Emerald K3 to PC usb / serial adapter

[Nigel Riches]

Well the motor runs ok, but there is a need to change some of the ECU settings.

So I need to connect the laptop to the ecu,  the adapter which I have fails to do this, I left it connected to a usb port and Mr Microsoft went off and found some drivers for it, to no avail. 

The dear folks at Emerald point me in the direction of their usb/serial installation page, which is a pdf, no good for a driver there, or to a page from an outfit FTDI.com, and I was way out of safety in there.

Anyone out in blatchat land got the very rare mini cd which originally came with this gadget? Supposing mine is an original. Or offer any non geeky responses, I am a techno phobe inside.

If you could some how copy and send the driver it would be much appreciated.

Otherwise the wallet will have to be wrung out for few more wonga to buy a new adapter.

I did check that all the wires in the serial lead are soldered to pins at both ends, as I have read about a "no comm" situation where all the wires had been pulled free, not good.

Happy blatting, well some time soon.

Nigel.

[Mankee]

Hi Nigel. Are you using the Easy-Sync adapter? If so, the Emerald installation PDF contains the below link for drivers:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

[elie boone]

Nigel, i have a cd with a driver but Dunnel told me that i also need to make sure to see that a comport or other thing would be clear, i'll have a friend to come and see what the prob. is.

I could always copy and send the cd to you if you want.

[Titanium7]

Nigel

I had the Easy-Sync lead and initially always struggled to get the connection from my Windows Vista laptop.

Finally found it would connect every time if you just connected to the laptop and and not the ECU and give the Laptop chance to sort the ports out (LEDs flash a bit on the lead connector and then settle down) before you attempted to put it into the back of the Emerald. 

Regards

Martyn

[Nigel Riches]

Thanks fellow 7 people. 

I have borrowed an older laptop from work, this has a serial port as well as usb, so will try without the adapter thing, but this situation won't be any good when I take the car for a dyno tune. 

Mankee, yes I did venture into the ftdi website, and found it way out of range for a numpty like me, and after a wrong mouse click found I was on the ftdi driver update site, and for some ££ I could get the updates for my laptop, not what I was looking for, and now I get nag messages from them. 

Elie I will see how this goes, but may come back to you for a copy of the disc, thank you. 

Martin thanks for the info, I am running XP, and it did find the new hardware ok, and also found a driver from a company by the name of  Prolific, which I have read don't make the most stable drivers, or perhaps the cable is stuffed, who knows. 

Tuning 40dcoe's, piece of piss compared to this carry on. 

Never mind it'll be worth it in the end, hope it gets through certification without too much drama. 

Regards, Nigel. 

 

 

 

 

[Bob_Rich]

Hi Nigel

Agree with Martyn let the PC  sort itself with the adaptor B 4  connecting to the ECU.  I use a small laptop running windows XP  but when on the car I allways disable the wireless so that  updates and other adds and junk  dont get in your face when all you want to do is  2 sort out the car !

Emerald have a useful help guide in ther FAQ page on the website

best of luck

Bob

 

[Nigel Riches]

Good evening gentleman. 

I have been out in the garage earlier on and some progress may have been made. 

The laptop from work physically connected to the ecu with the serial cable but did not connect electrically, as I discovered when I checked end to end with a multi meter. 

Two wires broken, no problem, I can solder wires ok, so I chopped the cable in half, found that neither half had continuity from plug to newly exposed conductors in each case. 

Took one piece and chopped the plug off, stripped the insulation off, carried out a continuity check, all good, so set about making a new, shorter cable according to the pin out in the Emerald manual. And a very fine cable it was, however, when I carried out a continuity check again the same, white and black wires where open end to end, all nicely soldered, but no circuit. 

So, at this point I opened a 2nd bottle of beer, switched off the soldering iron, and headed for the kitchen for some sustenance. 

I will get some  new cable tomorrow and go around the circuit again, hopefully it will be a runner. 

Happy daze. 

Nigel. On my 3rd bottle of beer. 

[Mankee]

If the stink hits the fan and you start running out of beer, I can post you my Emerald cable to borrow for a few months. I don't plan on doing any engine fiddling over the winter. 

[Ray Pearce]

Nigel - I haven't checked, but I suspect that the serial cable is not wired straight through pin-to pin.

It quite possibly has the Receive pin connected to the Transmit pin at the other end (and vice versa)

[Jonathan Kay]

For some reason this cable has caused a lot of problems. There might be something useful in the archives. If it doesn't work after you've had another go could you put up a link to or an image of the page in the Emerald manual?

Jonathan

[Sim]

• from the Emerald web site:-
• "Please note that this is not a standard computer cable. It is made specifically for our Engine Management System (K6 ECU).

   

  It is also compatible with our earlier K3 ECU."

• It could easily be a null modem cable ie with pins 2 and 3 swapped and 4,6  and 7, 8 swapped ,but you'd need to ask Emerald -  or see if its in the user guide

 

[Nigel Riches]

The continuing story........... 

Off to the big smoke this morning, much against my liking, however there was a need, into the electronicy, computator geeky place. 

Bought 2m of 4 core screened audio cable, and as a bonus, the cores are the same colours as the original. 

Back to the bench, trusty Weller iron, and Ideal stripper soon had a new cable to the spec in the Emerald desrtructions. 

So now, the big moment, will it, won't it, I connected the new serial cable to the work laptop (didn't want to fry mine) and whoa, yeah, a connection exists. There is hope after all. 

Now to connect to my laptop with the usb/serial adapter, well it just gets better, yes, again, a connection, hey riding the top of the biggest wave, and of course the only way from here is down. 

I got into the maps and settings, adjusted the fan on/off temp, I had disconnected the ignition and injection wiring whilst doing this, and as the high rolled on, forgot to reconnect them, cranked the motor, which didn't fire, surprisingly, reconnect wiring, crank again, and still no go, bollocks, I am sure this car is related to the mythical Hydra. 

The led remains red when cranking, this apparently indicates a loss of crankshaft sensor signal, however I checked the sensor, and it has continuity, around 450 ohms at the ecu connection, so sensor and wiring are ok, where to now? 

I feel somewhat adrift in a sea of shite, and the rudder has gone awol, never mind, all part of life's rich tapestry, which is a bit thread bare here just now. 

As mentioned above, the problem was the duff ecu/laptop serial cable, all looked good, and it isn't a straight forward rs232 cable, beware if you have trouble connecting to your ecu. 

So Sunday will be more garage time, any readers with any suggestions about any of the of the above post away, need some pointers. 

Regards, Nigel. 

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Thanks for the update.

1 Please could you tell us the pin connections for the record.

2 Have a cup of coffee, kick something that will withstand it... and then check those connections again.

Jonathan

[Bob_Rich]

Hi

Attached is the details of the  Emerald PC Cable

 

PC 9way D socket   ECU 9 way D type Plug    colour

2                                      8                                 yellow

3                                      7                                  white

5                                      5                                   black

8                                      9                                   Red

shield NOT connected                                       shield connected to casing

Best of Luck

Bob

I would post the scan of the page from the manual - But on the new website dont know 2 do that ! computors eh ! !  points and a dizzy never this tedious !

[Jonathan Kay]

Thanks, Bob.

Jonathan

[Bob_Rich]

 

Hi All

Managed to ( I think ) post the scan of the Emerald book re the ECU  to PC lead. Hope this is useful it also helps me to understand how 2 use the new website 

Hope it helps (and works)

Bob

 

[elie boone]

The cd that came with the USB converter cable was useless, it could not see the Dunnel ECU, a friend looked into it and searched and downloaded a driver from the net and now it can read the ECU. So it looks like i can bin the cd that came with the cable.