Serial wideband with APSX wideband controller?

[brentg454]

Hi,

I have an APSX wideband controller installed on my car, which has a digital output for serial communication. From the APSX controller, I have the serial out wire running to a DB9 connector on pin 2, along with a ground wire to pin 5 per the manufacturer's instructions. From the DB9, I am running a null modem adapter to the flashscan V2 serial cable. I have followed the tutorials and searched around the forum, but no luck. Am I doing something wrong, or does EFILive just not support this controller?

Thanks, Brent

[Tre-Cool]

Can't say i have heard of it, and it's not a controller listed in the serial compatibility list. So i'd say your boned for the moment.

You can try asking support to get it added if you can provide them the protocol specs.

[joecar]

Brent, can you post any info indicating the APSX's serial comms output format...

[Tre-Cool]

Found this:
http://www.wide-band.com/v/vspfiles/VolusionFTP/APSX_D2_USERGUIDE_v6.pdf

OUTPUTS
1 – Analog 0-5V linear output for engine management systems (EMS) and data
loggers (MegaSquirt)
Lower and upper limits are 9 AFR and 19 AFR (0V = 9 AFR, 5V = 19 AFR)
Analog output is Megasquirt compatible.
2 – Digital output is 9600 8N1 serial that can be connected to your PC
3 – Simulated NB output
Both EFI and carbureted applications are ok.

I would setup the rj11 connector and try the existing serial widebands. I reakon the plx or innovate one might work?

Ideally you need to plug into a comm port and establish a putty connection etc to your chosen comm port and see what comes up.

[brentg454]

Thanks Tre-Cool, you beat me to it.

I can't get V2 to recognize it using any of the existing serial widebands. So are you referring to hooking the serial output to my laptop and then using Hyperterminal (or something similar) to try and see what the signal output is? Sorry, I'm a little slow when it comes to electronics, ha!

[Tre-Cool]

That's precisely what you need to do.

If it's automatically outputting data, which i suspect it must be with only 1 wire. then it wont be hard to get it added in.

Regardless of the data protocol matching up when you connect it to the v2. you should at least get flashing lights on the v2 unit which will indicate it's receiving data.

I think the AEM protocal might actually be the closest one to working as i think that just outputs the data stream like

14.7
14.6
14.6
14.6
etc
etc

[joecar]

...
So are you referring to hooking the serial output to my laptop and then using Hyperterminal (or something similar) to try and see what the signal output is? Sorry, I'm a little slow when it comes to electronics, ha!Yes... and post the data here.

[joecar]

+1 Try the AEM protocol like Tre-Cool said.

[brentg454]

Will do, thanks guys!

[brentg454]

OK, I got a capture of the serial output from the APSX today with my car running (see picture below). Looks like a bunch of garbled ASCII. Any thoughts?
The last row and a half of the "upside down F's" is engine off, key on.

And the V2 does have blinking lights when it is hooked up, but none of the protocols seem to recognize the output. I do get Error 128 when selecting a couple of them however.

Brent


20559

[joecar]

Save the output to a file and keep it handy.

[Blacky]

OK, I got a capture of the serial output from the APSX today with my car running (see picture below). Looks like a bunch of garbled ASCII. Any thoughts?
The last row and a half of the "upside down F's" is engine off, key on.

And the V2 does have blinking lights when it is hooked up, but none of the protocols seem to recognize the output. I do get Error 128 when selecting a couple of them however.

Brent


20559

If you have FlashScan hooked up and the orange RS232 LED* is flashing (i.e. it is receiving serial data) then you can "Save a COM Trace" and then look at the com trace using a hex editor such as "Hex Workshop".
To save a COM Trace use the FlashScan menu option: F1 Scan Tool->F3 Scan Options->F4 Save COM Data

* The RS232 LED is the orange LED second from the left.

Regards
Paul

[brentg454]

Thank you Paul and Joe, I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer all my goofy questions. My V2 is definitely receiving the serial data; where I'm currently getting hung up is in how to interpret what it is giving me (and hopefully getting it to jive with Scan Tool so I can log it). After some more research, I am told that the serial output from the APSX is in raw bytes, which correlates to the AFR * 10. So for example, an output byte with an int value of 147 is equivalent to 14.7 AFR. Looking at the data from the screenshot I posted, this makes sense, as most of the displayed ASCII character int values from my steady-state idle are in the 142-152 range (14.2-15.2 AFR), and the output pegged out the limit of the WB controller at an ASCII int value of 190 with the engine off, key on (free air or 19.0 AFR). Hopefully I understand / explained that right, does that make sense?

That being the case, can we somehow take the raw byte data that I'm getting from the serial port and just divide it by 10 to display and / or log AFR? Is it as easy as defining this in my Calc.pids file? It would be sweet if we can make this work with the V2 WB output display, but if that won't work I can live without it as long as I can still pass-through log it, which is 99% of what I do anyways. Thanks again for your help, and let me know if you need me to post a COM trace or any other info.

Brent

[Tre-Cool]

If it's that simple, the Guys might be able to update the v2 firmware/cal to work it out for you.

[Blacky]

Thank you Paul and Joe, I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer all my goofy questions. My V2 is definitely receiving the serial data; where I'm currently getting hung up is in how to interpret what it is giving me (and hopefully getting it to jive with Scan Tool so I can log it). After some more research, I am told that the serial output from the APSX is in raw bytes, which correlates to the AFR * 10. So for example, an output byte with an int value of 147 is equivalent to 14.7 AFR. Looking at the data from the screenshot I posted, this makes sense, as most of the displayed ASCII character int values from my steady-state idle are in the 142-152 range (14.2-15.2 AFR), and the output pegged out the limit of the WB controller at an ASCII int value of 190 with the engine off, key on (free air or 19.0 AFR). Hopefully I understand / explained that right, does that make sense?

That being the case, can we somehow take the raw byte data that I'm getting from the serial port and just divide it by 10 to display and / or log AFR? Is it as easy as defining this in my Calc.pids file? It would be sweet if we can make this work with the V2 WB output display, but if that won't work I can live without it as long as I can still pass-through log it, which is 99% of what I do anyways. Thanks again for your help, and let me know if you need me to post a COM trace or any other info.

Brent

I'd really need to see the saved COM trace to see exactly which bytes are being transmitted. Unless/until we add specific support for that wide band then you wan't be able to log it using the serial interface.

Regards
Paul

[joecar]

Thank you Paul and Joe, I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer all my goofy questions. My V2 is definitely receiving the serial data; where I'm currently getting hung up is in how to interpret what it is giving me (and hopefully getting it to jive with Scan Tool so I can log it). After some more research, I am told that the serial output from the APSX is in raw bytes, which correlates to the AFR * 10. So for example, an output byte with an int value of 147 is equivalent to 14.7 AFR. Looking at the data from the screenshot I posted, this makes sense, as most of the displayed ASCII character int values from my steady-state idle are in the 142-152 range (14.2-15.2 AFR), and the output pegged out the limit of the WB controller at an ASCII int value of 190 with the engine off, key on (free air or 19.0 AFR). Hopefully I understand / explained that right, does that make sense?

That being the case, can we somehow take the raw byte data that I'm getting from the serial port and just divide it by 10 to display and / or log AFR? Is it as easy as defining this in my Calc.pids file? It would be sweet if we can make this work with the V2 WB output display, but if that won't work I can live without it as long as I can still pass-through log it, which is 99% of what I do anyways. Thanks again for your help, and let me know if you need me to post a COM trace or any other info.

BrentHi Brent,

see Paul's post above where he said this:


If you have FlashScan hooked up and the orange RS232 LED* is flashing (i.e. it is receiving serial data) then you can "Save a COM Trace"...

To save a COM Trace use the FlashScan menu option: F1 Scan Tool->F3 Scan Options->F4 Save COM Data

* The RS232 LED is the orange LED second from the left....

Paul wants to see the COM trace (it might have other protocol characters in addition to the raw values).

[brentg454]

Alright, finally got a COM trace (attached). Sorry it took so long, been out of pocket lately!
Brent

[Blacky]

Alright, finally got a COM trace (attached). Sorry it took so long, been out of pocket lately!
Brent

Thanks, it appears that the serial data is indeed just single-byte, AFR values*10.
I'll add support for it in a future update.

Regards
Paul

[brentg454]

Thanks, it appears that the serial data is indeed just single-byte, AFR values*10.
I'll add support for it in a future update.

Regards
Paul

That's great! Thank you so much for the support. Looking forward to the update.

Brent