How To :: Ostrich Emulator

[CSXRT4]

I was writing these instructions for Turbovanman but after basically writing a book I figured I would just make a thread so everybody could benefit. I absolutely love the ostrich, the only reason im selling it is because I am now on megasquirt due to my swap. I would recommend buying one for anybody that is making their own cals

You will want this software http://tunerpro.markmansur.com/download/EmUtility.zip

This is basically the program that communicates with the ostrich, first plug the emulator in with the USB cable then unzip the "EmUtility.zip" file and run the "EmUtility.exe" program.

If you get an error message when trying to run the program, download this http://tunerpro.markmansur.com/downl...redist_x86.exe and install it also

You may also have to install this http://www.moates.net/zips/CDM_Setup.exe if you are having issues with EmUtility detecting your ostrich.

When EmUtility starts up wait a second and it should beep and show that the Ostrich has been detected. Now you will be able to choose an operation. You can read the contents of the emulator to a file, write a file to the emulator, verify(I never really used this), and monitor a file and update the emulator when changes are made (this one is awesome). Ill explain these individually

Read from emulator to file
This is if you have a cal on the emulator and you want to read it to your computer. This is helpful if yo lost you .bin file on your computer but had already flashed it to the emulator. When you use this function look down where it says "Size 0x0000", change this to "0x8000", since the emulator can hold more data than what our cals are it needs to know how much data to read. I always used "0x8000" and never had a problem. I havnt used it in a while but I dont think you have to mess with the "file start address". Hit execute and it should ask you what to save the file as.

Write from file to emulator
This is if you want to write a new cal to the emulator. Select this and then click the "..." box next to "Input/Output File". Now you can choose a .bin file to flash to the emulator. I don't believe you have to mess with the "Size" setting as it usually gets set automatically according to the file you choose. Then just hit execute and it will flash the .bin file to the emulator.

Monitor file for changes and upload
This is the setting you will probably use most for tuning. This sets EmUtility up to watch a specified .bin file and if any changes are made to it (as with D-Cal or Chem) EmUtility will automatically re-flash the cal to the emulator with the new changes. This lets you keep EmUtility running in the background. All you have to do is make an adjustment with D-Cal or Chem and when you save the file, EmUtility will detect the change and upload the new cal to the emulator. You can make changes while the car is running and when you hit save they will immediately take effect. Set this up the same as writing a file to the emulator, choose a file with the "..." box and hit execute. To stop monitoring you can click "cancel op" or just close EmUtility.



Hooking the Ostrich up to the SMEC/SBEC
To hook the Ostrich up you will want to find a place to put the ostrich (close to the computer case). I put it to the rear of my SMEC against the body of my engine bay. You will have a 28pin ribbon cable, one of the wires will have a red tracer that indicates pin-1. Put the end of the ribbon cable into the socket as you would with an EPROM. Installed correctly, the ribbon should extend towards the 60-pin connector on the SMEC. I filed off the ridge at the edge of my SMEC case to allow the ribbon cable to exit between the two halves of the SMEC case. Then just plug the other end into the ostrich. Now you need to connect the USB cable to the ostrich and run it up towards the firewall, you will need to buy a USB cable extender which is basically a USB cable with a female end and a male end. Connect the extender and run that into the passenger compartment. Now you can just hook the USB cable into your laptop and pretty much tune as you drive.


This pretty much turns an SMEC/SBEC into a full standalone engine management system. With the availability of the relocatable codes you can pretty much reprogram any aspect of the computer, I started to get comfortable with it and actually added a couple extra little functions that were pretty handy. That combined with the functions already available thanks to people like Shel-Game and Geoff Allen (staging, detonation light, anti-lag) made this setup pretty versatile.


A big thank you to Shel-Game and Geoff Allen for digging through these calibrations so much and making all this possible. I know there are other guys that contributed especially back in the day but these two guys have been making most of the contributions since I have been into this stuff


If anybody has any more questions LMK

[Tony Hanna]

Nice writeup! This should get put in the Knowledge Center.
I've been wanting to try one myself. Hopefully I'll have the cash to spare soon.

Tony

[turbovanman²]

Thanks man, thats awesome, should help me tweak things.

Can't wait to try it,

[badandy]

Do you need the laptop hooked up in order to drive the car? if I'm reading things correctly the cal will be stored in the emulator correct?...so when not working with cals you can just save your work and unplug and drive?

I'm surprised they didn't make the emulator 12v compatible...so it could just be hard wired in with a fuse for protection. If I'm understanding things correctly it runs on batteries that if failure occurs your car would not run? I realize this is done to constantly power the unit as not to erase the calibration stored.

I ordered one up...next is a burner and chips for when I finally get to a point where I've learned what I'm doing and want to finalize a cal.

Time to edumicate myselfes

[Tony Hanna]

Do you need the laptop hooked up in order to drive the car? if I'm reading things correctly the cal will be stored in the emulator correct?...so when not working with cals you can just save your work and unplug and drive?

I'm surprised they didn't make the emulator 12v compatible...so it could just be hard wired in with a fuse for protection. If I'm understanding things correctly it runs on batteries that if failure occurs your car would not run? I realize this is done to constantly power the unit as not to erase the calibration stored.

I ordered one up...next is a burner and chips for when I finally get to a point where I've learned what I'm doing and want to finalize a cal.

Time to edumicate myselfes

The way I understand it, the battery is good for a really long time (years?). As far as I know it'll work without being plugged into a PC. They even make an optional bluetooth setup for them so you don't need a cable at all.

[CSXRT4]

The emulator will function(run the car) without the laptop plugged into it, also its battery supply will last pretty much forever. I never had to replace the batteries and I used mine for about 2-3 years


You really could use it as a permanent installation but I used mine on multiple cars so I just tuned with it and then burned the final cal revision to a chip and installed that.

[moparzrule]

FWIW, you don't have to hack the SMEC case at all to run the 28pin ribbon cable out. It fit's right through where the logic module 14 pin connector comes out.
Now if you got an SBEC, yeah hack away. But just saying cuz must people run SMEC.

I can get a pic if desired. I may post it up later anyway.

[thefitisgay]

http://www.xenocron.com/products.php?page=moates

says a AAA is good for 75 years

i was curious... could it function as am engine monitoring system to?

[turbovanman²]

Check out this-would be awesome so you can try 2 cals at the flick of a switch-

Moates 2Timer

Two Program Switcher
(This little gem plugs into your 28-pin socket. It has a single wire lead coming off of it. Put a 27SF512 chip in it, and switch the wire lead to chassis ground to switch between two separate programs! Comes with one SST Chip )


$30.00

[Tony Hanna]

Check out this-would be awesome so you can try 2 cals at the flick of a switch-

I always thought that would be pretty neat for somebody wanting both a "race" and a "street" cal to allow easy switching between the two.

[quantum]

The way I understand it, the battery is good for a really long time (years?). As far as I know it'll work without being plugged into a PC. They even make an optional bluetooth setup for them so you don't need a cable at all.

I just bought one of these bluetooth setups. I'll post up once I get it installed.

[moparzrule]

Check out this-would be awesome so you can try 2 cals at the flick of a switch-

Paul vellicky used to make cal's with 2 programs on the same chip and switchable somehow. Not sure how it worked, but a 27sf512 chip can hold 2 programs because the stock chip is only 256k.

[Tony Hanna]

I just bought one of these bluetooth setups. I'll post up once I get it installed.

I'm really interested to see how it works out for you! Ideally, I'd like to use something like that with a bluetooth capable PDA and a copy of chem or d-cal ported to the PDA's OS. It would be really nice to be able to make changes to the cal and then throw the PDA in the glove box instead of having a laptop laying around in the car like thief bait.

Paul vellicky used to make cal's with 2 programs on the same chip and switchable somehow. Not sure how it worked, but a 27sf512 chip can hold 2 programs because the stock chip is only 256k.

I might be wrong, but I think the switching is done by grounding one of the pins on the chip, not by anything special from the moates part. I believe the moates part is simply a convenient way to get a wire off of the right pin. If a person knew which pin needs grounded to switch, they could save themselves $30 by simply soldering a wire to the correct pin on the socket. I think... somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe that's how Paul was doing it?

[CSXRT4]

I might be wrong, but I think the switching is done by grounding one of the pins on the chip, not by anything special from the moates part. I believe the moates part is simply a convenient way to get a wire off of the right pin. If a person knew which pin needs grounded to switch, they could save themselves $30 by simply soldering a wire to the correct pin on the socket. I think... somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe that's how Paul was doing it?

^^^ that is all correct

[badandy]

I just bought one of these bluetooth setups. I'll post up once I get it installed.

I can't wait to hear about this

[Tony Hanna]

^^^ that is all correct

Thanks! I was going from memory and speculation with most of that.
Is it pin 1 that needs grounded to switch?

One other thing I'm curious about is if the moates part breaks the circuit between the pin and the ecu while it's grounded? I'm not sure if there is voltage supplied to that pin during normal operation or not. I'd like to try it, but I want to make sure I'm not going to hurt my socketed logic board in the process.

Tony

[zin]

While I have yet to read it all, this looks to be just what I was looking for!

Thanks!

Mike

[CSXRT4]

Thanks! I was going from memory and speculation with most of that.
Is it pin 1 that needs grounded to switch?

One other thing I'm curious about is if the moates part breaks the circuit between the pin and the ecu while it's grounded? I'm not sure if there is voltage supplied to that pin during normal operation or not. I'd like to try it, but I want to make sure I'm not going to hurt my socketed logic board in the process.

Tony

Ok I thought it was just switching the pin to ground but it looks like its slightly more involved than that. Here is some info I found on D-Cal

The theory is, cut the VCC lead to pin 1 (A14 on 28C256), then use a
pull-up resistor setup from VCC to that pin. (10K ohm from VCC Pin 28
to Pin 1). Then install an on/off switch between GND and the same Pin
1. This will load 4000h when the switch is off and 0000h when the
switch is on.

However I just did this with 28C256I-12 chips and no cal worked at all,
teh stocker still does. The 28C256I-12 seems to somehow not be
compatible timing wise?! Damn it!

I have pics if you want em, download
http://s92713009.onlinehome.us/autom...rationMods.zip

7MB of mostly useless pics but some will help you... maybe..

Robert

[Tony Hanna]

Ok I thought it was just switching the pin to ground but it looks like its slightly more involved than that. Here is some info I found on D-Cal

That's what I was afraid of. Might be worth the $30 for the Moates part just to save the hassle.
On a side note, I ran across a thread on hondamarketplace.com where someone had built a 16 position switcher for hondas and was selling it for $25. In that thread, one of our members was trying to determine if it would work for our cars. I wonder if anything ever came of that? Brian??

[Aries_Turbo]

yeah i tried to keep in contact with him and try one out but things fell by the wayside. plus i forgot about it.

the way the chips work is that you have to manipulate the address pins manually with switches or a logic counter setup like a J/K flipflop but you need to take into account the Chip enable and output enable pins. when they are low, the chip can be read. so you want to swap memory locations when one of them is high so that you dont switch when the chip is being read. if you use pins A14 and A15 on a 27SF512 and cycle through the various states, 00, 01, 10, and 11, you can set the base address to 0000h, 4000h, 8000h and C000H for use with an LM and 4 cals.

smec will only use A15 if iirc and only swap between 0000h and 8000h on a 27SF512.

Brian