hi,i have a apexi power fc ecu with commander which will be fitted and mapped next week,my question is......what are the benefits of the commander?,i pretty much hate in car gadgets so to speak,so is it worth keeping or not? once its been mapped surely i wont have to touch/mess with anything,where on the dash does it fit anyway? there dosent seem to be any bracket or anything with it and if there is no point keeping it then would i actually be able to sell it seperately anyway?
what does it actually do?

 

it will let you keep an eye on the engine knock evel and injectors etc...
just out it on your glove box out of the way,
i have mine on the dash with some double sided tape.

 

thanks,
are they easy to read?
is it also a boost guage?
so basically its just a gadget that you only really need for serious high bhp cars?

 

Yes they are easy to read and you can monitor the boost on it. I use mine for registering knock levels (very important) and also water temp but you can monitor quite a few things on there such as injector duty, revs etc.

 

i just used a velcro pad and attatched on dash, left hand side behind steering wheel

is good for monitoring essentials, altho abit dated looking

if not your cup of tea, put in glove box

 

When I fit the Apexi ECUs I usually fit the commander in the glove compartment. It's useful for monitoring all your sensors as well as changing boost pressures, as it has 4 different boost settings if set up by the mapper.

It can however be kept at home and only be plugged in if you need to diagnose a problem or monitor a parameter.

Graham

 

ok,is it idiot proof as my instructions are all in jap?

 

I wouldn't call it idiot proof, no! Don't play with it unless you know what you are changing, otherwise leave it disconnected!

Graham

 

then excuse my ignorance but whats the point in an idiot having it at all?

 

For show

 

Don't get rid of it, just put it in a drawer until you need it. Having some kind of diagnostic tool that you can use is invaluable on any tuned car. Perhaps you can get your mapper to navigate you through the basics for diagnostics only which will help you to pinpoint any poor running issues later on.
On my old classic I had ecuExplorer on my laptop and after the car was mapped I took logs which I could then refer to and compare with at any time.

 

Its a great bit of kit, just get a phone holder (i use the grey "Type S" one from halfords) and clip it to the centre vents. Ask the mapper to set it up to monitor (i usually monitor "Knock" and "Water Temp") and it will display "Live" data. Then simply leave it alone. You can take it out of the holder and put it in the glove box when you leave the car. It would be a shame to leave it in the box at home.

 

cheers,ill speak to the mapper and go from there.