BB Electronics VIA LDV

[Enginerd]

Hey all I am new to all this flash stuff, but hey you got to start some where.

So has anyone used the BB VIA box to read and/or write to a pcm. Just looked at the thing and it says it can be put in the 41.6K(?) mode which i believe is the program/write mode.

I have a 16244210 pcm i want to use but need to make some changes. ;D

Thanks

[Keith@HPTuners]

Very interesting, I checked out their site and found a link:

http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=LDV100P1

With the right software I think it should work. I couldn't say for sure though because I deal mainly with the flash files once they have already been obtained.

[RoboGeek]

is there a website or anything for this? I take it thats the interface and not the program name. What software are you using?

[Enginerd]

Here is the site that i got the info from, but don't have the device.

BB-elec.com also has it listed.

http://www.vehicleinterface.com/j1850vpw.asp

BB-elec makes the AutoTap software does anybody know if this is the same device that they sell with autotap? www.autotap.com

[RoboGeek]

anything that converts VPW to serial works.. dont matter who makes it or if its a hardware of software solution.
Some s/w however is specifically written for its own hardware.. stay away.. if you can.
anything new is now required to be open source if its posted on GM_EFI.. and that means it should work with any interface thats compliant

[Lynoise]

I have a copy of the command/response doc for the B&B device (as far as I know its the same as the Autotap V2 hardware). Unfortunately they made me sign a non-disclosure agreement when I was given the doc. BUT I think the doc is publicly available on B&Bs site somewhere deep in the gallows. Anyway the Autotap requires you to talk to it a certain way (with checksums and commands and such) it then passes any commands and other stuff you tell it to the PCM. kinda like saying "Autotap I want you to send this message to the PCM and return me the results". This is quite different from talking directly to the PCM like "PCM here ya go... what do you have to say".

Im not sure if that made any sense but its a start. I have an Autotap V2 so if anyone wants info on it let me know.

As I asked before I think there might be a command that is built into the PCMs (OBDII) that basically dump the flash back to through the OBDII port. I have yet to find that command though

[pugs]

Ill have to take a look at the B&B catalog. I just got the latest one in the mail

ATAP V2 might be a limited version of the biderectional stuff. I would rather have a straight GM to RS232 adapter that doesnt require special software like ATAP does.

[JPatrick_Autotap]

Here is the site that i got the info from, but don't have the device.

BB-elec.com also has it listed.

http://www.vehicleinterface.com/j1850vpw.asp

BB-elec makes the AutoTap software does anybody know if this is the same device that they sell with autotap? www.autotap.com

The LDVXXXP1 series of interface converters are the exact same thing as the Autotap hardware. The one difference is the model number they report. These interface converters will not work with the free Autotap software that we distribute.

The LDV interface converters use a packet to send data.

Example:
You want to retreive the RPM from the vehicle. The message that you want to send to the car is:

<68><6A><F1><01><0C> <CS>
<CS> is the checksum that must be sent to the vehicle. The <01> means mode 1 and the <0C> is the PID. Different PID's will return different parameters like vehicle speed, 02 info., and others.

In order to send this message to the vehicle using the LDV, you need to put it in a packet.

The message to send to the LDV is this:

<01><01><40><05><68> <6A><F1><01><0C><CS& gt;

This is all explained in the Command and response document that is found on www.vehicleinterface.com

The one big advantage to using the LDV is that it will filter all of the return messages from the vehicle so that it will only return the message that you are looking for. When you send a message to the vehicle, you will sometimes generate multiple messages on the bus.

Jeff

[Keith@HPTuners]

Welcome to the board Jeff and thanks for that AWESOME information.

It seems like all we need know is strong knowledge and understanding of the protocols needed to flash PCM's and we should be on our way.

I hope you guys can come up with something.

[pugs]

So if I upgrade to V2 Autotap hardware it will be able to do all the stuff that this unit can do? I have the pro version and plan to upgrade to that...if that makes a difference.

In theory, can this hardware then be used to flash or read the contents of the PCM with the proper series of commands?

[JPatrick_Autotap]

So if I upgrade to V2 Autotap hardware it will be able to do all the stuff that this unit can do? I have the pro version and plan to upgrade to that...if that makes a difference.

In theory, can this hardware then be used to flash or read the contents of the PCM with the proper series of commands?

That is correct. The Autotap hardware is the same as the LDV hardware. You can use the command and response document for the LDV to talk to an Autotap V2.XX hardware.

The LDV should be able to read/write to the PCM given the correct commands. Those commands may be documented in the HS-3000 book.

Jeff

[RoboGeek]

cool.. good info Jeff..

Will those cables/converters work with other programs? I run some Linux stuff and I hate buying 20 different things everytime i switch something..

[JPatrick_Autotap]

cool.. good info Jeff..

Will those cables/converters work with other programs? I run some Linux stuff and I hate buying 20 different things everytime i switch something..

There are a couple of programs that use the Autotap V2 interface.

EFILive for the LS1 Engine (Camaro/Corvette) at
http://www.starrperformance.com

VC3000 data acquisition system by VericomComputers
http://www.vericomcomputers.com

Neither of these run natively on Linux as far as I know. I haven't tried to run Autotap in Wine either. I would be interested to know if it would work.

Jeff

[RoboGeek]

I havent tried WINE in a few years.. I may do that and see..
Mostly i have some open source projects that are still being developed. And nobody has gone into the VPW converter needed yet. So at some point they are going to have to start taking that into account which is why i was asking.

[pugs]

So this hardware can operate in the 41.6 Kb/s PWM mode as well as the 10.4 Kb/s VPW mode? Very interesting.

I was also curious after reading some of the manual about this hardware...what is with the commands that are "Not Yet Implemented"

$0E Request SCI High Speed Baud Rate Divisor (Not Yet Implemented)...................................... .......................................... 11
$0F Set SCI high Speed Baud Rate Divisor (Not Yet Implemented)...................................... .................................................. .. 11

$42 Send Message with User Defined Filter to Bus (Command Not Implemented)...................................... .......................... 18

Just curious what that means. Does it mean the B&B hardware doesnt implement it or that the J1850 specs dont actually use it yet? Or am I just crazy and those commands are not very important anyhow?

[JPatrick_Autotap]

The LDV does support both of those data rates.

The commands that are listed as not yet implemented are just commands that we haven't needed yet. SCI is Chrysler's proprietary protocol, and we don't do too much with it.

We also haven't had any request to setup your own filters. The either using no filters, or the default filters work for everybody so far.

Jeff

[Keith@HPTuners]

I'm gonna *bump* this one back to the top.. Some very good info in here thanks to JPatrick.

[The_Highlander]

I thought this converter didn't do block transfers and I thought that was indispensable to write the flash memmory from the PCM.. The question is How big are those blocks? IIRC you need 1k blocks to transfer correctly...

LMK

THanks

[Keith@HPTuners]

If it can do block, then the LDV and the autotap v2 interfaces should both be able to read/write to the PCM according to JPatrick. Correct?

I was told by a source back in the day that the LDV won't lock into 4x mode for any longer than a few seconds.

According to the LDV Doc... the data size per packet can only be 32 bytes.

[The_Highlander]

Exactly and we need at least 1k to do so.. but if Jeff says it can, then there is some hidden attributes in this converter...