My DIS/INPA/SSS/CARSOFT/NAVCODER Interface.

[djcristi]

d-can cable is needed for bmw > 03.2007 . it's around 100$

[geargrinder]

Just got the ignition detect working per the threads here on my FT232RL chipped blue cable. Woot.

A few comments:

• Basic layout is Emitter to chip pin7, Collector to chip pin9, then a resistor to OBD pin1. I did not need all the other stuff that was shown in other versions people have done... basically I did the exact same thing djcristi did for the BL version but mapped it to the right pins for the RL. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...4&postcount=21
• It does not seem necessary to bridge RI to GND? Unless something else is not working that I can't figure out, so far this is working great as-is.
• I used some random generic NPN I had lying around with no markings on it (woot again - I always want to find uses for these unmarked junk transistors)
• Because this soldering-components-to-SMD stuff isn't very solid, I STRONGLY suggest bonding the parts down. Great options for this are hot glue, or, silicone/RTV sealant. After you get the cable working, glob some goo on the transistor to stabilize it. See pics...
• I stuck some shrink tubing on the leads to the resistors because frankly I think all the versions shown with bare wires lying around in the cable head aren't so great an idea and not real nice construction practice.
• I also had one of the USB cable wires on the end of the board break off, obviously cheap crappy Chinese construction. Watch out for bad solder/connections if you're having trouble, it could be well worth touching up the connections. I've also globbed some hot glue on the wire ends cause they cheap as sh1t.

Soldered...


With hot glue bonding


Thanks to locum and djcristi and poteroa for laying the groundwork on this one by the way.

[poteroa]

Now, how about some ground work for a CAN-bus cable?? =)
Anyone have one that could be gutted and inspected??

[geiristudio]

Hey, I did all the soldering before I tried to do the software mod. Is that okay ?

[TurboBimmer]

Was wondering if the modified VAG cable is equivalent to the Carsoft interface sold by Carsoftwest, or it does more (or less...)

With this modified VAG cable, is it possible to work on a 20066 Mini?
Thanks.

[poteroa]

Hey, I did all the soldering before I tried to do the software mod. Is that okay ?

Does not matter if you did it before. So should work all the same.
The modification does not affect the programming of the chip. (If you did it right)

[robtheviking]

Morning all. Thanks for this thread, I've just modded a vagcom lead with a npn, 4.7k and 100k resistor as they are what I had lying around. It works a treat! Tested it with INPA and the ignition detect works fine. I've just installed SSS, and will try that later, once I've replaced my battery, which was only reading 11.7v when I measured it yesterday! Gotting about 14.3v at the battery when the engine is running so the alternator seems to be putting out good current.

Out of interest what is the minimum battery voltage level that the software needs before it connects to the car?

[geargrinder]

Morning all. Thanks for this thread, I've just modded a vagcom lead with a npn, 4.7k and 100k resistor as they are what I had lying around. It works a treat! Tested it with INPA and the ignition detect works fine. I've just installed SSS, and will try that later, once I've replaced my

Woot! Congrats. I'm still working on my Triple-S setup but looking forward to tackling it when I get back from abroad next week.

battery, which was only reading 11.7v when I measured it yesterday! Gotting about 14.3v at the battery when the engine is running so the alternator seems to be putting out good current.

Out of interest what is the minimum battery voltage level that the software needs before it connects to the car?

Sorry I'm still too much of a n00b to know the answer on this one although I do know when you flash the DME they are adamant about having a charger connected and keeping voltage up blah blah blah when you're coding anything. BMW's seem to be uniquely fussy about this...

[robtheviking]

Mate. SSS was ok to install, Randomy's thread is pretty damn good! There are a couple of things I'd advise though,

1. At least 1.5Gb of RAM on your laptop!
2. At least 25GB of free HDD space
3. At least a weekend of your time!

I used the preconfigured base by viperunner, and Progman/SSS V32. The preconfigured vmware base makes setting it up a doddle as all the settings are done! I installed on XP and it was hassle free. Just need to change my battery now and see if it'll talk to the car! I do have access to a decent power supply, when i attempt to do coding, I'll hook it up for sure.

Got a few bits to do on my E39 with NCS expert first then some retrofits to wifey's E87, which is why i wanted Progman/SSS installing.

[geargrinder]

I used the preconfigured base by viperunner, and Progman/SSS V32. The preconfigured vmware base makes setting it up a doddle as all the settings are done! I installed on XP and it was hassle free. Just need to change my battery now and see if it'll talk to the car! I do have access to a decent power supply, when i attempt to do coding, I'll hook it up for sure.

Yeah as I said on another thread I had bad results with the viperrunner base, then David Mc gave me a tip which I need to get back on top of to see if it resolves my issue (specifically I got these big "#3" "#4" things on a white screen which he says is a screen resolution thing - I guess I need to force the screen resolution which I did not do...) Damn I hope that works somewhat easily because I already spent at least ONE weekend on it and when i go back it'll be starting on TWO weekends...

[robtheviking]

I'll reply to that thread mate, rather than taking this one OT.

[geargrinder]

Now, how about some ground work for a CAN-bus cable?? =)
Anyone have one that could be gutted and inspected??

The only CAN cable I have is a VAG-COM Hex+CAN cable... it's a genuine Ross-Tech one with the integrated software dongle functionality etc. ($$$) so I'm not going to tear it up and besides I don't think it works w/ the BMW D-CAN cars (although I can't be sure... I do know it won't work w/ my K-line E46 M3 but it loves to work with my K-line Audi C4 S6)...

Reading the CAN bus spec it seems VERY generic and straightforward, like any CAN interface should work for any car implementing the standard...However it does seem like reading "alternate" OBD connector pins is one of the sneaky ways that OEM's stay proprietary - aka "well we exchange OBD data generically according to the standard, but if you try to use our software for proprietary functions it needs to read X on pin Z etc". Aka specifically ignition sense etc.

I'd love to play around with this and even order some of the generic CAN bus USB cables on the interwebz but I don't have a CAN bus Bimmer to screw around with at this point anyway so I'll leave it to others for now...

[poteroa]

The only CAN cable I have is a VAG-COM Hex+CAN cable... it's a genuine Ross-Tech one with the integrated software dongle functionality etc. ($$$) so I'm not going to tear it up and besides I don't think it works w/ the BMW D-CAN cars (although I can't be sure... I do know it won't work w/ my K-line E46 M3 but it loves to work with my K-line Audi C4 S6)...

Reading the CAN bus spec it seems VERY generic and straightforward, like any CAN interface should work for any car implementing the standard...However it does seem like reading "alternate" OBD connector pins is one of the sneaky ways that OEM's stay proprietary - aka "well we exchange OBD data generically according to the standard, but if you try to use our software for proprietary functions it needs to read X on pin Z etc". Aka specifically ignition sense etc.

I'd love to play around with this and even order some of the generic CAN bus USB cables on the interwebz but I don't have a CAN bus Bimmer to screw around with at this point anyway so I'll leave it to others for now...

It would be a start, if someone listed the components that are inside the cable. Someone said earlier, that some china-cable has the same FTDI chip and some additional chip installed. So if lucky, it could be made from a cheap OBD by modding the firmware of the chips.
I have a prommer in use, so just would need the infos etc.

How about a picture of D-Can cable someone?

[locum]

here some chinese dcan based on atmega chip

[poteroa]

Allright, did some digging:

The Atmega 162 can accessed with ponyprog, and the chips sofware is easy to read..all the other components are rather easy to find. Like MCP2515 and the rest are peanuts.
Pricing is prox. 20-30$ for the parts, if some salvage components are available. Only problem is to manufacture the board, cause it would be a mess to cut traces and make new ones etc.
Only way would be to make the PCB, find the components and build the whole interface from scratch. The PCB is 2-sided, so DIY is little bit tricky.
If there is someone who can get hands on PCB-layout and schematics with raster information, you could build that cable in few hours sitting by your kitchen table with a nice cold one in other hand.

[pyro225]

Ok guys going off the beat and track a bit but this seems like a knowledgable bunch... i have the diaghead emulator and inpa installed and configured, i fire them up and then i fire up the dis v57 image, i can see the diaghead and goto connect the bar gets to about 25% and its on the 'sending' stage and then sayds cannot connect??? any ideas? tried on two laptops??

Dan

[robtheviking]

Have you edited ediabas.ini yet mate? You don't need INPA running to run DIS, this could be the issue, just start ifhsrv32 from the c:\ediabas\bin directory then start up DIS.

[geargrinder]

Ok guys going off the beat and track a bit but this seems like a knowledgable bunch... i have the diaghead emulator and inpa installed and configured, i fire them up and then i fire up the dis v57 image, i can see the diaghead and goto connect the bar gets to about 25% and its on the 'sending' stage and then sayds cannot connect??? any ideas? tried on two laptops??

Dan

To repeat RtV... You are running ifhsrv32 right?

Have you run API Test under "Calibrate Touchscreen", and if so, what happens? That's the first key step and once that works you should be all good.

[Orphee]

Hi ! I just tried the interface on a e36 328i from 1996 with 20pin obd2 adaptator but inpa / dis don't detect ignition... any idea ? Interface works great on any e46 I tried... (progman v37 works well and can detect the e36...)
Thank you

With inpa manually I can read error and values... in old models (shift + F5)

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=STRK:MEWNX:IT here is the adaptator

[sophos9]

I modded a VAGCOM BM chip yesterday as per the instructions and DIS/Inpa works flawless. Thanks for the information.

I've ordered an RL chip cable and will do the proper ignition switching - have ordered the parts plus 18w iron and 0.4mm head with 0.4mm lead solder. Thanks for the help on this thread

[pyro225]

Ifhsrv32 is running inpa is not srroy about the confusion - i have the discs off of ebay , and im running DIS v57 and diaghead, it sees the diaghead but fails to connect... the image side is meant to be preconfigure, the calibrate touchscreen comes up with and error assuming the password is 12345

[David Mc]

Hi ! I just tried the interface on a e36 328i from 1996 with 20pin obd2 adaptator but inpa / dis don't detect ignition... any idea ? Interface works great on any e46 I tried... (progman v37 works well and can detect the e36...)
Thank you

With inpa manually I can read error and values... in old models (shift + F5)

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320619604506&ssPageNam e=STRK:MEWNX:IT here is the adaptator

E36 requires an ADS interface to read all modules.

[MaikelK]

I Didt the software mod on a RL chip but no black dots appear in INPA, its version 5.00 and obd.ini is saying usb com 1. What to do next?

[Orphee]

Is carsoft interface is ads ? I only see 90$ ads interface on ebay :-(

[geargrinder]

I Didt the software mod on a RL chip but no black dots appear in INPA, its version 5.00 and obd.ini is saying usb com 1. What to do next?

you sure you flashed it properly? if you close the app and reopen it, did all of your options take? some guys have gone and changed the settings but not clicked the right button to actually flash and save them on the chip...

otherwise as you say - being sure all your COM ports match up - does it say COM1 in Windoze System Hardware? often these USB ports come up by default as some high number... (mine defaulted to COM8 and I ran it like that a few times before changing it to COM1 where it works equally fine)