please be patient, this is totally over my head, so i'm trying to take very small bites and digest each well.

i'm getting started with datalogging. as a first step, i bought an aldl cable from affordable fuel injection.

 

sorry the pics are fuzzy.

anyway, i work at a radio station. i printed out a diagram of the winaldl cable from one of the posts on here and showed it to one of our engineers. he opened up the serial port connector, compared it to the diagram and said it looked right.

one problem i see is the cable itself appears to bee too short to be able to plug in, set the laptop on the passenger seat or floor on the passenger side and drive around. the cable itself appears to be simple 18 gauge speaker wire. would i experience any problems if i lengthen it?

 

i was a bit disappointed in the "business" end of the cable. i'd think it'd be a lot more stable if it terminated in a connector end that plugged directly into the port, rather than having to stick two wires in there. is there a simple way to put that kind of connector on there? if so, where do you get one?

which jacks on the aldl port do these ends plug into?

 

black wire goes to pin a - which is top rightmost pin of aldl connector
red wire goes to pin e - 2nd from left on the top row of aldl connector
No problem with lengthening but i just push the passeger seat all the way forward then rest the screen on the dash.

 

Why?, the name of the place is affordable. I'd have taken that as a clue. If you want high rent, and pretty stuff, it gets expensive in a hurry. Look around at the prices for say Diacom, and then look at what your getting.

Maybe it's time to learn how to make some of this stuff your self, then you can save more and set your own standard for what you want.

I'm not picking on you or endorsing them, just expressing some things to consider.

 

the pin to ALDL interface is secured with 4 inchs of duct tape. removable/recycleable. works well..

 

you know, i posted on here to ask for help, not get flamed by someone who enjoys making people feel small and stupid because they don't have the same level of expertise or skill that they have.

my areas of expertise are radio programming, marketing and research. if there were a board similar to this one about those subjects and you asked a basic question about TSL or AQH or cost per point or downaging or cocooning or any of the hundreds of terms or processes that are clear as a bell to me and that would be total gibberish to you, i can assure you that i would find a way to answer it without insulting or degrading you. actually, you didn't even bother to answer any of the questions i raised, you just took shots.

i have limited mechanical skills and even less electronic skills, yet i have a car that i like a lot and also enjoy the process of trying to learn how to make it faster. just because i don't have the knowledge or tools or shop space or inclination to do things at as deep a level as you do doesn't make me any less of an enthusiast. just because someone sends a set of heads out to have them ported rather than doing it themselves or has someone rebuild their transmission rather than doing it themselves or has someone paint their car rather than doing it themselves doesn't make them worthy of scorn or derision. i'm sure if we looked hard enough, we could find someone whose knowledge and abilities eclipse yours as much as yours do mine. there's always a bigger fish in the sea.

i didn't just jump on here and ask questions without bothering to look around and try to learn myself. i've been searching and reading this forum for months. one thing that becomes clear when doing so is that time and again, some poor newbie is stupid enough to stick their head up and ask a basic question, and time and again they get flamed, attacked and humiliated. no other forum on thirdgen.org is like that, why is this one?

i thought one of the purposes of thirdgen.org was for people like me to be able to ask questions of people like you. i also thought one of the reasons people like you came to this forum was to share and mentor, but it seems it's so you can bolster your self-esteem at the expense of other, less knowledgable people.

 

thanks for your help

 

No problem,
I am just new to all this as well and it can be quite daunting.

Once you get your first WinALDL session under way it all seems worthwhile.
The one thing i found with datalogging was that for me it raised more questions than answers... drat !!!

If you have a question, read and then post, not all the answers you get back will be what you want to hear.
Some people do like to take an opposing stand but that should be considered a valuable resource.
I always ask myself why are they saying that and can i prove it wrong.

 

Grump has his own personality, sense of humor. dont be offended. he will be the first in line to offer you assistance. and honestly that is how my pins are secured. duct tape.

 

Seanof30306 Ronny is correct when it comes to Grumpy, he will help anyone. BUT he has a way of saying things to try to get people to think for themselves, when it seems they would rather have someone else just give them the answer to their question. And as fare as saying to make one yourself, well I think he was just saying if you want it done right you have to do it yourself or pay someone with a good background in the area you need help in to do it for you. Kind of like you sad about have someone to port your heads, rebuild your trans or build a motor for you. A lot of people can do it but not everyone will do it right, expecially if you want it for cheap. Don't let it bother you, Grumpy will help you out alot in the future, he's a tbier like us.

Steve

 

He's right with the pins. I just plugged mine in and left them in, then routed it through the dash into the ash tray. When I want to datalog, I just open the ash tray and plug in a 6' serial port cable and rest it on the passenger seat. Works great, I don't have to install it every time I want to use it and I don't always have to look at the end of the cable dangling from my dash.