***PEDAL COMMANDER UPDATE***

[silver billet]

By the way, for you banks/pedal monster folk, you can change the vehicle selection in the "settings" of the app, to "6.7 2018+" (yes, that's the diesel engine for a 2500 ram) to enable "trim".

Trim allows you to keep the pedal insensitive under a certain mph (10? 15?). Which means you can have a normal pedal feel for booting around in the parking lot or from a stop, while still having sport mode enabled for out on the road above that speed.

This also works in reverse, so in effect the "disable in reverse" feature can be enabled by doing this same thing (6.7 2018+) and using trim.

I've been happier with the device since doing that, I have trim set to max (10?) and run around in city+5 now.

 

[LakeMinnetonkaRam]

By the way, for you banks/pedal monster folk, you can change the vehicle selection in the "settings" of the app, to "6.7 2018+" (yes, that's the diesel engine for a 2500 ram) to enable "trim".

Trim allows you to keep the pedal insensitive under a certain mph (10? 15?). Which means you can have a normal pedal feel for booting around in the parking lot or from a stop, while still having sport mode enabled for out on the road above that speed.

This also works in reverse, so in effect the "disable in reverse" feature can be enabled by doing this same thing (6.7 2018+) and using trim.

I've been happier with the device since doing that, I have trim set to max (10?) and run around in city+5 now.

Damn, I wish I could do that with the Pedal Commander!

 

[Snofire]

@securityguy Were you able to get the PedalMonster added yesterday? If so, any initial feedback?

 

[securityguy]

@securityguy Were you able to get the PedalMonster added yesterday? If so, any initial feedback?

I was moving my daughter into her new apartment yesterday and came home and went to sleep I was going to do it today, but we are getting dumped on today with a ton of rain. I'll probably just take a lunch break early in the week and knock it out. I will say this...I put that really nice Banks Power decal on my rear window and my mileage already went from 14.6 to 16.3mpg

 

[Snofire]

I was moving my daughter into her new apartment yesterday and came home and went to sleep I was going to do it today, but we are getting dumped on today with a ton of rain. I'll probably just take a lunch break early in the week and knock it out. I will say this...I put that really nice Banks Power decal on my rear window and my mileage already went from 14.6 to 16.3mpg

I think everyone knows when you put product stickers on your vehicle it adds horsepower and mpg. It's like a free upgrade! haha

 

[TNRamGuy]

Personally I want to say thanks to @securityguy in my opinion he went above and beyond by buying a pedal monster and by contacting pedal commander on behalf of another forum member's issue! Kudos to you for trying to make the forum a better place!

 

[securityguy]

Personally I want to say thanks to @securityguy in my opinion he went above and beyond by buying a pedal monster and by contacting pedal commander on behalf of another forum member's issue! Kudos to you for trying to make the forum a better place!

That is really nice of you to say my friend. I do try to add value to our forum, but some don't always see it that way which is ok. You can't please everyone 100% of the time. Thank you so much for such a nice post

 

[TNRamGuy]

I was moving my daughter into her new apartment yesterday and came home and went to sleep I was going to do it today, but we are getting dumped on today with a ton of rain. I'll probably just take a lunch break early in the week and knock it out. I will say this...I put that really nice Banks Power decal on my rear window and my mileage already went from 14.6 to 16.3mpg

Should see 18mpg once that sticker breaks in a little, 5k miles or so, I think I read that on another post, so it must be true

 

[securityguy]

So, at lunch today, I took the time to remove my Pedal Commander (took 2 minutes) to install my Banks Pedal Monster (BPM) in over 30+ minutes based on a two piece design and the extreme cable lengths they provide. In addition, you really have to remove the knee panel under the steering column to tie up and hide your wires behind the dash properly. My thoughts on the Banks, now that it's installed and has been driven for testing, is as follows:

1. Do NOT like, at all, the OBD interface. The way the cable comes out of the OBD connector, it protrudes into the cabin area since it is rear facing. They should redesign the connection for those OBD ports that face front to back like our RAM versus side to side
2. WAY too much cable comes with the unit and trying to find a place to coil it up and wire tie it in place was a royal PITA
3. Finished the install and set all of the parameters in the BPM app only to find that my REVERSE SAFETY feature is "Not Available"
4. Called Banks Tech Support and waited over 2 hours for a return call that "kept my original place in queue"
5. Got the return call and questioned the Reverse Safety indication on my app.
6. Was told that they had not yet tested the RAM 1500 with this feature and that I could select, as @silver billet stated in post #61, the RAM 2500 Diesel 2018+
7. I asked if it may have any other adverse reactions by selecting a 2500 Cummins Diesel versus "STANDARD" for my RAM 1500 5.7L HEMI. The response was "I don't think so, but we haven't had a 1500 HEMI in our shop to test and modify our software...but it works great on the 2500 Cummins"
8. Thought, OK, I'll set my BPM up as if I am driving a 2500 Cummins, as they suggested, and see what happens. Still get the message that Reverse Safety is "Not Available"
9. I also inquired about the TRIM feature. Was told there are 5 TRIM levels, each kick in at around 10mph increments. Therefore, if you activate TRIM position #1, the BPM will not kick in until you hit 10mph. Level 5 is 50mph. @silver billet, if you have TRIM set to MAX, then your BPM doesn't really do anything at all until you hit or exceed 50mph
10. I bought the unit so that I get the max pedal control off the line, not to wait until I hit 10-20-30-40-50mph to feel any difference! (trim can be set to zero which is where I have it now)
11. I have been running it at SPORT LEVEL 5 and that feels about the same to me as the Pedal Commander Sport +1
12. I will call Banks again tomorrow to discuss. However, with that being said, my first impression of the install and the functionality is not a positive one.

I was really hoping to like this thing, but not feeling the love as of now. More to come after I ping banks again tomorrow to discuss my findings further.

 

[silver billet]

For the obd2 port in our trucks, haven't tested it but I was told the connector in our truck can be rotated 180 degrees.

As for the trim, something there is not correct because I look at the app when I'm running and it shows the 2 graphs, the "pedal" and the "banks" correction, and the banks is always much farther pressed than the actual reading from the pedal. That's with a trim of 10 and about 15 mph too, it kicks in pretty fast, in fact the bars are showing deviation while still in first gear.

Once when I was getting out of my truck I must have swiped up on my android phone by accident, fat fingered it and enabled "track" (the red one) by accident and was wondering why I almost overshot my driveway the next time. Again, trim enabled. I opened the app and saw it sitting on track instead of city where I normally run it, I could definitely feel the difference like night and day while just putting around. If you talk to them tomorrow, I'd love to hear their thoughts on my experience with trim here.

Trim to me is very important. If you're pulling a trailer or parking in a garage or going through a drive through on sport/track mode, well your life is definitely a lot more... lively... shall we say, than mine.

 

[CMil527]

Good luck with tech support.. I got switched from one receptionist to another accompanied by some giggling. The wires are definitely long but I got everything tucked away and tied up in a few minutes. No complaints with functionality but as silver bullet said I fat fingered mine on a commute home and went track 6 and had a interesting ride home one night lol. Reverse function isnt enabled which is annoying since I was told at the time all current units shipping had it but overall I'm pleased with it granted this is my first experience with a stand alone throttle booster!

 

[securityguy]

For the obd2 port in our trucks, haven't tested it but I was told the connector in our truck can be rotated 180 degrees.

I may try this today to see if the plastic snap in pieces for the OBD connector will allow for a 180 rotation. I'll report back on this.

 

[securityguy]

OK...all done playing around with the Banks PM. You can turn the OBD 180 degrees, but you have to modify the plastic connector in order to do so. It is keyed to the knee plate opening and I needed to use my soldering iron to burn off the three tabs that keyed the connector to the opening. Mine is turned now as you can see in the pic below. In addition, I just got another call from Banks Tech Support. They stated that "you can try the Cummins setting in the app, but it most likely will not work" which is why mine still will not go to stock when in reverse...VERY DISAPPOINTING. I told him one of the reasons I bought it was for that feature. He stated that he could arrange a return and full credit through the dealer I purchased it from if I wanted him to do so. I told him I was not ready to take that step.....yet.

As far as the TRIM settings, the TRIM adjustments are available in both STANDARD (RAM 1500 mode) and the 6.7L 2018+ mode so no advantage at all to selecting the 6.7L 2018+ mode (see second pic). @silver billet ...were you not getting the TRIM adjust on the STANDARD setting as I am? He also stated that even with TRIM on, it will still show the standard graphics of how far the accelerator is pressed and what the Banks PM would be doing if TRIM was off. Therefore, the graphic has no bearing on what is really happening when in TRIM mode and is all based on the CITY or SPORT mode you are set for (you could argue the graphics are worthless or a bit misleading).

These Banks guys don't sound like the sharpest tools in the shed, but it is what it is. Not sure what I am going to do, but not overly pleased at this point.

 

[Aseras]

Seems like a lot of work and frustration and way more that can go wrong than a simple pedal commander install and setup. Especially when the key differences are practically useless.

what happens if you knock the odb2 plug loose while driving?

 

[securityguy]

Seems like a lot of work and frustration and way more that can go wrong than a simple pedal commander install and setup. Especially when the key differences are practically useless.

what happens if you knock the odb2 plug loose while driving?

If the OBD plug was to come lose the Banks unit loses power and should revert to stock. Maybe I'll try it while going 80 on the highway with some idiot right on my tail

 

[securityguy]

OK...just heard from Banks again about the TRIM feature clarification. The second guy said the first guy was wrong. The second guy says TRIM only works when going 10mph or less and the five settings will adjust what they call the amount of "dampening" on the accelerator as stated in the app. This makes FAR more sense to me than 10mph increments as tech guy #1 stated which just wasn't sitting right with me.

In the end, it is crystal clear that the many of the folks answering the TECH LINE don't know $hit about the products they manufacturer and sell. I am going to keep my TRIM disabled as I have never once, even when using my PC, over accelerated while in reverse.

This has been a lot of work as compared to the PC IMPO.

 

[silver billet]

Work? Lol, guys, you plug the thing in and choose your settings and forget about it. Let's be careful not to smear a product just because it doesn't align with our bias . Unless you're talking about the cable orientation, in which case it's not 100% necessary (I can't see it sticking out in my truck when I'm seated and it doesn't get in the way). But if that's the price to pay for a product that doesn't give dead pedal then so be it.

I knew the first tech was wrong because I'm not stupid and can tell when my truck snorts down the driveway after just looking at the pedal.

You don't have to use trim, but it was one of the features that sold me on it, that along with the supposedly better fail safe implementation (yet to be determined IRL but looks better on paper at this point).

As for the disable in reverse, I personally don't need it because I use trim instead. It's obvious this is a new product, they need to make some tweaks.

Anyway, I appreciate all the updates. I haven't even bothered to cut the ends of the zipties yet on my install, still nervous about these things, but will see. I do like the effect they have.

 

[CMil527]

Literally took me 5 minutes to put in and set up.. i click on the app when i get in the truck and I'm golden... very happy with mine but agree Banks techs blow and never been a fan of Gale personally think he is a pompous *** but the product seems to work as intended.

 

[securityguy]

Just got this via email from their Calibration Engineer:

"Speed trim reduces the PedalMonster’s throttle boosting effect at low speed only (<10mph). Increasing Speed Trim Gain increases the dampening effect.

Setting 0 = Off / PedalMonster does throttle boosting as usual

Setting 5 = PedalMonster does minimal throttle boosting @ 0mph and the usual throttle boosting ramps in mostly by 10-15mph.

This works going forward or reverse.

Aggressive PedalMonster level might induce some lurching or jerkiness when moving from stand still. The Speed Based Trim can help and introduce increased drive-ability and maneuver-ability around parking lots.

If the customer usually drives with PedalMonster on SPORT lvl 5 & SPEED TRIM 0, setting it to SPEED TRIM 5 can make it feel “toned down” because it reduces that “punchiness” out of the hole. Customers can try increasing the level (say SPORT LVL 10 - TRACK LVL 4) with SPEED TRIM 5 as it might be more tolerable with the Speed Based Trim. Customers turning on the Speed Based Trim feature are encouraged to adjust the power level to suit them better".

 

[GadgetMason]

So my question ~ is the monster worth the $ and does anyone have the iDash with it and thoughts?