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writing to EPROM - n00b :)

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bulldog5046

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hello,

better introduce myself. My name is Ryan and i live in Bristol, England.

i'm looking to gather some information on a subject i know very little about. i am trying to write a map for my car onto an EPROM chip (well want to try) and i need some help with the software/hardware and chip that i would require to do this.

relax i'm not a complete nonse i am an IT tech :)

here is a link to the advert for the program:

https://www.fiatforum.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=5072&cat=20

the guy has been trying to tell me this program has a locked checksum so can only be written once, now correct me if i wrong but thats not possable? but okay if it is then writing it to a CD and transfering to the chip from there would eliminate this?

can i just purchase a simple PIC controller and a chip to do this or would i require somthing more complex?

Thank You!
Ryan Edge
 
First things first...

Find out exactly which plcc chip that's in there...because even if you have the hex code you will still need to physically program it...

I doubt that it's an eprom though, much more likely to be a prom, or even a small micro, but will most likely be a burn once only chip. However, it may be replaceable with an nvram, eprom or flash micro part etc.
If you plan on testing tweaks and stuff with this, it may be better for you to make an emulator and pod, rather than constantly pulling chips, but if you're gonna just use a chip, at least buy yourself a cheap plcc puller as opposed to using a needle to lever it out unevenly, it will save you damaging the chip and socket. If it's just a prom, he's talkin rubbish about it being a locked anything, hex is hex...however he may mean that once the chip is installed, the management system personalises it, and it can no longer be used in a different system...so if you buy the chip from him, make sure you make a back-up copy of the hex first. If on the other hand, it's actually a small micro, it may well have the memory locked.

Start off by figuring out which chip you need, and then you'll have a better idea what to build for programming/emulation etc

Oh, just a side note, most of these things are set-up and stored from physically running the car/engine set-up on a rolling road or dyno, so your car may not have the same performance because of variation in sensors, engine wear, emission system etc etc
You may in actual fact end up with something that runs poorer than what you have now...
 
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thank you for your reply, when i'm less drunk (prehaps even sober!?) i will take a picture of the chip that is on the ECU, i assume this will help you to help me? :)

here it costs £60! to get my car on the RR for just a power run!!! rediculous

Cheers,
Ryan :eek:
 
200 pounds seems pretty pricey for a chip. If you take a picture, please try to show the writing on the chip as well. It may well be a fiat numbered unit but worth a try.
 
philba said:
200 pounds seems pretty pricey for a chip. If you take a picture, please try to show the writing on the chip as well. It may well be a fiat numbered unit but worth a try.

well i dunno about in the US but its not bad for in the UK, i have been quoted £295 for chip + install from a tuning company :( gains arnt huge just 12bhp

costs far too much to modify car's here

the reason i'm looking into this is so i can copy the chip and supply it to my fellow 20v'ers here in the UK so if 3 others are interested it will only cost £50 :) much more reasonable i think you'll agree :)
 
Considering the chips themself likley only cost about 10 cents. These kinds of performance chips are basically a rip off. What you gain in horsepower you lose in gas mileage. All they do is basically control the fuel/air ratio for the engine at different RPM's. Sure you could copy the chip if you could find out the exact chip the eeprom (or whatever) was and get it's stored hex information out of it. You would however likley need to purchase a programmer that can handle that particular chip, and those usually aren't cheap (two to three times the price of the installed chip you mentioned)
 
would it be a better idea to try and establish comunication with the ECU and copy the map data then change the chip?

as i understand a cable to connect to the ECU isnt very expensive and the software i can get for free :)
 
bulldog5046 said:
would it be a better idea to try and establish comunication with the ECU and copy the map data then change the chip?

as i understand a cable to connect to the ECU isnt very expensive and the software i can get for free :)

I wouldn't expect the map data to be available in that way, which is why the mod chips are so expensive - you're paying for the hundreds of hours spent reverse engineering the system.
 
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