Diy Consult Interface Kit

[NewKleer]

Edit: new group buy in this thread: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=165668

All kits have been sold, thanks to everyone who took part - check out this thread for info on next project, a consult lcd display

Edit: Assembled interfaces are available here.

I've been developing a DIY Consult Interface Kit over the last few months, following on from this thread, for those who want to to get a consult interface without paying $100. For those who dont think they're capable of putting together a DIY kit, perhaps get a pre-made one from plms or blazt. I dont plan on assembling any myself given limited time. When assembled, the interface requires a PC/Laptop with a serial port (or usb->serial adaptor) and appropriate software.

Consult is a dianostic protocol in Nissan cars produced in the 90s that have a grey, 14 pin diagnostic connector (usually near fusebox). Features include sensor values (afm, rpm, speed, coolant, o2, etc), trouble codes and active tests (eg shutting cylinder off). See the screenshots from Datascan for a quick indication of whats possible (but note that Datascan isnt included in the kit, however theres a lot of free alternatives). It should work on: R32 (not early 89), R33, R34, Z32, S13 (SR20 only), S14, S15, N14, N15. It will work on stock ECUs only, not aftermarket computers. Should work with piggyback computers and remapped ECUs. Anyone with engine convesions should ensure the consult plug is there and connected properly.

When assembled, the interface has a ~2m cable from consult port, ending in a female serial connector, which then plugs into the male serial connector on the interface box, with the female connector on interface box plugging into PC/laptop serial port (or a usb->serial adaptor). One of the most important things to remember is that the final cable shouldnt be hooked up directly from consult port to PC/laptop as explained above. One of the main features of the kit is it allows u to disconnect the box from the cable to "turn it off", without requiring you to disconnect the cable from the consult plug near fusebox, so the cable can stay in position permanently.

First batch is 20 kits. Group buy starts from today, with 10 packed and ready to go. Depending on response, more can be arranged after the original 20. See bottom of this post for current list of purchases (and number available)

As the name implies, this is a do it yourself kit - no assembled product is being offered, only the parts needed to make one yourself. No responsibility can be taken for incorrect assembly or damage in doing so. A constrution guide has been created, but no responsibility can be taken for incorrect interpretation or mistakes or omissions (having said that I will of course aim to ensure its can be relied on for mistake free construction). I'll aim to help where i can with any construction issues.

Cost: $50, which includes express post ($51.50 for paypal, but it's instant)

Ordering and Payment: PM me to order

Payment is available via bank deposit or paypal only:

For paypal, this incurs a $1.50 fee, total being $51.50. Payment can made by logging into paypal, and choosing "send money". If your address in paypal is right and you choose send address option, then ill have everything i need to send out kit, but a quick pm with a copy paste of all details would be good. May want to just pm me first if the list of purchases below is full, but if still spaces then no need to confirm first.

Make sure a postage address has been supplied (mainly for dd payments). Ill aim to send out kits asap, but may be unable to do so on any given day. Normally express post items need to be received but no signature (otherwise picked up from post office), so if you are only home certain days, also advise me of this and ill try to send a day before you will be home. Areas outside express post network wont arrive the next day. See list at end of post for previous/pending purchases. I'll keep this updated with the status of all orders. If you do not wish your details (SAU username or email if no SAU username supplied) or the express post parcel number to be displayed in this thread, then let me know.

Already have/dont want consult plug/pins?:

If you already have the consult plug/pins, or do not wish to get them with the kit (to save more money), then i can supply the kit minus the consult plug and pins for $35 ($36 for paypal). I wont, however, be able to provide any help for you to wire this up to your car's connector or however you wish to go about connecting it. Given the kit is made so that you can disconnect the box from the cable that goes to consult port, you could wire it directly to the pins on the ECU, but again this would be you're own responsibility.

Links:

Construction Guide

List of parts provided

Page with sample images

Page with all images

Slightly outdated/incomplete components/prices list (assuming you buy certain things in bulk like connectors, pcb, consult plug, one off cost of postage would be a lot)

Software:

This interface should work with most generic consult software. Only issue ive found thus far is that rom dumping doesnt work on Nissan Datascan, but works fine on Calumsult.

Datascan

Calumsult - use this .exe (placed in same directory) if you have problems with rom dumping - normal .exe has resume on rom dump and more gauges, old exe doesnt but seems to work better (or so the author has said)

Conzult

OBD ScanTech Nissan

TECU

List of purchases/interest:

0. 46n2 - payment received (pre-assembled interface made for construction guide writeup/pics), sent 27/10

1. Daniel_ - payment received, sent 31/10, MN6508882

2. heartbrkr - payment received, sent 31/10, MN6508883

3. cypher1024 - payment received (kit minus consult plug/pins), sent 1/11, MN6508884

4. Duncan - payment received, sent 1/11, MN6508885

5. beastien - payment received, sent 1/11, MN6508886

6. mayhem - payment received, sent 2/11, MN6508887

7. Sydneykid - payment received, sent 2/11, MN6508888

8. cowie165 - payment received, sent 7/11, MN6508889

9. ceedub - payment received, sent 7/11, MN6508890 (kit minus consult plug/pins)

10. GTRgeoff - payment received, sent 7/11, MN6508861

11. SLR-Daz - payment received, sent 7/11, MN6508862

12. damuscat - payment received, sent 8/11, MN6508863

13. Chef_32 - payment received, sent 8/11, MN6508864

14. Withheld #1 - payment received, sent 8/11

15. predator - payment received, sent 8/11, MN6508866

16. R32GTS4 - payment received, sent 8/11, MN6508867

17. 3jai - payment received, sent 8/11, MN6508868

18. Gengis - payment received, sent 8/11, MN6508869

19. SnRuB - payment received, sent 10/11, MN6508870

20. 66 skyline gt - payment received, sent 15/11, MN6508931 (kit minus consult plug/pins)

21. SuAvE-1 - payment received, sent 15/11, MN6508932

22. Ben D - payment received, sent 15/11, MN6508933

23. dbloemhard - payment received, sent 17/11, MN6508934

24. CrispyFries - payment received, sent 24/11, MN6508935

25. Bov - payment received, sent 24/11, MN6508937

26. turbobeast - payment received, sent 28/11, MN6508938

27. MANWHOR3 - payment received, sent 29/11, MN5834543

28. rmahnovetsky - payment received, sent 02/12, MN5834544

29. gtmatt - payment received, sent 02/12, MN5834545 (kit minus consult plug/pins)

30. MadR32GTS-4 - payment received, sent 15/12, MN5834551

31. R32GTR - payment received, sent 19/12, MN5834552

32. JD R33 - payment received, sent 20/12, MN7338385

33. CoZZm0 - payment received, sent 4/01, MN7338386

34. Atari - payment received, sent 5/01, MN7338387

35. AWDMAT - payment received, sent 27/1, MN7338389

36. neergnevets - payment received, sent 28/3/07, CN3538119

Contact:

PM

Peter

Note: Again this is not an assembled interface, but a diy kit, second picture below is indicative of what it will look like when assembled.

Edited February 12, 2010 by R31Nismoid

[Daniel_]

I'm sure someone else must have had the same problem I did, I couldn't find the consult port

On an R34 it's inside a panel that if you're looking out of the windscreen is directly to the left of the hood lever.

[NewKleer]

do r34 have the fuse box in same area?

[Daniel_]

Yep.

Big red box is fuse box, small one has consult port inside it (well I'm really sure it's a consult port)

[Sydneykid]

Mine arrived via Express Post in ~48 hours from ordering. Good service.

Looks pretty simple. 8 resistors, couple of IC's, 5 capacitors, coupl of plugs, 3 LEDs. About an hour to build, nothing tricky.

Some suggestions;

Write the values on the resistor tags, saves heaps of time searching colour codes

Use shrink wrap for the cable ends, bit neater than tape

I will post up how it goes together and works.

Thanks for setting up the Group Buy NewKleer.

cheers

Edited November 4, 2005 by Sydneykid

[Daniel_]

I just used a multimeter for the resistors, but yeah labels would be better. specially if you don't have a meter around...still making mine. First time soldering

[NewKleer]

wouldnt have been able to make them available for another week or so also if i wrote the labels on all of them as its around 10-20 labels per kit, x 10-20 kits and thats a lot of writing (ive got a rsi like condition that stops me writing too much which doesnt help)

a multimeter is down as a requirement in the "Other Required Materials" section of the construction guide, so id assume anyone putting the kit together would have one (as you should for any pcb assembling). i personally would never trust colours/labels myself, always good (and quickest) to use a multimeter

i guess if anyone wants to request i specifically write down the values for their kits i can do that, but cant guarantee theyll be available as quickly as i generally dont have that much spare time

cheers for the feedback, and if anyone has suggestions for any of the trickier bits of construction (esp soldering the 2 x 3 close legged components, or cable assembly etc) then leave them here

Peter

[46n2]

Thanks Peter...Works a treat

[Sydneykid]

wouldnt have been able to make them available for another week or so also if i wrote the labels on all of them as its around 10-20 labels per kit, x 10-20 kits and thats a lot of writing (ive got a rsi like condition that stops me writing too much which doesnt help)

a multimeter is down as a requirement in the "Other Required Materials" section of the construction guide, so id assume anyone putting the kit together would have one (as you should for any pcb assembling). i personally would never trust colours/labels myself, always good (and quickest) to use a multimeter

i guess if anyone wants to request i specifically write down the values for their kits i can do that, but cant guarantee theyll be available as quickly as i generally dont have that much spare time

cheers for the feedback, and if anyone has suggestions for any of the trickier bits of construction (esp soldering the 2 x 3 close legged components, or cable assembly etc) then leave them here

Peter

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry Pete, they were suggestions for people building the kits, not you. You have done a great job.

Except the pictures are blurry in the instructions. Either that or my eyes are worse than I thought.

cheers

[NewKleer]

ahh right

pics are a bit blurry as my camera doesnt do manual focus and the auto focus is dodgy. i had to use a torch and some other weird stuff just to help it focus a bit better - and the ones shown are the good ones!

kits up to 23 are all packaged and ready to go, should be able to extend that more if needed

also, im gonna give my brother a shot at constructing some for those who dont want to put the kit together themselves. if that turns out ok then probably will offer pre-assembled ones for $75 inc postage (with him taking $25 for construction)

Edited November 5, 2005 by NewKleer

[Duncan]

Got mine too, thanks

[heartbrkr]

wOOp.

Having not used a soldering iron for about 8 years, took me 4-5 hours on and off =(

Had to run out and buy some proper snips, as my pliers were old and rusty.

Had a bit of issue with the regulator/transitor things bridging leads. Didnt have a solder sucker, so was a bit of grief there.

Also the yellow led photo, orientation is wrong, so i ended up swapping red & yellow. Only noticed next photo on that yellow was wrong corner. No marking on the actual board either.

Finally the actual consult plug had me a little stumped. Wasnt sure what flaps needed to be folded etc, so ended up cutting them all off =p

Also no indication of how far to pull the pins through. Originally had the silver pins flush with the back (1/4 of the depth), but then pulled them through with pliers about half way through the plug.

Not having a dig at newkleer, just bringing up some problems i had hung over this afternoon, so others know what to look for.

Next event was to find a laptop to test with. My friend wouldnt let me use his moms brand new one (fear of blowing things up), so ended up wiht some ancient pentium. Tested using free conzult as it fits on a floppy.

Came up straight away without any issues, so was over the moon. Didnt want to get my hopes up in case things didnt work. Only hitch right now, is the battery only lasts a few minutes, so no road trips yet.

Oh, if anyone can explain the base idle menu in free conzult. has a yellow bar, with green band in the middle. Shows CMPS vs RPM (cam position sensor vs rpm). My R33 is doing 680 which is just below the green band. Wondering if it is intended for 300zx motor.

[NewKleer]

Had a bit of issue with the regulator/transitor things bridging leads. Didnt have a solder sucker, so was a bit of grief there.

what would be your best tip for anyone else with similar issues? my best advice (as in the construction guide) was to cut leads really short so they wouldnt get in the way of soldering, but then its still a case of being careful

Also the yellow led photo, orientation is wrong, so i ended up swapping red & yellow. Only noticed next photo on that yellow was wrong corner. No marking on the actual board either.

i had a look thru all the pictures then and they all show the yellow led in the bottom right of the board. also picture under number 2 (the maroon one) is the PCB silkscreen which also shows yellow led bottom right. 1 or 2 pics where the board is upsidedown, were these confusing? if not can u tell me which pic exactly u had troubles with so i can look into it

Finally the actual consult plug had me a little stumped. Wasnt sure what flaps needed to be folded etc, so ended up cutting them all off =p

ive updated this section to add this for the pins:

The end of the pins ends up sitting flush with the 2 (and a half) thin plastic dividers when looking into the plug (and will be very hard to pull them any further). Check and ensure all pins were pulled thru the same amount.

and this for the plastic tabs:

When looking at the plastic locking tab, youll see two sides of it, one with thin bits of plastic, and other with noticably more. The thicker side should be pushed down and into the connector, after which the thin plastic bits side should "lock in" when pushed firmly into the gap left over. Dont be too concerned if you dont get it in right, they just help lock in the pins a bit better (but cut it off if it's proving too much trouble).

theres no really easy way to explain the locking in thing - its just something that hopefully everyone can work out themselves (as i did given the connectors never came with a how-to guide). They arent that important however as noted.

ive never played much with the base idle myself so cant help you there.

thanks for feedback, construction guide reflects above changes now (and added a pic to help clarify polarity of capacitors).

Edited November 6, 2005 by NewKleer

[sl33ek]

Hey dude

Payment sent via Paypal, looking forward to delivery

Thanks!

[GTRgeoff]

Item was sent yesterday and received today.

Thanks Peter.

[NewKleer]

sent out a whole chunk of kits today, those of you in express post network should receive those tomorrow.

4 kits for this lot left, should have enough to make about 40-45 in total with some more parts coming in this week.

[sl33ek]

Got mine yesterday and put it together last night

Not kidding about needing a fine tip soldering iron, those transistors are tiny

Works great

[predator]

received mine.. Thanks for the hard work.. now the fun part

[66 skyline gt]

ok, wot happens if ya dont ahve a consult port? like if ya have retrofitted the rb motor to some thing else......... how can ya use one of these, i would like to get one, but i cant use it. is there another loom i would need?

[NewKleer]

if u still have ur stock ECU then u just need to get the wires off it that would normally go to the consult port. get a wiring diagram, and find the CLK, TX, RX lines, and then a IGN and GND lines for power - typically u use the last two wires on top row of ecu on the right, second from right is 12V and rightmost is GND (check with multimeter).

then u can just get the kit without the consult port, and wire the cable directly up to that (if this is the only consult based thing u want to use) or go to a wreckers, get the car's consult port from a n14/15 pulsar (or nx) and then wire it on (and get the normal kit here)

check out this link:

http://www.rb20det.com/ecupinout.html

pins 21(RX), 22(TX), 31(CLK), 49(IGN), 50(GND)

not sure if its identical for all rb20s (and 25s?)

Edited November 10, 2005 by NewKleer