Can anyone provide me with some feedback on these monitors? I just bought a Smarty Jr and like the clean look, simple install of these monitors. But, how accurate are they when it comes to the tranny temp and boost? I'm not worried about the EGT since it's coming off the probe.

I guess my question is, would the mechanical tranny temp be more accurate? How does the Insight pull the tranny temp from the OB port?

Any help would be appreciated!

Greg.

 

I too am interested..

It won't be my primary set of gauges, I just don't want to waste $$ on something that sucks.

 

I had an edge juice with attitude in my 01' and thought the gauges were fairly accurate

I want gauges in this truck but no mod's, for about $400 I can get the edge insight installed w/the probe and get the 4 gauges I want, egt's, boost, trans temp and fuel pressure

I've been told they are fairly accurate so I'm going to try one, for the 4 guages I want mechanically installed is $1,000 plus, I just want something a lttle better than the idiot lights on the tranny temp

anyone else want to chime in

 

All I will say is that if you see what the EGT's do stock, you won't like it and will spend money to reduce them.. So ensure thats a road you want to go down if you get gauges.

 

With the 06-07 trucks all the monitors pull readings from the data port. Essentially your seeing what the ECU is interpreting from its sources. The older trucks pull some info from connections like the MAO sensor but they are not all consistent on where they connect.

The problem with reading directly from the data port is the accuracy which is suspect. None of the currrent monitors will match an analog gauge for accuracy and consistency, updates to the ECU pose the risk of causing further invalidations because of changes, and you have to send them back to get updated. Not positive on the last as some may now be updateable from the internet, you would need to check that.

The ECU sources are suspect at any time due to the crappy components OE uses and the smoothing routines that are embeded in the ECU. Running a boost fooler you get fooled numbers, you see pan temps instead of hot line temps on the trans. If you want a set of gauges to drive but and not just have for a cool toy, go analog.

Second problem, I have not seem a digital monitor that will give all the readings in an eays to read-at-a-glance format. Now that may vary from person to person but I cannot see them well enough to be comfortable.

Third, when you look at a digital number you have to interpret what is there. There is no positional reference or needle or anything to tell you what the display means. You MUST focus to interpret a digital number. An analog gauge with a red marker at the designated limit is easy to read at a glance. You don't have to think about it just a glance will trigger a second look if you catch something out of the ordinary. Once you get used to the position you may glance at it and look away right away but your brain will continue to process what you saw and trigger a second look if it is not right. That beats having to focus and interpret any time because you have better things to do.

Last, this an extension of the 3rd point, its dangerous to focus on something besides the road. Where the gauges are going to do you some good is in situations where you want attention on your surroundings not gauages. Towing, you take your eyes off the road too long and you are screwed at times. Too many idiots that haven't a clue and your a BIG target.

The only time I use a digital monitor is when I give it to the passenger to look at it either copy numbers or read to me. I don't even look at the analogs much on a dyno or race because there are too many other things to monitor. Thats what shotgun is for.

Taken together I recommend analog for all the above reasons.

 

Can't tell you how accurate they are, but my Edge Juice/Attitude read the same as the Edge Insight I have. Of course they hook up to the OBTII port.
I wish it was possible to piggy back the two.

The Insight has four sets of monitor points in various combinations unlike the Attitude which only alows you to see one set of either 2, 3, or 4 combos. The Insight is only a monitor. Both have alarm points that can be set for various things. So once installed, you really don't need to look at it. At night
I turn the light off on the monitor.

 

I use the Bulley Dog moniter. What No 06 says is correct. Nothing replaces a good quality set of gauges for accuracy and ease of reading. But, they are considerably more expensive, and require a lot more work to install.

I disagree about the factory sensers. The are usually pretty accurate, and last a long time. How many times have you heard of a temp sender failing? It happens, but it's not a common problem.

The stock trans temp sender is in the pan. That doesn't read the highest temp the fluid sees. But it is accurate and reliable. Mine usually reads right about 100* or so. Even towing across KS in the summer it never got above 120*. The highest reading would be in the line leading to the cooler. Figure that's at least 20* hotter, so lets say 40*. Highest temp never got above 160*. Even if the hot line was 100* higher, it's still well within specs on it's worst day. By keeping my temps below 120* on the gauge, I have nothing to worry about.

If you use a boost fooler, what you're doing is fooling the facotry computer into thinking the boost is lower than it actually is. So that's what the moniter will read.

I don't find it difficult to moniter at all. I'm not racing, so I have time to glance at the gauge now and again. I'm used to it, so i don't have to process the digital data. My race car is a differant story. Things happen fast at 140mph, so I use analog only there.

The only thing missing is an out range alarm. It would be nice if a light would come on when the temps is over, say, 120*. And, a clock would be nice, too. The one on the radio is difficult to read sometimes.

Installation doesn't get any easier: plug it in, run a power wire, and stick it on the windshield. A lot cheaper than a set of gauges, too.

Is a moniter better than gauges? For my purposes, it certainly is.

 

As read by an analog gauge, fluid return line under normal driving in the summer is around 120-140 degrees before the fluid has lubed and cooled the trans. Pan temp runs 160-180 degrees in normal conditions. The hot line temps can easily be 100 degrees or better difference from the pan.

Accurate? Reliable? I don't think those numbers even qualify as in the same ball park. If those are the typical numbers from a monitor , relying on them would be a huge jump in faith, IMO.

At 70 mph or 140 mph things happen FAST, sometimes much faster than we can react if distracted. Its really no different than texting or dialing a cell phone, equally bad. Thats not an opinion, thats reality.

 

Thanks guys. I guess I'm leaning towards the mechanical gauges at this point but don't the money to spend right now I guess I should have waited to buy the Smarty Jr until I could swing both.

 

After much thought I decided to go with the mechanical gauges on the pillar. I placed the order for the Autometer Factory Match gauges I hope I like them and hope they look good installed.