Nistune Forums

Hi everyone, new to this so bare with me.

I have a problem connecting with my ECU/Nistune board.

I am using this cable:

with a com to usb adapter cable.

When i press the consult cable in the obd plug the lamp lights up.

But when i try to connect, all it says is "USB not connected" in the lower left corner.
And yes the ignition is on

I had the board installed by a friend who is a electronics mechanic. So doubt that's the problem.

What's the next step for me here?


EDIT: The board is a Type II board in my 1990 Z32 ECU

Is that an eBay cable? Looks like one. They are not built to the same quality as the PLMS, ECUtalk or blaZt cables. Quote taken from the PLMS website on NIStune....

Most cables are only designed to work with monitoring programs like Datascan, Conzult etc. These use a largely one-way data stream. A command is issued to the ECU and then the ECU just streams data. Data integrity is not a big issue so if they get bad data it doesn't matter so much - it will only cause a small glitch in what's being displayed.

NIStune is more complex. Because it's a full tuning system there is data going both ways most of the time. And the data is actually modifying the maps in the ECU. So data corruption cannot be tolerated. Data is constantly monitored for errors and if too many errors occur it will terminate the Consult connection. Our cables have been designed and thoroughly tested to ensure the best possible data integrity. Inferior cables can (and do) cause problems.

Get a better cable and that will solve your issues.

Some USB to Serial converters are also pretty bad news. Ones based on the FTDI chipset are usually the most compatible or have the least issues.

Also make sure you're set to the right COM port. USB to serial converters often pick a high com port like 5 rather than the normal defaults of 1 or 2 for example.

Have you opened the Z32 address file?

When you go File-configuration what COM ports show for 'consult'?

It should be connecting to the COM port matching your USB-serial converter available in the drop down list of ports

Thanks for your replies.

Could you recommend a better cable? preferebly from a place that offers intl.shipping.

@ Matt

I did chose the Z32 Adress file, i will check up on the issue with the com ports. Havn't got the car at my own place atm.

Kruse wrote:Thanks for your replies.

Could you recommend a better cable? preferebly from a place that offers intl.shipping.

You can buy a genuine PLMS cable from the NIStune website, and it's guaranteed to work. Also, it's a USB cable, so no need for any converters.

A friend of mine had one of these, worked fine in Nistune for Datalogging.

Didn't cause comms issues. probably the usb adapter configuration

Any of the generic cables are capable of working with NIStune. Some work better than others.

Problems with serial cables tend to be when they're used with USB converters as these can be pretty hit and miss. Some seem to work fine and others don't. I've even seen a converter that worked well on one laptop that wouldn't work at all on another!

The big one though is if you have a bit of electrical noise happening once the engine is started. The cheapy cables will tend to cause data corruption very quickly and then your comms will disconnect. Most of the cables out there are only designed for use with diagnostic programs, where you have a constant stream of largely one-way data. If you get a bit of corruption it won't matter - you'll get a bit of a blip on your gauges. NIStune is obviously a much more critical application. And it has constant data going both ways. Matt has added considerable data checking to avoid data corruption but once things get too noisy there's not a lot he can do.

No cable is 100% immune but we've done quite a bit of testing and design modification to make our cables handle large amounts of noise before data integrity becomes a problem.

Many of them also leave the LEDs off in an effort to cut costs. We've had these from the beginning and always will. They're an invaluable aid when trying to fault find comms problems. We often get guys contacting us about comms problems and the first question is inevitably "Is there a request going from laptop to ECU (green Rx LED blinks)?". If you have a LEDless cable then you're in the dark.

PL

Finally got myself together and bought a real PLMS cable. And it worked first time

Sweeet. Nice to know that all that messing about to improve noise immunity has helped.

Pete L