Im considering upgrading my in car manual controller for an electronic one.
One of the main reasons is to have the ability to have 2 or more preset boost levels....
Ive been reading about some of the different features and the failsafes they offer.
The question I have- do any of the controllers have a feature where if any knock
is present it will drop the boost to a lower level.......
This would be good for someone like me who is not the most savvy tuner, might
even save a head gasket or 2....
I do not believe at this time on the market there is a standalone EBC that has a fail safe for predetermined sensor inputs like; knock detection, overboost detection, EGT lean detection, etc.
If you have an aftermarket ECM there are parameters you can input into it; like if your EGT sensors read above whatever temperature you input as too high or too low, or if your MAP sensor reads a psi level too high, or your wideband reads too lean....you can have the ECM pull timing, or reduce the boost pressure, or add fuel...all things that would help prevent detonation.
I believe the SD2 chips, like DankGN said, also have features like this, typically referred to as "self tuning" or "auto-correct". The old Gen2 Translator had the ability to allow you to preset a target AFR and it would add or subtract fuel to help you maintain that target AFR.
Most new ECMs, like the Holley or MS3, and I believe the XFI too (Cal would be better suited to discuss the XFI's features) have self-learning in them. You can input into the ECM what parameters you want to use as the range of "safe" readings from your sensors (Wideband, MAP, EGT, for instance) and if the engine goes outside these parameters, such as the EGT readings are too hot (which would mean you are lean most likely), or if the MAP sensor reads too high of psi, or the wideband reads too lean...the ECM will automatically either reduce the boost pressure, or pull timing, or whatever you set it to do...this is also why when running external wastegates with aftermarket ECMs they tell you to run a wastegate spring that is about half your target psi, so that if your ECM has to cut the boost pressure as a failsafe, the electronic wastegate solenoids will open and the turbo will only be able to build as much boost as the external wastegate springs allow, which would help prevent any catastrophic failure hopefully.
For instance, I will be running an MS3 Ultimate (not the Plug N Play) on my car, along with EGT probes in each cylinder primary. The EGT probes run their signal to a 3rd party box called a CAN EGT 8, which takes the EGT probe signal, converts it to a 0-5v signal, and sends the signal reading for each of the 6 probes to the MS3 box via the CAN bus communication. I can then program the MS3 so that if any of the EGT's read too hot (which would mean a lean condition) the MS3 will then cut boost pressure instantly, hopefully saving the engine.
But back to your question- as far as I am aware, there are no aftermarket boost controllers that can do this....maybe something like the AMS2000, but I don't know for sure since I am not familiar with it..I only suggest it because the AMS2000 is a $2,000 controller..so it better do something like that for that kinda money! hahaha!