BlueSult 'wireless' Nissan Consult

[skyline_stu]

Hi Everybody,
I thought I'd let you all in on a project I have been working on for a few months. After being frustrated with drop outs and the mountain of cables used when I'm tuning vehicles(such as Consult cabling, 2 x AFR Meters, Dataloggers and Knock Detection equipment), I got to work and produced a compact, reliable tuning interface called BlueSult. This is a replacement for the conventional RS232/USB interfaces. It's progressed to the point of releasing these to YOU, the users of Nistune and any other Consult Diagnostics package. From the outset I was determined to make it easy to use. There's no messing about with virtual bluetooth serial ports (painful!!), messing with device managers,etc. NO FRUSTRATION at all.

BlueSult has the following advantages -
1. No more Consult drop outs on electrically 'noisy' vehicles. Full electrical isolation between your PC and vehicle.
2. Compact USB 'dongle' and BlueSult host. The interface is not much bigger than the consult plug.
3. Intuitive high brightness diagnostic LED's on both Host board and dongle (Link Active, Link Status, Data Tx AND Rx)
4. Ultra reliable surface mount electronics on an Environmentally protected,GOLD plated PCB.
5. State-of-the-art circuit protection using both TVS spike supressors and PolySwitch self reseting fuses.
6. 'Industrial' grade bluetooth modules for maximum reliablilty and range.
7. Operating range in excess of 7 metres (field tested through vehicle panels/glass and tinting)
8. Two host options. Permanent wire-in or Removeable plug-in (The Permanent version is GREAT for those without a Consult connector)
9. User customization of LED colors (**extra charges apply**)
10. Easy installation - Plug into vehicle, Plug into PC, Install BlueSult drivers (just once) and away you go !!

As mentioned earlier, I have been testing these units for a few months without any reliability issues.
Matt from Nistune has a pre-production BlueSult interface and he reports "It works great!"

There will be 2 host variants available. The first is a removeable style, great for those with one or more vehicles (or workshops for that matter). The second is a more permanent wire in style suited to those who don't have a consult port, or those who have fitted a Nissan powertrain to another vehicle family. There are only 5 connections required (some vehicles need only 4). These even work if wired inside the ECU case (but of course, no LED's are visible).
For those wanting to save a few $$$, purchase the wire-in style and add on your current Consult plug.

Customisation of the LED colors is available for those who want to jazz things up a little. I currently have the following LED colors available :
RED,BLUE,GREEN,YELLOW,AMBER,PINK,UV-PURPLE and WHITE.

Currently utilized colors are RED (power), BLUE (link active), GREEN (Tx Data), Amber (Rx Data).

As I am still finalizing injection moulded cases, the plug-in version is not currently available with a hard case. It will initially be supplied with the consult connector mounted on the PCB and encased in clear heatshrink. (unlike the flying lead pre-production board shown)

Cost at this time are as follows.
$165 for the Plug-in version (includes the USB dongle)
$140 for the Wire-in version (includes the USB dongle)
$10 for LED customisation to your selected colors.

Send me any requests you have about the BlueSult interface package. I expect to have a box full of these in approx 3 weeks.

Stu.

P.S. Note that the items below are pre-production. Additional photo's and videos will be posted soon. Keep your eye's peeled!!

[bachig24u]

Nice one Stu!!

Any chance of a type 1 version (In-sult) on the drawing board?
I'm so over USB cables, ferrite suppressors, ignition condensors, scraping filthy earth points just to get an almost stable connection.

[skyline_stu]

Absolutly !!! I'm working on that circuit presently. It will be a little more complex as there is nothing to handle the serial communications, as the Type 1's have an on-board USB decoder and driver.
So I've had to add a micro for port handling with a serial communications interfaces. (firmware has been written but has a couple of glitches that I need to iron out)

This version will only be a 'permanent' type, as syncing the modules will need to be done very differently. In an ideal world, the dongle will moveable between vehicles and the interface stays put inside the ECU. I'm certain that this approach is do-able.

It will have that same great features, but will probably be in a black USB case to diferentiate it from the BlueSult version.

Stu

[bachig24u]

Great,
let me know if you need anything, be glad to help with development in any way or even UAT.

[skyline_stu]

Geez, I haven't heard UAT since making defence equipment..

But when some are done I'll send one for you to try out. I know what you mean about the conectivity problems on certain annoying cars....

Stu

[Matt]

I'm so over USB cables, ferrite suppressors, ignition condensors, scraping filthy earth points just to get an almost stable connection

This is interesting because on both of my R31s I've had basically zero dropouts. First R31 had droputs with an older Dell Latitude (P133) laptop and grounding fixed that, but later laptops (Asus, Acer and Dell Inspiron at my disposal) all had no issues with either vehicle

What I found interesting is one wideband unit on my R34 tends to drop out on high RPMs when connected but PLs USB consult cable holds up no issues (Blazt one would drop out frequently)

It makes me wondering about the grounding and severe amount of electrical noise some vehicles have

[skyline_stu]

Quote:
I'm so over USB cables, ferrite suppressors, ignition condensors, scraping filthy earth points just to get an almost stable connection

I've tuned many, many vehicles with with a huge variation in laptop brands. I have 3 particular vehicles that play up. I know it's electrical noise getting into the power and ground feeds -from somewhere just that little bit dirty. Almost any other system of logging or programming would play up on these cars so there's no problem with Nistune. One suggestion would be trying to earth your laptop to the chassis - say with a dummy power cable with just negative connected. Could also be laptop charger floating above earth.. Let's keep this post back online with BlueSult interfaces.

But the Type 1 BlueSult would totally remove the interface from the equasion.

[zspanners]

Hi Stu , count me in for both a wire in unit and a plug and play style unit.
We use Nistune on a variety of Nissan vehicles and drop out from poor power and grounding are a major pain.

There needs to be an area on the forum for this to be easily found for people to be able to purchase them.

I would probably purchase a couple of type one style units for stock as well.

Please let us know ASAP when the finished version is available.

zspanners.

[skyline_stu]

Thanks for your response.

I will count you in as soon as my package of BT modules arrive - I'd hope early next week should have some available.

Stu.

[Eric]

Hi Stu, you can count me in for a p&p unit.

-Eric

[skyline_stu]

Hi Eric,
No Problems.. Added to the list

[djstatic]

You know what would be awesome...

Nistune for iPad via Bluetooth!

[skyline_stu]

You know what would be awesome...

Nistune for iPad via Bluetooth!

.........All I suggest is you start writting code.

[djstatic]

I've had a bash at a gui for an ECU before with a mate. He had a Microtech in a S5 RX7 with an in dash VGA screen.
SF Project from back in 07

This is ugly, you wouldn't want to look at it in your dash everyday

Nistune looks way better than Microtech's abomination

If it is at all possible to connect an iDevice via bluetooth then I'd at least take a look into what's involved with writing an app for displaying gauges etc.

I enquired about a winCE version for hacked GPS (navman etc.) ages ago. Their cheap, they mount easy, most ppl have them, it would be awesome to skin it like a GTR35 touch screen

[bachig24u]

Any update on a type 1 version?