Uber-easy DIY USB ALDL Cable

[RobertISaar]

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...to-TunerPro-RT

[rokcrawlin85]

I follow those steps and i get to "updating driver" and my only options for drivers are "Communications port", im not given the 2.08.14 option as a driver

[buddrow]

You will need to load a suitable driver for the usb chip. I used the file found in this link http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm.

Now with that said depending on the date of manufacture of your chip and your operating system version you may have to manually set up the device on your computer. Also in TunerPro you will have to initialize the device by selecting the appropriate com port.
open tunerpro, click tools tab, click preferences. Click the Data Acq./Emulation tab, under the Data Acquisition & Logging info it should see "use plug-in", Tunerpro data..., click on Configure Plug-in Component. Click test for valid interface....

At this point when u click on "test..." It will respond with either cable not found or not functioning. You must have the usb adapter connected to the laptop and the vehicle ALDL port for any of this to work.

I have found even though the cable test did not find my cable, it will still connect to the ecm and allow data. This is why you need everything hooked up so that you can test the "connect" function of the acquisition mode. As long as the "DA:Connected" indicator is blue and not yellow you should be transferring data.

Hope this helps

Buddrow

[rokcrawlin85]

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Inj...to-TunerPro-RT

Followed this setup and I have a few questions,
1st- when i setup the tunerpro side of the aldl connection, im only given the option for comm 4, is this normal? Can i only use comm 4 and therefore setup the cable in devise manager to be comm 4? But when i verify it in the acquisition setup, it is not found or connected?
2nd- is it a big deal or not that tunerpro, when choosing acquire data, that it is "not connected" in tunerpro?

Ok just tried again right after plugging in the cable to the computer and it came up good when doing the test for valid interface, but then tried again after a couple miniutes and back to failed...?

[RobertISaar]

when in TP, if com4 is the only option showing up when the cable is plugged in(and driver setup), then that should be the COM port being created by the cable.

when doing the tests, is this with the cable plugged into the computer, but not the vehicle? because the test SHOULD fail while connected to a vehicle, but should pass when disconnected from the vehicle. it isn't always that cut and dry though, cables that fail that test can work flawlessly during actual scanning.

[rokcrawlin85]

The failed test is with the cable connected to the PC but NOT connected the the vehicle. The short time it clears the test on initial plug in is very odd to me.... could this be a driver issue? I had a hella time getting the drivers installed, ended up having to use the ftdi site for drivers which may cause issues from what I've been reading

[RobertISaar]

possibility on driver issues. i would be running the versions specified in Mark's thread before anything else.

[rokcrawlin85]

Just thought i'd update with what ended up happening, removed all the previous drivers installed by the fdci site. Loaded the driver provided through the link here https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%202.08.14.zip (for some reason my caveman era laptop didn't like to load it before) now my cable seems to be working and connecting to TP just fine. Next step is to see if it will actually receive info from the ECM when i finally get time to hook up to that. Thank you all for your help

On a side note: have you had issues with the usb cable provided with the chip converter and the converter making proper connection? I noticed when i would play with the plug the devise manager would read "usb serial converter" then switch to "unknown devise" by just moving the plug (at the converter) then switch back again???

[RobertISaar]

mine all seem fine, but i tend to touch up the solder joints when i'm dealing with the RxD/TxD and ground connections if they look in any way questionable.