2QuickNovas.com - Cometic Nox Box-2 Progressive Nitrous Controller

2QN Product Review

Cometic Nox Box-2 Progressive Nitrous Controller

by Craig Watson

Over the last couple of years, the once simple nitrous controller has evolved into a sophisticated, high-tech device capable of much more than modulating nitrous solenoids. There are many to choose from, which muddies the waters when selecting among the brands. All perform the basic function of ramping in the amount of nitrous sprayed, usually over a specified period of time. The newest progressive controllers to hit the market offer much more. That can be a blessing or a curse, depending on which side fo the technology fence you are standing on. The blessing is a world of features, such as data logging, non-linear nitrous ramps, multi-stage control, time or rpm based ramps, compatibility with modern engine controls, O2 sensor feedback, etc. The curse can be complex wiring, difficult to use computer programming, electrical interference and inconsistent behavior.

Cometic has released two nitrous controllers that offer many of the blessings and none of the curses. The Nox Box-1 and Nox Box-2 are simple, yet nicely featured. The -1 controller is for basic nitrous users who do not need progressive ramping, data logging or other advance features. This review concentrates on the -2 box. The Nox Box-2 is a full featured progressive nitrous controller. You name it, it'll pretty much do it. Two stages with separate ramps, non-linear graphical ramps as well as old-school linear "start % / time based ramps, basic data-logging, stage delay, works with throttle position sensors or WOT switches, handles 40 amps per stage, O2 sensor feedback to name a few. You can read about all the features and functions on Cometic's site.

Opening the packaging reveals a small and well-built unit. Its light weight, but solidy constructed. Screw clamp terminals for all connections keep the wiring clean and simple, its well labeled in case you lose your wiring diagram (very handy) and will mount just about anywhere.

Speaking of mounting, in order to test its vulerability to electrical interference, I purposely mounted it very near my MSD 7531 box and HVC coil. I was happy to find zero problems what-so-ever. This cannot be said for other nitrous controllers who will remain unnamed in this article. There's plenty of reading on that on the net. Just search on Yellowbullet and you'll find who has problems in this area.

Installation was straight forward. The instructions are clear and easy to understand in my opinion. They tell you how to wire it and how to go about programming it. Not much of a learning curve here.

Programming is simple as well. I found the quickest way to define the nitrous ramp was to give it the start and ending percentages and the ramp time. Then I could drag the points on the graph to quickly make a non-linear curve. You can also do rpm based curves instead of time based, but I've found that to be less effective since tire spin leads to more rpm, which leads to more nitrous and more tire spin. But there are instances when rpm based curves do come in handy. So there is a place for it.

You do need a laptop with a USB port. I'm using a $200 Ebay laptop I bought about three years ago, so it doesn't take any real computing power. You could probably score one for less than I paid.

The other features are super easy to program as well. The instructions give you just about every setting you need to input to match your car's configuration. Most of these will never change, so its one time task for the most part.

The data logger is simple, but effective. It will log the functions it controls, similar to a MSD 7531, but will also accept 2 external inputs. That's not a lot of data, but for a $250 box, its an outstanding feature.

The software has been very stable for me. Communications between the computer and box were easy to setup and have never failed. Making changes and uploading them between rounds is quick. No issues here at all.

Of course the point to all this is to control power. The Cometic Nox Box-2 does this extremely well. In fact, you can't even tell its there, except for the fact that you're flying down the track and not blowing the tires off. I race Outlaw 8.5, which some of you may know to be a very small tire heads-up class with cars making 1000+ horsepower. Controlling the power on marginal tracks is paramount when you only have 8.5" of tire. This box has allowed me to run low 1.30 60' times in the heat of the day when mid to high 1.30s are the norm. With more time under my belt and a more aggressive ramp, high 1.2s is just a matter of time. If I can run 1.29 with just a Digital-7 MSD, I know I can run 1.27-1.28 or better with the Nox Box-2.

If there were one thing I'd change about this unit is the screw size on the wiring terminals. They are rather small and I had to dig around to find a screw driver small enough. That may be picking nits, but there's just not much to complain about. A couple more data input channels would be great too, but again, where else can you get data logging for $250?

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with Cometic's new progressive nitrous controller. If you're looking for a low priced, full-featured controller, this is the one. No need to pay $700+ to the other guys or limit yourself to basic functions.p>

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