silex

iTrader: (26)

I have a standard obd2 operating cable I got off ebay which uses the elm interface. That runs 'obd gauge' fine and dandy to check and reset the cel as well as monitor timing, loads, and other parameters. What I was wondeirng is can I run the ecuflash software through the obd2 cable I already have without having to purchase the tactix cable? What protocol does the Tactix cable use (openport was it)?

I was told that the extra white connector that plugs into the obd2 port was just used to get the ecu into 'boot rom' mode which I guess is only needed when writing values. So I'm guessing as long as my "normal" obd2 cable can read the data and as long as I knew what cable to splice into on the obd2 cable as well as which line it is on the white connector I need to tap into, I could do everything the Tactix cables does without having to own two cables that do the same thing. Any insight?

donour

iTrader: (6)

They are not really the same. The Elm32x device that you have is a special purpose chip that talks OBD-II, but at a pretty low speed. You can data log with it. In fact, I've even written an application to do so (http://www.cs.unm.edu/~donour/cars/pyobd/). The OpenPort cable, on the other hand, is basically just a specially wired serial cable. The software that uses it must speak raw OBD-II (the elm device behaves somewhat like a modem). However it can operate much faster as well as be used for other protocols and ecu flashing.

EDIT: I should also be fair and warn you that the datalogs you get from the Elm device will be of limited use. It logs _way_ too slow for tuning purposes.

d

silex

iTrader: (26)

Glad a developer could chime in to answer my Q!

So basically the OpenPort cable is like the ELM323 cable I have, but better in a more raw sense. Will all the obd2 software I use work also? Most of them require an ELM interface which I'm guessing isn't compatible though with the OpenPort standard. All I would care about at that point is to be able to reset cel's with it unless of course ECUFlash, or some other OpenPort compatible software can do that already. I noticed that elm runs pretty slow. The best I could get it to refresh was at 50ms. What sucks is that I can't use my palm pda to view those parameters in real time if I make the switch .

All my important logging like map boost, afr, egt, tps are done via plx wideband. It looks like my best bet is to still purchase the Tactix cable and run ECUFlash and EvoScan.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

I have an ELM based device.. It doesn't allow the low level communication required, and the circuitry required to switch power to a particular pin to trigger boot mode..

Specifically like Donour said, the Openport cable uses a simple RS232 interface, the ELM chip is a rs232 interface with a translator/emulator that does all of the "bit banging" that you would normally have to do manually.. I do know its not possible to override this and therefore the cable cannot be used with ECUFlash..

Most cables that do use low level communications, would work with programs designed to do low-level communications, but they all are missing the control signal to trigger the ECU boot sequence. I think the white connector is only used to trigger the boot mode (one of the rs232 signal lines is used to control the trigger for that)

silex

iTrader: (26)

Thanks for the answer guys! It appears an order for my OpenPort must be placed!