Windbooster/ Sprint booster

Hi all, managed to pick up a cheap Windbooster of eBay for $A120 . Installed it on my 2013 SD4 . Given it was so cheap was willing to roll the dice and see what it is like. Installation is plug and play but getting the nuts off the accelerator assembly so you can plug it in , especially the top right one is a real PITA.
Lots of generics of this product under different names but all do the same and all have the same number of adjustable sensitivity settings.
I concur with all the other users(including non LR users) that have bought one in that it really makes a positive difference to your driving experience. Definitely much more fun, nasty throttle lag from drive by wire is now gone.
I have read lots on it by both the believers and the non believers. Nay-Sayers don't have to drag out all the articles again please or get abusive thanks. It is NOT the same pressing harder on the accelerator. Flooring the accelerator from standstill with it not installed will cause the engine to bog down for a agonising 1-2 seconds whilst that big truck bears down on you whilst you are doing a quick turn across traffic. Only eventually will the engine spool up. This no longer happens after the Windbooster is installed.

You no longer have to fear or compensate for the lag.,or do slow rolling starts before accelerating hard so this IMHO =. Best bang for buck mod you can do. I also have a bluefin remap which is great and so much smoother than stock. I would do this even before a remap.
The maximum setting is similar to accelerating in" sand mode" so not for everyday use. Middle settings of which there are 9 sub settings is great for everyday use. I don't have any measuring tools but it does feel like much more linear in its function ( like the graphs in their advertising) and not like a exponential graph of the stock function.
The device also has a off function to return driving back to stock. Also has a Eco function - drives similar to having the car in "snow mode" in the terrain setting.

Just my 2cents worth and really not worth starting another war on topic . Any nay-Sayers that haven't actually driven with one should refrain from getting carried away . Cheers


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Can you give us more details of the install, any photos? link? thanks!

Can you enlighten us to what it is - a big fan on the roof of the car, a neat box of tracks under the bonnet or what? I think that many members outside of Australia will never have heard of this alleged miracle piece of kit.

I'm from Australia and have no idea what this is???

Ummmm I did a search on a well known search engine and all it could find was a load of Chinese language videos on a well known video hosting website also owned by the owners of the search engine.............. Has the forum been spammed?

I found this via a search thingy, and still have no idea why:

sprint booster, also called wind booster, pedal box, throttle controller, pivot controller, plug n go module or throttle re-mapper, is a device that intercepts the signal between the accelerator pedal and the engine management on a fly by wire throttle. It takes the input signal from the pedal and outputs a modified signal to the engine management. Claimed benefits include faster engine response, elimination of throttle delay, better performance and the ability to unleash the true potential of the engine. How do they work and do they really enhance performance?

What does the Sprint Booster do to the Throttle Signal?

A fly by wire throttle is simply a voltage signal. The voltage tracks the position of the accelerator pedal. Pushing the pedal harder yields a higher voltage. The engine management system measures the voltage and thus knows the position of the accelerator pedal.

A sprint booster increases the rate of change of voltage vs pedal position. So for a given increase in pedal position, the sprint booster yields a larger increase in voltage compared to when stock. It fools the engine management into thinking you are pushing the pedal harder.

If the pedal position isnt linear in relation to the amount of diesel injected or throttle opening, you can get a mushy throttle response and the car isnt so nice to drive, comparing to a car with a "crisp" throttle response.
IMHO

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the install but it does look like this.
http://www.windbooster.com/image/cache/c...00x500.jpg


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Wind-Booster-...SwFMZWqhQf

Installation is a bit tricky as once you have attached the plug that goes between the accelerator and the original wiring you have to get it all to fit back up into a tiny space. I found the if you pull hard towards yourself on the plastic air duct leading into the drivers footwell it will create enough room so you can reattach your accelerator pedal assembly. Without doing this it is too tight to lift it back onto the three bolts anchoring it to the floor that you had to remove nuts off to remove it in the first place.

My simpleton interpretation on why this type of module actually works is that all voltage readings from the accelerator join into a queue that is then interpreted by the engine management system . In a car without the module and with the original exponential throttle map , the first 25% -30% of pedal depression creates a whole really long queue of say 50 voltage messages asking for 5% of the power/revs/or whatever before it can finally send a signal for the 25% .
With the module it sends the same request for 25% power but does this from the 5th message in the queue . I know this all happens in milliseconds but it is the first 49 messages in the queue asking for 5% power that lulls/ presets the engine management into almost like a limp /economy mode.
I suspect this is why sand mode is so brutal(other than engaging all 4wheels) as selecting it automatically puts engine management on notice

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Not a bad description borbor, I was sceptical reading this, but from your description I would hazard a guess that this queue that you refer to is a software filter, dampening the throttle input signal from electrical noise and making the pedal more progressive, I doubt the filter would cause a 2 second lag though that many mention as this is millisecond stuff.

The unit will probably over compensate the throttle change you make causing an overshoot temporarily which will reduce the effect of this filter, basically temporarily fooling that you are applying more throttle than you are actually asking for before bringing it back to where you have settled on your throttle position.

I can see how this may make the engine more responsive and eventually very jerky/uncontrollable if this over compensation is taken too far. although I can't see how this will do much for turbo lag, except maybe trying to help increase the exhaust flow to spin the turbo up faster.

Of course you can imagine the manufacturers might know a bit about this engine management control already, and you have to question if mapping the engine this way was such an improvement why wouldn't they do it already, so my guess would be the engine will be less efficient (you are effectively pumping the throttle harder) and therefore generate more pollution, thus using more Ad-Blue and clogging the DP filter more often, and this trade off is probably made to get through the emissions laws.

So you might be adding what VW were probably turning off when doing the emissions tests.... Sad we have to de-tune engines, but NOX is nasty stuff.