I got stranded the other day. Car shut down while I was driving.... fortunately I was only about 1 mile from home. Also, fortunately I carry around with my a spare ignition module, cap, coil, standard EProm chip, ECM, etc... plus all the needed tools to install them.

I was able (by process of elimination) to determine that the Ostrich is malfunctioning. Soon as I replaced it with the standard EProm, the car fired right up.

The only thing I can think of is that the battery has died. It's been on the car in continuous use for probably 6-7 years now.

I opened it up and the battery appears to be semi-permamently installed. Can't tell if its soldered in, brazed in, gap welded, etc...

Anyone know how to replace these things without damaging the unit?

 

I did replace mine a few years ago and it was nerve racking. If I remember there was some prying involved. The Battery is glued right? Well it's doable but be gentle and take your time.

 

The ostrich’s I’ve had has the part bumper on the battery. The legs are bent over and go into a dip. I want to say a 2032

 

Might compare to this

 

Sbformula, it doesn't appear to be glued. More like brazed or gap welded or something. BTW, how did you find out the battery needed to be replaced?

I measured the voltage on mine and its reading about 2.7V. The battery has 3V written on it. A new CR032 battery reads 3.2.



Tuned, yeah it kinda looks like that.

 

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...2BFM271oD6E%3D

not at home to pull mine apart but might be closer

 

I don't remember exactly why it was a pain to change but after seeing @Tuned Performance post, I believe I ended removing the tabs from the old battery (CR2031X-HE) and jimmy rigged them to a regular CR2032 that I had in stock. I did not know better at the time! Live and learn. I changed it because I thought it was the problem. Turned out it was not.

UPDATED: I think I was having problems with the real time tuning feature at the time. I was swapping the emulator back and forth with a chip. Out of impatience, I handled the EPROM with the ECM on. It damaged the EPROM.

 

I unsoldered the battery from the PCB just now.

This is what it is...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/13442465012...Bk9SR_bi4PCUYg

Sb, I think I'm probably going to do what you did. Get a socket for a CR2032 standard coin cell battery and route wires to the outside of the unit. That way I can easily change the battery easily next time.

 

Excellent idea!!
Might do that when I get a chance. I am always wondering when the battery will die and how far from home I will be.

 

Yeah it's the battery. I temporarily wired two AAA batteries together to generate 3V.

Car fired right up.

just ordered a socket off Ebay. Too bad Frys Electronics went out of business. Could have just driven over there and bought one.

 

Yeah I've been noticing recently that when I do an upload to the Ostrich, occasionally the car will go into limp home mode, due to a failed upload. It had been happening more frequently lately... must have been a precursor to outright failure.

I'd have to shut the car down, do another upload to get it running again.

 

I’m surprised it was soldered in. I think one ostrich I had had a dip fir the legs. Good to know

 

A friend of mine did exactly that a few months ago. What socket did u use?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295618008416

I can wire the flying leads directly to the PCB.

 

Anybody want to share which external socket they used for their Ostrich battery replacement?

 

Did you see the ebay link I just posted?

 

No I had not. thanks.

 

When my battery went out, I called moates. He sent me another ostrich and I sent him mine. No charge. I know Moates is no longer in business.

 

yeah, it's a shame they closed down. So much good stuff there...

 

The battery holder is supposed to arrive tomorrow... lol... I ordered from a local seller thinking it'd get here more quickly and it takes freaking the whole week to ship it 35 miles.

Any rate, figured I'd get a head start on soldering. Decided I'd install a connectorized pigtail for future convenience.

 

Very nice.

 

After further consideration I decided against the connector. Unnecessary risk of it becoming disconnected while driving. Ended up hard wiring it in.

 

Since His site is no more. What is everyone doing in place of his emulator? Worried if mine goes out and have a few other 3rd gen builds to do as well.

 

Xtronics romulator or get a used apu1 or ostrich might be your only choice.

 

I had no idea they took batteries. I bet mine is dead as it's been sitting in the glove box for 10 years. I gave up on trying to tune and datalog as i got married and had a kid. Now I'm ready to start again this spring....lots of info to relearn. Wish i could find someone that can tune and use tunerpro RT with this emulator

 

Things like this was perfect for Radio Shack. They had odd ball stuff like the battery holder and wiring pigtails. Its' a shame they are gone now.

Fred

 

Fred, I’m sure a lot of us were geeks. I want me free battery of the month 😆

 

I’ve been using an Ostrich V1 and 2 for years. Never had the battery issue. However, if I am going on a long trip, I carry another prom loaded w a recent tune that will get me home. I may even backup the tune I am using onto the prom that sits on the G2 adapter just in case.

 

so I have the 2.0. how much does it rely on the battery? mine needs flashed with a bin every time I start it.

like i needed to move it out to clean the garage yesterday. click key on, both cooling fans come on high, limp mode, ugh. go inside find my laptop. get it up and running. find the bin, it was tp4 not tp5 lol. took me a while to figure that out. got CRS (can't remember sh*t). flashed it, click key on, fans don't run.. fires right up. back it out running halfway decent. few hours later, get in to pull it back in. fans on max, in limp mod again. said eh, and just pulled it in bearly running in limp ha.

it did this the last few times, I thou it was because I had the battery unhooked for months, now I have a ctech tender that stays on it, so I was hooked up since last flash. does that sound like the 3v battery, or would that disable the whole thing?


I have ebl to install, but I'd like to make sure this works correctly before I try and sell it. I don't really think I'll have another tpi project car to turn, so may as well pass it on.

also realized I have the old prominator in a box in the back seat. forgot all about it. it worked when I swapped to 2.0 for RT. made idle tuning with a cam so much easier in RT. but I always liked it.

 

Mine was doing something similar. It must rely on the battery to maintain the memory.

 

This day and age...with an ostrich, could easily be done with remote desktop or during a zoom/teams meeting!!!

Mines never stays in the vehicle...at the end of the tuning session, I burn the latest tune into a EEPROM. I treat mines more like a tool rather than a long term solution.

 

I guess I'm pulling it out and trying and atleast measure voltage

 

Can you please post another link for the remote battery holder you used.... This link doesn't work anymore. I finally got my engine running only to findout I'm in LIMP mode and im hoping it's because of a bad battery in my ostrich that's been in the glove box for 15 years. It's always something haha

 

mine needs a flash every key on or it's in limp mode. might try flashing the same old tune to get it running

 

Basically just search on cr2032 battery holder and you'll get tons of hits.