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Thread: Safety Tip: Please Read Me Before you Write to any PCM/ECM with your Laptop

  1. #1
    Senior Tuner S2H's Avatar
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    Safety Tip: Please Read Me Before you Write to any PCM/ECM with your Laptop

    This is Just for Safety.....write to the PCM at your own risk

    For maximum Safety...
    Never write to the pcm without guaranteed power.. Meaning plug in your laptop laptop..and double check the connection to make sure the Laptop is Charging and getting power...a lose connection could mean you are running on your Laptop Battery

    If yoy are in a shop.. On the dyno... There is no excuse for not having the laptop plugged in while writing to the PCM/ECM

    If you choose to write to a PCM/ECM and are not around any available power sources and are relying on laptop battery.. Be sure all sleep and hibernation is turned off on your laptop


    You also may want to set a higher percentage for low battery warning and never write below that level

    There is never any reason why you absolutely have to write to a pcm with a low battery
    You can always wait till later when you can plug in the laptop for safety

    Also Remember that some PCM's/ECM's cannot be recovered by any conventional easy methods if you suddenly loose communication with it.

    Thankfully Many newer PCM's/ECM's are designed in a way that they can never be truely "fried" from a mishap....
    but lets not risk it...
    please play it safe and make sure you have power
    -Scott -

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    I agree I actually saw a LT dye on some in the middle of the tune lets just say that was areeeeeaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy long day.

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    Tuner in Training RLSEBRING's Avatar
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    According to Bill and my warranty being denied, He said under no cirrcumstance should the laptop be plugged in as the 12v or 110v converter can and will burn out the interface. Ask me how I know and why it cost me 150.00 to repair/replace my interface under warranty.

    Almost every tuner i have seen working has their laptop plugged in.

  4. #4
    Senior Tuner S2H's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RLSEBRING View Post
    According to Bill and my warranty being denied, He said under no cirrcumstance should the laptop be plugged in as the 12v or 110v converter can and will burn out the interface. Ask me how I know and why it cost me 150.00 to repair/replace my interface under warranty.

    Almost every tuner i have seen working has their laptop plugged in.

    correct...the converter can damage your interface...
    a poor converter will burn out just about any device if it is doing the wrong things

    if you are going to write to your vehicle without AC wall power then make sure you turn off or unplug your inverter.

    it is safer to write from laptop battery than it is to write from a DC-AC inverter..

    you can just pull the dc plug out cause its easier than reaching down to the floor to turn off the inverter... I also have a very good inverter...I didnt go cheap...and when I can I go straight to the car battery, or to the fuse panel...not to the DC plug...
    though I will not deny using the DC plug when the other options were just not really good choices.
    I also have a laptop battery that will last 6-8 hours on a full charge...and I can get a car tuned in way less time than that usually
    if I do need to recharge the laptop battery then it usually means its time to stop for a meal anyways
    Last edited by S2H; 10-26-2009 at 08:04 PM.
    -Scott -

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    Unhappy

    Quote Originally Posted by RLSEBRING View Post
    According to Bill and my warranty being denied, He said under no cirrcumstance should the laptop be plugged in as the 12v or 110v converter can and will burn out the interface. Ask me how I know and why it cost me 150.00 to repair/replace my interface under warranty.

    Almost every tuner i have seen working has their laptop plugged in.
    brother
    my name is raza and i live in Pakistan ,,i just want to ask you how would you get your interface repaired and from where? coz Ive brunet two of those and now just bought the third one but also tell me will the credits remaining will remain there after repairing?

  6. #6
    Tuner in Training RLSEBRING's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raza z51 View Post
    brother
    my name is raza and i live in Pakistan ,,i just want to ask you how would you get your interface repaired and from where? coz Ive brunet two of those and now just bought the third one but also tell me will the credits remaining will remain there after repairing?

    Unfortunately HP Tuners is the only place I know that will repair or I should say replace it. They charged me 150.00 to replace mine while still under warranty. It still pizzes me off when I think about it.

    My replacement interface came with the original 8 credits then I used 2 of those to relicense my car. You'd have to get a hold of someone at HP to see if they can transfer your remaining credits or not to the new interface. It would suck if you lose them.

    Good Luck.

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    You say plug it in. The instructions say in BIG letters not to.
    Who do you listen to?

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    HP Tuners Support
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    We don't recommend it necessarily because it could enter a ground loop into the equation which, potentially, could be bad. Obviously there are going to be instances, A40 tcm full reads come to mind, where even the best laptop batteries won't last long enough to get a read out(2+ hours) in which case the only option would be to have it plugged in. The point Scott is bringing across is that make sure your battery is good, especially when writing to the pcm as the last thing anyone wants is the headache of a failed flash.
    It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be done in two weeks...

    A wise man once said "google it"

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    Tuner smokestack's Avatar
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    So like right now. I am in the garage and its safe to plug the laptop in out here and keep it connected. Just not a converter while mobile?

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    Quote Originally Posted by smokestack View Post
    So like right now. I am in the garage and its safe to plug the laptop in out here and keep it connected. Just not a converter while mobile?
    I have the same question.

    I gather that it should NOT be plugged into an inverter, but:

    Is it okay to plug into a wall outlet?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Caliber427 View Post
    I have the same question.

    I gather that it should NOT be plugged into an inverter, but:

    Is it okay to plug into a wall outlet?

    I think what they are saying is that, "it should be okay, but do it at your own risk."

  12. #12
    Tuner in Training TooMch's Avatar
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    So, are there any specs you can give for what yo uwould term a 'good' inverter? Even the cost of the one you say you have which is good. That might be a gauge of what types of inverters to avoid. I think I paid $100 for mine, hoping to get a 'good' one.
    2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG, 2001 A4 3.42 Vert Vette

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    Sorry to continue this post, but my curiosity is piqued at this point....

    I understand how a DC to AC or DC to DC converter running off the car's power could potentially fluctuate. I won't argue this, as it's simply too easy to buy a low quality inversion device, and there's a lot of variables in this mix (car battery, alternator, car wiring, inverter, laptop internals).

    However, I fail to see how a laptop being plugged into an AC adapter isn't considered a stable power source. What if we were dealing with a desktop PC? PC Power supplies fluctuate voltage outputs on all the rails. So are we concerned about those as well?

    Is the HP Tuner interface made with such low quality components that miniscule voltage fluctuations, which are commonplace almost everywhere, affect it so much?

    I would personally be very aggravated if my unit wasn't covered under warranty when I was using a brand-name laptop with the original brand-name AC adapter plugged into the wall.

    (PS: If in the case this is true that you can only operate on a laptop on battery power, which would seem absurd to me, my Dell Latitude has an extended battery which allows me 6 hours of full-time usage between charges.)

  14. #14
    HP Tuners Support
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    Electronic parts can fail from touching them without discharging yourself from static, it has nothing to do with using low quality parts(which we do not do) it has everything to do with electronics being very sensitive to voltage issues.
    It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be done in two weeks...

    A wise man once said "google it"

  15. #15
    Senior Tuner DSteck's Avatar
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    If you can find yourself a GOOD buck/boost voltage regulator that will spit out the voltage your laptop needs to charge, you can use it all day without a problem.

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    so nobody answered the question about being in the garage is it safe to be plug to the WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by victor111262 View Post
    so nobody answered the question about being in the garage is it safe to be plug to the WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Sorry to grave dig but I would like to know the answer to this question as well... im brand new to the tune world

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    just as safe as plugging into your house.
    Yes.

  19. #19
    Tuner in Training JoshuaGrooms83's Avatar
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    so wait, if i get hptuners and my laptop (HP DV6 which has a horrible battery life maybe an hour off the wall while running programs/2-3 with nothing running/3-4 in hibernate) is plugged in the wall this is still not considered optimum, even in a surge protector? im not understanding why.
    i agree with szalkerous where if i have my computer plugged in properly and HPtuner hooked up properly why anything wrong would happen, and if somthing happen in that situation why a warrenty isnt observed, id be pissed too. im just baffled by this.
    and you point is?

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    Advanced Tuner HartRod's Avatar
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    Bump