the programmer is draining the battery so much that the key fob won't even work. there is nothing else that is being left on to rob power.

turn the truck on the display doesn't display anything. you can tell there is power going to it but nothing on the screen.

unplug and plug back in and before i even get the key in the ignition the display is reading the hex code and telling me to hit enter.

i hit enter, turn the truck on and the of course the display is working however the functions on the display aren't working. hit the gas and the rpm's stay at zero.

would an update help this or what?

 

I think that others have experienced similar stuff and discovered their battery was failing. Make sure that your altenator is sending 13.5 or so volts and if so, it is the battery not holding a charge. The Edge is just a symtom of the problem and I would not recommend an update.

 

so becuase the battery is going dead the display stays on?

how many volts should the alt be putting out if you say 13.5 or so is the battery on it's last leg

 

A healthy altenator should be putting out 13.5 to 14 as I recall. If I am mistaken, someone correct me. The Edge requires a good battery to function properly and when a battery starts getting weak, it does goofy things. That is why I suspect the battery. If it is about three years old or more, its about time to replace it anyway.

 

VERY ODD charecteristic but yes... when your battery is just about to die the edge will stay illuminated.. well thats what happened to me, and I've heard several other owners with the same symptoms.

 

ya got to have a battery in excellent shape to handle some of these tuners, because of the draw they put on your system when they are suppose to be off, ya know

 

its not the edge draining your battery...its the battery not holding a charge. get a new battery.

 

One way to look at it is that the tuner is warning you that the battery is getting close to failure. It tells you to replace it before you get stranded somewhere.

 

got the battery tested. supposed to be around 660 cranking amps. it was reading 300.

replaced with 1000 cranking amps. replacing tommorrow.

thanks for the help fellas

 

I liked Bluejay's comment here about the display staying on if the battery is weak.

My experience with "modern" batteries is they fail "suddenly", with little or no warning. Way back about 50 or so years ago, batteries would just slowly get weaker and weaker, cranking the engine slower and slower. And, we had ammeters then, not voltmeters. A constant high reading on your ammeter was a sure sign your battery was going bad. A good battery would show a zero amp draw on the generator when it was fully charged.

So, we've "progressed" to where we get lno warning unless we are lucky enough to have a Gryphon/Edge in the vehicle.

And, Bluejay, you're dead on about a good alternator putting in the neighborhood of 14V on to the battery when the engine is running. If it is one or two volts higher or lower than that, you've probably got a bad alternator.

Another sad fact I believe, is that a bad battery can destroy the diodes in your alternator, forcing you to replace the battery AND the alternator. What fun! Didn't have these problems with generators.

Why did we go to alternators? Because they tend to keep the voltage in the electrical system fairly constant, regardless of engine RPM. I suppose we have to have this "feature" now, with modern electronics.

But, anything that warns me about a bad battery I welcome!

- Jack

 

First off, something doesn't sound right with your sequence of events. I understand about the unit staying on to some degree, but you indicated that when you plug the unit it it displayed the HEX code before you turn the key on. This is generally impossible since the PCM should not be powered up with the key off/removed and would not be able to be read by the unit.

If you are, in fact, correct that the unit is reading the PCM HEX Code even with the key removed, you have a more serious issue because the PCM is staying powered even with the key off which is a HUGE current draw. I'd be looking at what is causing that problem and be less concerned about what is going on with your programmer.

With that said, let me offer this... Here are the current draw specs on the Evolution/Gryphon in relation to the PCM:

PCM Only:
Key Off - .000A @ 12.7V
Key On - .450A A 12.7V
Turn Key Off - .070A @ 12.7V for 15 Seconds

PCM & Evo/Gryphon:
Key Off, Evo Off - .050A @ 12.7V
Key Off, Evo On - .260A @ 12.7V
Key On, Evo On - .660A @ 12.7V

---

PCM Only:
Key Off - .000A @ 11.7V
Key On - .470A A 11.7V
Turn Key Off - .080A @ 11.7V for 15 Seconds

PCM & Evo/Gryphon:
Key Off, Evo Off - .050A @ 11.7V
Key Off, Evo On - .290A @ 11.7V
Key On, Evo On - .690A @ 11.7V

---

PCM Only:
Key Off - .000A @ 10.5V
Key On - .500A A 10.5V
Turn Key Off - .080A @ 10.5V for 15 Seconds

PCM & Evo/Gryphon:
Key Off, Evo Off - .050A @ 10.5V
Key Off, Evo On - .310A @ 10.5V
Key On, Evo On - .740A @ 10.5V

As you can see, there is some current draw (up to 50 mA) when the unit is "asleep" and there is a bit more (about .290 mA) when awake. Most of the current draw is the LEDs, so lower LED values will cause lower current draw. In fact, LED draw accounts for up to 170 mA of draw.

So what does this mean? Well if you look at the math... the unit is using on about 290 mA (at 11.7V, full LED output) so if the unit stayed on 24 hours you'd use approximately 7 Amp/Hours of battery capacity. Automotive batteries are rated in both CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) and RC (Reserver Capacity). Reserve Capacity is the amount of time a 25 Amp load can be applied before a fully charged battery will drop to 10.5 volts. To convert to Amp/Hours, multiply minutes of RC by 25 Amps.

According to Interstate Battery, the average 24 or 34 series battery has a Reserve Capacity of about 120 minutes, which amounts to 50 Amp/Hours. Now, using these values it would take approximately 172 hours or 7.18 days of the unit being "fully on" before the battery drops to 10.5 volts. If the unit "sleeps" normally, it would take 1000 hours or 41.67 days to drop the battery to 10.5 volts.

Of course, this is assuming no other loads on the vehicle which could affect the decay rate of the battery. Other modules such as the clock/radio and keyless entry also draw small amounts of power to stay functional and will have an effect on battery output. I don't know what the draw is on these so I can't offer any useful timeframes in regards to battery decay.

I hope this helps clear up any confusion. As for your truck Stang, give me or Corey a call tomorrow and we'll see what we can do to get your problem figured out.

Take care.

Bill