akw408

I just got my LS1 Edit last night and I read my PCM and in doing so, my battery drained to 11.5V and I couldn't even start my car. I had to jump start it. Is that normal? I was thinking of just hooking up a charger to the battery or jumpering another battery in while programming, seems like alot of hassle though. I read the documentation and it says not to use chargers while programming, any reason why not? Any tips to get around this problem? I had everything turned off that I possibly could have, except maybe the daytime running lights.

StevieZ

iTrader: (3)

If your battery is good ,it shouldn't be drained doing a read. I actually did 3 in a row and started the car with no problem after.

<small>[ September 11, 2002, 06:06 AM: Message edited by: StevieZ ]</small>

pekkaz

I guess it has to do with ground and power supply noise. Logic levels might get distorted and there is a possibility of corrupted bits. Camaroholic ?

BTW, how safe is a desktop PC for the same reason ? How is it guaranteed that all signal levels and overall grounding are within ballpark anyway ?

<small>[ September 11, 2002, 06:24 AM: Message edited by: pekkaz ]</small>

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

They're right, a weak battery isn't the greatest thing to have under the hood with LS1Edit. Replace it now is my recommendation. BEFORE you jack your PCM.

Next up, chargers.

A charger works by injecting current (and hence voltage) in to the electrical system. The charger introduces a ripple in to the voltage level. This ripple can cause weird things to happen, so that's why they recommend that you not use it.

When I was beta testing LT1_Edit, originally, the fans would run while programming. I killed my battery several times doing this too (on my 94Z). I also used to run a charger, and never lost a PCM with it, but I do understand why it's not a good idea (I discontinued that habit - and did replace my battery). But finally they figured out how to make the fans not run while programming, and battery drain was significantly reduced.

So, my recommendation is to replace that battery before it dies on you during an upload. If that happens, ewwwww....

-Andrew

98blackSS

Most battery chargers have very crude filtering qualities. As said above, that nasty AC ripple is not very ECM friendly..

akw408

So it sounds like the consensus is that this isn't normal and I need to replace my battery?

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by akw408:
<strong>So it sounds like the consensus is that this isn't normal and I need to replace my battery?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">just go to advanced and and get them to test your battery, or test it yourself on a tester. Mine was about dead the first time i edited so thats why it died. With me new one i probably dont need a charger while programing, but its just a peace of mind for me.

but if your battery was run dead, it probably wont hold a good charge, so it will die again soon

akw408

I just placed an order for an Optima battery, I guess my stock battery is getting old. Also, I hear that if you don't drive the car often that the battery will go bad sooner.

Hopefully the new battery will fix this problem. I'll be waiting until I get my new battery before I do any thing more with LS1 Edit.

98TAauto

iTrader: (2)

depends on which charger you run to the car while programing. A cheap walmart invested one probably wont have very consistent power feed. I use one everytime cause when i first read my PCM the battery died. For some reason edit and my UBB adapter dont like each other and it took 45-60 mins to read my PCM <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="gr_eek2.gif" /> Only takes 4-5 to program though

but ive used a charger on LOW feed about 60times with no issues yet. But again its a use at you're own risk type deal

you should be more than fine programing your car 2-3 times without draining the power. Just start afterwards to let the battery charge up fully again