2025/26 ElanScan Interface

[NoahR]

Hi all,

Is anyone selling an ElanScan interface cable?

I know I can follow this video to make one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVsLD1eJP7Y, however, I'm slightly concerned about some talk regarding risking bricking my ECU. Has anyone had any experience with this? Any suggestions to mitigate the issue?

I believe GeoffSmith's version avoided this through a slightly different design; however, I haven't had a reply when I emailed about purchasing one.

Thanks in advance!

Noah

[matts1972]

Hi Noah,

As I have mentioned the risk of bricking the ECU in some post of mine, I will try to answer this.
The main risk of building an interface yourself, is mixing up the connector pins resulting in a short. As there is 12v on this connector, this risk is real.
However this is also a risk that you can control by double checking what you do.
I have not read about anyone actually bricking their ECU, and the ECU might even have some internal protection to prevent this.
That being said, I myself was not careful one time, but was getting away with blowing only the fuse.

Cheers,

Matthias

[RonR]

I think Geoff made several cable versions over the years.
The version I have uses an opto-isolator chip on the data line.
This protects the ECU from shorts at the PC end, but you're still at the mercy of the wiring at the ECU end.

[NoahR]

Hi both,

Thank you for your input.

Matthias, that makes sense - I will be extra careful. Is it not possible to put a fuse in the middle of the system to mitigate this? - I have a rather limited knowledge of electrical 'bits' so forgive the basic question. - Some more googling needed for me.

Ron, yes, an opto-isolator chip was what I'd seen on the forums before - just couldn't find the specific name again. Thanks.

[matts1972]

Hi Noah,
The 12v is fused, however the ECU might be so sensitive that a classic fuse will not do. For the ElanLogger interface I have put in a Zener diode to clamp down voltage to 5v for protection, but you still need to make sure that you assemble everything correctly.
The good news is though, that you do not need the 12v pin at all if you just want to connect an elanscan interface. So just be extra careful that you identify the 12v pin with a multimeter and leave it alone (or stick something like a match in to block it).
The data pin will probably survive a short to ground, so I would not be too worried as long as you know how to use a multimeter and have soldered something before.
Best regards
Matthias

[Tuga2112]

ive built 5 or 6 of those cables folowing the video.
all units i made were tested in my yellow car.

sold all but 2. of them and the only problems i had was the people getting their computers setup to read things (the drivers setup and com port choise are not straighforward stuff for non-techy folk)

surely an optocouple can be added to the circuit to give you complete isolation. i have the stuff needed to do that in my electronics box but given the fact i have heard of zero issues over the years i think this seems a bit over-protective.

the only reason i can see this being potentially a consern is if your planning on plugging this to the NA... which is a scenario that applies to my green car.... and your discussion just added more work to my to do list...

maybe i should stop following this forum....

[NoahR]

Thanks for the info both! - I will give it a shot when I get some time .

Hahah, enjoy Tuga - let us know how it goes if you do get round to it.