I am in the market for a new prom burner and wanted to know what unit(s) people here are using. I had an Epromer, and it worked fine except for burning 29F040's- which is what I wanted to burn. So, anyway- please post your burner of preference. Thanks

 

Craigs BURN1 from Moates.net

 

Pocket Programmer 2 from Intronics (with 29F040 chips (16x32kb)

 

AutoProm

 

Switched from PPII to AutoProm (I like it better).

 

Original Pocket programmer and the romulator.

 

I was all set to buy the Burn1 today, but then I noticed that it only programs flash chips. I was hoping for a unit to do it all. I love the single USB cable though. I searched EBAY and found two brands that were represented the most. The Willem and the TOP. Does anyone have either of these? Any problems? At least I know with the Burn1 that Craig stands behind his stuff and offers great support.

Please keep those opinions coming.

 

Autoprom for the 85Z28 to tune on the fly and tunercat for my 95Z28. If you want to "do it all" then go with the autoprom from Craig. Email him and tell him what you want and he will give you his honest opinion.

 

I don't think it qualifies as a PROM burner . . . but what about the PROMinator ? Absolutely awesome in my opinion.

 

Sure it is, its just real-time!! Can't wait until I upgrade to that!!

 

score one for the home team then
I had never "burned a chip" -- I just so happened upon the scene literally the day Mr. Bill announced the PROMinator's completion . . . I'm spoiled cause I never had to erase, burn, or even open the cover of my ECM . . . just download and go. Definately recommend to anyone looking into a single application solution.

 

I like all of them. Except the EPROMER. It has been reported to toast people's chips. Too many instances for it to be coincidence or user error I'd think. I had three of them and not one could I get to do the 29F040 chips like it should have.

Never used the TOP, looks like another HongKong knockoff on the surface. Seems like I saw a review somewhere of one saying they couldn't get it to work. No consistent info though. Personally I try and stay away from import labor when I can.

Willem, there are a lot of people that are very happy with that one, especially for the price. If you're going to get one though, maybe try and go through www.willem.org to the original designer. I've got a feeling a lot of those Ebay sales are a straight rip from his design. I've talked with him before, and he's a very nice guy.

Everyone knows about the PocketProgrammer. It's a good product.

Think about what you want to do with it and what expectations you should have. What chips are you going to need to program? Which interface cable do you want to use? How's the customer service? What software does it work with? How fast is it? Do I really want a UV eraser? Can I sell it later if I want to?

 

I use the SPEP, its a pocket programmer 1 clone and uses the same software as the PPII.
It is $79 from http://www.futurlec.com

 

Ben73- sent you an IM.

 

Keep in mind that the SPEP is, with pretty good certainty, just an import copy/ripoff (along with the software) from the good folks over at Transtronics. I guess by going overseas on stuff they figure they can get around the laws in the U.S. which protect us from such indiscretions.

Might want to check with someone like Karl over at www.xtronics.com and see what he thinks.

 

Same here. Been using it for 2 years+ now, no problems.

 

Good point Craig.. Maybe they bought the design, maybe its a rip-off, it would be good to know.
Ben.

 

I've been using a Prominator for the past year..

I also have a Needham's PB-10 somewhere.. used to use it before, but I hate programming chips. What a nightmare.

 

And it's now why the PP people now charge for updates, since they're winding up playing tech support for those folks.

There's a thread discussing this from some time ago.

So while a few saved a few bucks, it's cost the rest of us.

Personally, I'll just stick with the Prominator, and Autoprom.
Both do an excellent job.

 

I've got both the Pocket Programmer II and the Romulator II and love both units. One Question. According to Xtronics you should not use the Romulator exclusively as the memory device due to the fact that it uses a small watch type battery to keep the memory hot. I've had mine on the car for two weeks now with no problems. Has anyone done this and is it really a big deal? I'm kind of tired of driving around telling everyone they can't ride with me because of the electronic gear in the floor board. As many of you know our cars are a work in progress and I thought about leaving the unit up inside the dash with the ECM

 

Pocket Programmer, with PP2 software. The hardware has been updated. I mostly use the flash chips, but still hit the UV chips as well. Never had any problems. If i was just starting out from scratch, would go with Autoprom or prominator. Sweet units. But I will stick with burning and swapping out chips for now. Software, been using Tunercat for long time, good support, but recently started using TunerPro. Can't go wrong there either.

 

Thanks for all the replies so far. Its great to hear everyones likes and dislikes and really helps the decision process. Although I would love to buy the Autoprom or Prominator- I just cant spend the dough right now. I just bought a new WB last month, and another $300 would really be pushing it. While I am behind Craig 110%, I just didnt really want to spend $85 on a programmer that only works on three chips. Granted- Im sure it would burn those three better (with less complication) than other programmers, but I want more options. Im trying to stick with my 29F040's for my moates switcher, but I do have a bunch of 27c256's too, that I just cant stop using no matter how inconvenient erasing them is. I was however ready to order up the Burn1 today- but he is out of stock. I took this as a sign that it probably wasnt meant to be. So the shopping continues.

BTW- my old Epromer did fine with the 27C256's, it just had a miserable time with the 29F040's. Thats why its sold.

 

First used a Eprommer.. Worked fine for about 8 months.. Then my flash chips started dying. It's sitting here gathering dust.

Now using a Willem... So far, works great. Bob

 

Prominator here.I just got it and am still learning how to modify BIN's.
I did change a couple minor constants,VATS,fan on/off, and it was pretty easy.
Install was super easy as well.

 

Absolutely do NOT rely on the backup battery for data retention. That is not a rechargeable battery...it WILL eventually go dead. Who knows how long it would take...but you rely too heavily on the data that battery is keeping "alive". Don't do it.

 

I have:

PP2 - works great. haven't had an issue. many supported chips. drawbacks: pay for software updates, relatively slow burn/read, relatively high price, parallel interface (parallel ports are going away)

BURN1 (Flash & Burn) - also works great (no problems). Very fast burn/read (between 1-2 seconds to write a 32k 29C256), low price, USB. Drawback: only supports writing the common DIY-EFI flash chips (29C256, 29F040, 27SF512), however, it *will* read the classic EPROMS (2732, 27128, 27256, 27512, etc).

AutoProm - same as BURN1 in terms of PROM burning/reading

Prominator - no need for chips if you're using this bad boy. Excellent product (no issues!)

 

I agree, although I'm guilty of using it more than my flash proms .
It lasted from January till October, failed on a friends car while on a dyno, lol.
I was doing some soldering and didn't want to go find that small battery so I soldered up and hot glued 2 AAA batteries to the darn thing. I'm now rocking a serial version of the Ostrich .
I would have done the flash burning more except that I was always testing stuff. Another excuse was that my power supply for the pocket programmer broke. This left me with a RadioShack 9v dc-dc converter. The problem with this setup is the temperature. Something about the AT29C256 chips and/or the pocket programmer that doesn't like freezing weather. It rarely programmed on a cold chip. I had to sit there and warm it up with my thumb to get it to program, even then it was a 50/50 shot... spring time came around and it was programming 100% verified and like twice the speed. So the Romulator was a good deal, less cables and I always had my laptop with me just in case so I wouldn't get stuck if the battery did fail.

 

Those little coin cells hold a surprising number of mAh, but still NOTHING compared to the AA/AAA stuff. Remember that the batteries get drained whether or not you're using the unit.

 

Jon, my guess would be that the flash chips are commercial temp grade vs. industrial. Look at the part number and see if it has a "C" or "I" at the end. I try to always use industrial grade...unless I just can't get them.

 

I just take what Craig sells me . Shame on him.

 

I'm looking at getting the Ostrich and Craig's aldl to USB adapters, but I'm torn between those two and the AutoProm. I really want to scan and tune on the fly. I already have a PP and a few chips to use.

I know I can leave the Ostrich connected to the car for a while, until I get around to burning another chip for it. Can I do that with the AutoProm too or do I have to turn on my laptop to get it to work?

The way I see it I can save a few bucks since I have a burner already, but the all in one deal is so tempting. Any thoughts from those who use them?

 

You can just leave the AutoProm hooked up....it emulates using non-volatile memory so the data will still be there when you unhook the laptop. From what I read it's not "recommended," but there are a few guys doing it and it seems to work well. I personally haven't tried it yet. It will also datalog and emulate at the same time, and you can tune real-time on it with TunerPro RT.

You can leave the Ostrich hooked up for ~74 years before you'll need to burn a chip. That's how long the battery is supposed to last. And it's cheaper.



That said, I use the AutoProm.....all-in-one means fewer cables to move when I have a passenger.

 

PPII

Works awesome so far (1yr or so), no issues at all. I think it was about $150 direct from transtronics with the software included.

 

Yes, the AutoProm is designed to specifically be left connected. It uses non-volatile RAM (no battery backup, its static RAM), so no issues there. I have a buddy who's been running his Typhoon off of an AutoProm for, what, like 6 months now. =)

 

Burn1 and xtronics romulator.....the romulator has been in the car now for some time 1+year with no problem....

( I always carry a backup EPROM with me...)

 

It will just be a matter of time before you'll like having a selection. While developing the *habits* necessary to be good at doing chips, I'd say a Pocket Programmer.

I say habits, because to get good at this stuff means taking notes, and looking for trends. It's way to easy for a new guy to just go screaming right by the *correct* tune, when things are too easy.

For various reasons, I use the PPII when doing developement work, then the Autoprom on the ecm bench, and Prominator for getting things the last 1% *in car*.

 

Pocket Programmer for me and I'm a newbie

Worked great.

 

Needham's EMP-10. Looking to go to SpeedReader.

 

BP Microsystems, BP-1200. Works Great!!

 

EMP-10

It has been 100% reliable for the past 3 years.

 

I just thought I'd mention this; my pocket programmer got fried because it didn't have reverse polarity protection! I melted a transistor right off the board and almost through the plastic case!
The reason I did this was because xtronics felt like using the non-standard polarity where they had the pin ground and the body positive .
What's the protection cost, maybe $2 in parts? A couple diodes .

 

moates burn1 here