So once upon a time I was wiring my haltech and saw a big juicy black wire that Foolishly assumed was ground. how naive I was back then... it was power. Eventually I sifted through the melted wreckage of my harness and replaced some wires/re-wrapped it all.

so in the present I hook up my haltech to my laptop and it just says reconnect haltech. I know there is power to the rest of the car, or at least some power because the door lights work and so does the fuel gauge. can low battery charge cause this problem? does the car have to be running for the haltech to work? how can I be sure the haltech is getting power?

cliffs: I don't know if my haltech is broken or if my computer just can't see it. what can I do to troubleshoot before I buy a new haltech box?

 

what haltech box are you using ?

e6k,e6x,e8 e11, e11v2 new series ?

How are you connecting haltech to laptop ?, ( via serial cable , usb to serial adapter ? )

What operating system are you running on the laptop ? ( 98, 2000, xp,vista, 7 )

Whats low battery voltage ? ( 10 volts, 11, ? )
--------

Let us know , and will be easier to troubleshoot.

You can connect haltech to laptop and give the car ignition power and you should be able to go online.

normally with low voltage ( say above 10 volts ) , you can still go online , but car probably wont start due to low voltage to the starter.

 

using an e6k

connecting with a serial cable

running windows XP

battery voltage was between 11 and 12

 

have you successfully connected to the ecu before with your current computer setup ?

Sometimes windows XP acts up with e6x or e6k dos software and you need to run a virtual pc setup so it runs correctly.

 

Exactly. You'll need to run DosBox or Virtual PC. I've used both with equally good results. Do a search on this board for info on both.

Also, if you're using a serial to USB adapter, those can be a huge headache.

Is the fuel pump priming when you turn the key to ON? If so, then the ECu is probably OK. Assuming your wiring is correct, if the fuel pump does not prime when you turn the key on, then your box is probably dead.

 

how can i tell if my fuel pump is priming? I don't hear anything, but is there a more concrete way to check that?

also, i'm not using a usb adapter, its just a straight serial cable.

also, i'll look into DosBox and let you know if that helps.

 

just tried DosBox, with no change in results...

and no, I've never gotten the ECU to connect to the pc before, but this is the first time it's had power TO connect

 

Did you follow the instructions to start up e6k software in dos box ? , some times people cant get it to work ( aka , were you able to go offline with the software ).

The fuel pump priming is a good way to tell if the haltech is working, but you might have also mis installed the relays for the pump .

-----------

first check if you can go into the software offline , then if you can .

Check the 12v source to the haltech is correct. ( 12v direct from battery to main relay ( # 30 ) then the that feeds to the two fuses that feed the haltech everything is good ).also see if #85 on main relay is also getting 12v ignition.

while at it , check to see if the fuel pump trigger setup is done correctly ( you need 12v ignition,)

 

I can get the haltech software to run in offline mode, and it seems to work perfectly with or without dosbox as well.

I'm using a terminated harness that somebody else had running on their FC for a few years, and all the wiring lines up nicely so I'm pretty confident in the wiring. I'll run through that again as well, but I'm going to send my haltech back to the factory in Kentucky to have them determine whether or not its broken and/or fix it. it's kind of expensive ($75 just to have them verify that it works...) but its a lot cheaper than buying another one and it will let me eliminate this as a problem. plus 90 day warranty...

 

sending back the unit is a good option,

Before doing so though, did you check the 12v options I posted above ?



Check the 12v source to the haltech is correct. ( 12v direct from battery to main relay ( # 30 ) then the that feeds to the two fuses that feed the haltech everything is good ).also see if #85 on main relay is also getting 12v ignition.

while at it , check to see if the fuel pump trigger setup is done correctly ( you need 12v ignition,)

 

heres a link for a e6x wiring install, the e6k is similar but not exactly the same .



But how the e6x gets power is same as the e6k ( constant 12v and ignition 12v)



http://www.tweakit.net/haltech/manual/E6X_wiring.pdf

http://www.tweakit.net/haltech/manual/E6X_wiring.pdf

 

ok, so I got the box back on Saturday and Haltech says there wasn't really anything wrong with it but they went ahead and charged me the repair fee anyway because one of the screws was slightly rusted... They didnt even replace the screw, they just sanded off the rust. ANYWAYS...


Now that I know the Haltech works I plugged it back into my car, I got the fuel pump to prime so I know that works now too. I STILL can't get it to connect to my laptop though. Any suggestions?

 

so....... I just tried another laptop and I couldnt get that to work either. and right before I smashed it into a million pieces I noticed that my serial cable said "null modem" on it. Since I was born after 1940 I don't know much about serial cables so after a swift google search I found out that a null modem cable is the serial equivalent of an ethernet crossover cable. THAT IS WRONG! I am getting a regular serial cable tomorrow and I'm gonna test that. after that I'm going to find the person who sold me a null modem cable instead of a regular straight through serial cable and insert my null modem cable into their left eye and see if the cable will reverse the data to their right eye... and then I'll probly just strangle them with the damn thing.

other people should learn from this. null modem =/= to serial!

 

the last post was so nerd revenge.. lol i love IT! good luck
sorry to spam

 

Did this end up working? I am having trouble connecting as well. I have a prolific USB-serial adapter, windows xp, and an e6k. I can go into offline mode. Not sure if ecu has power, my fuel pump is activated by a switch. I've tried dosbox

 

Did this end up working? I am having trouble connecting as well. I have a prolific USB-serial adapter, windows xp, and an e6k. I can go into offline mode. Not sure if ecu has power, my fuel pump is activated by a switch. I've tried dosbox, as well as launching it out if defend. I'm having no luck.. Help me!!

 

It's best to get an old windows98/dos laptop and use the standard serial cable with the e6k. It still may not work with dosbox and XP even if you are doing everything "right".

 

actually, I've had excellent luck with DOSBox and Windows XP. Yesterday I just copied and pasted my DOSBox and haltech folders over to another computer running a serial cable and the haltech connected on the very first try! That may have been just really lucky but it was still cool.

Sometimes even if your setup is right it wont work, so try restarting the computer with the cables connected and with the haltech powered on or off and see if that works. Mine was really stubborn at first and then it suddenly started working without me changing anything after a few restarts.

The USB-serial cables are notoriously unreliable. What I did with both my laptops was get a docking station that had a serial port and used that. They are usually cheaper than USB-serial cables anyway and I've had no issues with using two of them.

Also be aware that there are settings in the DOSBox config file that need to get changed as well to make it work. Those can be sound by searching. One example is that by default DOSBox has all the COM (serial) ports closed... so you need to set one of them to open.

EDIT > http://forums.haltech.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1817

This thread is very helpful. Thanks Claudio