Smarty Jr settings and better fuel mileage

[IdahoMan]

Howdy,



I purchased a Smarty Jr back in Dec-09. I have run two 700-800 mile tanks of fuel with the Smarty set on #1 "Economy" setting and POD=100. With same driving habits and locale I am getting a little worse fuel mileage, 14. 9 and 15. 3, hand calced, which is . 5 to maybe . 8 mpg less than without the Smarty Jr. I did another run of 465 miles on #2 "Tow" and POD=75, and MPG was 15. 3; no real change from setting #1. I am currently trying setting #3 "Performance" and POD=75. Can anyone provide some thoughts and/or suggestions based on your experience with the Smarty Jr for my settings?



I drive conservatively, no jack rabbit starts, and use the cruise control when I can. Smarty driveability is fine with power when needed and no change in smoke from stock. The improvement in performance is clean and smooth.





Info:

Dodge 2500 Quad-Cab 2004. 5, 48RE Auto

Changes from stock: MBRP exhaust, CFM air horn, AirDog lift pump/filters



Smarty Jr: Software 5. 10A R14S



Questions:



What settings would you suggest next for my quest in mileage improvement?



In your experience, what Smarty Jr settings have you found to improve fuel mileage the most (I realize there is some variability from truck to truck)





Thanks for your help,



Kevin Taunton

 

[Turbo Kidd]

I always run mine on #3 performance..... It has also yeilded me a solid 17. 5 - 18. 2 MPG on the road empty and a solid 14. 0 - 14. 5 MPG around town (Chicago driving). The power is great and the fuel economy is good for the power. I did notice that I had to run it for a few tanks before I obtained that milage... . I do not know why, but give it some time. Just remember every truck is different.



Good Luck!

 

[IdahoMan]

Turbo Kidd,



Thanks for the reply. My dad has an stock '03 and he gets better mileage towing a 10,000# fifth wheel than I get towing an 18' trailer. He also gets better around town than I do. The '04 year had some smog-related detuning as I understand and it appears to make a noticeable difference.



I also noted that of the first two tanks of 700+ miles each that I ran on #1 Economy the second tank was better than the first and I could watch the gauge steadily improve as I worked through the tank.



Kevin

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Yeah, go with the performance setting. You should get a little better milage (As long as you keep your foot out of it... LOL), and you will like the added power.



Karl

 

[steved]

I had my Smarty JR installed on the 70HP tow setting... overall, it hasn't "improved" my mileage; but I could already get impressive mileage numbers before the installation. What I found was that with the Smarty JR installed, it became easier to obtain that mileage... in other words, there was less variance from tank to tank. For example - instead of one tank being 17 and the next being 21, they are consistently 20. That was the main thing I noticed.



One thing to remember, you can only push a brick through the air so many ways and expect a certain mileage... its not like any one programmer is going to take a 9k pound truck that's getting high teens and allow it to get the mileage of a Prius. And there are many variables that determine your mileage... getting all of them to "ideal" is the key.

 

[CToney]

Watching my boost guage and pyrometer closely I can tell how good/bad my milage will be. Winds and hills make milage worse. The only way to really test milage is a 30 day average. I believe my jr has helped my milage but driving by my guages helped even more.

 

[seafish]

Watching my boost guage and pyrometer closely I can tell how good/bad my milage will be. Winds and hills make milage worse. The only way to really test milage is a 30 day average. I believe my jr has helped my milage but driving by my guages helped even more.

So where are the sweet spots on both the pyro and boost for mileage??

 

[Turbo Kidd]

So where are the sweet spots on both the pyro and boost for mileage??

My sweet spot is 2,000 RPM @ 72 MPH (I have 285's), 10 PSI of boost or less. EGT's around 600 - 750 degrees.

 

[seafish]

Thanks... I run 285/75/17 also. I'll check this out after I install my Boost/pyro gauge.

 

[IdahoMan]

POD settings

To those who use the Performance setting, where do you run the POD setting?



I guess one thing that puzzles me is that I get worse mileage in the "Economy" mode than without the Smarty Jr.

I would expect a setting called "Economy" to provide some improvment otherwise why call it that.



Kevin

 

[CToney]

The sweet spot is with the lowest possible readings on both the pyro and boost. The higher the reading the more fuel being used. With my truck 65mph and less seems to yield better milage. 60mph and I am 6psi or so with less than 600F on the pyro.

 

[Wal_mart]

After much playing around I found sw1 to be useless, ran hot, poor mileage. Every truck I imagine is different. The best overall I found is sw-3(100), tm-3, tq-3.

 

[IdahoMan]

Wal mart,



Thanks for the info.



Kevin

 

[Bob Wagner]

walmart is right on the money crank it up and drive with a light foot for best fuel mpg.

 

[Buffalo]

It's been my experience that the slower you drive in the highest gear, the better the fuel mileage.



In '08, I towed my 25' travel trailer thru CA while on vacation. While towing in CA, the speed limit is 55 mph. & they are pretty serious about that speed. I stopped to "top off" the tank at 3 Flying J's between Bakersfield & Sacremento on Hwy. 99 & got over 15 mpg. on each top off. This was the best I had ever gotten & was all hand calculated. Smarty Jr. was on the towing mode 70HP.



Hwy. 99 is flat as a pool table & there were no winds. This is a truck route so, I just got in line with all the 18 wheelers. You couldn't help picking up a draft behind the truck in front of you. We were doing between 55 & 57 mph. the whole trip. Perfect situation for getting good mileage.



Earlier in the trip, I filled up at the Vicksburg exit off of I-10 in AZ. & refilled at the exit to I-40. There were a bunch of traffic lights, hilly terrain, a prolonged period of idling while talking to a cop (for directions) & faster speeds. That stretch only produced a bit over 10 mpg. So, there is nothing special about my truck. The only difference was the terrain, draft & slower speeds that produced about 5 more mpg's.



I ususlly tow in the "Towing Mode" when in mountainous terrain. The EGT's are cooler & they have never gotten into what I feel is a dangerous level. The "Performance Mode" can get a bit hotter than I would like, on my truck, while towing up a mountain. The Performance Mode works well in moderately hilly terrain. The Towing Mode seems to give me plenty of power.



Bottom line is, I'm very happy with my Smarty Jr. It does everything I want, very well.



Joe F.

 

[CToney]

If you want to lower egt in perf mode put on a HE351 turbo off of the newer trucks. I can now tow in perf with egt roughly the same as I was in tow mode before. No milage penalty. Just more power for hills and passing if necessary. Excellent addition for us guys who run the early trucks.

 

[IdahoMan]

Buffalo,



Thanks for the data. Personal experience with the Smarty Jr is what I am looking for. What do you run the POD at? What are your rpm's at "55-57 mph"?



I am in the middle of a mpg run at the Performance setting now (empty). Will be towing a ~4500# trailer in May and will report back with my experience with Smarty Jr on the Tow setting.



MADS Electronics advertises "Improved fuel economy", which has eluded me so far, so I am trying to find that through the experiences of other users. I am happy with the power gain and drivability.



Kevin

 

[DaveHess]

I just did a 390 mile round trip with my Smarty jr. at Tow, driving at 2K RPM and 72 MPH. Unloaded with EGTs hovering between 500 to 700. Boost swung around 10 to 15 PSI (roughly) and netted myself 16. 9 mpg (hand calculated). That is about . 9 MPG over the same trip with a VA C3. 1. The other difference in this trip is a paper Fleetguard filter as opposed to my AFE PG7. She seemed pretty happy at that RPM running down the Interstate.

 

[MickeyMiller]

Buffalo, I get better milage watching the exhaust temp gage. If I keep it <600* and speed at 70mph or less, I can get 21+mpg... hand calculated (23. 5 on overhead). I drop from 6th to 5th (direct) on hills to keep the temp down. I figure it takes more fuel to drive up the temp.



BTW, I got 19. 1 mpg this weekend on an almost 1K mile trip from Livermore CA to Searchlight NV and back... crusied at 78mph (as fast as I can go without getting a ticket!). Speed costs milage, I have gotten as high as almost 25 mpg on secondary roads running around 60 mph. My Smarty Jr. is on the 100hp setting.

 

[Bob Wagner]

Good info guys, Thanks for posting your numbers, I do appreciate it.