Review: Defi Advance BF Set from Thailand

[sonikaccord]

This review will be separated into multiple edited posts because I have a life, kinda. Keep checking for more content!

Product: 6x Defi Gauges with Defi Advance Control Unit (From Thailand seller on eBay)

Unboxing:
Won auction and paid on 08/30/2017:


I received the package on 09/18/2017:


Actual Thai label:


And it came with a twine bow:


Once you open the outer box, you see two smaller boxes. It's not packaged exceptionally well, but it got the job done:


The large box contains the Gauges:


The small box contains the Control Unit:


Ok, unpacking the Control Unit box, we have:
1x Control Unit
1x Switch (the remote control)
1x DC Source Cable
1x Meter Output Cable
1x Switch sticker/label
1x Control Unit sticker/label


Switch, with no label:


Control Unit and Switch Assembled, looks pretty good so far!:


Gauges unpacked:


Gauge Pod. Ok this surprised the hell out of me. I was expecting a cheap, abs pod. What I actually got was a Defi/NS molded pod. No counterfitter would go through that much effort...:


Gauge, rear. This also surprised the hell out of me...QC stickers??:


Everything laid out, sensors, wiring, etc. The mounting base is actually metal and the stickers are the good, foam style (not pictured):


Control Unit PCB:



First impressions:
I have been pleased with shipping speed and packaging. Nothing was damaged or out of place. I would recommend buying from this seller just based off of shipping speed and initial product quality(still need to run some test).

The control unit is solid! It uses an STM32F1 series of microcontroller. From the ST site: "Mainstream Performance line, ARM Cortex-M3 MCU with 512 Kbytes Flash, 72 MHz CPU, motor control, USB and CAN" So right out the box, the control unit is coming out strong. Hopefully the chip isn't counterfeit and is the real deal. The PCB looks like a good 4 layer FR4 PCB. There is a bit of flux from probably rework, but it is a clean board with good looking solder joints. Reverse protection diodes, good voltage regulators with thermal vias...etc. Yeah, not bad at all. On the rear of the PCB, there is a sticker that is ripped off...hmmm wonder what that is about?

The switch or remote control...the tact switches feel tough, takes some effort to press. It doesn't feel cheap. (I know you guys know what a cheap push button feels like, yuck) The LCD display is something I believe the "genuine Defi" control unit does not have. +1 for this one.

The gauges and sensors look good. The hardware is a big factor in determining the quality of a kit like this and it does not disappoint. The gauges have no rattling, they have good depth which may indicate a strong stepper motor. The QC stickers, again, very surprising. A 2D barcode with date of inspection stickers? That is very confidence inspiring. Here is a Chinese copy: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...270272241.html
The difference is clear.

The temp sensors are brass, I believe, with braided sleeving for the wires. The oil pressure and boost sensors well, I have no comment right now. We'll leave that for testing to take out the subjective part.

Overall, very happy with the quality for the price.

[Raf99]

Glad to see you know electronics. Those solder joints on the backside of the PCB look like they were done by hand. So the controller is to change the colors of the gauges, etc? What are the gauges for?? (temp, fuel, .....battery..., ..?)

[sonikaccord]

Yes the controller can change the gauge color and brightness for both day and night modes. There are 333 different colors to choose from. I'll describe the function a bit more in the next review. It also has a data recording feature.

The gauges are for boost, oil and water temp, oil pressure, tach, and voltage. I don't really need a small tach, but I guess I can program a shift light to it? I'm also not boosted, so I can only use the turbo gauge for vacuum.

[Bunta]

How much did you pay again? Seems like a decent option instead of forking over the money for verified, legit defi gauges.

[lbus9168]

$257.5 USD, if you read the first image.

[sonikaccord]

Some testing was performed...
Water and Oil Temperature gauge consistency looks to be within a degree or two of each other:



And looks to be accurate to within 1 or 2 degrees too.


My high precision lab set up:


Voltage Gauge....well it looks like it reads a little low. Since this was the first test you can imagine the disappointment here.


About 0.4 volts off the mark


Luckily, this thing has an adjustment feature:


And now all is well:

[Grumpys93]

Sonik any more testing done on these? I’m thinking of pulling the trigger on a set.

[HenRoc]

This is the type of stuff I miss about forums, people taking the time to test out counterfeits.

Looks pretty solid for a cheap set of 'Defi' gauges.

[sonikaccord]

Originally Posted by Grumpys93

Sonik any more testing done on these? I’m thinking of pulling the trigger on a set.

Not recently, I've been researching these things and how other guys have been using them especially in Thailand. Apparently there is a large market for these products and they have definitely taken the time to create a very nice replica. Simply going on youtube and typing in "Thailand Defi" brings up a ton of demos.

I'm curious to see if I can use authentic gauges with the system.

Originally Posted by HenRoc

This is the type of stuff I miss about forums, people taking the time to test out counterfeits.

Looks pretty solid for a cheap set of 'Defi' gauges.

I miss that old school forum feel too! Seems like most of the people have migrated to Instabookchat for their instant gratification.

I can only recommend these based on initial feel and testing. Longevity and reliability is the ultimate decision maker. I don't see them randomly failing unless it is a solder joint that ends up bad.

[sonikaccord]

I lied, I did a boost gauge test a while back. I couldn't test the oil pressure due to me not having a fitting for the sensor.

Upon initial power up, the boost gauge registers vacuum at atmospheric pressure:


Similar to the volt gauge, the boost gauge can be adjusted for your elevation/pressure:



I used a food injector to test boost and vacuum, I didn't get a vacuum pic, but it was the same procedure except the plunger was pulled, not pushed:




I did a minor calculation to check for boost accuracy, but I'm using a cheap meat injector, lol...not really that accurate but here goes:
P1V1= P2V2
Initial Volume and pressure = Final Volume and pressure

I used atmospheric pressure as the initial pressure because the value of zero will not work in the equation. I will solve for the final volume which should be 8 mL from the syringe.

V2= P1V1/P2

= (103kPa*18mL)/153kPa
= 12.12mL

The 153 kPa value comes from adding the atmospheric pressure plus the additional 50 kPa observed from the boost gauge. I wouldn't take this value seriously, it pretty much shows that the boost gauge is functional. The value also does not fluctuate on the gauge. Once you hold the pressure at, let's say 1.0 kPa, it will stay at 1.0 kPa.

Not bad, honestly.

[sonikaccord]

Defi has updated their counterfeit information, the counterfeits have gotten so good that you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless you had the two right by each other.

http://www.defi-shop.com/info/important/counterfeit/