Sprint Booster

[GTS RAPTOR]

I was watching Two Guys Garage TV show and they advertised this product.
I checked out the site and they have an application for the 09'+ F-Series trucks.
Price is $329.00
Is anybody familiar with this product, does it work, or is it just a gimmick?
I wonder if it would work on the raptor while in off road mode, does off road mode change the throttle response feel of the accelerator pedal?
Seems like a good ideal for the fly by wire throttled vehicles.

http://www.sprintboosterusa.com/p-174-sprint-booster-ford-f-series.aspx

 

[MarkT]

I looked in to these a couple of years ago. The sprint booster simply boosts the throttle signal by a certain percentage...

This exactly the same as simply pressing the pedal further.

For example, without the booster the maximum throttle opening signal the ECU sends to the throttle plate would be reached when the gas pedal is pressed all the way down to the floor.

With the booster, say the signal is doubled... so now the maximum throttle opening occurs when the pedal is pressed only half way to the floor. (The last 1/2 of pedal travel does nothing because the ECU is sent a "full throttle" signal at 1/2 pedal travel)

(Note: The actual booster probably does not double the signal... probably more like 20% to 30% boost... there are sources on the internets that have measured the exact boost for various models... like I said, it's been a while since I researched these.)

So that is where the "quicker" comes from.

I do not believe this product will cure a throttle lag problem. Nor will it improve your acceleration. Or give you more power.

What it will do is change the "feel" of the throttle... less pedal movement will give you more throttle opening... and once you get the throttle to max opening, the rest of the pedal travel will be "dead".

There are also some reports that after a while some ECU's will notice the boosted signal and recalibrate... thereby reducing the effectiveness of the "boost".

In my opinion, it's a lot of money for what is probably just a simple signal amplifier circuit... it can give the "feel" of more power. And if it improves someone's driving experience? Then it might be worth it to them.

Me? I'm OK with pushing the pedal further and saving the $$$.

 

[MarkT]

P.S. Forgot to answer the part about the Off Road mode...

What this product will do is boost the signal before the ECU so all built in functions and adaptive throttle features the Raptor has will still work fine. All that's happening is the ECU is "fooled" into thinking you pressed the gas pedal further than you actually did... if that makes sense.

 

[FSM06]

X2^^^^^^ nothing more to say.

FSM

 

[GTS RAPTOR]

Ah, ok I was mainly curious as to what it was and what it did & how it did it.
Thanks for explaining it to me.
And yeah I have to agree, it's alot of money for just a simple signal amplifier circuit.
I'm also OK with pushing the pedal further and saving the $$$.:thumbsup:

 

[Falcon]

I'm OK with just pushing the pedal <G>. If I could reach it... it's still in Dearborn. <GG>

Falcon

 

[frogslinger]

MarkT; is the signal from the pedal that simple, as in increased voltage/amperage is seen as increased desired throttle position? I thought that ford had gone to a far more sexy (and only slightly less efficient and scarier) and expensive system requiring ones and zeros... or is voltage/amperage interpolated into digital data somewhere further down the line.

I only ask because if a voltage amperage signal is used then you are right, it is way too expensive... but if some digital magic is being done then a little more coin is understandable.

Also it is possible that instead of simply "boosting" signal across the board it is doing it regressively... that is 10% input gives 30% output 25 gives 42, 35 gives 49 all the way up to 95 giving 98 and 100 giving 100.

This is a trick done by many programmers and "chips".

If it is then again I can see a higher cost.

As with all systems that lie to the ECU this piece of hardware is a bad idea IMHO.

 

[MarkT]

MarkT; is the signal from the pedal that simple, as in increased voltage/amperage is seen as increased desired throttle position? I thought that ford had gone to a far more sexy (and only slightly less efficient and scarier) and expensive system requiring ones and zeros... or is voltage/amperage interpolated into digital data somewhere further down the line.

I only ask because if a voltage amperage signal is used then you are right, it is way too expensive... but if some digital magic is being done then a little more coin is understandable.

Also it is possible that instead of simply "boosting" signal across the board it is doing it regressively... that is 10% input gives 30% output 25 gives 42, 35 gives 49 all the way up to 95 giving 98 and 100 giving 100.

This is a trick done by many programmers and "chips".

If it is then again I can see a higher cost.

As with all systems that lie to the ECU this piece of hardware is a bad idea IMHO.

I'm sure there are many Ford people on this forum more qualified to answer this than me... but my understanding is that "industry standard" for the drive-by-wire throttle pedal is to use a pair of hall-effect sensors on completely separate circuits. The ECU receives a simple voltage signal from these sensors which it uses to determine the pedal position. (The redundancy... two hall-effect sensors... is so the ECU can compare voltage signals and thereby detect a sensor failure that could otherwise result in a stuck throttle - runaway condition.)

Ford could be doing something else but why? The hall-effect solution is very reliable, accurate, safe, and cheap.

You are correct that Sprint Booster could get fancy and boost the voltage signal in a non-linear manner but I did read a detailed review/article on this exact product about two years ago and they measured the actual output voltage from the unit. It just provided a straight voltage boost of a fixed percentage.

P.S. The trick you are referring to is actually used in the stock Raptor ECU for normal driving... easy to do in the computer... but in off road mode reportedly the Raptor ECU throttle mapping is switched back to 1:1 for more throttle control

 

[frogslinger]

I am sure you are right about the non linearity of the stock throttle and the linearity of off road mode; manufacturers have been making non linear throttles since the carburetor days... if you have an out of round end that the cable wraps around you get a non linear response.

Given this I think off road mode will have more of an effect on the 6.2... as it seems to be a more top end motor than the 5.4, it will "loose" more when you hit the button and kick harder as you get higher in the rpm... the 5.4 being a more low end motor will have a smaller gap...

just a theory of course.