Is my ecu considered a stand alone ecu

Hi Guys

I just wanted to know if the Dicktator Management System(https://www.dicktator.co.za/wastedsparkecu.html) i have on my car is considered to be a stand alone ecu.

I am just curious because, i see on the forum the guys says it costs a lot to go stand alone but i paid just R3500.00 ($242.17) for my unit and it doesn't cost alot to get it tuned by my tuner R1500.00 ($103.79), so just curious as to what the difference in price is compared to overseas products, why they consider stand alone ecus to be so expensive, and what is the difference between this unit and the 1s in other countries like the uk and us.
 

Jay

Admin
The term standalone means that the unit operates completely separate from the stock ECU. Basically you can throw the stock ECU away as it is removed from the equation.

A lot of management upgrades (FCON, emanage blue, etc) leave the standard ECU in place to handle operations and only modify specific parameters. These are known as a 'piggyback' ECU, it runs in tandem with the original.

It's not immediately obvious what that one in the link does but I'm rather amused by the name :D
 
The term standalone means that the unit operates completely separate from the stock ECU. Basically you can throw the stock ECU away as it is removed from the equation.

A lot of management upgrades (FCON, emanage blue, etc) leave the standard ECU in place to handle operations and only modify specific parameters. These are known as a 'piggyback' ECU, it runs in tandem with the original.

It's not immediately obvious what that one in the link does but I'm rather amused by the name :D

Lol so i guess this means it is a stand alone ecu considering there is no computer box(factory ecu) in the vehicle.

And about the name, im also amused with it.......gives dicking around a new meaning LOL
 

Jay

Admin
Doesn't seem popular in the UK but certainly has good reviews elsewhere, if your mapper is happy then go for it. Locally we are looking at a fair bit more for a standalone fitted and mapped. Last one I heard priced (Link) was around £1200 gbp.
 
Doesn't seem popular in the UK but certainly has good reviews elsewhere, if your mapper is happy then go for it. Locally we are looking at a fair bit more for a standalone fitted and mapped. Last one I heard priced (Link) was around £1200 gbp.
See my point exactly, here the ecu with fitting and tuning costs around £331.11, so why such a huge difference in price?
 

Jay

Admin
The hardware element is restricted by the people able to map it so that seems to be a big part of it. I've seen guys buy cheaper ECU's but either find no-one wanting to map them or have to pay over the odds for the privilege. If no-one will map your £150 ECU then you have to buy the £650 ECU.

On the labour side we could be looking at anywhere between £50-100 an hour for labour (main franchises can charge even more) so that is another factor depending on your local rate.

Tuning here is a niche market too so there's an obvious premium to be paid too. Would be interested to hear some of the mainland UK boys costs as I've seen a few horror stories over the years!
 
The hardware element is restricted by the people able to map it so that seems to be a big part of it. I've seen guys buy cheaper ECU's but either find no-one wanting to map them or have to pay over the odds for the privilege. If no-one will map your £150 ECU then you have to buy the £650 ECU.

On the labour side we could be looking at anywhere between £50-100 an hour for labour (main franchises can charge even more) so that is another factor depending on your local rate.

Tuning here is a niche market too so there's an obvious premium to be paid too. Would be interested to hear some of the mainland UK boys costs as I've seen a few horror stories over the years!

I guess we are very lucky here, considering we dont pay emission taxes so our tuners can tune freely without having to worry about the co2 emissions.

Also because we are very limited to brands and types of ecus for many years now, all tuners have the skill and knowledge about our products and it isn't a difficult task so i guess thats why they charge us reasonable prices.
 

SKINY

Lifer
Exactly that Jay, E-Manage units can be had for as little as 150£ but useless because no tuners here like them compared to Englandland that seem to love them
Richard Bradley is probably the cheapest here, think it cost Jaime 300£ less taking it to him, camel hike tho
 
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