RiXeffects Vent Gauge / Map switcher

Former_Boosted_IS · 10-11-2008, 03:30 PM

I have been reviewing products for a pretty long time now for this and a few other communities. I try to be very unbiased in my presentation and review. I just want the community to get a good idea of a product that I bought to find out if it fits their needs. Well, my latest review is about the RiXeffects Vent Gauge / Map switcher. So lets start with the packaging.

Packaging

Clearly a lot of thought was put into both the professionalism and protection of this package. Here is how it arrived at my door:

The box is well presented and packaged. When I opened the box, these were the items included:

Notice every item is air wrapped, zip locked, protected, and itemized extremely well. One thing I really like here was the fact that the items you needed for each step were organized very well so you didn't have spare parts sitting around to fall or lose. Well done here.

Quality

On something that is going to be displayed in your car, the quality has to be extremely high to sit in my BMW. I have to admit I had no clue this kit was going to be so nice. Every single thing you will need is included and I mean everything! The boost gauge, the sensor, the tubing, the map switching wire, the power wires, etc. It is very thorough and won't leave you running to radio shack to pick up the mess. Look at how well protected the smoked lens is!

Clearly he went through every step to make sure quality arrives to him and most importantly to us! I thought it was funny to see that even the tape holding the laser cut part of the lens was stuck to the parts that will be removed insuring you won't damage it when trying to peel off the protective stickers.

Installation

This kit is a plug and play kit. So is it that? Absolutely yes! Now, I have heard some say that you can do it in 15 minutes and I seriously think most of us will take substantially longer. I put a couple of hours into the install, but I also wired up the map switcher.

The power wire RiXeffects supplies is a single end to the gauge and double end to the power source. What that means is you unplug the ash tray and plug both sides (power source plug and ash tray plug) into the RiXeffects wire and you are done. Very easy!

The instructions are pretty straight forward. You start by removing the vent. This was very easy, but just be careful. Installing the gauge was easy. One point to note when re-installing the vent cover with the smoked lens attached, the foam should completely cover the right side of the gauge, all the way up the smoked lens. You will see a notch in the foam in this picture on the right side of the gauge:

See how the gauge must be pushed back into that notch in the foam on the right side of the gauge?

Running the boost tubing and map switching wire through the firewall is the hardest part, but I have found a great solution. RiXeffects suggests popping out a small hole in a rubber plug in the firewall and it is perfect. You use a wire hanger to fish the tubing and map switching wire through the firewall. That got me thinking, that this might not be the best way to do this because the map switcher wire has a plug on it that would have to go through the firewall. What I decided to do was wire the map switcher up first to whatever tune you are using, then run the wire to the driver's side of the firewall (where the boost tubing is run). Then, I used the hanger to run the boost tubing from the cabin to the engine bay through that rubber grommit. I would place a small bend of 45-90 degrees on the end of the hanger so you can fish it to your hands. Then, I retrieved the wire hanger and pulled the boost tubing through. Finally, I removed the boost tubing. This is where I deviated. I then attached the wire end of the map switching cable to the hanger and just pulled that wire back through the firewall and it worked perfectly! The last step was to wire everything up and button the car back up.

Read this if using as a BMS map switcher

Well, I think I have come up with a very good solution on how to wire up the map switcher for the JB3. What is provided by JB3 is a molex connector with male connectors and RiXeffects supplies a molex connector with female connectors. Bottom line is that you just plug one into the other and it works. That is the easy part. The hard part that I faced is how to integrate this to look good and be easy for others to replicate. I have to admit this was not easy. With that said I think I have a fantastic solution for you that is very easy!

First I attached the wire to the connector on the JB3. Next, how do I run this out of the ecu? Well many will probably just slip it under one of the rubber seals, but I wanted to keep my ecu sealed from moisture. Here is what the ecu looks like:

Look at the right side of the image. You will see three rubber seals (that slide up out of the ecu) with wires going into them. Well, the outer two are full of wires, but the middle one only has two going out. That grommit leads to the cowl and 2 wires that go above you engine toward you intakes. Hmmm. So I try to figure out if I could run the wire through there? The definitive answer is yes! You will notice that the rubber grommit seals to the plastic jacket you see running through the cowel about 3 inches from the ecu. It has tabs and you can just peel back the rubber part back and seperate the rubber jacket from the plastic jacket. In fact it was created for this exact reason, so nothing is damaged. Simple and very intuitive. I ran the black BMS switch wire (as you can see in the picture above) through that grommit and out the other side. Then I ran it along the cowel:

By the way, to open that plastic cowel, there are four obvious tabs on the front of it that you pull and then cowel will open.

Here is a picture of the wire emerging near the intakes:

Finally, run the wire to the right firewall where the brake fluid resevoir is located. Again, how to keep this sealed? Well there is a slot in one of the rubber grommits on the passenger side of the resevoir that you can see in this picture:

Slip the wire in there and it will keep this sealed as well! Then procede to pull it back through the firewall with the hanger method mentioned above.

Performance **with video**

Well, this is the place I was nervous. Why? I loved needle style gauges and wasn't sure digital was for me. The response on the gauge is unbelievable and I really mean incredible. It is instaneous and very readable. The peak hold feature is awesome and customizable!

The calibration is simple. Hold the button on the gauge, hit the start button, wait 10 seconds... the end!

In terms of customization, RiXeffects thought of EVERYTHING. The menu is easily access with a 3 second press of the button. It immediately allows you to choose the map you want and I can verify it works perfectly. Map 1 (bc1)is low boost, Map 2 (bc2) is high boost, Map 3 (bc3) is stock, and Map 4 (bc4) is the race gas map. Then you can move on to control everything! Here is a list:

Resolution from 12/18/24/36 psi. Great if we get a turbo upgrade later!

Peak of the bargraph. Nice visual of where you peak your boost

How long you want the peak boost to be shown in 1-5 seconds.

Resolution of boost shown from 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0.

What kind of startup animation you want.

Daytime brightness.

Night time brightness. All the brightness have 9 selections so you can match your interior stock look perfectly and trust me the color is perfect!

Daytime video. The menu is obviously extensive and includes anything you could imagine. I guess this is why I have come to believe that a digital gauge is far superior to any needle style gauge you can buy.

Conclusion

Overall, I cannot believe how great of a product RiXeffects put together. This is a fully customizable gauge specifically made for the e9x. The installation is easy, but probably takes a couple of hours. The look is as good or better than stock. My friends kept commenting on how stock it looks.
The color match is spot on. The gauge functionality is nothing less than immediate and incredible to see. The peak hold allows you to see how high you boosted with the simple press of a button. I cannot imagine you RiXeffects could have created a better solution for the us.

If anyone wants to ask any questions to RiXeffects, you can always get a hold of them by this link... www.rixeffects.com/store/contact or you can order at www.rixeffects.com/store/ventgauge

BoostedBMW · 10-11-2008, 04:06 PM

Excellent review... that gauge looks great installed.

oddjob2021 · 10-11-2008, 04:28 PM

great, detailed review... nice! 13.5 psi, fast as hell i bet!

Robertbog · 10-11-2008, 04:31 PM

can we see it in the light?

superlubricity · 10-11-2008, 04:53 PM

How is the performance of the vent now? Where does the air blow?

lawdude · 10-11-2008, 05:12 PM

Best write up ever. Would've been perfect with a daylight shot.

Bagelfast · 10-11-2008, 05:18 PM

nice review

oddjob2021 · 10-11-2008, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1LUMI335

what engine mods are on the car? besides DCI and JB3
was that low boost mode?

nice review

i believe high boost, he chose bc2 which according to his notes is high boost

13.5 is high for no other major supporting mods

!

Former_Boosted_IS · 10-11-2008, 05:49 PM

Ask and you shall receive. I am uploading daytime video right now!

Former_Boosted_IS · 10-11-2008, 06:53 PM

Let me answer a couple of the questions asked.

First, the vent flow is still surprising great. It is aimed toward the left handle of the steering wheel now. I was a bit concerned, but not anymore. I think I would say it is just slightly decreased, but not enough to bother me.

All I have is DCI and JB3. The high boost map was used during these runs and consistently hits betweem 13.5 and 14.0 psi. The car pulls very hard on the new 1.1 chip. I will have more about that to come as well.

Thank you all for the kind words too.

It is quite a product. If anyone wants to order or talk to RiXeffects, you can always email him at www.rixeffects.com/store/contact

So here is the daytime video and I will also edit the original post to show it. At the end you will see all the menu items I listed above. Clearly it is extensive.

e90AW335i · 10-11-2008, 06:58 PM

Congrats to the OP!

Rick, this is an amazing product, I can't wait to install this!

RiXst3r · 10-11-2008, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e90AW335i

Congrats to the OP!

Rick, this is an amazing product, I can't wait to install this!

Thanks! did you get yours yet? It went in the mail with the big batch that went out thursday...

-Rick

e90AW335i · 10-11-2008, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

Thanks! did you get yours yet? It went in the mail with the big batch that went out thursday...

-Rick

Yeah I got it but I have something coming up. I PMed you....

alextremo · 10-11-2008, 07:08 PM

Looks great - the color of the LEDs looks spot on. How does the rest of the black/plastic match up with the remaining stock pieces? Hard to tell from the video, but it looks a little more glossy than the stock plastic.

RiXst3r · 10-11-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alextremo

Looks great - the color of the LEDs looks spot on. How does the rest of the black/plastic match up with the remaining stock pieces? Hard to tell from the video, but it looks a little more glossy than the stock plastic.

Thanks!

Its not glossy... its just semi-transparent, so you get that illusion in video, since it absorbs more light.

It is designed to look the same matte finish as the other displays in the car (radio, obc, thermastat, etc)

-Rick

lawdude · 10-11-2008, 07:19 PM

Most excellent. Thanks OP.

5soko · 10-11-2008, 07:31 PM

OP thanks alot for all the info, i look forward to your JB3 1.1 review. Congrats. great work.

Former_Boosted_IS · 10-11-2008, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alextremo

Looks great - the color of the LEDs looks spot on. How does the rest of the black/plastic match up with the remaining stock pieces? Hard to tell from the video, but it looks a little more glossy than the stock plastic.

alex, you are right the color is spot on. The wavelength is identical to our dash ensuring the correct color match.

The black plastic is matte and RiX is correct that it is a perfect match to the rest of the car. The most common comment I get from people is that it looks completely stock.

Former_Boosted_IS · 10-11-2008, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5soko335i

OP thanks alot for all the info, i look forward to your JB3 1.1 review. Congrats. great work.

I am glad I could help.

The 1.1 review will come soon.

ala012 · 10-11-2008, 07:53 PM

Wow...I want that..

RiXst3r · 10-11-2008, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ala012

Wow...I want that..

If anyone is interested, I still have a few units availible in this first batch.

Sponsor thread is here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159756

All orders will include EVERYTHING you see here in this review.

-Rick

alextremo · 10-11-2008, 09:05 PM

Has anyone been able to test the map switching with procede v3? Does the unit come with the connections required for this today, or is this a potential future enhancement?

10-11-2008, 03:30 PM	#1
Former_Boosted_IS Major General 315 Rep 5,175 Posts Drives: 4 Wheels Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Planet Earth! iTrader: (15)	RiXeffects Vent Gauge / Map switcher - Full Review I have been reviewing products for a pretty long time now for this and a few other communities. I try to be very unbiased in my presentation and review. I just want the community to get a good idea of a product that I bought to find out if it fits their needs. Well, my latest review is about the RiXeffects Vent Gauge / Map switcher. So lets start with the packaging. Packaging Clearly a lot of thought was put into both the professionalism and protection of this package. Here is how it arrived at my door: The box is well presented and packaged. When I opened the box, these were the items included: Notice every item is air wrapped, zip locked, protected, and itemized extremely well. One thing I really like here was the fact that the items you needed for each step were organized very well so you didn't have spare parts sitting around to fall or lose. Well done here. Quality On something that is going to be displayed in your car, the quality has to be extremely high to sit in my BMW. I have to admit I had no clue this kit was going to be so nice. Every single thing you will need is included and I mean everything! The boost gauge, the sensor, the tubing, the map switching wire, the power wires, etc. It is very thorough and won't leave you running to radio shack to pick up the mess. Look at how well protected the smoked lens is! Clearly he went through every step to make sure quality arrives to him and most importantly to us! I thought it was funny to see that even the tape holding the laser cut part of the lens was stuck to the parts that will be removed insuring you won't damage it when trying to peel off the protective stickers. Installation This kit is a plug and play kit. So is it that? Absolutely yes! Now, I have heard some say that you can do it in 15 minutes and I seriously think most of us will take substantially longer. I put a couple of hours into the install, but I also wired up the map switcher. The power wire RiXeffects supplies is a single end to the gauge and double end to the power source. What that means is you unplug the ash tray and plug both sides (power source plug and ash tray plug) into the RiXeffects wire and you are done. Very easy! The instructions are pretty straight forward. You start by removing the vent. This was very easy, but just be careful. Installing the gauge was easy. One point to note when re-installing the vent cover with the smoked lens attached, the foam should completely cover the right side of the gauge, all the way up the smoked lens. You will see a notch in the foam in this picture on the right side of the gauge: See how the gauge must be pushed back into that notch in the foam on the right side of the gauge? Running the boost tubing and map switching wire through the firewall is the hardest part, but I have found a great solution. RiXeffects suggests popping out a small hole in a rubber plug in the firewall and it is perfect. You use a wire hanger to fish the tubing and map switching wire through the firewall. That got me thinking, that this might not be the best way to do this because the map switcher wire has a plug on it that would have to go through the firewall. What I decided to do was wire the map switcher up first to whatever tune you are using, then run the wire to the driver's side of the firewall (where the boost tubing is run). Then, I used the hanger to run the boost tubing from the cabin to the engine bay through that rubber grommit. I would place a small bend of 45-90 degrees on the end of the hanger so you can fish it to your hands. Then, I retrieved the wire hanger and pulled the boost tubing through. Finally, I removed the boost tubing. This is where I deviated. I then attached the wire end of the map switching cable to the hanger and just pulled that wire back through the firewall and it worked perfectly! The last step was to wire everything up and button the car back up. Read this if using as a BMS map switcher Well, I think I have come up with a very good solution on how to wire up the map switcher for the JB3. What is provided by JB3 is a molex connector with male connectors and RiXeffects supplies a molex connector with female connectors. Bottom line is that you just plug one into the other and it works. That is the easy part. The hard part that I faced is how to integrate this to look good and be easy for others to replicate. I have to admit this was not easy. With that said I think I have a fantastic solution for you that is very easy! First I attached the wire to the connector on the JB3. Next, how do I run this out of the ecu? Well many will probably just slip it under one of the rubber seals, but I wanted to keep my ecu sealed from moisture. Here is what the ecu looks like: Look at the right side of the image. You will see three rubber seals (that slide up out of the ecu) with wires going into them. Well, the outer two are full of wires, but the middle one only has two going out. That grommit leads to the cowl and 2 wires that go above you engine toward you intakes. Hmmm. So I try to figure out if I could run the wire through there? The definitive answer is yes! You will notice that the rubber grommit seals to the plastic jacket you see running through the cowel about 3 inches from the ecu. It has tabs and you can just peel back the rubber part back and seperate the rubber jacket from the plastic jacket. In fact it was created for this exact reason, so nothing is damaged. Simple and very intuitive. I ran the black BMS switch wire (as you can see in the picture above) through that grommit and out the other side. Then I ran it along the cowel: By the way, to open that plastic cowel, there are four obvious tabs on the front of it that you pull and then cowel will open. Here is a picture of the wire emerging near the intakes: Finally, run the wire to the right firewall where the brake fluid resevoir is located. Again, how to keep this sealed? Well there is a slot in one of the rubber grommits on the passenger side of the resevoir that you can see in this picture: Slip the wire in there and it will keep this sealed as well! Then procede to pull it back through the firewall with the hanger method mentioned above. Performance with video Well, this is the place I was nervous. Why? I loved needle style gauges and wasn't sure digital was for me. The response on the gauge is unbelievable and I really mean incredible. It is instaneous and very readable. The peak hold feature is awesome and customizable! The calibration is simple. Hold the button on the gauge, hit the start button, wait 10 seconds... the end! In terms of customization, RiXeffects thought of EVERYTHING. The menu is easily access with a 3 second press of the button. It immediately allows you to choose the map you want and I can verify it works perfectly. Map 1 (bc1)is low boost, Map 2 (bc2) is high boost, Map 3 (bc3) is stock, and Map 4 (bc4) is the race gas map. Then you can move on to control everything! Here is a list: Resolution from 12/18/24/36 psi. Great if we get a turbo upgrade later! Peak of the bargraph. Nice visual of where you peak your boost How long you want the peak boost to be shown in 1-5 seconds. Resolution of boost shown from 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0. What kind of startup animation you want. Daytime brightness. Night time brightness. All the brightness have 9 selections so you can match your interior stock look perfectly and trust me the color is perfect! Daytime video. The menu is obviously extensive and includes anything you could imagine. I guess this is why I have come to believe that a digital gauge is far superior to any needle style gauge you can buy. Conclusion Overall, I cannot believe how great of a product RiXeffects put together. This is a fully customizable gauge specifically made for the e9x. The installation is easy, but probably takes a couple of hours. The look is as good or better than stock. My friends kept commenting on how stock it looks. The color match is spot on. The gauge functionality is nothing less than immediate and incredible to see. The peak hold allows you to see how high you boosted with the simple press of a button. I cannot imagine you RiXeffects could have created a better solution for the us. If anyone wants to ask any questions to RiXeffects, you can always get a hold of them by this link... www.rixeffects.com/store/contact or you can order at www.rixeffects.com/store/ventgauge Last edited by Former_Boosted_IS; 10-12-2008 at 12:33 PM..
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10-11-2008, 04:06 PM	#2
BoostedBMW Moderator 134 Rep 6,775 Posts Drives: TiAg E92 335 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Raleigh, NC iTrader: (14) Garage List 2003 S2000 [0.00]	Excellent review... that gauge looks great installed. __________________ -Michael. Berlina Black S2000 CR is now in the garage l 19" Rial Daytona Race l KW V2 l Eisenhaus Race Exhaust l
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10-11-2008, 04:28 PM	#3
oddjob2021 ASR Turbos+LSD+Meth= :D 79 Rep 1,517 Posts Drives: E92 335i Join Date: May 2007 Location: Miami, FL iTrader: (0) Garage List 2007 E92 335i [0.00]	great, detailed review... nice! 13.5 psi, fast as hell i bet! __________________ 2007 335i Coupe Mods: Check the Garage
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10-11-2008, 04:31 PM	#4
Robertbog Lieutenant 71 Rep 526 Posts Drives: 335i Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Dallas iTrader: (1)	can we see it in the light? __________________ Life Lock Identity Security Discount!
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10-11-2008, 04:53 PM	#5
superlubricity Captain 45 Rep 669 Posts Drives: '10 C63, '08 X3, '04 Ranger Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Seattle, WA iTrader: (12) Garage List 2008 X3 3.0si [0.00] 2006 M5 - SOLD [0.00] 2008 Dinan S-335i C ... [10.00]	How is the performance of the vent now? Where does the air blow?
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10-11-2008, 05:12 PM	#6
lawdude Colonel 95 Rep 2,339 Posts Drives: 335i ZPP ZSP TiAg MT Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Georgia iTrader: (1)	Best write up ever. Would've been perfect with a daylight shot. __________________ What do I know? I'm insane.
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10-11-2008, 05:18 PM	#7
Bagelfast Lieutenant Colonel 133 Rep 1,548 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	nice review Last edited by Bagelfast; 11-12-2008 at 05:43 PM..
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10-11-2008, 05:49 PM	#9
Former_Boosted_IS Major General 315 Rep 5,175 Posts Drives: 4 Wheels Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Planet Earth! iTrader: (15)	Ask and you shall receive. I am uploading daytime video right now!
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10-11-2008, 06:53 PM	#10
Former_Boosted_IS Major General 315 Rep 5,175 Posts Drives: 4 Wheels Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Planet Earth! iTrader: (15)	Let me answer a couple of the questions asked. First, the vent flow is still surprising great. It is aimed toward the left handle of the steering wheel now. I was a bit concerned, but not anymore. I think I would say it is just slightly decreased, but not enough to bother me. All I have is DCI and JB3. The high boost map was used during these runs and consistently hits betweem 13.5 and 14.0 psi. The car pulls very hard on the new 1.1 chip. I will have more about that to come as well. Thank you all for the kind words too. It is quite a product. If anyone wants to order or talk to RiXeffects, you can always email him at www.rixeffects.com/store/contact So here is the daytime video and I will also edit the original post to show it. At the end you will see all the menu items I listed above. Clearly it is extensive.
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10-11-2008, 06:58 PM	#11
e90AW335i Major General 144 Rep 6,608 Posts Drives: e90 335i Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: ...... iTrader: (4)	Congrats to the OP! Rick, this is an amazing product, I can't wait to install this! __________________ I install all tunes, intakes, o2 simms, and most cosmetic mods. PM me for a quote.
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10-11-2008, 07:08 PM	#14
alextremo Captain 51 Rep 966 Posts Drives: F10 550i Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: USA iTrader: (5)	Looks great - the color of the LEDs looks spot on. How does the rest of the black/plastic match up with the remaining stock pieces? Hard to tell from the video, but it looks a little more glossy than the stock plastic.
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10-11-2008, 07:19 PM	#16
lawdude Colonel 95 Rep 2,339 Posts Drives: 335i ZPP ZSP TiAg MT Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Georgia iTrader: (1)	Most excellent. Thanks OP. __________________ What do I know? I'm insane.
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10-11-2008, 07:31 PM	#17
5soko Brigadier General 351 Rep 4,633 Posts Drives: M5 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY iTrader: (4)	OP thanks alot for all the info, i look forward to your JB3 1.1 review. Congrats. great work.
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10-11-2008, 07:53 PM	#20
ala012 Koala012 20 Rep 637 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Dakar Yellow Join Date: May 2008 Location: NJ, Seoul S.Korea iTrader: (12) Garage List 2007 BMW 335i [0.00]	Wow...I want that.. __________________ E92 M3 Dakar Yellow DCT \| CF Trim Akrapovic EVO Exhaust \| RECARO RS-F SK2 Seat \| KW Clubsports \| H&R Sway Bar \| DCT Cooler \| iTG Air Filter \| Volk TE37 SL + RS3 Tire
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10-11-2008, 09:05 PM	#22
alextremo Captain 51 Rep 966 Posts Drives: F10 550i Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: USA iTrader: (5)	Has anyone been able to test the map switching with procede v3? Does the unit come with the connections required for this today, or is this a potential future enhancement?
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