Ecutalk - Standard & Pocket Pc Consult Software

[-explode-]

Sorry, I currently know pretty much nothing about PDA's and am not in-the-know with computers, but am very interested in getting this up and running, as it has many many useful features, and a donation will be made once it is all set up.

Would all PDA's have this serial connection ? Because I was having a look on E-bay Australia, and a few of the PDA's for sale do not mention anything about a serial connection ?

This whole serial sync cable and null modem connection talk has me a bit confused. I have no idea what any of them look like, or what their purpose is.

Sorry if I have missed something. There is a lot to remember/think about regarding all this lol.

Thanks,

Richard.

[NewKleer]

http://www.ecutalk.com/compatibility.aspx

theres a list of those pda's already tried/tested. most pda's will have a serial port capabilities (but practically none ship with serial sync cables anymore). if you dont already have a pda but want to get one, here's a few tips:

1) work out how much you want to spend:

less than $100 then you're probably stuck with a pocket pc 2000/2002 device. advantage here is it may come with a serial sync cable already. performance may not be the best

more than $100, try get the cheapest windows mobile 2003 (aka pocket pc 2003) pda you can find that supports a serial port. eg rz1710. these will perform better than 2000/2002 due to having .net compact framework in ROM

2) check this link: zing for serial sync cables - most likely if a serial sync cable is available, then the pda supports serial port. obviously you need a pocket pc/windows mobile - a palm will be useless

3) generally, if the pda has a mini-usb connection only, it wont have serial port capabilities so dont bother.

a serial sync cable is the old method of hooking up your PDA to your PC to sync with it (rather than USB). when using the cable, the PDA acts as a "device" to the PC. however, when you want to use the PDA as the "pc" and hook a device up to it (ie, a consult interface), then you need to switch over the send/receive wires, which is what a null modem adaptor does. here's an example: http://www.expansys.com.au/p.aspx?i=121390

[-explode-]

Thanks buddy, makes perfect sense now. I've decided I'm going to sit back and wait for your LCD Display for now, but may also use the PDA in the future for logging purposes.

Thanks very much,

Richard.

[-explode-]

double post sorry haha

Edited February 12, 2007 by -explode-

[-explode-]

triple post lol sorry

Edited February 12, 2007 by -explode-

[bustafat]

probably a stupid question but i understand little about comps

i got a laptop

i installed the update and program

what type of cable from the ecu to the laptop for this program

is it called the CONSULT-Cable

[NewKleer]

typically called a "consult interface"

you can buy one from http://www.blazt.biz/prices/prices.php

RS232 Interface cable US$71

ends up around $110 delivered

[NewKleer]

here is a beta of ecutalk v1.3.3 ive been working on, has auto reconnect on connection lost, and some new sensors. as my car is out of action, i need help testing whether the new sensors (distance, fuel used, trip economy) have been implemented correctly

http://www.ecutalk.com/downloads/ECUTalk_v1.3.3_beta2.exe

[GTsauRus]

here is a beta of ecutalk v1.3.3 ive been working on, has auto reconnect on connection lost, and some new sensors. as my car is out of action, i need help testing whether the new sensors (distance, fuel used, trip economy) have been implemented correctly

http://www.ecutalk.com/downloads/ECUTalk_v1.3.3_beta2.exe

hi peter

i have an ipaq 2850 and plms cable with a null modem made out of 2 old pc com ports car is r32 gtr / stock ecu

previous version i have used is v1.0.2 v1.3.3 has better response on the guages

v1.3.3

I just had a disconnect with autoreconnect checked but it did not connnect until i setup com2 let it fail then setup com1 again.

what needs to be selected for the new sensors to work?

I can log a run and send you the file, post what you want selected.

Keith

[NewKleer]

the autoconnect option on main screen is just whether ecutalk will connect automatically on startup. the new reconnect feature is if you are in gauges mode, and you turn off car, then (without touching ecutalk) turn car back on later, it should reconnect in background and gauges start moving again. previously you would have to click gauges/press escape to fall back to setup screen, then choose COM port again to reconnect. this is mainly a hassle for PDA users permanent in-car setup where you dont want to have to click around on pda when you start car etc.

select rpm, speed, injector for the new sensors (they can just be set to log). if you could do that and log new sensors (and also, see if what the gauges are saying seems accurate...ie how distance compares to odometer, whether economy numbers look ok, etc). note that distance resets at 6.6km so i guess compare it before u hit 6.6km.

ill probably have a beta3 available late tonight which fixes the 6.6km reset, and also will auto select pre-requisite sensors whenever u choose any sensor that requires others to be chosen.

[GTsauRus]

the autoconnect option on main screen is just whether ecutalk will connect automatically on startup. the new reconnect feature is if you are in gauges mode, and you turn off car, then (without touching ecutalk) turn car back on later, it should reconnect in background and gauges start moving again. previously you would have to click gauges/press escape to fall back to setup screen, then choose COM port again to reconnect. this is mainly a hassle for PDA users permanent in-car setup where you dont want to have to click around on pda when you start car etc.

select rpm, speed, injector for the new sensors (they can just be set to log). if you could do that and log new sensors (and also, see if what the gauges are saying seems accurate...ie how distance compares to odometer, whether economy numbers look ok, etc). note that distance resets at 6.6km so i guess compare it before u hit 6.6km.

ill probably have a beta3 available late tonight which fixes the 6.6km reset, and also will auto select pre-requisite sensors whenever u choose any sensor that requires others to be chosen.

ok

im just about to go pick up my daughter so ill give it a run

my pda isnt mounted so i wont be able to look at it on the run but ill log it.

[GTsauRus]

ok

im just about to go pick up my daughter so ill give it a run

my pda isnt mounted so i wont be able to look at it on the run but ill log it.

hi Peter

All looks good the odometer reads the same as the distance in ET

The run i did has 90kmh and back streets on even throttle at 90kmh the economy is reading around 9-10 which is what i get on hiway cycle so at first glance it looks good,

I will get the pda mounted and do a tank comparison,

the file upload is not working

[NewKleer]

sounds good - might want to try new beta3 for distance fix. if your able to switch to imperial option and check new sensors with that too? (ie MPG/fuel used gal, etc).

1 mi = 1.6 kilometers

1 US gallon = 3.8 L

10 L/100km = 23.5 MPG

-------

http://www.ecutalk.com/downloads/ECUTalk_v1.3.3_beta3.exe

New features in beta3 below, along with a fix for distance sensor resetting after 6.6km.

#14 Add offset option timing so US users can get correct timing readings

#24 Derived sensors should select dependent sensors automatically

#26 Priority option for ECUTalk (eg so mp3 etc play fine)

Also minor change to delays in between commands, may help people who dont always get all sensors detected? Also minor change to consult reading for gauges, to reduce chances of corrupt data being accepted, eg you see all gauges flick to weird values for a second

[GTsauRus]

sounds good - might want to try new beta3 for distance fix. if your able to switch to imperial option and check new sensors with that too? (ie MPG/fuel used gal, etc).

1 mi = 1.6 kilometers

1 US gallon = 3.8 L

10 L/100km = 23.5 MPG

-------

http://www.ecutalk.com/downloads/ECUTalk_v1.3.3_beta3.exe

New features in beta3 below, along with a fix for distance sensor resetting after 6.6km.

#14 Add offset option timing so US users can get correct timing readings

#24 Derived sensors should select dependent sensors automatically

#26 Priority option for ECUTalk (eg so mp3 etc play fine)

Also minor change to delays in between commands, may help people who dont always get all sensors detected? Also minor change to consult reading for gauges, to reduce chances of corrupt data being accepted, eg you see all gauges flick to weird values for a second

hi peter

The accuracy of economy l/100km may be a little out, at 100kmh it is displaying 11-12 l/100km on closed loop [displayed o2 so i can see closed loop fluctuations] I know from highway cycle i get 9.3 average so it seem to be reading a bit high.

Reconnect

I leave et running when i switch off, the pda is set to power off after 1 minute on battery, when i restart the engine and turn the pda on et is still running but wont reconnect unless i close and restart et or toggle the com port.

I will give beta3 a test tomorrow

keith

[NewKleer]

normal economy calc or the trip economy? you might want to compare actual fuel used with what ecutalk reports for fuel used (assuming it was running whole time u had engine running) and then adjust your injector cc size in program to account for your injectors not flowing as much as theyre rated for?). best way to work that out is fill up, then compare fuel used vs next fill up (assuming ecutalk was recording whole time).

ie im pretty sure if your economy readings are off it would be due to your num cyl/injector size being incorrect (or not representative of actual flow rates), or perhaps either speedo being incorrect (eg wrong size wheels/tyres), but then so would your own 9.3 av calculation be incorrect if ur speedo/odo was.

how long did u leave reconnect for? try leave it for 30s after engine started/pda turned on. it normally either either less than 5s, or around 20s to reconnect (i dont actually know why the difference between the two).

also see howe beta3 is with distance vs odometer.

thanks

Peter

[GTsauRus]

normal economy calc or the trip economy? you might want to compare actual fuel used with what ecutalk reports for fuel used (assuming it was running whole time u had engine running) and then adjust your injector cc size in program to account for your injectors not flowing as much as theyre rated for?). best way to work that out is fill up, then compare fuel used vs next fill up (assuming ecutalk was recording whole time).

ie im pretty sure if your economy readings are off it would be due to your num cyl/injector size being incorrect (or not representative of actual flow rates), or perhaps either speedo being incorrect (eg wrong size wheels/tyres), but then so would your own 9.3 av calculation be incorrect if ur speedo/odo was.

how long did u leave reconnect for? try leave it for 30s after engine started/pda turned on. it normally either either less than 5s, or around 20s to reconnect (i dont actually know why the difference between the two).

also see howe beta3 is with distance vs odometer.

thanks

Peter

I tried leaving reconnect for a couple of minutes

injectors = 440 cylinder =6

Economy i am refering to is l/100 not trip l/100 probly best not to judge it until the tank fill comparison, just an observation i thought it would be lower than 11-12 on level road at 100kmh due to my previous trip calcs

I just put beta3 on sd and tried reconnect but is not working, its better running from sd due to log file size,

[NewKleer]

guess ill have to wait till i can get my car back so i can test reconnect myself. sd card is good option as logs are ~15MB/hour with good pda/laptop.

i guess theres a chance that the injector values consult spits out are the open loop ones, that it doesnt take into account closed loop, but ive never seen any evidence that its the case so id assume its not.

[GTsauRus]

guess ill have to wait till i can get my car back so i can test reconnect myself. sd card is good option as logs are ~15MB/hour with good pda/laptop.

i guess theres a chance that the injector values consult spits out are the open loop ones, that it doesnt take into account closed loop, but ive never seen any evidence that its the case so id assume its not.

hi peter the trip economy calc is very close to tank refill value. I averaged 14l/100 going to work and running around the et calc is very close to 14 over a few log files.

the autoreconnect works if the pda has not powered off but once it has powered off it will not reconnect unless I toggle the comm port or do a full restart of et. My current setup is power off after 1 minute on battery power my power is from cig socket so powers offwith ignition, et is on sd card. I leave the ipaq in the car at all times to run et.

regards keith

[NewKleer]

thanks for that - although that has worked for me (turning pda off), it is possible that some pda's will close down COM ports once you turn off pda (at the moment the auto reconnect assumes port is still open), so that could be the reason for it. ill try get port reopen in beta4 (maybe end of weekend) and see if that helps.

your setup sounds pretty typical (ie power off when on battery, back on when ignition on) so i want to try make sure reconnect works properly for that. i guess i could always make it "fall back" to the setup screen and reconnect as if you had just started ecutalk, though thats not the ideal solution, but might be the only way if pda does other things like close open files (ie current logging file) when pda turned off.

[NewKleer]

ECUTalk v1.3.3 Beta 4 (2007-08-21 23:10:34)

I've uploaded the 4th and most likely final beta build of ECUTalk v1.3.3, beta4. I'm fairly sure all the functionality introduced in these betas now works as intended, though I haven't had much if any feedback from Imperial sensor (Mi/Gal/MPG etc) users. If there are no problems with this build, it will become final v1.3.3.

New features/fixed bugs in beta4 below:

#10 Put font size/scaling for gauges in options

#31 When value exceeds gauge maximum, the actual value should be on digital readout

#32 When you read fault codes without having connected to ecu, ecutalk exits

#33 Gauge colour preview doesnt update till you restart ECUTalk

#35 Save long term trip sensor statistics

#36 Clear trip statistics from sensors

#37 Option dropdown lists are editable on laptop/PC (shouldn't be)

#38 check for port open when reconnecting when gauges showing

#39 Put option in for data flush wait time

#41 If using L|T|R|B settings in the ini file, the gauges arent displayed properly if L is far from 0.

Additional notes:

1) For Flush Wait option, 100ms is default, lower values will give quicker startup times, but higher values might help with some connection problems, eg sensors not showing up, ECU part number not being read, gauges not moving when showing gauges, etc. Eg I can use 20ms on my desktop and 50ms on my 568 Jornada.

2) For Font Base Size and Increment, this allows you to specify a font size, and then the amount of pixels which the font size will be incremeneted depending on gauge size. Eg 6pt + 50px increment on a 200px wide gauge = 10pt font.

3) Also a minor fix to heading names in logs so distance/fuel used have units (KM/Mi,L/Gal)

Spent a lot of work on this one, got a lot of the niggling issues out of the way, the new trip meter sensors along with saving/reset ability should prove quite useful for those with pocket pc/car pc setup Any issues with it let me know.

Peter