - in a scrolling line format; no good old fashioned tabular (matrix?) format of AFR values to allow ease of manipulation. Frankly, without the use of a loading dyno to set part-throttle AFRs by RPM scalar, and then taking pulls to set AFRs and timing by MAP scalar, it is hard to tune precisely.

Despite all of this, the LT-10s is well designed. It supports both low and high Z injectors with no resistor box needed, staged injectors, and all sorts of neat little things that can come in handy. That's it's problem, actually. It was designed by electronics engineers with little understanding of human engineering or slick GUIs. Judging from some of the phraseology on their webpage, they understand this and have made the LT-series so that it can be reflashed with upgraded firmwares to "support more features available in the future." I plan on calling them and confirming this, offering to beta test.

The best news is that the Microtech unit works. That sounds like sarcasm, but Hyundaidata sells K-poop for a grand, leaving the end user with tip in AFRs that are uncontrollably rich or lean, roll the dice to figure out which they'll be this pull! In truth, if I dealt with Microtech more my bitching would be 60% less, more like 90% less once AFR logging was definable so that a variety of WBs could be supported.