I had struggled with my boost controller. I had to open it up and and resolder the wire terminals last year and it works now, provided I have the wires situated behind the scoop just right. If you dont hear it self cycle then my guess is shes not functioning.
Mine stopped working this spring. One way to check it out is to pull the left scoop to expose the boost controller and turn the key and switch on, leave engine off. If you dont hear it you can wiggle the wires and fidget with it until you hear it work. What I did this spring is removed the mounting screw and as I held it in my hand it would work when I cycled the switch on/off on/off, but not when I mounted it, so I gave it a twist and remounted it to put some torsion on the wires, and now it works just fine.
It's a common thing, I'm going to buy an Ignitek TCI at some point to eliminate the need for this booster, the Ignitek has integral adjustable vboost control eliminating the need for this finicky module. I hope this helps.
As far as becoming familiar with the carbs, I think it's worth while. There is a ton of good reading in the carb/tuning section. proper jetting and adjustment is critical to the full vmax experience. When I got mine I could really feel the vboost kick in, but once I had it doctored up and jetted correctly the vboost was much more obvious, gotta really hang on when she kicks in now. My bike was setup to rich, as I suspect many are, and that was robbing performance.