Elan Scan USB

[Simon R]

Hi, Stupid question really but where can I get a cable to opperate Elan scan
Regards Simon

[uk08462]

http://aldlinterfaces.appee.com/

[Simon R]

Thanks. Bought one so here goes

[kurgen]

That price is daylight robbery!!! You can buy a gold HDMI lead off e-bay for a fiver.... Or a fully wired scart lead for the same. The parts must cost no more than 3 quid, it's a 2 wire connection damn it!!
regards
dave

[dapinky]

Well, in that case, virtually everyone I know has been had over by Dick Turpin - and no-one has realised it except you!

I've never heard anyone complain about the price of an Elanscan lead before - and if you don't want one - don't get one.

After all, you could always pick up a GM Tech one for about a grand instead (with the correct Elan-specific software) - much better value than a lead for £45 (then there's the LEC discount!) and free software.........

..... all of which has been developed by enthusiasts FOR NOTHING.

I know how much Geoff pays for the bits (and it aint a fiver!!!!), and how long it takes to put them together, and how much time he has given to help people set up the log files, and still has time to interpret the results for everyone.......

But, if anyone feels that they have been robbed (as opposed to hapily paying a garage £40 + VAT to do a single plug-in on the Tech Tool), feel free to PM me, and I'll make you an offer for your old lead


PS - I was robbed this morning.... there was omelette for breakfast and the waiter wanted me to pay for it..... The chickens didn't get paid for the eggs - so the parts couldn't have cost more than a few pennys.............

[GeoffSmith]

....... and another problem is that mass produced HDMI leads don't work with half-duplex ALDL interfaces..... and neither do SCART leads..... and connecting a USB to serial converter directly to your ALDL line is liable to damage the ECU ALDL buffer....... and the cheap USB to serial interfaces from eBay don't work with ElanScan as there is no way of adjusting the latency...... and the ALDL plug alone costs more than £3......

Otherwise, there are no real issues and I'm looking forward to an early retirement.

[kurgen]

Wooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Hit a nerve have I? Seems a bit of the emporers new clothes here!! Look, at the end of the day shout and scream all you want, the bits will still only come to a fiver. £45.00 you are taking the pI$$.
regards
dave

[GeoffSmith]

I bow to your superior knowledge. When are you planning on selling them? I would like to put my soldering iron away and wind down towards retirement.

[Beryl Toolkey]

Hi Dave,

Can you please let me know how to send you the £5 for an interface lead - do you take PayPal, bank transfer, cheque or what?

I was going to order one from the other seller, but as you can provide them for a much cheaper price, I'll take a couple off your hands - does that £10 include p&p to the UK mainland?

One will be going to my UK address and the other to my Germany address (BFPO) please.

Please advise for total cost and expected delivery date.

Thanks mate

[DeeAitch]

Can someone please just send me the bits for a fiver - I have my own soldering iron
Oh, and I'll be needing a full set of step by step instructions, pretty please
And can someone please tell me how to make the bluddy thing work on my laptop. I have XP but the windows don't come up anything like wot is sez on the tin . Maybe Geoff can pop up for a free cupa and sort it for me?

TTFN

[ashm]

That price is daylight robbery!!! You can buy a gold HDMI lead off e-bay for a fiver.... Or a fully wired scart lead for the same. The parts must cost no more than 3 quid, it's a 2 wire connection damn it!!

Grrr! This kind of comment really pisses me off. This is NOT a passive cable made by hooking one connector to another with a length of wire.

I happen to have designed and fabricated some similar pieces of electronics in the past, usually containing an FTDI USB->serial interface and AVR microcontroller, with some basic low speed I/O circuitry tacked on. Generally a pretty similar piece of kit to these cables.

Despite having little doubt that I have the necessary skills and equipment to make one of these myself, there's no way I'd do so when they're available at this price. For one thing, the connector is not a common part. I don't reckon I could supply the main components for less than £20. There's the necessary kit - you need a decent soldering station or this kind of thing is really painful work. Mainly though, designing the PCB, etching, soldering the components, testing etc would take so long that it'd cost me the equivalent of hundreds of pounds in time. And I've soldered FTDI chips before. They're only available in surface mount format. Good luck tackling a couple of dozen of those with your £15 Maplin soldering iron!

I don't need a cable for more than an hour every few months at the moment, so I found a helpful person nearby who was happy to lend me his. If I need one more often I'll certainly be buying one of these.

Incidentally, we have an automotive diagnostics machine at work costing many thousands of pounds, and I don't believe it does anything we can't do in our own garage for about 1% of the cost with one of these cables and a copy of ElanScan.

[Turbotwellski]

Hello just to make its the "ALDL USB interface" that I will need to use my laptop with ElanScan?

Many Thanks

[GeoffSmith]

I really could do with retiring Kurgen. How are you getting on?

[ashm]

I really could do with retiring Kurgen. How are you getting on?

[muley]

Dave

How's it going? Weather's fine and I want to check the Elan out - it's backfiring slightly.


Jim

[HJ2]

Same here, including backfire!