Uber-easy DIY USB ALDL Cable

[RobertISaar]

i've been using it to troubleshoot my testbench. i seem to get quite a few packet errors on the bench if i don't have my 4K PPM signal hooked up to anything though. if i either connect it to a spare cluster or directly to ground, problem goes away ~99%.

however, when i had it hooked up in-car, i had 0 packet errors, so it must be something about the bench causing it.

[phonedawgz]

USB to ALDL 160 Baud Pin E or 8192 Baud Pin M cable for $55 shipped -

http://www.reddevilriver.com/aldl.html

It does use the FT232RL chip

By the time you do $10-15 for the FT232RT USB, 20.90 for the OBD1 ALDL cable shipped, $5 for the box you are at $40. The pre-built cable is $50 + $5 shipping.

[RobertISaar]

i have a cheaper source for the male connector... ~$9 shipped.

combine that with the $9 for the converter and the $3 it costs for a box, that's just over $20 complete.

[FSJ Guy]

Plus, you really don't NEED a cable connector. You can wire it directly to the harness or use flat connectors to connect to the ALDL port. No fancy connector required.

I still haven't had time to test the one I bought from sparkfun yet.

[RobertISaar]

at this price, you can honestly install them permanantly and not feel too bad about it. $12 for a USB cable instead of an ALDL port.