Power Commanders?
 

Hi,

Do power commanders increase or decrease fuel consumption ie do you use more fuel with one or less?

Cheers :smt032

Re: Power Commanders?
 

Probably wouldnt make a massive difference but should in theory improve fuel consumption...

You planning on one on the Kwak?

Re: Power Commanders?
 

It has one installed but I noticed the fuel - + light goes up when throttle pulled back (obviously) but just wondered I went through £15 fuel in about 80 miles. :rolleyes:
:why:

Re: Power Commanders?
 

Always more, but it will use the fuel in a better way....errr but it does depend on what program you install on it

Re: Power Commanders?
 

Thats the joy of a power commander, you can program it to do what you want. If you want to set it up to sip fuel for your commute you can do that, if you want to set it up for fuel gulping max power you can do that too.

The bike from the factory is set up to perform best whilst still passing emissions so you can go either way from that.

Re: Power Commanders?
 

Yes, that is true. If its not got a custom map made for it, (might be worth checking what is installed, if you connect it up to a comp and read what maps on there it should have a short description, if its not a custom map to suit your bike then it could be way off the mark!) then id recommend getting one made. Most maps if they are just downloaded will probably just screw up fuelling more. All bikes are different and its very unlikely two bikes of the same make model etc will need exactly the same fuelling requirements.

Hope that helps. :D

Re: Power Commanders?
 

Nyet!

Lots of sportsbikes are rich in midrange for noise regs, get rid of that and bonus.

Also sometimes getting a lean motor somewhere back near stoichiometric will increase economy, this doesn't seem to make sense but it has been seen in practice. Probably because using slightly more fuel more efficiently means you use lower throttle settings.

Re: Power Commanders?
 

Software can't change the laws of physics.

Dumping more fuel in does not increase power unless there is sufficient air to burn. Likewise, strangling the amount of fuel will make the engine run like an absolute dog and risk severe engine damage!


Start with a map that's somewhere near then get it tweaked by someone who knows what they're doing. A proper mixture for whatever running condition will give you an engine that's happy to sip fuel at a cruise but will still provide strong power when you open it up.

Re: Power Commanders?
 

It's often true a dyno setup will have fuel thrown at it it give the "best" powder figures, this simplistic approach keeps most people happy, if you don't worry about balance then "Best" can be achieved with relative ease, it's far harder abd takes more time to setup properly, but they know most people are more concerned with big numbers for their weekend toy and expect it to use more fuel as it's now even more "super", they give what people want, it's business :smt102

Cheers Mark.

Re: Power Commanders?
 

To be honest most places that know what they are doing don't tune for a certain fuel air ratio but max power, which is obviously the optimum A/F mix for that engine. That is really the only way to get an engine running well, as Chris says. The engine pulls in a certain amount of air. Not giving it the right fuel for the air pull is just daft.

What a power commander does that people seem less interested in is tune each throttle position for all revs. So you might have a stock bike that at max throttle runs near perfect but under 10% throttle runs crappy and so to you have to run with more throttle to get the same performance a well fuelled engine will get at 10% throttle. By making all throttle positions fuelled right your engine shouldn't need as much throttle to produce the required power... So you should see am improvement in fuel economy simply because you use less throttle hence less fuel.

Hope that makes sense...