I know RTEK is going away, but I wonder if the community has any programmers that might want to figure out if there is any way to make offline tuning a reality.

Seems like being able to make changes to the fueling and ignition without being connected to the ECU would be very convenient. Something for me to do on my lunch break anyway lol then be able to have the changes take effect the next time you connect the palm to the ECU.

 

(I am a software engineer)

I attempted this by editing the data files you store on the palm, but it's not straightforward, and the data format is very poorly documented. All the stuff is old. It's a lot of work to write new software for it. It's difficult just to connect to the palm or the ECU.

The best best, in my opinion, is to enjoy the setup that turbo2ltr put together, as designed, or else move to fully modern ECU hardware and software. It takes hours, but once you get your tune, you are done. My palm stays in the car, but I mostly use it for diagnostics.

To speed up tuning, I wrote TrimPal to get to rough in the maps ( https://www.rx7club.com/rtek-forum-1...-tool-1101320/ ), but my best tune is still hand edited.

 

The communications protocol is simple, so it would be pretty trivial to make an application to communicate with the ECU directly and eliminate the Palm. I made an emulator in NodeJS a while back to so a friend could edit saved maps "offline" by connecting to the emulator.

 

I'd be willing to contribute my coding knowledge if we decided to start a github and wanted to collaborate on some software together. For example, I'm pretty savvy with java and Android Studio, and I would love to at least have a simple app that displays sensor info like my MSDroid app for megasquirt does in my Rtek car. I know turbo2ltr once had a working Android app compatible with Rtek and Bluetooth at one point. I get that it fell by the wayside with other more important projects; it'd be nice to at least get an understanding of the serial protocol to write code around, especially since Rtek is officially dead now.

 

Would it be easier to code for palm os than android when it comes to the rtek ?

In my very, very uneducated mind on the subject, I imagine it wouldn't be terribly difficult to simply make some tweaks. As a supporting example, when the palm dies and you swap batteries, the next time you plug it into the car it seems to instantly flash reset certain things like the starting fuel curve and variable resistor setting as an example... like that data is stored in the palm and the ecu, but when the palm is connected the ecu will always ping the palm for current settings.

Could changes to the software be made to fasciliate the palm to save all of the current data in the ecu in a constantly updating fashion so that when you disconnect it from the ecu you'd still be able to make changes to fuel or timing...? That way you can either save the maps that you 'offline tune' , and the next time you reconnect the palm to the ecu it can either be loaded or automatically overwrites ?

 

Your idea makes sense, however, I'm not even sure where to begin when it comes to coding Palm files. Normally I need source files to edit a program and then compile it all after I've made my edits. Not sure if I can edit a Palm file directly or what program would be used to do so. Also, I think spending time relearning an ancient device's coding could be better spent on up-to-date hardware. Which is why I always go back to the Android Rtek program that was already in Beta stage but never released for some reason.

 

Well it's good to know I am not completely off my rocker. I wonder if there are any of those beta files floating around out there?

 

I've looked everywhere (on the internet) for any signs of an APK file, or insight into the inner workings of the Rtek program, and have never found anything.

 

I would just ditch the palm entirely and start over -- there's not really a reason to keep it around. I'd have to do some digging, but I think I've got almost all of the communications protocol decoded.

 

Definitely want to ditch the Palm. The future is now.
I could foresee something like trimpal even implemented into an app.
I'm getting a serial converter in the mail tomorrow for another project, but I'll probably connect it to the rtek and use Putty to see what it's sending out.

 

Almost all of the data is polled, except for an initial version string at power on.

 

That would be easier to code with if you have that protocol decoded like you mentioned.

 

SonicRat, did you use something like Termite with two serial ports to intercept and decipher the communications?

 

I just connected a logic analyzer to it. I understand the ECU hardware itself, so it was fairly easy to determine what everything was.

 

Hey SonicRat, I've got some spare time coming up and was thinking of diving into the protocol and maybe roughing an Android app. Care to share some of your knowledge so I don't have to start from square one?

 

Defiantly following this thread i have the Bluetooth adapt and have been using the style-tap app which works pretty good along with trim pal.
So far this has made tuning easy and an offline deal is a awesome idea i hope you guys can make it happen...
Thanks in advance.

 

I'll make a new thread with the details here shortly.