sensor vs pid - idiot test

[bennettrp]

OK. I posted this in the "getting started" section and got no response. So we'll try here.

've looked around a little and have gotten myself confused. So here goes:

1. What is the difference btw sensors and pid's?
2. Can I add a sensor to the table of vcm scanner. If not, how to I get the sensor to be scanned?
3. When configuring a histogram, how would I know whether to use a sensor or PID?
4. Is there a tutorial that explains this? If so, where is it?

Specifically I was trying to make use of somebody's histogram and found out that I was not logging the correct stuff in the table view. When I tried noted what I was missing, noted that there were possibilities in both the sensors and PID's. So which ones to use? ANd what are the def's to the sensors, or where do they come from?

thanks

[S2H]

sensor is generic and is useable on all vehicels
PID is specific to the vehicle in question..
example being that some vehicles have AFR commanded High Resolution and Low resolution...some only have Low resolution and do not have High resolution

things like Engine RPM are a sensor that is a standard value in the PCM of almos all vehicels and makes it useable in a istogram without havingto select a PID specific to that vehicle


you can add a sensor to the histogram and you should always try to use sensors and generic tables when you can
pids are specific to only a few vehicles and your histograms may not work on other vehicles if you use PID's

you can also make custom PID's that you can define as a sensor and use it in the histograms as well

[bennettrp]

Thanks, Scott.

Your answer leads to another question: If I want to use a sensor in the histogram, how do I know how that sensor relates to a PID that I need to add to the table so that I am logging it?

In other words is there an easy mapping of sensors to PID's.

thanks
Dick

[AeroDan]

Bump! I'm new to tuning, and I've the same question Dick has above. If I use a sensor, how do I know what data (what PID or PIDs) is feeding the sensor? I'm sitting here thinking, 'heck, I don't know what's going into these sensors, so I'm just going to use PIDs to be sure.'

I've dug around the help file and tutorials, but I haven't come across much of an explanation about sensors. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers, -Dan

[S2H]

Sensors are the same for every vehicle...
Pid's are different for every vehicle.

By using [sens.###] you are guaranteed that will work for every vehicle..
When you use [pid.###] you are only guaranteed that # works for that vehicle type.