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Tue May 19, 2015 7:05 pm

Hey guys so the other day my battery took a shit and I think it took the wideband with it. The gauge wont light up so any one know how to trouble shoot it to see if its gauge or sensor?

Tue May 19, 2015 7:34 pm

Go to the website and download the manual. If that doesn't help, call their helpline. Does it talk with a pc?

Tue May 19, 2015 9:05 pm

I had an MTX-L. It was worthless. And tech support was about the same.

I've given up on Innovate products now. I've had too many failures.

Ironically, I tried the Autometer wideband (figured if the wideband wasn't any good anyway, i'll get one that matches the dash), and so far so good, the gauge works awesome without any failure. No constant recalibration needed or anything.

Wed May 20, 2015 5:51 am

Its really sensitive to voltage problems , I killed one quick ,,, when they work they are great ... what I do now is whenever im messing with voltage related stuff I disconnect it ,, I had cranking problems due to high compression till I got a reduction style starter and on one of those voltage drops from cranking it killed it ..

Wed May 20, 2015 6:03 am

PLX for the win........My Innovate died too.

Wed May 20, 2015 8:28 am

Aaahhh dammnnn theres my problem. I had cranking issues because I had messed with my fuel pump and since that day it hasnt worked since. So i messed up the gauge?

Wed May 20, 2015 11:37 am

I use 14point7.com products. I have never had an issue with his stuff and you can't beat his prices.

Wed May 20, 2015 12:32 pm

Can I buy any other brand of gauge? Will the wiring harness be the same?

Wed May 20, 2015 12:45 pm

the sensor part should be the same, IF they are compatible with the controller. Most displays should be the same or some controllers have programmable analog outputs to output to various things(ecu's, displays and what not).

Wed May 20, 2015 5:30 pm

My autometer takes a completely different sensor than my innovate

Thu May 21, 2015 6:02 am

70turbobaja wrote: Hey guys so the other day my battery took a shit and I think it took the wideband with it. The gauge wont light up so any one know how to trouble shoot it to see if its gauge or sensor?

What do you mean by battery took a shit? I cant figure how a dead or dying battery would ruin the meter. usually it is over voltage that harms devices, not an under voltage, when a battery dies it is usually a case of under voltage. Could it be your voltage regulator is defective and gave too much voltage. How is the regulated voltage on the car?

Thu May 21, 2015 12:27 pm

I've had electronic stuff die from low voltage (dead battery stuff).

My theory is (just theory), is a device is designed to draw a certain wattage while being used. Lets take a headlight for simplicity sake. 50 watt light. On 12 volts, it is drawing 4.16 amps. When running, and you're making 13.5 volts, it's drawing 3.7 amps.

Now, if the battery is dying, and only making 9 volts, that 50 watt headlight is drawing 5.5 amps now. Lower voltage, higher amperage on the same device. Higher amperage, burns out sensitive electronics.

That's my theory anyway. I've had a few "delicate" electronics quit working all together after I let my car sit too long and had the battery die.

Again, just theory.

Thu May 21, 2015 1:33 pm

Eaallred wrote: I've had electronic stuff die from low voltage (dead battery stuff).

My theory is (just theory), is a device is designed to draw a certain wattage while being used. Lets take a headlight for simplicity sake. 50 watt light. On 12 volts, it is drawing 4.16 amps. When running, and you're making 13.5 volts, it's drawing 3.7 amps.

Now, if the battery is dying, and only making 9 volts, that 50 watt headlight is drawing 5.5 amps now. Lower voltage, higher amperage on the same device. Higher amperage, burns out sensitive electronics.

That's my theory anyway. I've had a few "delicate" electronics quit working all together after I let my car sit too long and had the battery die.

Again, just theory.

I would agree as an electronic engineer , if it has a switchmode voltage regulator, it will draw higher current to balance the drop in voltage, to keep the volts times amps constant, and then blow up the power supply chip. It needs a better designed power supply.

This should be repairable by replacing the faulty chip.

But I vote for PLX - it does not have this problem.

I have the older PLX setup with the 4.5 Bosch sensor, not the 4.9.
Compared with Innovate, at the time I chose PLX a couple of years ago, it was because it did not have an issue with needing recalibration in air, it just works every time.

Thu May 21, 2015 3:23 pm

You guy's have me worried now. Hope my MTX-L lasts in portable tune mode for some time.

Fri May 22, 2015 10:49 am

If you are clipping a portable unit to 12 volts then there is less chance of a problem unless you try starting an engine off a bad battery when the voltage dips and there is still a lot of current avaiable. Another idea would be to measure the current taken at 12 volts and fit e.g. a fast blow 3amp fuse if it usually takes 2 amps off 12 volts. .

Fri May 22, 2015 8:32 pm

My battery went dead after cranking for a while. I put the charger to it and after I disconnected I headed home since it was late. I cranked it next day and fired right up but the mtxl did not light up

Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:08 pm

Did any of you guys that blew up the MTX-L have it wired with a relay or straight power and ground? I just picked one up and the instructions say to use a dedicated switched circuit or a Bosch type relay if a circuit is not available. I think the relay would solve the voltage problem.

Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:57 pm

12v devices don't have switching supplies, more like a lower voltage linear regulator (LM317, 7805, 7812, ect). What kills sensitive electronics in an automotive environment more often than not is voltage spikes (too high or too low), and noise. Noise typically wreaks havoc with trying to get anything like a stable reading from A/D converters, and voltage spikes can cause anything from erratic operation to all out failure.

Since you said you were charging the battery, I'm gonna say that's probably what did it in- but it really depends on what sort of charger. Old style chargers simply put a constant potential on the battery terminals, charging the battery till it can no longer accept more current (charging current drops to <2 amps or so). New style chargers do all sorts of funky things, I have one here I'm trying to repair and the literature tells you it drives ~80 amp pulses into the battery for desulfating and charging voltage is sometimes as high as 22 VDC. If your electronics can't handle that much juice, they're gonna cry uncle.

Good news is you can probably repair it- see if it's got a linear regulator inside it or a PC mounted fuse, if so try a new one. You can poke around with a meter to see where the input voltage is stopping on the circuit board, when you find a power loss you typically found your bad part. If you don't think you can fix it, it's time for a new one.