As the ad for breakfast cereal goes - "the simple things in life are often the best". But apply that idea to a shift light control module (a device that turns on a light to tell you when to change gear) and you run into all kinds of difficulties. It looks dead-easy at first - just use an electronic switch that measures engine revs and clicks over at a pre-set rpm. But how do you make a universal module that's happy in cars with different numbers of cylinders and suits both rotary and piston engines? How do you monitor rpm in cars with direct fire ignition systems where there's a coil right on top of each plug? And then how do you calibrate the instrument without resorting to a big knob on the box (which would have doubtful resolution) or an expensive keyboard or PC interface? Actually, the more you think about it, the greater the number of difficulties there is!
Well, in an AutoSpeed world exclusive, we're glad to say that we've found the answer. The SmartShiftTM
from Dali Racing of San Diego, California is one of the best add-on electronic boxes that we've ever seen. Not only is it easy to connect, accurate and easy to calibrate, but it also costs just US$60!
The SmartShiftTM
The SmartShiftTM module is housed in a very small plastic box, just a little bigger than a matchbox. Four wires from the box need to be connected to the car's wiring in order that the device will work. The connections are:
- A 12 volt feed from an ignition-switched source;
- earth;
- the tachometer output wire at the ECU;
- and the shift light or buzzer.
"So that's how it does it!" some of you will be saying. Yes, instead of the traditional rpm-sensing approach of trying to take a feed from the ignition coil, the SmartShiftTM
bypasses all of that and simply monitors the tacho feed signal coming from the ECU. That means that it will work on cars with single coils, double-ended multi coils, remote-mounted direct fire coils, and spark-plug mounted coils!
The SmartShiftTM
is calibrated by the use of an internal DIP switch. The DIP switch has 8 separate on/off switches. Switches 1-5 are used to set the trigger rpm (more on this in a moment); switches 6 and 7 select the number of cylinders; and switch 8 sets the output mode. This last one means that the module can be set to either illuminate the shift light in a steady manner or you can have it flashing 4 times per second.
The SmartShiftTM
can be set to work with engines having 4, 6, 8 or 10 cylinders, and Mazda rotaries. The rpm at which the light illuminates can be set at 200 rpm increments from 4000 rpm to 10200 rpm. Dali Racing are Honda (Acura) NSX specialists, and so the SmartShiftTM
comes pre-set for a 6 cylinder engine, 7800 rpm trigger point, and flashing light. But as indicated, changing these settings is as easy as clicking the internal switches.
Fitting
We decided to fit the module to a Nissan Skyline GT-R, which uses a six cylinder engine with direct fire ignition. The instructions that come with the SmartShiftTM
are very good (download a pdf version here) and comprise 11 pages for the "general" version. Specific fitting instructions are also available for the twin turbo Mazda RX7 and NSX.
The SmartShiftTM
module does not include the shift light or buzzer - you need to provide those. That seems a good idea to us - you can run the module with anything from a huge drag-racing style Autometer light all the way down to just turning on a hidden beeper. In fact, the Dali Racing instructions also show you how to connect one of the standard dash warning lights if you want it all to be really subtle.
For the Skyline installation we decided to use a single high intensity LED as the shift indicator. Using a LED has several advantages - it is small, very bright, has a very fast turn-on time, and uses very little current. On the subject of current, the SmartShiftTM
is able to switch non-inductive loads of up to 2 amps, meaning that you could run a light with a power of up to 24 watts. Electronic piezo buzzers take almost no current, so they are fine as well. However, the instructions clearly make the point that if you wish to switch a relay or any other inductive load, you should contact the manufacturer for technical advice. For the relay application, this almost certainly will only require that you place a diode in the right orientation across the relay coil.
The LED selected was purchased from Dick Smith Electronics (cat no Z4074) and cost just under $1. LEDs require a dropping resistor to limit the voltage and current that they see, meaning that an additional component is needed. The LED we used can cope with a 40mA current flow and the appropriate resistor to use was therefore about 300 ohms. I didn't have any of those so I used two 560 ohm resistors in parallel. Note also that the LED is polarity conscious - it has a plus and a minus lead. The LED was located in a black-painted aluminium tube (old cut up air con line) that was then mounted in a small panel on top of the dash. If wiring up the LED and resistors worries you, just use a normal light. The SmartShiftTM
module earths the shift light wire whenever it triggers, so you need to connect +12 volts to the other side of whatever you're turning on.
Good quality flying leads are provided with the SmartShiftTM
and these are equipped with fast-connect Electro-Tap clip-on connectors that don't require that you cut any wires to connect the module. However, while some people see this as an advantage, we always like to see extra wiring around the ECU soldered into place. In fact, when we initially connected the SmartShiftTM
, we got a bad fright because it didn't work - no signs of life at all. Running out of time, we left it in place for a few hours while heading off to the drags - the SmartShiftTM
started working half way through the trip and has worked faultlessly ever since. We guess that one of the Electro-Taps wasn't tapping properly - all the wiring was then subsequently soldered into place.
The SmartShiftTM
is easiest located near to the ECU where power and the tacho signal can be easily accessed. We would suggest that you should have a workshop manual for your car before you wire it into place - you don't want to tap into the wrong wires, do you?
Using It
While on paper the factory-set 7800 rpm figure would seem right for the 8000 rpm redline of the Skyline, we chose to set the light to trigger at 7600 rpm. The APEXi programmable ECU being used in the Skyline has a superbly soft rev cut; if the standard ECU with its bed-of-nails rev cut was being used we'd have probably brought the shift light trigger back another 200 or even 400 rpm.
Having never regularly driven a car with a shiftlight, we can vouch for its effectiveness. Instead of flashing glances to the tacho, you can concentrate on the road and executing the quickest-possible gear shift. That means it's also a very good safety device - if you're passing someone on the open road and winding it out in second or third gear, you can watch those around you rather than the tacho.
While the manufacturer suggests consultation before triggering a relay with the module, as mentioned that shouldn't be too much of a drama. That means that the SmartShiftTM
could be used to turn on any device that you wanted to make rev-dependent (from 4000 - 10200 rpm anyway!).
Conclusion
The SmartShiftTM
is cheap, works well, is easy to connect and calibrate and is an important and useful accessory to have in any manual transmission late model performance car. We highly recommend it!
Contact:
Dali Racing www.daliracing.com or imhuge@juno.com
+1 619 238 4948
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