Has anyone seen Turbolink scan software from www.turbo-link.com ? They are set to release support for GM TPI vehicles soon. A buddy of mine has a GN and uses the software to gather data. He says this is the only one to consider.

Is he full it or is it good software?

I use Direct Scan and Lockers on my GN.
The turbolink only reads at ALDL speed, so if it works on the 730 that would be a good deal. It does have nice eye candy for screen shots. But, for the C3 ecms there are some better options, ie edge card readers.

Ok, 2 questions, well three actualy.
What are lockers?
What are card edge readers?
and
When Turbolink releases support for the 7730, how do you think it would compare to the rest of the programs out there which support the 7730?

Lockers is an edge card scanner system.

An edge card scanner system plugs into the ECM's service port. The service port is an extension of the CPU bus. The edge card device reads the ECM RAM data (in real time) and stores it locally. This data is transmitted via an RS232 link to a laptop for post analysis. The frame rate is 15 frames/second.

If TurboScan can request, receive, and store at 10 frames a sec along with providing correct data conversion then it will be competitive w/commercial products.

RBob.

Ok, thanks.

Where in the world do you get the lockers setup from??? I've been searching all morning and can't seem to find the site or any thread about the site. Does anyone have a link? It would be greatly apreciated.

It's a secret!






















Try:

ftp://www.diy-efi.org/incoming/Lockers0.zip

and

ftp://www.diy-efi.org/incoming/Lockers1.zip


RBob.

HAH!!!! I knew it there's a conspiracy. Well probably not I problably just can't search my way out of a paper bag.

So this system plugs up to that long plug next to the mem-cal? I have always wondered if anyone has made an interface for that port. What’s the advantage of monitoring data from that port over monitoring data from the ALDL? Faster?

Yes, that is the connector. There are two advantages, first is update rate, the second is the amount of data.

The ALDL on a C3 transmits 20 bytes of data every 1.8 seconds or so. About the only thing it is good for is simple diagnostics. Such as setting up the TPS or reading the CTS to see if it works.

With the Lockers system all 256 bytes of ECM RAM are transmitted 15 times a second. So not only is the data update rate faster (even faster then P4 comms), every RAM address used by the ECM is available to the end user. The Lockers system also has 6 10-bit ADC channels that get transmitted within the data stream. These inputs may be used for anything the user wishes.

For the '148 there is another edge card scanner called the Direct Scan. This is by Chou Engineering and is a commercial product. It also has graphing capabilities which is nice to have.

RBob.

I've used Turbolink for my GN, but now use and prefer the Direct Scan, but for my '92 TPI, I use DataMaster. This is the ultimate compared to the Turbolink and DS. DataMaster can graph store, chart, it does it all and more compared to TL, I wished DataMaster had a version for my GN, plus it is a full Windows capable software.
And for the price you can't beat it, DM was about $70 plus cable was about $90 if you don't already have one. TL and DS were both about $225, not sure what their TPI version would cost.
Speed of DM was about 15 frames/sec thru the ALDL.