O2 Sensor

[avos at cochlear.com.au]

     Hi everyone,
     
     I remember reading recently that someone had put something up about O2 
     sensors. I don't know much about them, but am thinking of using the O2 
     sensor as an input to my boost controller. My understanding is that 
     they are used in close-loop mode of most efi systems, but under 
     full-open-throttle the efi system enters open-loop mode and they are 
     not used for some reason. I assume that the reason for this is because 
     they are either too slow, or outside there operating range. Originally 
     I was going to use the O2 sensor to detect if I am leaning out so that 
     I can lower the boost level to reduce the chance of detonation, but if 
     the sensor is unusable with full-open-throttle, I will be unable to do 
     this (Please feel free to enlighten me on this fact). Either way, I 
     would like to use it as an input to the controller, as I think that it 
     would be useful be able to monitor it's output voltage on the LCD 
     screen on my controller. Atleast I would be able to manually monitor 
     the O2 output voltage in this way. Does anyone know the output voltage 
     range of a typical O2 sensor, and what different voltage outputs mean 
     so that I can design the amplifier to the ADC? eg. I think that the 
     lower the voltage, the leaner the mixture etc.
     
     Any information that I can get in regards to the O2 sensor would be 
     appreciated.
     
     Adrian
     avos at cochlear.com.au