the basic oxygen sensor used on most factory cars are narrowband sensors. they do enough to complete the job of reporting back AF ratios and keeping the engine in safe running spec. the range this sensor reads in is from 0-1 volts where "supposedly" 0 is completely lean, about .5-.6 at stoichiometric, and 1.0 very rich.
wideband o2 sensors are much more accurate in a larger range of conditions. the range of the sensor 0-5v covering a larger range of AF ratios.
an analogy in terms of numbers, the narrowband would be like a number line that goes from 0-1 in .02 increments, and the wideband from 0-5 in .01 increments. that would sorta mean the narrowband would have 50 units of measurement in a small range of AF ratios, and the wideband would have 500 units of measurement in a larger range of of AF ratios. also, widebands have corrective circuits(i think?) that helps give better readings in a ride range of conditions whether it be environmental or whatever. this is absent in the narrowbands. in a nutshell: the wideband is VERY accurate.
so what we're looking at above is that the range of AF ratios from 11:1 - 14:1 read from the wideband lies in within .88-.94v on a narrowband. this would throw out the conventional thought that 14:1 AF on narrowband lies at .50v. it just shows here it's not true.
this might also help with general tuning with people who don't necessarily need a wideband quite yet. a wideband is recommended when going beyone basic bolt ons, and definately needed if you go to a custom turbo.
