LDperformance
Electronic Boost Controller
Manual
Table of content
Safety Advice 03
Product description 03
Features 04
Connector Pinout 05
Solenoid installation 05
Internal Wastegate 05
External wastegate 06
Wastegate spring pressure 07
MAP sensor hose 07
Wiring diagram 07
Basic operation 08
Hi/Lo Boost settings 09
Boost by RPM 10
Advanced menu 11
Reset to default settings 12
Switch between Bar and PSI 12
VNT option for some diesel engines 12
External wastegate control with dual 3 port solenoids 13
Using external map sensor 14
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03
Safety advice
Please use this manual at your own risk. LDperformance is not responsible for any damage
or injury. All LDperformance products are not to be used on public road. Increasing boost
pressure can increase power dramatically but may also cause damage to the engine and
other components. Do not operate the product while driving. Please seal all wire
connections to avoid short circuits or fire. Do not install product close to ignition coils.
Product description
Rotate knob to adjust OLED display shows
and press to accept boost in real-time
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04
Features
High-visibility OLED display shows boost in real-time
Internal MAP sensor for up to 3bar boost
Adjustable DUTY and Target Boost
Boost by RPM
Fast response and no target overshooting
Hi/Lo boost settings
Overboost safety protection
Shows current boost and duty on screen
Works with 3-port solenoid valve
Size: LxHxThinckness: 118x44x17mm
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05
Connector pinout
Solenoid installation
If you have a factory fitted boost solenoid then it might work with the LDperformance boost
controller just fine. Anyways, this has not been tested so it is recommended to use the
supplied 3 port solenoid for best results.
In that case the factory boost solenoid can be left attached to its connector to keep the
ECU happy. Of course all hoses from it would need to be removed.
Internal Wastegate
Solenoid ports:
1 – Filter to atmosphere
2 – Wastegate
3 – Turbo pressure
Make sure the nut on the
air filter is loose so air can
get out easily.
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06
External Wastegate
Option 2 (not recommended):
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07
Wastegate spring pressure
When using an electronic boost controller it can only increase the boost pressure and not
decrease it. So if you have manually tightened the wastegate to achieve higher boost then
you should put it back to below the lowest pressure you will need.
A way to verify this is to unplug the connector from the boost solenoid and make a test
run. This will be the basic lowest boost pressure set by the wastegate spring. The controller
will then be able to increase it by increasing the DUTY setting of the Controller.
MAP sensor hose
The boost controller needs a vacuum hose connected to the intake manifold to read Boost
pressure/vacuum. It will then display the reading on the screen and use it to effectively
control the boost level.
Wiring diagram
On the back of the unit is a 6 pin connector.
Power wires:
Middle left- 12V power – Connect to a 12V power source which is active when the ignition
is ON.
Middle right – Ground – Connect to a ground wire or chassis.
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08
Solenoid connection:
Top left – Control signal to Solenoid valve
Middle left – 12V power
The solenoid uses the same 12V which also powers the Controller.
Additional functions:
Hi/Lo Boost mode setting – connect an external switch to ground to change between
High and Low boost settings.
RPM from tachometer output or ignition coil (5v signal)
Basic operation
When ignition is switched on the Controller will show the main screen:
The main screen shows current boost
level in bar. It is basically a gauge.
Use the knob to enter the main menu by pressing it. The menu has 3 items:
Values go from 0% to 100% where 0 is
lowest boost possible and 100% is highest
boost possible. Start increasing DUTY to
get higher boost. Note that increasing
DUTY a little bit may not do a great deal of
difference in boost, or the other way
around... It is not a linear relationship and it depends on the actual turbo, wastegate,
vacuum lines, etc... Press the knob again to go to the next setting:
START BOOST sets the boost level at which
the solenoid will start operating. Until this
point the wastegate will be fully shut to
aid in lag reduction. When the pressure
goes above the START BOOST the
configured DUTY will be applied.
Once you have tuned DUTY you can use START BOOST to reduce lag. By increasing the value
closer to the actual boost level, it will keep the wastegate shut all the way until that point.
Going too much though, will cause an overshoot.
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09
BOOST LIMIT is a safety feature. The
controller will switch off the solenoid if the
pressure reaches this level. It will also
display on the screen that the boost limit
has been hit. Set it to a value higher than
the target pressure.
These 3 settings are enough to get the boost controller to work. Make sure you understand
them and get decent results from the boost controller.
All settings are automatically saved in memory and loaded on the next ignition cycle.
HI / LO Boost setting
An external switch has to be connected to switch between the two settings.
Normally, if no switch is connected all settings described above are part of the LO boost
setting.
When a switch is connected and activated (connects the wire to ground) the unit will
instantly switch to HI mode.
All settings (DUTY, START BOOST, BOOST LIMIT, etc…) are also available in HI mode and can
have different values. This is like a second boost controller.
The modes can be switched at any time and the corresponding settings will be displayed
and applied instantly.
The main screen will show HI when this
mode is active.
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10
Boost by RPM
If for some reason the boost level drops with higher revs the boost controller can
compensate by increasing DUTY after a set RPM level.
By default this feature is disabled.
To enable it connect RPM signal to the device and:
1. Turn off boost controller
2. Press and old the knob and turn ignition on.
3. Adjust the RPM shown on screen to the correct value at the moment (engine running).
Rotating furthest to the left will turn off the RPM feature.
4. Press the knob to confirm correct RPM and exit menu
Then a new menu will have appeared:
Start – The RPM level when DUTY will start increasing – set it to the RPM level where boost
starts dropping.
END – The max RPM where DUTY will reach its new higher maximum.
Duty – The max additional DUTY.
Example:
The engine is making 1 bar boost but it drops to 0.6 at 8k RPM. DUTY is set to 60%
After enabling RPM compensation with the above settings, after reaching 5k RPM the
controller will start increasing DUTY from 60% up to 65% (+5% as above) at 8k. This results in
higher boost at higher RPM!
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11
Advanced Menu
Advanced menu allows access to the more advanced features of the boost controller.
It can automatically adjust DUTY within certain limits in order to get constant boost in the
whole RPM and gear range.
Long press the knob to enter the menu.
BOOST TARGET is where you set what
boost pressure is required. If you decrease
it all the way to the left it changes to
DISABLED which is the default setting and
disables the automatic DUTY feature.
The maximum change the controller can
do on the DUTY setting from the simple
menu. So if DUTY is set at 60%, the
controller will adjust it from 50% to 70%
max to get a constant boost as specified
in the target above.
The default settings here should work well
for most. Only change these if you
understand how PID works. More about
this on Google.
Automatic duty should only be used after tuning the basic settings. It is supposed to only
compensate for small changes in boost and provide the final fine tuning to get constant
boost, fast spool-up and no overshooting.
Use it only if you need constant boost! If you need higher boost at high RPM disable it and
use the Boost by RPM feature above.
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12
Reset to default settings
1. Turn off boost controller
2. Press and hold the knob and turn ignition on
3. “RPM” appears, press again to continue
4. “More settings” appears, press again to continue
5. “Restore def?” appears, press again to confirm
Doing a restore to default settings will switch from BAR to PSI. SO if you need to use BAR do
reset to default settings again.
Switch between BAR and PSI
Just do a “reset to default settings” as described above.
VNT option for some diesel engines
To enable the VNT option:
1. Turn off boost controller
2. Press and hold the knob and turn ignition on
3. “RPM” appears, press again to continue
4. “More settings” appears, press again to continue
5. “Rotate until you find the VNT? option and press it
To change back to non VNT do the same process once again.
What this mode actually does is keep the solenoid at 100% until boost level reaches “start
boost” then it applies the duty cycle.
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13
External wastegate control with
dual 3 port solenoids
Usually having an internal wastegate limits the maximum achievable boost pressure to 2x
the gate spring pressure.
Having an external wastegate allows for higher boost than that but only if its connected
correctly.
In this case at minimum boost setting both solenoids will be off and all the boost pressure
will go to the bottom port while the top port will be vented to the atmosphere – same as
before. But at maximum boost pressure both will be on so the bottom port of the wastegate
will be vented to the atmosphere and not seeing any boost, while the top port will see all of
the boost! That better than the previous option but what is even better is that by controlling
the two solenoids in stages we can achieve a lot more resolution and precision!
How can we do that easily with the LDperformance electronic boost controller?
Simply connect the second solenoid (the one connected to the wastegate top port) to the
boost controller like this:
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14
The boost controller will automatically detect a second solenoid and will allow setting Duty
up to 200. So basically it works in exactly the same way as before when using duty 0-100%
but now duty can be increased up to 200 where the second solenoid starts working. As
simple as that. All additional settings for example Boost by RPM or Boost Target will keep
working and allow duty up to 200.
Using external map sensor
If more than 3 bar boost pressure is needed (4bar absolute) an external pressure sensor
can be connected to the boost controller.
Wiring diagram:
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The pressure sensor is 0-10bar (0.5V - 4.5V) available here:
https://ldperformance.co.uk/product/oil-fuel-pressure-sensor/
How to enable the external sensor:
1. Turn off the boost controller
2. Press and hold the knob and turn ignition on
3. “RPM” appears, press again to continue
4. “More settings” appears, press again to continue
5. Scroll left or right and choose "Ext map"
Please note that this option can't be used together with the dual solenoid option.
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