Please incorporate a routine in the flash progamming sequence to perform a battery voltage 'health check' and display a message (and possibly even inhibit the sequence) if the measured value is marginal, BEFORE executing any Flash operations.

This may help avoid PCM and/or progammer firmware corruption, no-starts, and other related maladies and overall grief, for some device owners.

That is all.



MGD

 

Great idea Mr. Goofus!



Sincerely,
Mr. Doofus

 

nice chart mgd. would you happen to know of one for extreme heat temps say average 90-110 deg f

 

Thanks, Mr. D!

If the software propellerheads are too busy rearranging their pocket protectors, the tape on their glasses or just plain too lazy, then perhaps the hardware guys can come to the rescue (as they usually do) by adding something like this to the design:



If the Leds are LIT, do not program; a simple go/nogo. (component values need to change for a 12v application - this is just an example).

Many ways to do this - will add incremental cost to the device - amortized over the number of production units, should not be onerous.

Enterprising folks on here could even just build a simple discrete standalone device as above (or below - audible or visual) and install in-vehicle. Just a thought.




*EDIT* - Hmmm... anyone interested in a tech article on building one of these into a device you could plug into the cigar lighter as a "Do I really wanna play Roulette with my Programmer Y/N" quick-check device. Nice and portable that way - no drilling of the dash required - good for folks with programmers that do not have a batt voltage PID display ( X2, X3, etc).



MGD

 

Hey Jake.

I don't think that kind of heat is a problem considering where the battery resides. Not what I'd consider extreme, IMHO. Capacity drops with temperature; batteries like to be warm ( but not too warm!)

MGD

 

Agreed. out in the sun for 2 hrs here the truck can get up to and past 110. hell IAT reads 115 most afternoons when i start up

battery drops to bout 12.2 though and its only a yr old. might have to take it in

 

Great idea MGDFAN!

Yep winter must be coming.........
Yer staring to get these great ideas before winter sets in and Cabin Fever starts!

This is what I've been using for years except the one I use was made by Dakota Digital.

 

A part of our new product/application development includes running the battery down in the vehicle and flashing until we find a failure point, and then adding that to the code, so it will not attempt to flash if voltage is too low.

The biggest risk would be something else (usually aftermarket) wired up in the vehicle that is drawing voltage during the flash process, since if it drops once the flash has started, you cant stop it

 

If you have a DVM, just check the voltage at the battery before you start the programming.

 

Sure.

But - how many folks, of that subset of those who have progrmmers AND a DVM, would do that? If it's on the road/trip, even less would carry a DVM with them (present company excepted lol).

My point was to make it a bit more foolproof - and Diablo has the right approach - simply block the flash if conditions are not optimal.

As for the remaining loophole of those folks who leave active amps, GPS devices, etc, etc, connected despite the boilerplate in the documentation (RTFM) and plain old common sense, well nothing is going to save them.

For certain, if they are that brain-dead they're no gonna be dragging out the Fluke

MGD

 

It would help those of us that don't have all that jun... I mean stuff, and need to change tunes. Would be especially comforting as our batteries get 2 or 3 years on them. Not to mention, it would eliminate a lot of the negative threads about their tuners locking up and stranding them.

 

I DO think blocking the flash if the voltage is low would be a smart move and probably fairly easy to code into the firmware. This is especially appropriate for the devices that take 40-45 mins to program the newer trucks.

- Jack