Just finished making a 2 trans cord with a cigarette lighter to power it, and using a serial to usb adapter on my netbook and couldn't get it to connect in winaldl so I put a 10k resistor between A and B and for some reason the truck will backfire like once and then just die I figured out that it adjusts the timing by 10* or something and I was wondering is it possible to try and establish a connection and then yank the 10k resistor and the timing will go back to normal?

Thanks for any help. I didn't see the 7747 listed on TTS and Tunerpro rt says it only supports 8192 baud so far I've been trying to use only winaldl, anyone got any other programs I can try as well?

 

Skip the 10K with the '7747. They transmit all of the time they are powered up.

WinALDL is a good start with the stock C3 ECMs. Try both 2400 baud and 4800 baud on teh com port.

RBob.

 

Well awesome, thanks dude. Unfortunately it still doesn't work so I reckon I screwed up somewhere with the cable. Is there anyway to check it somehow? I guess I could try to make the 1 trans cable tomorrow and see how that goes.

 

It's most likely your USB to serial adaptor, they are all flakey in my experiance. I'll be replacing my LC1 WBO2 that I used to use for tuning, with a SLC DIY, just for the direct USB connectivity, because of the flakeyness of the USB to serial converters. I've been through a few.

Tuner Pro RT definatly supports logging with the '7747. So far I have found that V4 works better than V5 for the '7747.

Do yourself a favour, buy the moates.net ALDU1+CABL1 combo, will always connect, and just plain works like it should.

 

Unless you're this guy...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/diy-...ates-aldl.html

 

If you read it closely enough it works, the cable passes the communication tests, any time there is an issue where it "won't" connect to the ECM, is usually an incorrect def file being used, or not at all.

Why do you have to keep raging on Moates products?

 

I'm not "Raging" [sic], or even ragging on it. I'm just saying, they're not magical products that nobody ever has trouble with. Just like any other product out there, sometimes they don't work as designed. That's life. Nothing against Moates, just the facts.

I'm a realist, and I find it annoying when people idolize a product, and make it out to be something more than it is. As I've said before, and continue to say. Moates' products are fine products. But they're not perfect. Stop saying they are. That post is on the same page as this one, not more than 5-10 posts below this. It's not like I had to look far to find it.

You'll also notice that I was the ONLY person to bother trying to help the guy out. Rbob was strangely absent... No doubt he'll chime in on this post though, now that I've said something that "the hive" will likely choose to take to be "anti moates".

Anyway, that's beside the point.

You're also DEAD WRONG that getting a message that says "Connected" in TunerPro means ANYTHING, let alone that the cable is working.

To prove my point, I just launched TunerPro, with no cable whatsoever connected, and got a blue "Connected". I even attached a screenshot below.

Try it for yourself!

Just because TunerPro SAYS connected, doesn't mean there's a cable anywhere NEAR the computer. Let alone properly connected and functional.

If you don't know, don't say you know... ya know?

 

Boy, you really need to learn to read.....

The echo test provided in TP RT that the OP used, said it showed a found and functional cable, actully he said "it passed the cable tests". Which there HAS to be a cable attached in order to pass that test. I've been using TP RT for many years now, I actually have a copy of V3 somewhere. When using a 160 baud based ADS (and in TP RT V4), seems to be the only time you can get a "connected" indication without a cable. Try again. V5 won't allow a connected indication, without a bonefied connection... You know?

I don't recall anyone ever saying that Moates products are magical, or will grant you wishes, or anything beyond being great products that work. I'm not a band wagon jumper, and will only use, or endorse products and suppliers of products that I have personally used and liked, I will also be one of the first to bring up any possible issues or complaints I have about a product, even if I do like and use the product.

As far as Moates products go, I have had a problem with an Ostrich, Craig was more than accommidating to resolve the issue, and in the process taught me how to diagnose any future issues I may have, which have saved me possible hours of frustration. If I could ind products that worked as well as moates products at the same price or less I would likely start using them, but until then, I will continue to buy the products I know work and at resonable prices for the most part.

You keep saying how Moates products are fine, and then try everything in your power to show how they are not in your eyes.

BTW, my "G" button sometimes doesn't register a press, especially when hit twice in a row, that's what happens with a 3+ year old laptop that was used for work and personal used at about 12 hours a day.

Now back to the topic at hand....

 

I don't want to hijack this kid's thread, so I'll be brief.

I never said anybody said they would grant wishes. But you practically called them infallible in your last post.

The loopback test worked on the ALDU1. He didn't say if he did a loopback on the cable itself or not.

You pretend that I'm always out to rag on Moates products, yet if you'd read my post, my parting words argue my case for me just fine.

"I've heard great things about the support on Moate's products. They/he can probably help you get it sorted out over the phone, one way or another."

If I was really out to trash Moates, this would have been the IDEAL time to slam the product. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

So riddle me this, why, if I'm, as you suppose me to be, out to "try everything in [my] power" to defame Moates' products, did I choose to refrain from taking such an easy shot?

Like I said before, I'm a realist. Moates' products are fine products.

They remind me of Apple Computers:

They're not perfect.
They don't always "Just work".
They're a bit over-priced for what they are.
They're way over-hyped.
Lots of people buy them because that's what they were TOLD to buy.
Many people swear by them, and will never use anything else.
Some people see them for what they are, and don't buy into the hype...

 

Mhm, sorry didn't mean to cause a fight lol. I've used the serial to usb adapter before on my netbook to program some pic's for rapid fire mods in xbox 360 controllers and it worked fine then when I made a jdm programmer for it, that's why I figured I'd rule out the 1 or 2 trans cable before I decided to spend all that money on something. Although now I notice the led in the adapter isn't coming on for some reason when it's hooked up so I suppose that could be a problem.

On another note has anyone used the usb cable from aldlcable.com? It's $20 cheaper then moates, and looks more compact to me. Although $60 is still a lot of money for a cable but what do I know heh

Oh and I used the schematic from here:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1PMLLkxJyo...00-h/aldl2.jpg
Anyone got a 1 trans or 2 trans that they have personally used and have the schem for it, for a 160 baud? I used 2n3904 transistors I had left over from a probe I made to flash the firmware on liteon dvd drives as well as 1n4148 diodes.

Oh and I did bring up tunerpro rt and clicked connect without the aldl cable connected and it came up blue and said connected so I guess I can't use that to test it O.o

 

You didn't cause a fight. Don't worry about it.

Anyway, to answer your question, I personally had great results with the single-transistor cable on my 7747.

Don't use resistors R3, or R4. They're not needed, and will cause issues.

I tried building the self-powered cable, and it was a huge failure. I don't think the USB-serial adapters put out enough juice to run the cable.

I modified it to this one, with the independent external 12v power source, and it worked great! Give that a try. The two transistor cable isn't necessary to log the 7747.

Also check your device manager settings, and see what your Serial adapter settings are. I get good results with the Serial adapter set to 9600b, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, flow control None.

In WinALDL set the com port to the correct setting, sellect the 7747/8062 setting, and choose 4800 baud.

 

its that transistor setup to the usb thats causing the problem. You really need a 232 chip in there for it to work correctly, some usb to serial adapters are better at working incorrectly than others.

you could open up hyperterminal and see if its spitting out a bunch of garbage. Then you'll know if the ecm is talking to the pc and treat it as a software problem. If you get nothing its a hardware problem.

I've used moates, aldlcable.com, and the max232 diy stuff. they all worked fine, but "native" usb makes life easier.

 

In regards to the ALDU1, it has always worked for me. The only time I've had issues, was not a cable a problem, it was either a vehicle problem or wrong selection of ADS/ADX. FWIW, I have used other cables as well.

Umm, what? That would be the same test, and in the other thread that you linked to, he most certainly did say he used the loopback test.

I don't pretend, but the last few threads that have been posted you have taken the opprotunity to try to knock on the products that are being sold by moates.net. If you were trying to, you would have just went on your way without saying a word, or simply saying you've had luck with other products without knocking on the moates branded product.

Or from people here, since, can help as well. The learning curve for tuning is steep, and sometimes it doesn't make complete sense to someone new to tuning that they need, certain drivers for thier cable and emulators, and certain files to datalog and interpret the bin files.

[quote]If I was really out to trash Moates, this would have been the IDEAL time to slam the product. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

I don't how you can think that you're not trashing the products.

I also said before, I'm a realist too, what I say about Moates' products is not based on hype, it is based on experiance with Moates products, and other products.

Yes, that is how Apple is, I will agree with that.

About the pricing...

Find me an Emulator that will do everything the Ostrich 2.0 will do, as reliably, in a small package, for less than $175 USD. I've looked and can't find one.
Find me another source for the G1 MEMCAL adaptors, that is cheaper, and as reliable to get a hold of. There was a guy a few years ago that offered MEMCAL adaptors, but was difficult to get a hold of, and just not reliable. Again, going back to a previous thread where you decided to start knocking on Moates products and the pricing, I will gladly pay the extra few dollars for this product so that I have the convience of buying the product again in the future whenever I want. So far Moates is the only reliable source I have found, besides many of the resellers, that all sell for the same price anyway.

Back to the topic at hand....

Yes, I have used the aldlcable.com cable, it worked fine, I just didn't like the construction of it. I prefer the moates cable, because it doesn't have the jumper pins for 10K ohm selection sticking out of the top of the connector that could get caught on something, which has happened to one of my friends aldlcable.com cables. I also like the fact that with the moates cable, if the ALDL cable end gets damaged, I can replace just it for $30, instead of buying a whole new cable, same goes for the USB end, that can be bought locally, or just use one of the many I get with other computer peripherals. LOL

FWIW, I use a MAX232 based cable on my test bench. I have had native serial ports on past PCs and I bought a Serial card for my latest PC, since it didn't have the DB9 port, and it works fine. I've tried half a dozen laptops that didn't have a native Serial port, with several USB to Serial converters and they all seemed flakey, some would not connect at all, while others would connect for a while then one day just decide not to. Like my Prolific chipset based converter that I used with my LC1, just decide to not connect, on my laptop or my PC, even after downloading newer drivers, and screwing with it for a few hours.

There is a "test for valid cable", well, test, in the preferences set-up in Tuner Pro RT. In V4, the Test For Valid Cable button is right in the ALDL/Emulation tab, in V5 it's in the "Plug-in setup" pop up windown accessed in the Datalogging/Emulation tab under preferences. Use that test to determine if the cable is being seen by TP RT or not. Like I said before, the 160 baud datastream def files, especially in TP RT V4, seemed to be able to show a "connected" result without actually seeing a cable. 8192 datastreams didn't do this because the connection protocol was different.

 

FWIW: My Parallax 28031 serial-usb convertor works perfectly with my DIY 232 cable... it would only show correct data about half of the time with my DIY 2-transistor though, but since it works perfectly with the 232, i can't blame it...

also, it does supply power through at least one of the pins normally used to power the ALDL circuit(DTR or RTS?), which means my second USB cable that i used for +5V power alone was totally unnecessary.

again, FWIW.

 

Look, I already told you I'm done arguing with you on this guy's thread. This thread should be used for helping him solve his issue. If you have a problem with me, or my opinions, take it to PM, or even a different thread. I'll happily engage you there.

That's all.

 

Dag, tried the 1 trans cable and it still didn't work, I reckon it is indeed the serial to usb adapter. Might give that Parallax adapter a try if it isn't too much, if not I'll just buy the usb cable from aldl since it seems you guys haven't really had any problems from it.

Thanks for the help

Would it matter if the cig lighter that im pulling 12v from is grounded or not? I figured I should ground it but didn't see anywhere in any schematics that said to ground it. I had it grounded on the ground wire in the 2 trans setup but didn't ground it in this 1 trans setup.

 

going directly to the parallax site, i got mine for less than $18 shipped...

my aldlcable.com one started flaking out about 2 months before it went competely useless... i'm fairly certain the solder joints from the USB plug to the traces is what caused the issue, but if you go that route, be sure to protect the USB end from being bent in any direction.

 

Alright thanks man, did you contact aldlcable about it? Might be better off going the moates route then if that one went bad only after 2 months...

 

i'm not saying it only lasted two months, just that 2 months before it COMPETELY died, it started acting funny... i had it from ~june of 08 and then it started acting weird in late january, early february 2010... so roughly 18 months before it became useless.

 

FWIW, I ordered my Moates ALDU1 and CABL1 combo end of September 2007, it's still going strong. The ALDL (CABL1) end is starting to get worn a little bit, somehow I managed to bend a pin or two once, still works fine, I'll just be ordering a new CABL1 next time I place an order, I wish I had remembered for the order I just got in on Monday. LOL

I've used this cable in a number of cars, plugging it in and unplugging sometimes several times a day, depending on what I was doing that day. I also usually have my laptop on and running when ever I am driving my Datsun, so in the Spring to Fall, it can get used for a few hours each day. I've only stopped using it yesterday in the car, because I'm testing a new device that is very cool, and once more readily available will help with tuning and watching what is going on without needing to stare at the passenger seat.

 

Ah alright thanks for the clarification, mmm alright well I'll try a different serial -> usb adapter and if not I'll figure out which two cables I'll buy. Thanks again for the help, this forum is prettty awesome.

 

I've had my ALDL.com cable for a year with no problems.
The product quality appears solid.

I'm very careful with it, as USB connects (unsecured as they are) are not optimal for the application/environment.