unplugging Gryphon once PCM is tuned?
 

Hey folks: I just returned my truck to stock and unplugged Gryphon because the truck is going to dealer tomorrow for a Ford Reflash.

But for future reference........is there any reason I can't load one of my tunes and unplug Gryphon once PCM is programmed with the tune (and truck would still function properly on loaded tune)?
I was just thinking that if it's done stock why can't it be unplugged with any tune?
Was thinking I could unplug it for the winter.....or atleast during the bitter cold weather to save the drain in the battery while programmer is in sleep mode. But I would still be driving my truck on performance tune.

Yes indeed you can do that. I removed my Gryphon when I drove my truck about 150 miles into Mexico out of fear it would get somehow "liberated". :) The unit simply acts as a monitor once the PCM is programmed on any level and has no effect on the truck at all.

Before I bought a Battery Tender, I unplugged the Gryphon too, since my truck does a lot of sitting in the garage.

- Jack

Thanks Jack!
.....that's exactly what I thought........I just don't know why it never dawned on me to do that. I wouldn't have needed a boost in the airport parking lot!
For some reason it just never occurred to me that I could unplug but still be on my performance tune.

Does it pull that much juice in sleep mode??

x2 :confused:

I measured it and Bill confirmed my measurement. It uses about 50 milliamps (or 0.05 amps) as "keep-alive" current. Now, that's not much by itself, but my truck also pulls 0.05 amps when it's turned off once everything is powered down according to my measurements.

So, if you add the two, you have a steady 0.1 amp drain on the battery when the truck is parked. In 24 hours, you've sucked 2.4 amps out of the battery.

Interstate says a battery is dead when it has lost 50 amps. That happens in just under 21 days at a steady 2.4 amp/day drain.

If you open a door, use the keyless entry system, etc., you turn on lights that really suck power out of the battery for a while until everything is allowed to power down again. Once a battery gets low, its voltage is reduced which causes the amp drain to increase too since all these "gadgets" need a specific amount of "keep alive" power (which is volts x amps). I also know that a low battery causes the Gryphon's screen to stay lit, even when off, and that pulls MUCH more power too.

Bottom line, if your truck is going to be parked a long time, disconnect the Gryphon or use a Battery Tender, like I do.

Hope this all makes sense.

- Jack

Cool. Thanx for the info. My PIAA 525's are wired straight to the battery so they
Can be used whenever. So the led's on the switch are always on.

The LEDs should pull VERY little current. I wouldn't worry about them at all. In fact, if your truck is pretty much driven daily, the Gryphon is no problem either. However, my truck sits for long periods - I use it when I need it, otherwise, I drive a small car.

Twice now, we've returned from a long trip (I get to do this now that I'm retired), of about 3-4 weeks to find a dead battery in my truck. The first time, I thought it was just due to being an old, OEM battery, so I changed it. The second time, of course, the battery was new, so I knew I had a problem (the alternator charges at 14.1-14.2 volts, so I knew it was all right). That's when I started measuring current and I learned a lot about the various draws on the system when the engine is not running. For instance, if the lights come on, the draw exceeds 10 amps (it blew the fuse in my meter), so that's a real killer. Interior and bed lights pull well over 2 amps if you open doors. And, there's "something" that continues to pull about 1/2 amp for about 20-30 minutes even after I close the doors.

Hope these observations help.

- Jack

Yeah, knew they were ok by themselves, but the Gryphon together is why I asked wasn't sure. Electricity is not my friend . As for it being a driven alot, that it is but I travel alot so it tends to sit in the airport parking lot for a couple of weeks here and there. I will probably remove it anyways just so it doesn't grow legs or draw an attack on the truck in the parking lot.

thanx for the input:thumbsup:

I think I'd definitely take it out if the truck were going to be parked for a long time in a "public" lot. I've found it's easy to just slip the Gryphon out of the pod and then unplug the cable from the back of the Gryphon, leaving the pod and the cable as is (since no one should want those anyway). Makes it easier to reinstall - just make sure the ignition is ON before reconnecting the cable to the Gryphon, so the unit initializes properly.

- Jack

Thanks Jack :2thumbs:

For reference:

The average LED pulls about 35 mA (.035 A) at full bright. The Evo/Gryphon has 12 of them for backlighting (4 of each colors... Red, Blue, Green) which means the LEDs alone pull 420 mA. The processor on the programmer pulls another 50 mA or so, but that stay constant with the key off while the LEDs turn off.

As for leaving the program in and unplugging the programmer, that is perfectly acceptable. Just be careful going to the dealer. If they reflash you with the programmer still in a level, it will disable the programmer. We always recommend returning to stock if going to the dealer for service.

Bill's post about the current draw of average LEDs makes me revise my response to you SinCityFX4. If there's one LED in your switch pulling .035 amps, your total parked draw without the Gryphon could be around .085 amps, and you'd have a 50 amp discharge in just over 24 days. If there are two LEDs that are lit, the time is reduced to just over 17 days.

It's possible that your truck doesn't use as much power when parked as my King Ranch does, but I wouldn't bet on it. To cut the power consumption when I open my doors, I replaced the interior dome and map lights with LEDs, and since I have a cap over the bed, I simply removed the bed light bulbs. (They could be replaced with LEDs though too). I think all of these bulbs are rated at about 10-15 watts, which means they each pull between .83 - 1.25 amps when lit, much more than an LED. I know they all go out 20 seconds after I close the door, but still, there's a high draw for a while.

I know you want the PIAA 525's in an "always ready" configuration, but if the switch remains lit up, you may be risking a dead battery if your truck sits for over two weeks.

- Jack

The switch for the PIAA's has 2 led's
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ment-8aspx.jpg

I have dome/map interior LED's, and the tails are Recon LED's as well. When I went on a "tour of the east coast" so to speak a few months ago I was gone for 2 weeks, and then over 3 weeks. It was fine for the 2, but when I left for the 3, I undid the battery to keep it from croaking (and a few other things to keep it from starting if someone was interested)


I think the paranoia of a break in alone will have me remove it before parking it for any length of time. The pod does not seem to be hard to remove, and the guy that is making a bracket for it says the bracket just snaps on where it is so should still be easy.

Thanx for all the info.....a sparky I am not.



Jer

Oh yeah, stock every time. Now I have the cover for the OBD too so as long as they follow instruction (:hehe:) I should be good at the dealer.

I dunno, Jer - looks to me like you can hold your own! :thumbsup:

- Jack

Hehe...we'll see if I can get this Sub/Amp wired in right w/o blowing something before I head back to work:hehe:

Jack: How much of an impact does cold weather have on these figures?
My truck is an FX4......doesn't have quite as many bells and whistles as yours but does have 6 disk changer, power seats, etc. I left my truck for exactly 7 days (with gryphon plugged in) in covered parking lot and average temp during that time was -25c or -13F and battery didn't have enough juice to even roll starter.
Another funny thing is.......when I put key in the ignition things started to go wonky as well. The CD player started screwing around with the discs. It's like it couldn't remember which disc was supposed to be in which of the 6 slots. I'm surprised the digital clock was even able to keep the time - it was so :censored3: cold!

I really can't say what the effect of cold weather is except that it's bad. Batteries produce electricity through a chemical reaction between the electrolyte and the plates. Cold temperatures slow this reaction down, which means less power available for starting (which is when you really need it). The starter, as you know, pulls a relatively HUGE amount of current and even a moderately discharged battery can supply that current when it's warm, but put the same battery in cold and there's just not enough power producing capability available. If it's cold enough, even a fully charged battery will act like it's dead.

Batteries aren't even rated at -13F. The Cold Cranking Amperage (CCA) rating is how many amps the battery can supply for 30 sec at 0F without the voltage going below 7.2V. Cranking Amps (CA) are measured for 30 sec at 32F and this figure is quite a bit higher.

I've seen the same wonky behavior in my CD changer after pulling and then resetting the CD player fuse. At first I thought I'd broken something. It cycled through all disk positions. Clocks seem to do pretty well though, as long as there's just a little bit of power.

I don't have any good solutions for those of you in cold climates except try to make sure your battery is healthy and always carry good (6 gauge minimum) jumper cables. If I was in a cold climate and I started seeing corrosion on either of the terminals (which is a sign of gassing) or if the electrolyte dropped in any of the cells, I'd replace the battery.

- Jack