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Aldl Woes (Problems Solved Discussion Continues)

Kiqman

Kiqman

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So I've really wanted to do the winaldl thing through my trucks diagnostics port. Spent all day yesterday finding the parts, building the cable, reading about the win program. Plug it in this morning and nothing. Nothing with A & B jumpered with a 10k diode, nothing. Any experts have any input? It seems odd to me that the cigarette lighter plug-in in the schematic isn't grounded - does the serial port on the computer ground the 12v or something?

And for the record - soldering sucks!

Note***things take a turn for the better on page 2***
***I made my $5 donation, thanks WinALDL***
 
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I thought that the '89 would have the ALDL that doesn't require the 10K diode...see about 1/8 of the way down on this page:

http://www.aldlcable.com/

It says the 10K circuit is optional for the early TPI setup.

Let me know how you figure it out. I'm a little behind you, still deciding whether to build or buy a cable....now if I can find that old laptop...
 
I use the second version of the single transistor one which is powered by the DTR pin on the serial port and it works fine on my 90 TBI. I don't use the resistor from A to B.

BTW, WinALDL is a neat little program and I urge everyone that uses it to send a small donation.

David
 
mouse said:
I thought that the '89 would have the ALDL that doesn't require the 10K diode...see about 1/8 of the way down on this page:

http://www.aldlcable.com/

It says the 10K circuit is optional for the early TPI setup.

Let me know how you figure it out. I'm a little behind you, still deciding whether to build or buy a cable....now if I can find that old laptop...
Click to expand...
I tried it both ways. With the 10k jumping between a & b and without. With the truck supplying the 12v and with the laptop supplying the 12v. The EMC goes into "diagnostics" mode when you jump a & b with a 10k. The idle holds at about 2000 and the spark management is turned off. That's how I understood the writeup anyway. I got nothing either way and I multi-metered the cable after I built it to check my work. I'm starting to think it's one of three things.
1) I should have built the two transistor cable.
2) My ALDL port "E" is not functional.
3) The serial port on the back of my laptop is locked down by my employer.
 
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i built the dual transistor setup and it works with the program "aldlmon", which is dos based. try it with and without the 10k resistor.
i could not get this to work with winaldl yet, though.
if you have a decent laptop, i'd buy the the usb to aldl cable and get winaldl, and give the programmer a donation.
 
Is WinALDL configured properly? The default is com1 and 2400 baud. Verify that your 232 port is com1 on your computer. The computer should automatically adjust the baud rate. You may want to have your 232 port checked with a loop back tester. I would use the port powered circuit. I did my circuit on a small perf board in 1" x 2" inclosure instead of trying to cram it all in a 9pin d-sub hood. What transistor did you use?

David
 
I used the 2n3904. It was so small that I thought I may have messed up the connection but everything checked out on the meter. Like I said, I searched every inch of the cable and couldn't find a flaw with the meter. Then I added the 10k resistor across A and B. Then I jumpered pins 2 and 4 at the laptop side for power and unplugged the cigarette lighter plug (which isn't grounded in the first place and is still confusing me:)
I didn't solder the connections, I used a lot of electrical tape. My soldering gun was way too big. But like I said, I checked every inch of my cable. I'm not an electrician but the readings I got from the spare transistor I bought match the readings I get through the cables of my new "non-functional" ALDL cable. I keep waiting for it all to dawn on me in a moment of clarity. Hey I'm only out about $4 and 5 hours.
 
Creek said:
Your cable is not going to work. You need to buy a cable.

David
Click to expand...


he's right about that! if you don't solder it, it'll never work anyway. and the cable costs less than a decent soldering iron.
 
Just out of curiosity, why won't the cable work if it's not soldered? I seem to be getting the same multi-meter results when I test the bare transistor as when I test the transistor with wires hooked to it. This was litterally my first ever attempt at soldering and it did not go well. That's why I ended up putting the whole thing together with tape.
 
There are a few reasons that it won't work but the main one is high resistance at the connection point. The signals you're dealing with are in the 25 to 50 mA range (.025 to .050 amps). If the signal manages to make it through the junction, it might not have enough left to trigger the next device. Another effect of a high resistance junction is the noise it generates. TTL level devices switch between 1.2 and 2.0 volts. If the junction is putting 3 volts of noise on the line then the noise is switching the device more than the signal and your getting garbage. High resistance junctions also have a capacitive effect and will store current when the signal is high and release it when the signal goes low. It has a filtering effect. You cannot see these problems with a multi-meter, you would need an oscilloscope. If your multi-meter is not a high impedance meter you should not use it to test electronic circuits especially if the circuits are under power when testing.

If you want to build your on cables you need to get a low wattage pencil type soldering iron and practice. Use small diameter, low temp., rosin core solder. Never use acid core solder like is used for soldering copper pipes. I have several soldering irons with different size and type tips that range from 15 watts to a large 40 watt used for 10 to 18 awg wire. For electronics I use a 15 up to 25 watt. If you just want to log data using WinALDL then you should buy a cable that works.

David
 
Very Nice David. I appreciate the tutorial. Now I know where I went wrong. Here I was thinking it was no different than twisting together stereo wires. I've asked one of our engineers at work if he'd consider building the cable for me since I have all the parts. God knows he's got every piece of electronic gear in that office of his. If he declines then I'll break down and buy one. This won't be the first time I've tried to "do it yourself" and then taken it to the professionals. I'll be sure to let you all know when the data starts streaming!
 
Its great that you tried to build it. Some people won't try anything and just buy it, or get someone else to do it. This way you know more about what is involved, and how the cable works. No doubt you could build it with time/tools.
 
if you get your friend to do it, try doing the 2 transistor setup! it's like a dollar more in parts and chances are your engineer has them all there.
 
The engineer is making the cable for me! Right on man. I bought a tomato plant from his kid when they were selling them for their schools so I think he felt obligated to do the soldering for me. I'll let yall know how it works.
 
All this talk of cable woes convinced me to not build one. I ordered the one from ALDL cables yesterday.
 
Well the engineer's cable works like a dream. Started receiving data the instant I turned the key. Now the question is what do I do with all this data. For instance...I've been wondering if my coolant temp sensor is working properly, when I logged 10 minutes of data, if I'm reading this right, my CTS reading repeatedly climbs to over 200* and then drops back down to 5* and starts the climb all over again. I think I'm reading this right so me thinks it's time for a new CTS. I heard I can e-mail my data to someone that can translate? Anyone know what "DRP Occured" means or "Old High Gear" flag?
 
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