Customizing Canned Tunes.

[Power Hungry]

Not a clue at this point. However, if he can recreate the issue I can look at the built custom file and see what happened.

To retrieve the file, plug the unit into the USB, run Pegasus and select [Utilities] -> [Retrieve Critical Files]. This will read the files from the programmer. E-mail me the CUSTOM file and I can see what's wrong.

Hope this helps.

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by Power Hungry

Not a clue at this point. However, if he can recreate the issue I can look at the built custom file and see what happened.

To retrieve the file, plug the unit into the USB, run Pegasus and select [Utilities] -> [Retrieve Critical Files]. This will read the files from the programmer. E-mail me the CUSTOM file and I can see what's wrong.

Hope this helps.

Hopefully, he won't TRY to recreate the issue - I wouldn't! But, should this happen to anyone else, I'll try to keep it in my memory banks.

- Jack

[grizzstang]

There still is a problem. I can't change anything other than tires, gears and shift firmness or it will not work no matter how I change it. The last time I tried it would not even start until I changed it back. I am assuming you don't have to go back to stock first every time you change something on level 2. I have just been loading level 2 and making the changes before it loads (not using the load previous settings option).

The unit does say it is on 2 but other than the shifts being way to hard I could not really feel any significant power difference. I ended up putting the shift firmness down to -5, -5, -6 to soften them up and it still slams into gear between 1st and 2nd when I stand on it. I suspect this is because of my Factory Tech Separator Plate but I thought 0 would be factory stock settings is that not the case? Or does the level 2 add shift firmness and that is considered the new 0 and you adjust it up and down from there? If that is the case how much does it add so I know how much to take out? Will having the firmness that far in the negatives harm my transmission?

As for running Pegasus, what are the minimum computer requirements? My home computer basically just keeps my desk at home from blowing away and is going to be replaced as soon as I can.

Sorry to be a PIA but I am just trying to figure out what is happening here.

Thanks.

[grizzstang]

Bump for answers to the above.

[Jackpine]

That plate is likely causing the hard shifts you don't like. When you load a tune in any level, the shift firmness is automatically increased and becomes a new "0" setting. Ever since I got my programmer, I thought the firmness was about right at this new point and I never wanted to set it higher. (I did try it once and didn't like the feel). But, if your plate adds it's own "firmness increment", then the "0" point is possibly too hard for you.

I say all this without having any clear knowledge of what a factory tech separator plate really does, but I can sort of guess that it possibly acts something like a clutch plate?

I don't think you can hurt anything by reducing the shift firmness more. It sounds like you're happy with settings of -5 and -6 for the 2-3 and 3-4 upshifts, but still don't like the feel at 1-2 at high RPM. The gear change is not too high at that point, so the engine gets back to a high RPM fairly quickly. I'd have no hesitation in reducing the firmness to -10 on the 1-2 upshift and even more than that if it's still not quite enough.

The effect of reducing firmness is to prolong the slip in the transmission that occurs as the speeds on both sides are equalizing. Some slip is both normal and desired. It would be damaging if no slip at all occurred.

You do not have to go back to stock tune between changing tunes. You can even reprogram at the same level without changing anything, or you could change just one thing, like the 1-2 upshift firmness.

I just had another thought: I wonder how you'd like it if you left the firmness settings alone and reduced the WOT RPM shift point(s)? Again, this should not hurt anything, but might "tame" things a bit without really hurting performance.

Any computer running XP is fine for Pegasus. There have been some problems with Vista, and Bill has added instructions in the Pegasus manual for Vista users.

Anyone else with better thoughts?

- Jack

[grizzstang]

The Factory Tech Separator Plate is more or less a shift kit. It would be nice to know how much shift firmness the Gryphon is adding so I know how much to take out without the trial and error as I am still having problems getting the level 2 to load and take the changes I want. Bill maybe you can field that one when you get time.

WOT shift points is one of the options mine does not like me to change but if I ever figure out why I would love to try it.

My truck sits around a lot so my battery may have not been fully charged when I was loading these would that make any difference? It was starting normal and running fine when started but it probably wasn't sitting at the 12.6 volts of a fully charged battery.

There is an option in the menu that says something to the effect of "Return to Factory Settings" will this change all the parameters (even the Load Previous Setting Function) back to original settings?

I will try to load the Pegasus software onto the home computer this weekend (hopefully) and figure out how that will help me. Is there any important updates that I might have to load into the Gryphon? I assumed that it came up to date but if it does not that would be good to know too.

[Jackpine]

Gryphons and Edges don't program well when the battery voltage is low. If you have any doubt, connect a low amp (2-10 amp) charger and leave it on while you are programming.

I don't understand what it "doesn't like" about adjusting WOT shift points. What does it do when you try to change them? And, verify that you're doing it this way: Select a shift point, say 1-2. You will see a number that represents a WOT RPM, let's say you see 5400 and you want to raise it. Push the up arrow until you see the value you want, let's say 5800 (and remember that your max RPM needs to be at least 400 above this to prevent erratic shifting). Once yu see 5800, hit <Enter> and you'll be back in the WOT shift menu. How does your experience differ from this description?

I'm sorry, but I don't recall the "Factory Settings" option in the menu. I'm not saying it's not there, I'm just saying I don't remember seeing it and I'm reluctant to go out and reload a tune just to see this.

Pegasus is used more to upload firmware and tune changes into your Gryphon than anything else. It DOES have a handy calculator in it though to calculate your tire size with squish. (Or to figure out a gear change to get back what you lose by changing to bigger or smaller tires).

- Jack

[grizzstang]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

Gryphons and Edges don't program well when the battery voltage is low. If you have any doubt, connect a low amp (2-10 amp) charger and leave it on while you are programming.

I don't understand what it "doesn't like" about adjusting WOT shift points.

I am going to put the charger on it tonight on 2 amp and let it charge up fully, then I will load the program, with the charger on, and make all the changes I want to make and see if that works.

It goes back to what was happening before. If I adjust anything else other than tires, gears and shift firmness my truck freaks out. If it even starts it will idle like a race car and push enough fuel to make your eyes burn.

I know Bill is busy but I would kill to get an answer on the bolded question above does anyone else know?

[Power Hungry]

Please... fill in the personal and vehicle information so I can have some reference of who this is and what we're working on.

In regards to the shifting, please note that the Custom Option is labeled "SHIFT FIRMNESS", not Shift Pressure. There is a reason for this. This option does NOT change shift pressure, but instead changes the time delay between the offgoing clutch and the oncoming clutch and is calculated in percentage change from the current values. As for how much pressure is added to each shift, there is no flat value. Heavier throttle/higher speeds have more pressure than light throttle/low speed. If I had to give a ROUGH value, I'd say 5, 6, and 8 PSI for the 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4, respectively.

One thing to keep in mind is that all Custom Options make changes to the MODIFIED file values (ie. Level 1, 2 or 3), not the stock file values. In other words, if the 1-2 shift delay on Level 2, for example, is 450 milliseconds and you set the 1-2 Shift Firmness option to +5%, you end up with about 425 milliseconds delay. If you set it to -10, you get 495 milliseconds.

If you are running a valve body plate and need the shifting corrected, you'll need to have a file built to eliminate ALL shift pressure and delay modifications. There's really no other way around it.

As for the other custom issues, again I'll need to know what vehicle and calibration codes we are dealing with before I can look into it any further.

Take care.

[Jackpine]

Since you haven't installed Pegasus (why not?), it's pretty obvious you haven't done this (from Bill's post earlier in this thread): To retrieve the file, plug the unit into the USB, run Pegasus and select [Utilities] -> [Retrieve Critical Files]. This will read the files from the programmer. E-mail me the CUSTOM file and I can see what's wrong.

Y'know, I think you're going to HAVE to do this if you expect Bill to be able to help you. And, I'm sure Bill can give you some idea about the relative value of the shift firmness, but I imagine it's not a simple matter of the "firmness points" that you see on your menu. I'd guess the effect to be in the neighborhood of about +10 for each of the shifts over stock, but it could easily be more.

But, install Pegasus and retrieve the custom file you've created so Bill can help you.

(Bill you're too quick for me!) You got your answer in right before I posted this. And, nice to know I was sort of right about the way shifting is modified - not the simple adding "firmness" property we have on the menu.

- Jack