POWERTRONIC PIGGY BACK ECU.... HOW GOOD IS IT?

September 15, 2019

POWERTRONIC PIGGY BACK ECU.... HOW GOOD IS IT?

POWERTRONIC BY RACE DYNAMICS

I was very lucky to be able to win the Valentines day giveaway by Race dynamics India where they gifted me with a Powertronic ecu. Its been over 6 months and 5000km ran since i have installed and i thought to provide the feedback through the blog.

Let me clear the myth, I met people exaggerate a lot about the product in question, "It will improve the performance drastically", "the bike will do better than higher segment bike" etc etc, But it doesn't,

Powertronic ECU by Race Dynamics is a piggy back ECU which can be installed by anyone with little knowledge on how to use a tool kit. It is basically a electronic control unit which has 2 pre set maps specifically set for a particular bike. The ECU has a wiring harness which must be either short wired or bypassed to various circuits about which its clearly shown in the catalog. Installing a powertronic doesnt mean that you have to remove the stock ECU, it is more like a secondary ECU which is connected to the stock ecu and regulates the input and modifies the signals from the stock ecu with the pre set maps of the powertronic. Thus it claims to enhance the ignition control, controls the fuel delivery, traction conntrol and extends the rev limiter which together enhances performance and efficiency of the motorcycle. The ECU also comes with quick shifter compatibility

The wiring system of POWERTRONIC ECU

I won the powertronic ECU for my R15 version 2, I loved my bike but had its faults, Firstly it was impossible to ride slow, the engine was not at all flexible to handle low engine speed and asks you to downshift often, City was not the favorite place to be ridden for the 150 cc Liquid cooled 4 valve single. It had literally no torque below 4000rpm and engine was sluggish . The midrange was okay and had the punch, but the bike was at home post 7000rpm. This is where the engine shows its true potential, and screams till 10500 rpm. Just check the stock dyno report and you can see the flat low speed and midrange.

In an R15 60km at 4000 rpm at 6th gear was the slowest you could flex the engine at the top gear. below that the engine doesn't feel comfortable and little knocking can be observed , Twist the throttle and there is literally no big punch on offer. you need to ring the throttle to get juice.

Then a evening i decided to install the powertronic ECU on to my bike. It took an hour to install and post installation i test rode my bike. To be frank i couldn't notice a drastic change in power or performance. The differences are felt but not very much, so i decided to spend little of my time with the bike.

Easy to install

Then the changes were evident, Firstly the throttle response, The bike reacts almost instantly, the throttle was better and the response was electric, you twist the throttle and the engine pulls, you really get more feedback from the engine which makes the communication or connection with the bike even better, This is the main drastic change you would observe and this made me even more confident with the bike.

Then the fueling, Oh boy it was sweet, The stock r15 does feel inconsistent at constant throttle, This feels more precise and controlled, The fueling was so perfect that it gives what you want. You want to cruise the engine does that, twist the throtle it does improves the urgency of the engine, the throttle control feels like connected to your mind.

The powertronic ECU provides two switchable maps, The first is a top-end map which has maximum power delivery concentrated on to higher RPM, This is recomended for the track use and bit hard riding through a twisties and you get enough punch to exit out of a corner.

The second map is a mid-range map which provides power on to the midrange of the engine, This is more suitable for the city riding and daily commute as the torque is delivered much earlier in the rev range making it much more responsive in the mid range.

The powertronic also made the engine more flexible and tractable. I could ride my bike in lower RPM in cities without a down shift, and it picks up the pace much easier.

Race dynnamics India claims a inclease of 2 BHP of power and 2 Nm of torque at the crank, Those are not drastic change but is felt under hard riding, The bike do feels quicker and all the channges above does shows the same, The slight increase in power and the better fueling doesnt mean there is slip of rotating cmponants as traction control does clets you put down the power efficiently.

Dyno test results(wheel horse power)

Speaking of efficiency, there is no reduction is fuel efficiency, I used to get a mileage of 35-40 kmpl under pretty hard riding with RPM kept above 7000RPM and 40-45 in normal mixed conditions,

Installing powertronic did not affect these figures.

I heard a lot about reliability issues with installation of powertronic ECU. I have been using powertronic for 6 months now and have nnot faced a single issue with my bike. Infact some of my colleagues and friends who rode mybike loved and commented positively about churning out the true character of the engine.