Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

This happens every time I get close to nailing a tune for my car. The aldl to usb cable takes a **** on me and bricks a spare pcm in the process. I've been through one from aldlcable.com and another from Red Devil River. Can anyone recommend a good one they've been using for a long time? I was thinking moates.

Should I try aldl to serial instead? I feel like converting the signal to usb could be what's complicating things. I'll need to find an older laptop w/serial but if it stops killing my pcms I'm all for it.

LT1_383_Stroker

Sorry to hear that. Do you have a fast computer and nothing else running? If it's a laptop, do you have it plugged in and all power saving modes turned off? We have to do all of that when burning firmware on aircraft or we brick very expensive boxes! I've been thinking about getting one of the bluetooth adapters from Red Devil River or 1320 electronics. I'm still using my 10 year old laptop with serial port, but the battery is dead, keyboard sucks,etc.!

Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

I do most of the programming with an Asus netbook or older Sony laptop, both on XP professional. I keep both machines in pretty good shape and plugged in unless I'm datalogging. No random BS running in the background, all drivers updated, and never had a problem tuning other than these cables crapping out on me. I've tuned 4-5 PCMs on this current cable and probably around the same amount on the one before that. My OBD port should be fine as well. If I were to grab another cable I'm certain it would work.

fbody_brian

I know you probably want a premade cable, but I just can't see spending what they go for so I bought this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arduino-FT232RL-USB-to-Serial-Module-USB-to-TTL-level-USB-Cable-dupont-248-/260917151841?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbfdfc861
$10 and it has never let me down, though I've only programmed the car about 20 times and programmed another car twice.

Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

I tried to steer clear of homemade cables because I remember reading that the adapters are hit or miss and I didn't want to chance it. I guess the cables are the same way. If you've verified that this adapter works then that's great, it's probably what I'll go with. I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron anyway. I just hope I can get some of my money back from these people so I can buy another pcm.

fbody_brian

well, this 'homemade' cable is as simple as it gets. I ended up just permanently wiring it into the car, so now I just have a usb port.

there are 2 pins labeled rx and tx, you wire those two pins together and connect them to the serial data pin on the car (M) and hook the pin labeled ground to the ground pin on the car (A). That's it!

here are the drivers: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm


Credit here:
http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...USB-ALDL-Cable

Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

I just looked at the eBay page and it looks like that little chip will be coming all the way from china. I was really hoping to get the car back together with an up to date tune by the 19th for a dyno day but it definitely won't happen if it ships from another continent. There are other ones for sale in the US but they look different and I think there's a huge variance in quality between chipset manufacturers. This whole situation really blows.

The guy I bought the cable from got back to me and it looks like I'll be getting a refund. Not sure who supplies their chips but it's probably the same source ALDLcable is getting them from. Like 5 tunes and it's toast.

I'll figure something out quick.

Edit:
Now I'm finding out the Moates if back ordered until 4/15... China it is

fbody_brian

Damn that sucks.
Never want to order from china if you need it quick.

I did order something from china once and had it in 4 days. Still not sure how I got that lucky.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

pcmperformance has a tidy little USB to ALDL cable I like.

fbody_brian

Interesting...

it uses the same ftdi chipset and drivers as the ebay one and only cost $50!
Still, it is another source for one, and it probably doesn't ship from china.

fex77k

iTrader: (2)

Moates is what I used, but htey are on back order. Don't buy any cheap adapters they are all junk. That Arduino is alright thou.

Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

The Moates is what I really want but I'm gonna give the DIY china one a shot. Ordered yesterday, hopefully it will be here before the Moates comes back.

phonedawgz

Because of the data speed mismatch ALDL to Bluetooth adapters are only good for scanning. The bluetooth speed is faster than the ALDL speed. When uploading the faster bluetooth than ALDL speed can (will) cause buffer overruns and lost data. This will corrupt your ECM.

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There have been counterfeit FT232RL chips on eBay. I have personally received a shipment of them and had to toss them.

http://hackaday.com/2014/02/19/ft232rl-real-or-fake/

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If you have been having problems with multiple cables on one particular vehicle you might want to change to uploading using a bench top cable rather than running it through the vehicle's wiring.

phonedawgz
Red Devil River
http://reddevilriver.com

96z28_lt1

iTrader: (3)

i bricked 2 pcms with my jet tuning software, at that point i gave up and decided to just get a mail order. Big waste of money on my part, oh well live and learn. However i know part of the reason it wouldn't download the tune on was because the wifi on the laptop was on. Not sure if you checked that or not, for some reason that keeps it from downloading a new tune on.

BMX Dad

I bought the aldl cable and OBD 2 connector on ebay and soldered them together. Works fine. Smashed the USB connector in my door and bought another and soldered that into the existing cable. Now I have a nice long cable.

BMX Dad

BTW - I am running my SW on a newer ASUS laptop running windows 8