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Using The Ebay/VAG-COM Cable To Datalog


qikslvr

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I can't get it to work at 9600, 4800 or 2400.

 

it works until i start the car and then it freezes. :(

 

FWIW. I was ahving the same problem. I could get the car to read it then it would freeze. NOTHING would work. If you plan on logging somewhat often, break down and buy the Tactrix cable...I did. I have never had a problem and things have been smooth sailing. GL

 

TP

Rehab is for quitters.
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Yeah, I can't even get mine to connect to romraider at all. Cable installed fine using the FTDI driver supplied. Shows up in device manager as COM4 or COM5 depending on usb port. Set baud rate to 4800 and 2400. Nothing.

 

Three possible issues: I'm running Vista.

I have ecuExploroer, AccessTuner installed.

I installed a driver trying to get Cobb cable to run on ecuExplorer.

 

Think any of these things are messing with me?

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Yeah, I can't even get mine to connect to romraider at all. Cable installed fine using the FTDI driver supplied. Shows up in device manager as COM4 or COM5 depending on usb port. Set baud rate to 4800 and 2400. Nothing. Three possible issues: I'm running Vista.

I have ecuExploroer, AccessTuner installed. I installed a driver trying to get Cobb cable to run on ecuExplorer.

Think any of these things are messing with me?

 

I've never tried it with Vista, but I have ECU Explorer, StreetTuner-Advanced, ECUflash, Romraider, ECUedit, LogWorks and a half a dozen other tuning/logging softwares installed an it still worker on my laptop and others.

 

O.K. guys lets run through this one time.

 

1. While the cable is plugged into the computer go into "windows device manager" and find the COM port that corrosponds to your cable. Then highlight it and delete/remove it.

2. Unplug the cable(cancel out of hardware wizard if it pops up).

3. Try not to use the same USB port that you use for your APv2 if you have one.

4. Shut down the computer.

5 Plug the cable in.

6. Turn the computer back on.

7. After computer hits desktop and starts hardware wiz. direct it to the folder where you extract the FTDI driver.

8. Allow the computer to complete the install.

9. Reboot with the cable still plugged in.

 

At this point you should have the drivers for the cable properly installed. Now don't unplug the cable or shut the computer down...

 

1. Go out to your car and connect the cable to the car.

2. Turn the key forward to the "ON" position(last click before it cranks the starter).

3. Open RR or whatever you use to log and select your COM port.

4. Open device manager and go to the COM port for you cable.

5. Go to the second tab "port setting" as shown below.

6. Change the BAUD/bits per second drop box to From 9600 to 4800.

7. Look back at the logging software at the top right to see what it says.

 

It should now be green and say "reading the ECU"... or whatever. You should be able to select a parameter form the top left box and see it appear on the right side of the screen. If it is communicating with the ECU then press the Rear Defroster and see if it changes the message to "logging data to file" and press it again to stop. You should now be able to start the car and have the program remain running and reading live data.

 

I've gotten it to work rock solid on several laptops in minutes. The only other thing I can think of is that you guys might have bad cables or something. Maybe try the 7200 bits/sec setting or make sure you got the right cable.

Let's kick this pig!
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I tried everything above exactly, but it didn't work. It wouldn't work at 9600, 4800 or 2400 bits/sec. So I was frustrated and about to give up, but I decided to grab my APv1 cable and give it a shot. I tried to update with the ECUflash drivers but that didn't work. I went to Dynex website and DL'd the serial to usb drivers and updated those properly. Hooked it back up and tried at 9600, no go. Set it to 4800, nothing. 1 last try at 2400 and bam it worked!

 

thanks for the help. this is the same way it worked out last time. I tried everything with the VAG COM on 2 different newer laptops, neither would log with the car running. Switched to the AP cable and it worked. This thread inspired me to try the VAG COM again, but with a different much older laptop. same results.

 

I don't know what the deal is. I have the blue VAG COM cable that says Autonostics on it. no serial or part #.

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The cable is in no way tied into any one computer. It should and it will work with any system as long as that system is set-up correctly.

Given the price, I have no doubt quality control is pretty much like the aftermarket HID kits. You got good ones, then you got bad ones in the batch. But this way you can at least try several cables and still get it to work cheaper than a Tactrix.

But again, I would encourage anyone that goes this cheap route to at least donate towards the open-source efforts that is ROM Raider.

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The "bad cable" thought has been on my mind, but I didn't want to throw it out just yet. It a possibility. Like Fish says every batch of anything has a couple bad ones in it. As far as we have seen; if it works once on any computer it should work on any pc/laptop, but if it won't work on several puters then it's probably the cable.
Let's kick this pig!
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Funny thing is I TRIED to get them to send me a new one but they would not. They refunded my money...but would not give me a new one. Odd.

 

I bot a Tactrix and have never looked back.

Rehab is for quitters.
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It is able to do pretty much what the Tactrix cable does. You can log and you can flash images. Getting it to work is not always a straight-forward process and that's where the Tactrix cable is better. If you are on a tight budget and you're willing to work out the problems, the VAG-COM is a good alternative.
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It is able to do pretty much what the Tactrix cable does. You can log and you can flash images. Getting it to work is not always a straight-forward process and that's where the Tactrix cable is better. If you are on a tight budget and you're willing to work out the problems, the VAG-COM is a good alternative.

 

If you're on that tight a budget, doing reflashes may not be for you ;).

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If you're on that tight a budget, doing reflashes may not be for you ;).

 

Now that's funny! I can't deal with having to fiddle this BS..so I scrapped the Vag Com deal and bot the Tactrix....just calll me money bags!

Rehab is for quitters.
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Just an FYI. Nowhere in here have I ever stated that this is the best way to go about it; nor do I recommend it for everyone. This thread was meant to be a "how to" for those of you who had already bought the cable and needed to get it working. No it's not always easy and I guess it just doesn't work for some people, but those who have made it work find it to be just as usefull as the Taxtric cable at a much lower price.

I'm no example though since I use my APv1 cable to log and StreetTuner-Advanced to tune and load maps. Again, if you can make it work it's great, but may not be worth the effort for some who want true plug and play convenience. Good Luck All.

Let's kick this pig!
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If you're on that tight a budget, doing reflashes may not be for you ;).

Oh I completely agree. I guess I should rephrase that. If all you're doing is datalogging ... Because personally I found the Tactrix price a bit steep "just" for datalogging, although that's a very important aspect.

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Got my cable (ebay), connected, pointed to a driver fiolder, forced to use downloaded driver (Vista first did not recognized it, so I've used "have Disk" option, manually selected *.inf file, then selected a driver).

Connected to a car, and copied my ECU to a laptop. 3 min total!

There are no bad people, just differeent.
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Got mine working. Did a couple of things. Re-did the installation as per qikslvr's instructions (which I'm pretty sure I had it installed correctly anyway), uninstalled RomRaider 0.5.1, and installed RomRaider 0.5.0 (went backwards one version). And this time, I installed by "right clicking the install file and running as administrator", since I have Vista.

 

Not sure which one of these helped, I'm pretty sure it was the version of RomRaider. I bet the 0.5.1 would work, but I may have botched the installation somehow. It never stated "Trying to connect to ECU" when I opened the logger. It would just always say "Stopped". Either way. Another success story. Got this one from eBay and not Autonostics. $20 datalogging cable? Thank you very much.

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  • 1 month later...
Just posted my screen shot above. I have a question. I just figured out how to connect it and have no problems. I need to check if my car is properly tuned since I bought it used and it has some aftermarket parts (intake and exhaust). What should I look for and how should I test it (on the road, parked, etc). I searched this forum and it has ton's of advanced information but I have a hard time fine a thread that would describe things for beginners. Thank you for your help.
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What should I look for and how should I test it (on the road, parked, etc).

 

Log:

Engine Speed

Engine Load

Manifold Relitive Pressure (corrected)

Total Timing

Knock sum

Maf (g/sec)

Throttle opening

 

Do a WOT run in 3rd gear from 2000-redline on a flat road.

Do that and take a learning view....

http://www.romraider.com/forum/topic2772.html

Or add the following to the mix

IAM

Feedback Knock correction

Finelearning knock correction

 

Either that or come on down the hill to my parts and I can log it for you. I should be available for the next couple weeks.

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