lebeaux technoligy maft???

[stace]

FUEL CONTROLLER AIRFLOW TRANSLATOR MAS MAFT AFC SAFC APEXI - Bonanzle

Hey guys, has anyone tried this? I never seen it before and it just showed up on ebay so i did a little research. Looks like a maft thing. It has knock controll , and adjusts that airflow and o2 readings , and converts GM maf to dsm mas! Shows it in the example.

And its chheaper!

Mabye you have seen it before and Im a noob, sorry bout that but if this is for real' I'm ordering mine this week!

 

[knochgoon24]

I gave up after never getting an e-mail back from them describing all the options they have.

I just swapped to the evo ecu. I'll just run SD instead.

 

[SrKegler]

So, I went out and took the plunge on the Lebeaux unit. I am part of a team preparing a car for the Lemons race. It fit with in the budget for the race, so we said, heck, whynot.

So, I got it installed, I am fairly certain. I have rechecked the wiring 3 or 4 times. I am pretty good with the wiring, I used to install car alarms, and emergency warning devices for a company with contracts with several agencies. So, Like I said, I know my way around auto wiring.

The unit powers up, but the 2 "fault" lights are lit. The unit does program correctly with the software, however, when the unit is in line piggybacking the ECU, my AFRs are 9.6, and no matter what changes I make to program/Lebeaux unit, nothing changes.

I have emailed them several times, with no response. There is no phone number, which is really frusterating. Again, I am open, though doubtful, that there is a wiring issue, or perhaps even an odd faulty unit, or some other problem, but at this point, I do not see it as being a solution.

I hope things change, and I can report back. Maybe a call/contact from Tech Support will reveal a simple, or even complex solution, but a solution none the less.

So, anyone got a spare AFCII the team can use/borrow/steal/buy for little?

Michael

That's about what I expected from them. I think it was June when I sent them an e-mail asking about it. Never did hear from them until about a week ago. A company without a phone number seems pretty flakey to me.

 

[Jiggalude]

Wondering if anyone heard anything back from these guys?

 

[SrKegler]

Why???? It's pretty obvious their product doesn't work. No support, not even a phone number to call for help. Takes forever for them to even answer an e-mail.

If they were a legitimate company someone would be solving these problems.

 

[bane3d]

Why???? It's pretty obvious their product doesn't work. No support, not even a phone number to call for help. Takes forever for them to even answer an e-mail.

If they were a legitimate company someone would be solving these problems.

Agreed. I think this whole discussion has summarized how the "company" does it's business. Kind of nice to be able to let a companies actions speak for themselves and not have a flame war.

d

 

[Rob10_99]

Damn lemeux is letting this thing die it seems.

 

[habitatguy187]

Takes forever for them to even answer an e-mail.

They answered mine in about two days, then I went to the doctor... (bills)

 

[stace]

Hey as the original poster..I just wanted you guys to know I gave up and bought a Maft Pro

 

[SrKegler]

Hey as the original poster..I just wanted you guys to know I gave up and bought a Maft Pro

Smart move Stace.

I was really interested when I found out they were here in my hometown. Wanted to help support local business as much as possible. Gave up when the company doesn't have a phone number or address.

 

[PR0XY]

I bought the 2G Lebeaux hypercharger and the RPM fault was always on. I wrote them and they told me they would update my unit to the 3G. They posted the new 3G unit monday, I have to wait to receive it to test it. Will give you some news as soon as possible.

 

[PR0XY]

I have received the new 3g unit, will give you new as soon as possible.

 

[habitatguy187]

I'm still looking at buying one of these. Proxy, did you get any good use in with it or did the rpm fault prevent you from doing anything?

 

[PR0XY]

The first one was not was not correct. I will try the 3G today or tomorrow and I will tell you.

 

[spectre22]

Any luck with the 3g one of these? I have been thinking about trying one of these too.

 

[PR0XY]

I have to check what coul affect my rpm
i still have the light but with the maf translator connected, I had the rpm cluster going crazy and it came back when i touched some wires so i will check that before to tell you its the unit faul. (sorry for my english , hope you understand what I mean )

 

[casperfast]

I bought the 2G Lebeaux hypercharger and the RPM fault was always on. I wrote them and they told me they would update my unit to the 3G. They posted the new 3G unit monday, I have to wait to receive it to test it. Will give you some news as soon as possible.

same thing, i bought one back in jan, probly the one u all saw on ebay. got the rpm fault. contacted them, sent it back, got an "upgraded" unit the "3g" same story ONLY he never e-mail me the correct new program to program the unit so i messed it up by using the origional software (so im told). so i had to send it back again, got a my unit back "re-flashed" and the "new" software. SAME THING AS THE FIRST ONE!!! rpm fault, and the car will barley run when connected. i emailed him and asked him if they have even tested this on dsm's he told me "Hi Patrick, We are positive that our unit works with the 2G DSM. We have done extensive testing with those vehicles. Your unit went through functional testing, and we can produce the input and output waveforms for your box, to prove to you that it was working correctly when it left our manufacturer."


what a crock of #@$% . im sending it back for th last time and demanding a refund. this device will cause a headache, not work, and cost u money


my review grade F FAILED

 

[Jiggalude]

That's a shame. It seems like it could have been a good product. I did purchase one, but after a week and a half or so of not hearing from them I canceled my order and had to open a case with paypal. I was refunded, let negative feedback on Ebay and he had the balls to ask me to change my feedback! I don't if it is just one guy or what, but he really needs to step up.

 

[casperfast]

i told him i wanted a refund, he wont do it, only in-store credit minus the restocking fee.

 

[PR0XY]

They sended me the 3rd gen unit, same problem, RPM fault again!!! Put back my MAF translator and everything runs great. Do not buy their products!!!

 

[89QuestTSi]

Hello, I'm new to this forum but I read this post last year and since then I decided to go ahead and buy a unit and test it out so everyone knows what the deal is. The cars I specialize in are Mitsubishi Starions / Chrysler Conquests but the concept is the same with the fuel controller.

I know there aren't very many options out there for an economical way to tune cars with the factory fuel system so I went into a venture with Lebeaux to have a custom fuel controller built (3G Unit) that would also work as a translator with wideband tracking - Air/Fuel correction. It was also suppose to work with a MAP sensor or MAF meter and have extra fuel maps so you could save several different tune-ups saved depending on your driving style. You could program it as a hand held or with a laptop with the software or wireless. It was a great concept and would have sold for right around $220.00 if everything went as planned.

The project started about a year ago and although David Lebeaux is a really decent guy to work with he is sometimes a little slow in responding and hard to get hold of. There is no phone number to contact the company or David directly so e-mail is the only option which can be frustrating if you have specific questions and need quick answers.

I paid for the unit on January 14th 2010 and I received the first controller around the end of February 2010. Considering the weather there was nothing I could have really don't with it anyway so it wasn't a problem.

The first issue I had was when I opened the box there was nothing else else in there but the controller. No paperwork, no instructions and no software, just the controller. I e-mailed David back and we went through a fairly lengthy process to get a very brief instruction guide and the software was also a relatively difficult process to get up and working. Until this time none of the links on his website are working to download anything.


You can click the various links on his site and see that they still are not working (8/5/10)


Ok, so I finally get the manual which has nothing about what the buttons do and the unit has no labels whatsoever to designate what the are or do so I would basically have to navigate the menus blind. Keep in mind that this was not an LCD display like the APEXi unit, it was a very basic 2 line display as you can see in the picture on the website. I just did a simple bench test on the unit first to be sure everything was in order before attempting to install it in the car. It powered up, the initialize screen went across with the Lebeaux name and then it went to a menu that I had no idea what it was. Just trying to navigate through a few menu's the unit went dim and I couldn't get it to light back up. I disconnected it from the power supply and powered it back up and again went through a menu or two and it froze for a few seconds and then went out for good. Not a good start and the unit had to be sent back right out of the box.

After sending the unit back around mid March I again waited until mid May to get the unit back. I continually e-mailed David telling him that he needed to have a better set of setup instructions and software links that worked properly. It was about mid June when I had to send him an e-mail basically saying that unless he can give me the necessary install / setup instructions and software to get the unit powered up and working I was sending it back and terminating the project. By the end of that week I had what I needed and started to bench test the unit again and was getting some very unusual results. I'm not totally helpless with electronics but this unit was just giving me a strong gut feeling that something was very wrong to the extent that I had serious concerns about installing it in my car. Since I'm not an electronics expert I decided to sent the unit off to someone who was and have it fully tested.

When I got word back from the person who tested and inspected the unit my gut feeling was spot on. Here was the reply I received back :

Brain,

Wow, this thing is filled with little idiosyncrasies, who built it?

First, the manual doesn’t explain what all the buttons are for so I’m not sure if its in the proper operating “mode”. My first test was to check the analog input/output functions which would be used to modify the MAP signal. I do get changing values on the software for CFM and O2 but the unit is holding the output at a constant 5 V so its not doing any translation. Changing the rpm does change the indicated CFM but its very noisy. Switching it into closed loop changes the indicated values of CFM from 30 or so to 15000 and then it cycles up to 30000 and back down to 0 over and over without any changes to input and still nothing on the analog output. Changing the rpm or O2 too quickly causes the indicated CFM and O2 values to default to 63, odd they both do that, and they stay at that value for a variable time again without additional input. That may not mean the output would change, may just be a software thing, but since I have no changes to the output at all I can’t test that.

If I go to the web site and try and access the documentation links I get “Page Not Found” for all of them.

The software is odd as well, I get an exception handler warning whenever I use the backspace key in one of the fields. Tabbing through the rpm fields it goes across two rows, drops down for the bottom of those two rows, then back up to the next two rows, down to the bottom of those two rows, back up for the next two rows….., real odd path. The engine displacement value is in deciliters, who on earth uses deciliters? I find that not getting any rpm gauge or indicator to be a problem since you don’t know where it is supposed to be operating and having the O2 read from 0-255 instead of either raw voltage or AFR is a real disadvantage. My initial impressions are not favorable.

After this e-mail from my electronics guru I asked for an evaluation of the inside of the unit just to see if it was worth trying to salvage. Please read below and look at the pictures and you will quickly see why we decided not to pursue it any further.

Brain,

I’ve attached some photos of the interior of the unit for your information.

First thing I noticed is a screw was missing in the case, just three holding it together. When I put it back together I realized why, the slider he installed sat over the hole so he couldn’t install all four screws. In the first picture you can see that everything is held down with black electrical tape and one IC in particular is just loose in the box. In the second picture a close up of that IC reveals that two of its legs are not even in the connector, bad practice even if both of those are neutral. Third picture illustrates the wiring, very hodgepodge. Not at all the construction required for a high shock/vibration environment like automotive electronics. I wouldn’t trust its reliability even if it worked.

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After receiving the unit back from testing I promptly contacted Lebeaux explaining that the unit was not suited for my application and requested a refund. Like I said earlier David was a good guy to deal with and issued me a prompt refund as soon as he received the unit back.

I'm really not sure what else to say about the Lebeaux unit other than what has been said already. For those of you who don't know me know I would NEVER post a review like this unless there is a serious issue with the product or the supplier / vendor. In this case I feel the product is completely unsafe for use in our cars or in any motor vehicle for that matter.

I hope this information can be useful and informative to anyone looking to buy a piggy back fuel controller and hopefully will save you from the expense and frustration of nearly year long ordeal I went through.

 

[habitatguy187]

^^^^ Thanks for your testing and documentation, I tagged your post as helpful.

 

[89QuestTSi]

Your very much welcome and it cost me almost the price of the unit by the time I was done with all the shipping back and forth plus the engineer who tested it out for me.

I have since been contacted by Lebeaux stating that I have violated some copyright / patent laws by posting up my findings on his controller. Here is what I would like to know, if there is ANYONE out there who actually has a working Lebeaux unit please tell us about it. The way I see this is Kelvin Lebeaux / David Reed are the ones violating the law by building and selling a device that has not been fully tested to be used in a passenger vehicle. I have yet to find anyone anywhere that has a working unit so to the best of my knowledge Lebeaux is running a fraudulent business selling electronic devices that do not work and the unit can be potentially damaging to the vehicles they are installed in.

This unit was nothing more than a generic radio shack looking plastic case filled with a spaghetti mess of wiring, circuit boards and components. There was no patent information on the unit nor was there any copyright information included with the unit. As a matter of fact there was absolutely no information of any sort included with the unit or labeled on the unit. There was no seal on the unit or anything stating that if the unit was opened that it would void any such warranty or violate any such patent / copyright law. I had this unit tested at my own expense to know for myself and for the benefit of others if it was in fact something that was not going to do what it was designed to do. The results speak for themselves. David Lebeaux claims that this unit was tested before it shipped out and did in fact work. My independent engineer says otherwise which you can read in the first quote.

My whole purpose of writing up this review was not to smear a business and trash their product, it was to inform people of what my experience was with Lebeaux and his controller, period. I stated the facts and nothing more.

I have no interest whatsoever in copying a unit that DOES NOT WORK and after looking at it I doubt anyone else would either. I mean what sense does that even make anyway?

I posted no drawings, diagrams, schematics, part numbers, specific components or documents whatsoever on how to replicate this unit because this unit is not worth copying. From the information I received back from my engineer this unit should be scrapped and whoever designed it should go back to the drawing board and start over.

This unit was not only poorly designed in form and function it was shipped out to a customer with full knowledge of its internal condition which could have had potentially hazardous results.

IF this controller had worked not only could there have been damage to the vehicle but to the driver, the passengers and to other motorists if an accident occurred due to a malfunction of this unit.

My advice to you Mr. Lebeaux would be to stick to your little robots and leave the fuel controllers to the real companies like HKS, Greddy, APEXi, F.A.S.T. and the like because you're already on the 4th gen controller and they still don't work.

 

[habitatguy187]

Call a lawyer tomorrow. I'm sure Lebeaux knows a lawyer or two from college and might try to bluff you, but anyone with half a brain can see clearly who's in the wrong here. I know you don't want to, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you could counter-sue and win. Anyway call a lawyer in case he wants to escalate this further.