What does a power commander do?

[IAMJUSTIFYD]

Exactly what does a power commander do? I have Leo Vince with baffles and no CAT, kn air filter but no pop on decel or anything. Does it do kinda what you tell it to do as far as if you're wanting more performance or better mpg or more get up and go?

 

[Gary in NJ]

The exhaust system you are using tends to make the bike lean (you're pumping more air through the engine with the same amount of fuel). The Power Commander allows for more fuel to enter the engine. There are additional features such as advancing the ignition timing as well.

 

[zixaq]

The computer on your bike has a fuel map, which is less complicated than it sounds. Think of it as a lookup table. The computer looks at the current state of the bike and how much throttle you're giving it and provides the amount of fuel that the table tells it to. A Power Commander or similar interrupts that signaling pathway and changes it, letting you effectively replace the default fuel map with a custom one. This can rectify lean conditions from the factory or due to modified intake/exhaust, and can correct certain fueling issues (like the snatchy throttle on our FZ6), usually at the cost of fuel economy. It can also increase power, but that's usually a lesser effect than the better throttle behavior or matching fuel to an altered air system.

 

[Motogiro]

It should be noted that the Power Commander has less effect when the motorcycle has not been put on a dyno. The dyno measures rear wheel horsepower and uses a sniffer in the exhaust to give a qualified tuner the correct air to fuel ratios, torque and horsepower measurement to create an accurate and useful map that circumvents the OEM computer control. The PClll ex model will not do as wide a range of control that would create illegal emissions. The ex suffix is for the street legal PClll power commander . The PClll and PCV are actually track only fuel management devices and are technically not legal because they can and are often adjusted to not meet stricter state and federal emissions requirements. You can down load maps from tuned bikes that have the same exhaust and air filter mods. Those maps may be pretty close to your bike but dyno runs with a reputable qualified tuner are the way to go.. Unfortunately a good tune is going to cost $300-350.
I believe the PClll manages strictly fuel while the PCV manages fuel and timing.

 

[yamihoe]

What they said with the cautionary note that if you want to play with the maps you DO have the power to run incredibly rich or dangerously lean and you CAN cause some serious engine damage if you lean it out too far, and that’s not just short term, it can cause an issue yearrrrs later from a burnt valve or something.

I will say, the pcv turned my FZ1 into the R1 I used to have. Which was awesome.