ToTheWall

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The pix are all on Doug's camera of the install so I will tell the story, and he will add the pix...

With all the snow this winter my winch has been getting some heavy use and after we went on the run to Ellershouse in the snow my winch got a couple of hours of heavy work, and as being excruciatingly handsome is in no way helpful to one that prefers to stand outside the Jeep when doing recovery, and also keeping in mind that it is a good thing to keep the RPMs up when winching AND being cognizant of the fact that a preference for standing outside the Jeep precludes any manipulation of the aforementioned RPMs one is presented with a dilemma...

SO... As I was aware of the fact that the JK is a drive-by-wire set up, my tiny mechanical brain informed me that I would need to get a computer of some sort involved in this fix. Enter Google. ;D

Now having this problem I just needed some time to peruse the search results and then make a decision. Well it just so happened on the following Monday, I was at work and found myself with a few free minutes and I started my research for a solution to this RPM problem.

In my virtual travels I fell upon Off Road Engineering LLC www.offroadengineering.com whose site advertised a plug-and play system that would do EXACTLY what I needed it to do.

As a lot of what is on the Internet is absolute flaming, unadulterated bullsh it I was skeptical but put in a call anyway to ask some questions in order to ascertain the BS level here. I was pleasently surprised when talking to Robert who after a VERY short time showed himself to be of a much larger mechanical mind than my own and suitably impressed with his answers and after having negotiated a discount on the price I passed over the Visa number and awaited my parts.

I would have thought that this was the end of the transaction, but a short time later I got a call from the brains of the operation Laura, to whom I related my previous experiences with the unwarrented bending over that we get from UPS and Customs when acquiring parts from the US. And at that point the USPS came into the discussion. I will also mention here that this was without my second level and VERY persuasive recounting of the lack of both lubrication and appreciation to which the aforementioned shipper and gvt agency subject us poor Jeepers.

Laura then assured me that she would take care of everythng and that it was going in the mail that very day. January 21st in case anyone was wondering. I again had some doubt as past experience with some 4x4 companies has taught me that "in the mail today" is not always accurate as we are not working with the same definition of "today"

You can imagine my surprise when I got home from my busy job on Friday the 30th of January and there in my mailbox was a small white box from Laura, NO other monies required, my pants stayed where they were and my ankles would remain ungripped for the balance of this transaction. She totally came through, did exactly what she said she would do, shipped it out that same day, the parts came to me in NINE DAYS from the other side of the US and somewhere an angel got its wings...

NOW... I opened the box and found the two parts pictured above along with clear, concise, plain-English instructions that when I turned the page were complimented by a wiring diagram that was drawn for those cursed with a tiny mechanical brain. My excitement was such that I was almost rendered mute. :o When I recovered, I got on the crackberry and sent a message to Doug who is the man, BTW, and we arranged to plug that sucker in.

Fast forward to Saturday and over I go to Doug's where he looks at the parts and announces that "Dude, this looks like it is plug and play." Ex-cellent. With this confirmation from Doug I was almost ready to go home and wallow in an enthusiastic fashion in my own crapulence, but I supressed the urge and he and I got to work disassembling the center pod on the dash after figuring out where the High-Idle switch should go.

As I wanted this to be a clean and OEM looking install, I then asked myself "What would Roy do?" and after verifying my battery cables, I started measuring and marking the position of the switch, locating it directly below the power window buttons, exactly halfway to the bottom of the pod. There were pencils, straightedges, measuring, pilot holes and a step-drill bit involved, but suffice it to say, we were quite pleased with ourselves. After getting the hole to what we thought was JUST the right size, we discovered that not checking where the securing nut will sit can complicate your easy install. >:(

After trying to do this step without taking the heater pod out of the Jeep and being soundly defeated by the bottom of the holder for the window actuators (electric, not air) we were forced to disconnect EVERYTHING and actually take the part completely out of the vehicle and work on it on the bench. FINE. >:( We take it out and discover that the nut is literally the width of a hair (the provenance of which shall remain nameless) from fitting.

At this point, as I am using a file to incrementally increase the size of the hole in order for the switch to sit flush, Chuck arrives to great fanfare and all work stops so we can rush outside and inspect, admire and comment on the work that Roy, (remember Roy?) has done on Chuck's bumper and winch mount. Well after much back slapping and congratulations for Chuck, we all went back inside to drink some pops and continue with our plugging and playing.

With Chuck providing the supervision, comic relief and play by play, as well as the greasing and technical expertise on the Warn tire carrier latch, we succeeded in getting the offending piece of plastic out of the way so that the High Idle switch fit properly. Then I was off to the Jeep to reinstall the heater vent section, and with an assist from Doug on the plugging and adjustment of the tiny idle screw, I now have a high idle switch that brings the RPMs to 2250 at the whim of either the driver OR the passenger.

So to make a long story short. Laura and Robert have an excellent product that does exactly what they say it will do, is
plug and play as promised, was shipped at the time and in the fashion agreed for a fair price, and I can easily recommend them to any and all based upon this experience.

This is the note I got from her after she shipped the parts:

Leonard,

It was a pleasure doing business with you. Please pass the word along to your fellow Jeepers!

Many thanks,
Laura Muertter
Off Road Engineering LLC
***-***-****

I hope this sharing fulfills her request.

scotlandjk

sweeeeeet!!! cant wait for pics

ToTheWall

Pix as promised:

Ok, here is the low down.....

The very first step in this process was to remove the plug on the top of the accelerator and plug it into the EHT 300 Module, then we had to plug the module into the accelerator.


Once we had the Module connected underneath the dash is was time to mount the controller itself and plug the other end of it into the module. Len decided to mount his controller underneath the steering wheel with Velcro so it could be easily removed for full control.



Next the Hi Idle button had to be mounted, with this being an option it took a little more than just plugging it in. First we found a suitable place to mount it and decided that was right underneath the power window controls. We measured a few times to make sure it was centered and begun to drill a hole for it to fit.


Once we had the hole drilled and the wires fished into it we soon realized that the power window controls were in the way and we were not able to get the nut on the back of the switch to mount it securely.




We would have to then remove the entire dash panel and modify the housing the power window controls plugged into.



After a bit of cutting and filing we mounted it flush exactly centered.






Once everything was installed and in place it was time to wire it up. The module had 4 wires on it, Orange/Brown/Black/Red. The brown wire was a ground for 4 door models only so we would cut it and put a Sta-con on the end of it. The black was to go to ground, the red was to go to a 12v source which shut off with the ignition and the orange was for the option of the high idle button. The High Idle button had three wires, Red/Black/Green. The red wire went to the same 12v power source as the module went to, the black was tied into the ground and the green was hooked up to the orange wire.


Once we had everything wired up and neatly tucked away we hooked up the negative terminal on the battery and started the Jeep. Len was able to switch on the module and control the throttle with the remote controller we mounted under the steering wheel. When we activated the high idle button we were able to adjust a small dial on the module to set the high idle where we wanted. Once it was set it worked like a charm, just a matter of hitting the button and the Jeep would increase it's idle to the set rpm.

foxcasper

Hmm... nice and simple concept.

I would guess it just sends a small voltage signal to simulate a steady very small x% pedal travel on tracks 1 and 2 of the gas pedal to the EMS when the high idle switch is switched on - just enough to get the rpms-up above idle (typically tracks 1 and 2 have a factor of 2 between their voltage to % relationship).

For safety reasons I would strongly suggest you only plug gas -pedal into the box when off-road and about to use the winch - it would only take a minute to do I'm sure. Under all other driving I would suggest you bypass the box (directly connect gas pedal to vehcle wiring) when on-road.

From your photo's it looks like this box is probably designed in such a way that this can be done.

[Final thought: depending on the design of the box and tolerances of components used, you my get DTC's (PCodes set) and Check-Engine pointing at issues with the gas-pedal - and go into limp-home type modes - easily overcome when the bypass is removed of course].

So, I'm not slating the box - just giving a warning of what to be concerned about and look out for.

========================

Why am I so concerned?

To have you gas pedal signal (i.e. driver demanded torque) full-time routed through an unknown additional circuit; which has probably not gone through any automotive type durability testing (vibration, hot/cold durability, water resistance,...) is worrying to say the least.

The potential failure modes are many
e.g. you put your foot to the floor to avoid some hazard, wanting 100% of available torque but the signal is distored somehow.
i) 0% may result
ii) the two tracks differ more than a certain amount - you get the lower of the two
iii)....

e.g. you don't move your foot and the signal jumps to some unwanted amount higher than you want (and stays there) - you have to be smart enough to switch of the ignition key at speed hoping your steering lock doesn't come in...

e.g. you don't move your foot and the signal dies and engine drops to idle speed (your're meanwhile going down the freeway with only brake and steering at your disposal)..

I've expereinced all these scenarios during vehicle development and it ain't fun...

Good luck..

foxcasper

One more thought.

I understand the JK when in 4WD LOW gear range uses a lower pedal mapping. i.e. more pedal movement = less torque demand to engine compared to 4WD HIGH mode. This is to permit more sensitive driving over obstacles etc.

Can anyone confirm this - I only read it in the brochure?

If so, I would predict that the 'high idle switch' would result in a different high-idle rpm in LOW and HIGH range - did you check this - I'd be interested to see. [I guess the idle speed adjust screw lets you compensate for any difference].

Having said that if you are in neutal/park when doing this, there is very little (no) load on the engine, and hence the revs tend to go up pretty easy - the difference may ony be noticable under load.

There is a thought "load on engine = winching load on alternator in park/neutral". So you may see a difference in idle speed in 'high idle' when actually winching something heavy when in LOW compared to HIGH 4WD range.

Good test to do ?

ToTheWall

We shall see. Thanks for all the good points.

WRAITHYJEEP

the JK does bump up the idle a bit when in 2 or 4 hi to 4 Lo the the idle bumps up, if one could figure out how then buying this item could made obsolete and can be made simpler by some one who wants to delv into the workins of electronic idle control

i know when you hold the pedal in a certain position it will drop the idle speed back to original value even with my foot on the throttle i can only hold it steady with out it dropping if the idle is in a closed loop over 2000 rpm.

The grand cherokee had a provision for increasing idle that is a rumor i heard it was on a newer version 06 and up does the JK have this ability that no one is aware of?

foxcasper

Since I posted earlier I've been thinking some more.

What the 'box' is actually doing is not increasing idle speed , but actually simulating driver demand. In the SW of the ECU that is very different - it's a different state in the state machine of the SW (e.g. "idle", "part load" and several others others are designed to control the engine's torque delivery under different operating conditions). "Idle State" is quite unique - spark advance is actively controlled, as is the electronic throttle position to maintain an exact target engine speed.

With this mod, the 'box' simulates a driver demand (a % of available torque demand at that engine speed) and the spark advance is pretty much fixed to meet the torque demand.

What does this mean - probably that the idle will not be very stable under certain conditions - but it all depends how much demand is requested by the 'box'. If it's very low demend it may be un-noticeable.

I'd be very interested how it performs under heavy winch load, and unloaded, in both Hi and LOW.

Cheers!

ToTheWall

I will test these theories and get back to you.

whpony96

OK I am not to fond of a seller that does not post a price for their item. That means the one person can get seriously burned on the price compared to a person that is willing to spend hours "talking them down"

Man I really love the product....but that just puts a bad taste in my mouth........