The USB Device datalog guide

[risen]

So, now that I've finally gotten around to writing the article for datalogging what do you need to do it? You need 1 piece of hardware, some wiring, and some software.

The Hardware:
In most cases new laptops only have USB connectivity and should use a FTDI devices chipset to handle the USB to Serial conversion needed for communication with the SMEC/SBEC/LM.

You can get the SBEC Interface cable from www.boostbutton.com if you'd perfer not to have to deal with selecting the proper cabling and/or you want to be ready if you plan to buy a flashable smec or flash a SBEC head on over there.

While there are many different modules out there, the ones that are known to work are the following:

DLP devices TXRX-g - http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...qX8IyUdaUKg%3d
Datasheet - http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Docu...xrx-v14-ds.pdf

FT232RL cable - http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...R7DtM6b7hTwLVv
Datasheet - http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Docu...32R_CABLES.pdf

For the TXRX-g module you will also need a A to mini-B USB cable. Many times these come with cameras or phones, so you may already have one laying around. If not, you can pick one of these up from Mouser:
USB A to mini-B cable - http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...2bF7ub0qqBo%3d

Mouser isn't the only place that offers these modules or cables, so feel free to search for a better price if you're not happy with ~20$ for the module. I have personally used these devices for LM and SMEC duty so I know they work correctly. I've even bootloaded a SMEC with one and a perl script.

And that's really it for the hardware part.

The Wiring:
Once you purchase the hardware you will need to wire it up in the way described below. If you're considering how to wire it, run some wires from the adapter to the SCI port where you can crimp or solder spade terminals that will slide into your SCI connector is a good idea. This way you can pull them out and not have to worry about splices or cutting up your harness.

Identification of TX and RX pins
TXRX-g adapter -
the TX line on the adapter has an arrow pointing twards the black connector top arrow
the RX line on the adapter has an arrow pointing away from the black connector 2nd arrow from top
the GND line is the one with the arrow pointing parallel to the black adapter 3rd arrow from top

The TXRX-g adapter also has holes that are connected to each pin on the black connector, so if you would prefer to solder the wires into those holes instead of attempting to use the black connector, feel free.

FT232RL cable -
the TX line is connected to the Orange cable
the RX line is connected to the Yellow cable
the GND line is the Black cable

Once you have identified the pins that need to be connected you will need to connect them to the proper ports on the SCI connector. The SCI connector will only need 3 pins. The connections are as follows:

TXRX-g -
TX line on adapter -> Green wire on SCI connector
RX line on adapter -> Pink wire on SCI connector
GND line on adapter -> Black wire on SCI connector

FT232RL -
Orange cable (TX)-> Green wire on the SCI connector
Yellow cable (RX)-> Pink wire on the SCI connector
Black cable (GND)-> Black wire on SCI connector

Once you've connected the pins from your adapter to the SCI connector the wiring part is done.

The Software:

These adapters are very flexible and, as such, need to have some minor tweaks made to their configuration to ensure they function properly with our ECUs. For interfacing via the SCI port this means setting the comms to inverted I/O for all ECU types. Also, the TXRX-g adapter needs to have it's 2 status LEDs setup to flash on TX and RX if you'd like the visual status indication. Lastly, the adapter can be setup to use shorter timeouts which will speed datalogging significantly. The simple tweak will increase the performance by nearly an order of magnitude vs a default adapter.

You will need to download drivers for your adapter and the FT_PROG utility from FTDI's website. It may also be helpful to grab a copy of FTDIclean just in case your system needs to have old drivers removed. Please note that this is the nuclear option, so only use it as a last resort or after posting in the forums, I've never had to use it personally and I've updated my drivers and had 4 devices hanging off one system at a time.

You can follow the links below to retrieve the programs I just mentioned -

Drivers : http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
- Grab the latest ones that suit your OS and processor version. Stick with the VCP drivers as most applications expect a serial port.

FT_PROG : http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm#FT_Prog
Please note that you also need the Microsoft .NET framework if you don't already have it installed. You can download the FT_PROG zip file and see if you can run it. If you can, don't worry about the .net download. If it fails to run (may take 10 or 15s to start), grab the .net package linked to on the FTDI site and install it. FT_PROG should run just fine after you install that.

FT_CLEAN: http://www.ftdichip.com/Resources/Utilities/FTClean.zip
NUCLEAR OPTION!!! USE ONLY AS LAST RESORT IF YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND RAMIFICATIONS!!!!

Driver installation:
At this point you should have your adapter disconnected from both the PC and ECU. Sometimes if the USB adapter is plugged into the PC and connected to the ECU with the car powered off, the ECU can cause the adapter to get hot. You will probably want to avoid that situation in the future and should definitely do so for this section.

If you downloaded a .exe version of the drivers (an installer) you can simply run the installer to install the drivers. You can then plug the adapter into your PC and you should hear some tones and it should find your device without problems. If this is the case you can skip down to the programming of the adapter. You may already have drivers so if you can see the device under device manager, you can skip down to the FT_PROG section.

If you downloaded a .zip file for the drivers you will need to extract the files in the .zip to a folder. In my examples I'll be using the C:\CDM20808 folder like below


Once you've extracted the drvers from the .zip you can plug your adapter into your PC. Once you've plugged it in, you may get the 'Found new hardware wizard'. Direct the found new hardware wizard to serach only in a specific location on your pc and select the folder you extracted the drivers in. Once you've done this your device manager should have a device like the following sceenshot under your USB devices.


If the hardware isn't reckognized, you can unplug it and plug it back in and follow the forced update instructions and screenshots below starting with the first wizard page. If you'd like to make sure the drivers are up to the latest or ensure that you're using a specific driver follow the sequence of screenshots below.

In the device manager right click on the device, and select properties.


On the properties page that pops up, select the driver tab at top.


On the driver tab, you click the button that says update driver.


Those who have hardware that isn't automatically loading the driver can start following the procedure here. The update driver wizard will begin on the first page you will select 'No not at this time' and click next.


On the next page select install from specific location and click next


On this page select 'Don't search, I'll choose the driver to install' and click next


On the next page click the 'Have Disk' button. Don't worry if your screen doesn't have the 2 drivers listed above, it may have none or 1 more 3 or 8, it's not important.


When the 'Install from disk' dialog pops up, select the 'Browse' button and browse to the folder where you extracted the drivers.


Double click to open the directory.


Select the ftdiport.inf file and hit 'Open'


On the select device driver window select the USB Serial converter line and click 'Next'.


If the driver isn't signed, you'll get this pop-up window. As long as you downloaded the driver from FTDI's site, you can click 'Continue Anyways'. It's a *VERY* bad idea to install drivers from someone other than FTDI. It's a bad idea in general to install drivers from someone other than the hardware manufacturer.



The driver install should then complete. If it asks you about overwriting any files, you can tell it to do so. Your device properties page should reflect the new driver if you select that tab now.

Now, at this point we have a driver installed and the device should be listed under the USB devices. If it's not there at this point, stop and seek some help or do some other troubleshooting like disconnecting and reconnecting the device and listening for the USB connection tones.

Configure Device with FT_PROG:

Now since the device is connected and the drivers are loaded we can go ahead and configure it for use with our ECU. At this point you should fire up the ft_prog application. Once it's up you'll be presented with a screen like the one in the screenshot.


You can then click on the 'Devices' entry in the menu and run the 'Scan and Parse' option. Or just hit F5. You will see the application window have a status bar across the bottom and if all goes well you will be presented with a screen like below.
Please note that you should only have *1* device listed. If there are multiple devices listed, make sure you unplug all USB devices other than your adapter. We don't want to reprogram something else.


Once you have that screen you should expand the hardware specific settings by clicking the + sign next to it. Once expanded you will see an entry for InvertTXD and InvertRXD.


SMEC and SBEC -- You will need to click these as in the screenshot below


For TXRX-g users, if you'd like to make sure the LEDs flash when there's tx or rx activity select the 'IO Controls'. The CBUS3 should be set to 'TXLED#' and the CBUS4 should be set to 'RXLED#' as in the screenshot below. Users of other cables can ignore these settings.


At this point you are ready to program your device. You can click the lightning bolt on the icon bar or select 'Devices' and 'Program Devices' from the menu. This will bring up the dialog below.


Once the dialog comes up and you see only 1 device you can hit the 'Program' button. You will see the dialog change it's status line in the lower left corner and it should say 'Finished Programming' there once done. See screenshot below.



That's it for the programming of the device. You can now close out the ft_prog window. I normally disconnect my device and reconnect it to verify that everything is functioning OK.


Reduce the USB transmit timeout for higher performance

To do this you will need to open device manager and expand the 'Ports - (COM & LPT)' section as shown in the screenshot.



You will now need to select your USB serial converter com port if you have more than 1 listed. You can right click on the device and select properties to check. If the properties page says 'FTDI' for manufacturer and 'on USB serial converter' for location you have the correct device. If not, select another com port. See the poperty page screenshot below for example.


At this point you need to select the port settings tab on the properties page and click the advanced button. The page and resulting advanced window are below.


On the Advanced page you will want to set the Latency timer to it's lowest possible value (one in this case, sometimes it's 2). This will cause the USB device to send back the data more quickly if it's quota hasn't been reached yet.


After setting the value as in the above screenshot click OK on the advanced page and OK on the peroperties page.

At this point your device is fully configured. You just need to remember which COM port your device is listed as.

Datalog Software:
You currently have 3 choices of TM compatible Datalog software. They're linked to below:

MPScan - Newest, works with most ECUs, written by wowzer who also wrote MPTuner. Pretty sweet piece of s/w in both cases.
Download MPScan here - http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...p?47905-MPScan

Winlog plugin - relatively old, only works with LMs, has some warts, but is workable.
You will need to download winlog from here: http://www.devtechnics.com/winlog.htm
And the winlog plugin is here:

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...691#post465691

Logworks Plugin - works for LM/SMEC/SBEC, flexible, has editable addresses, and full integration with Innovate hardware. In the process of getting a rewrite, but still good if you have an Innovate W/B or feel like using innovate's stim .dll and only 5 inputs. Instructions are in the thread, I'd reccommend reading the whole thing over a cup of coffee (or a beer...) before attempting to run it. If you want the stim.dll PM me.

Download from here: http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...r-SMEC-SBEC-LM

I will be updating the plugins in the coming months (or years...) so they have better support for a wider array of ECUs and protocols. Once the plugins are updated I'll move all the relevant documentation into this article.

[Swart]

Awesome!! I have been working on this in my free time.
I have already made the hardware part of it up and got the software installed and working... just need to try it in the car!

Thank you!!

[ShelGame]

LM -- You need to make sure they are unchecked as in the screenshot below

I thought this was only true if you were wiring in the cable/adapter directly to the MCU. If you plug it into the SCI port like on the SMEC and SBEC, you still need to invert the logic levels, correct?

[risen]

I thought this was only true if you were wiring in the cable/adapter directly to the MCU. If you plug it into the SCI port like on the SMEC and SBEC, you still need to invert the logic levels, correct?

Looks like I need to verify this when I get home tonight. I'm pretty sure that I checked and it's still normal comms externally. I'll verify tonight and remove that if it's incorrect.

[Dave]

Lots of good info. I think this answers my question about datalogging in my earlier thread. A bit confusing still, but I think we can figure it out.

[wowzer]

excellent job risen. it seems to me that setting the latency to 2 ms and buffers to 64 bytes helps with transmission stability. although you can set latency to 1 ms it appears that 2 ms is probably the lowest to use. in fact the ftdi dll will only allow you to set it to 2 via software.

[risen]

excellent job risen. it seems to me that setting the latency to 2 ms and buffers to 64 bytes helps with transmission stability. although you can set latency to 1 ms it appears that 2 ms is probably the lowest to use. in fact the ftdi dll will only allow you to set it to 2 via software.

I originally thought that, too. But after I re-read the application note it seems that only the latency timer really matters unless you actually do block transfers (which the drb protocol doesn't ). I did some testing last night with 2 different modules set @ 1 ms and it appears to obey the 1ms setting. The older drivers wouldn't let you go that low, iirc. So idk what changed with the 2.08.08 drivers but the newer module with new drivers nearly always returns from a read in 1ms.

I'll test with the plugin @ 2ms later today and post the results. Again, this is only for the drb protocol, if there's another setting that works better for the high speed I can certainly take that into account, though I'm starting to think this stuff needs to go into a PDF because I'm close to the char limit in that post.

[turbovanman²]

Subscibed.!!!!

[risen]

I thought this was only true if you were wiring in the cable/adapter directly to the MCU. If you plug it into the SCI port like on the SMEC and SBEC, you still need to invert the logic levels, correct?

That is correct. I've removed the section about setting it to be non-inverted.

excellent job risen. it seems to me that setting the latency to 2 ms and buffers to 64 bytes helps with transmission stability. although you can set latency to 1 ms it appears that 2 ms is probably the lowest to use. in fact the ftdi dll will only allow you to set it to 2 via software.

Here's the link to the application note from FTDI about the buffer settings and latency timers http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Docu...atencyFlow.pdf .

So I did some testing last night to see what the difference between 1ms and 2ms latency timers and the difference between the 232rl chip and their new 2232h chip. I picked up a few of the 2232h modules because I thought they might have different latency settings or be faster due to the fact that they support the USB 2.0 Hi-Speed(480 mbits/s) setting while the 232RL are Full-Speed (11mbits/s). Unfortunately the 2232H chips don't support inversion so I had to send the connection through a 7405 w/1k pullups to 5v to test on the bench. The results are below, but the gist is this: there's no difference between 2ms and 1ms so the 1ms setting may not have any effect above the 2nd setting at all.

The methodology is the following:
I rebooted the PC between each test below.
I setup portmon to monitor the serial port that the USB device was connected to and log the output to a file.
I then setup the smecstim and ran my bench smec which is a T2 from '88
I connected the using the S60/T2 setting on the logworks plugin and set it to monitor 5 variables
I clicked start on the plugin and let the test run for about a minute.
My laptop (a 1.6ghz Pentium M with 2gb memory) saw utilization around 80% during this test, so it wasn't maxed out, but those with weak laptops should beware.

The results you see below are as follows
The parts headed with read_success measure the amount of time between the read call being issued and the call returning success as measured by portmon.
The write_purge success parts measure the amount of time between the 2 purge calls being issued and returning success (normally around 30us) and the amount of time it took the write call to succeed.
The read call is what the latency timer actually has a largest affect on based upon the application note, so I separated that out.
If you take the average of the 2 sets (so, say the 2232_1ms for read and 2232_1ms for write) you'll get the full amount of time it takes the application to submit a query to the ECU and get it's response, any overhead in the application is ignored. The one thing that jumps out at me is that the 232rl chipset on the txrx-g adapter is much faster when returning from a read but the average amount of time doesn't seem to have any effect. I'm not sure what sort of effect the higher usb speed is having, but it doesn't seem all that great.

If anyone wants the raw portmon captures to do some further analysis LMK and I can send them your way.

read_success_vdev_2232_1ms.txt
entries read: 27649
average     : 0.0014885683
min         : 0.0000025100
max         : 0.0037169500
total       : 41.1574258700
std. dev    : 0.0003640873

read_success_vdev_2232_2ms.txt
entries read: 24508
average     : 0.0015685260
min         : 0.0000019600
max         : 0.0038071900
total       : 38.4414343500
std. dev    : 0.0002690652

read_success_vdev_txrx-g-1ms.txt
entries read: 47791
average     : 0.0008360901
min         : 0.0000016800
max         : 0.0029906000
total       : 39.9575835800
std. dev    : 0.0003256486

read_success_vdev_txrx-g-2ms.txt
entries read: 59368
average     : 0.0009877649
min         : 0.0000016800
max         : 0.0040608500
total       : 58.6416261300
std. dev    : 0.0004331843

write_purge_success_vdev_2232_1ms.txt
entries read: 110619
average     : 0.0000620406
min         : 0.0000014000
max         : 0.0948682000
total       : 6.8628658900
std. dev    : 0.0004168810

write_purge_success_vdev_2232_2ms.txt
entries read: 98053
average     : 0.0000655221
min         : 0.0000014000
max         : 0.0999607500
total       : 6.4246400100
std. dev    : 0.0004648624

write_purge_success_vdev_txrx-g-1ms.txt
entries read: 191187
average     : 0.0002236414
min         : 0.0000014000
max         : 0.1000870200
total       : 42.7573356900
std. dev    : 0.0005090465

write_purge_success_vdev_txrx-g-2ms.txt
entries read: 237493
average     : 0.0002106277
min         : 0.0000014000
max         : 0.1000979200
total       : 50.0225945600
std. dev    : 0.0004711788

[fixit]

I have and like the 4 port DataQ starter kit, $29
real time graphs, export to csv etc..


http://www.dataq.com/data-acquisitio...arter-kits.htm
the lite software is free too
http://www.dataq.com/products/software/acquisition.htm

[Dave]

What if I don't plan to reflash my ECU and I want to leave the flashing to Boost Button, however, I want to datalog.

Will I just need the FT232RL cable and MP Tuner? Or is there more that I am missing?

I can simply just solder on my 3 spade terminals, plug it into the SCI plug, then connect to my laptop via USB and is that all for physical connections?

Thanks for the help. Sorry I suck with this type of technology.

[ShelGame]

What if I don't plan to reflash my ECU and I want to leave the flashing to Boost Button, however, I want to datalog.

Will I just need the FT232RL cable and MP Tuner? Or is there more that I am missing?

No, that's all you need.

I can simply just solder on my 3 spade terminals, plug it into the SCI plug, then connect to my laptop via USB and is that all for physical connections?

Thanks for the help. Sorry I suck with this type of technology.

Yes, that's all you need to connect. You just have to make sure you get the Rx and TX in the correct positions.

Then, you will still need to change the FTDI chip setup using FT_Prog.

[Force Fed Mopar]

Does it have to be that cable, or can you use a usb-to-serial converter cable and just cut the serial end off? That cable listed has a little electronic board or something inside it, does it have to have that?

Can we get some pics of one of these boards all wired up?

[Juggy]

Does it have to be that cable, or can you use a usb-to-serial converter cable and just cut the serial end off? That cable listed has a little electronic board or something inside it, does it have to have that?

Can we get some pics of one of these boards all wired up?

theres nothing to wire up
just slide on your pinned header cable attach 3wires respectively: Tx Rx and ground.

[shackwrrr]

Is there anyway in logworks to make the O2 sensor reading translte the 0-5 volt range to AFR? I am wondering because if you are tuning your car and you disable o2 feedback, you can input 0-5 volts on the original O2 sensor wire to the ecu. Then it would show up through the sci cable since the cpu input is still 0-5v even though the narrowband is only 0-1v. It would only work if you diasable o2 feedback though because the ecu wouldnt be able to translate it but if you are running a wideband other than lc1 or your old laptop only has 1 usb port this would be nice.

[Force Fed Mopar]

theres nothing to wire up
just slide on your pinned header cable attach 3wires respectively: Tx Rx and ground.

Doesn't help that I don't know what the pinned header looks like Do you have a unit assembled and installed? IF so snap a pic please, if possible.

[Juggy]

heres the "3 pin header cable"
that will plug into the board previously listed
and the mini usb plugs into the other side of the board, to let the main USB to go computer.

the 3 wires on the pin header go to Rx Tx and Ground.
if u want to see a pic i can snap one. but its prety straight forward. everything is plug and play, besides the part where you attach your spade terminals to the end of the 3 pin header cable (Rx Tx ground...)


my cars outta commission right now, but offered to meet up with a friend sometime soon to get this stuff installed in his car, so we can check it out first hand


if your using the 232 cable, the same amount of work is involved, but less parts to purchase. just find the Rx Tx and ground as they are each listed in the spec sheet, and hook up the terminals!

[Force Fed Mopar]

Okay, so does that header cable come with it? What is that 232RL cable he listed for? It shows it has a USB plug on one end.

[shackwrrr]

Okay, so does that header cable come with it? What is that 232RL cable he listed for? It shows it has a USB plug on one end.

That 232rl cable has the circuit board molded in the connector. So all you would have to do is put spades on the loose ends and run it inside the car.

[Force Fed Mopar]

Oh, so you use one or the other, not both together. Wonder which one is more reliable