[Sankar]

What is it?

Its an ECU remap tool!

It is a personal ECU flasher that works on any OBD2 remap enabled ECU. It lets you remap your car remotely. In my knowledge this is new in India and probably the first as on date.

All it needs is an Android phone with USB host support, the Droid Personal Flasher software installed from Playstore and access to the Internet. Connect the Droid Personal Flasher to the car's OBD port and then connect it to the Android Phone via the micro USB Port.

How it works?

It works on client/server or slave/master principle. The Droid Personal Flasher (DPF in short for the rest of this thread) is the slave unit and it is locked to your vehicle's VIN. The DPF reads the stock map of your car through the OBD port and uploads it to the cloud where the tuner has access to it. This file is stored as the Original or stock map in Slot 1 in this system from the available 5 slots, and now there are 4 slots remaining for storing 4 modified maps.

The remap when ready is uploaded onto the cloud by the tuner and this gets stored in Slot 2 and he can upload a total 4 modified maps in the cloud. Once the modified maps are ready you will receive an email in your registered email account and you have to connect the device to the car and then to the phone with WiFi or Data connection.

The software in your phone then syncs with the cloud/server and downloads all the available maps into your phone.

When the sync is completed you can see the new maps populating the slots 2 and up.

How to Flash?

Its simple.
Just click on whichever map is that you want to upload and it will ask for confirmation. Click OK and follow the simple Ignition Key ON and Ignition Key OFF procedure the software instructs you to do. The flashing process will take approximately 5 minutes once started on my VW 1.5 TDI.

It will be a good idea to keep the phone in airplane mode with only WiFi on so that any incoming calls or messages doesn't interrupt the process.

Advantages

• Availability of 4 different ECU maps at your disposal. Eg:- 1) Performance Map, 2) Economy Map, 3) Valet Mode with RPM limit 4) Speed limiter map if you lend your car to friends or family. This is just to give an idea. You can keep any customised map you want.
• Lets you switch to stock map anytime you want. If you want to take your car to dealership for any warranty claims you can flash to stock in 5 mins. For me this is important.
• If the tuner lives far away this little tool is godsend. Endless map revisions are made easy

Disadvantages

• Cost
• Works only on one car. The reason why it is called personal flasher.

The DPF


Home Screen in the software


It asks to press ID to tie/lock the device to your car's VIN


Syncing. The original is the file it reads from the ECU once IDed. Since mine was already remapped it read that file and put it in Original or Slot 1. So Sajan (Code6) sent me my car's original file and its stored in slot 2.


Now populated with 3 maps


Flashing a map to the ECU. I'm at Trivandrum and Sajan at Bangalore


Here's the thread i have put up when i first went to Code6 for the remap.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...de6-remap.html

[Jaggu]

This is really cool stuff, just like what those super cars have, factory uploads and owner can update from wherever he is lol

And this works only on ECU's that can be OBD flashed only right? How much is the cost, if you can please?

[tikku.dk]

Really nice stuff, the power of choosing different maps is such a boon especially when tuner is far away. Can we download maps and store it in phone and choose as we like, when there is no net access?

[Sankar]

Yep!! Once the map is stored in the phone connection to network is not compulsory. So works offline also. I checked once on the highway with no data connection. The cost is approximately 30k. Code6 will have the exact price.

Yes it works on any ECU that can be remapped via OBD port.

[amritpal2489]

Technology sure is changing.
Can anybody confirm if this thing works on our National Engine (Fiat 1.3 MJD) used in Ciaz???

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by amritpal2489

Technology sure is changing.
Can anybody confirm if this thing works on our National Engine (Fiat 1.3 MJD) used in Ciaz???

It works on all the 1.3MJD engines. The 1.3MJD can be flashed via OBD and doesn't even need to be taken out and unlocked before flashing.

[newtonMeter]

sankar. how much does it cost and also, is the laura TDI DSG ECU unlocked?

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by newtonMeter

sankar. how much does it cost and also, is the laura TDI DSG ECU unlocked?

The device costs roughly 30k. The Laura 2.0 TDI (including latest Audi 2.0 TDI) is OBD flashable and doesn't need ECU removal from vehicle/opening to unlock.

[a4anurag]

Hey Sankar,

Great product IMO and very handy for guys who have their rides under warranty.

30K seams steep but it is lifetime enjoyment as it endless remaps!

Can we overwrite once the slots are filled?

[Sankar]

Hi Anurag,
I have been waiting for them to bring this here as it would be of immense utility for guys like me. Map slots in the app can be populated, deleted and repopulated as desired you just have to ask them. Yesterday I had one deleted and two new ones added.

[lillios]

Hey Sankar what if they switch off DPF in the maps. then don't they also have to remove the exhaust to remove DPF? otherwise it will show a check engine light? have they found any work around for that?

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by lillios

Hey Sankar what if they switch off DPF in the maps. then don't they also have to remove the exhaust to remove DPF? otherwise it will show a check engine light? have they found any work around for that?

DPF switch off is not done without supporting hardware change. So if they do have a DPF off map that will be made available only to cars with the supporting mod.

[mmridul]

@sankar, quick questions
1) Since you mention that warranty is such an important factor, is the remap not detectable at the workshop? (i.e. even when the stock map is loaded, doesn't the MD5/ SHA256 signature change to reflect the fact that the ECU has been tweaked/ played around with)

2) Does the ECU need to be mapped before the first use of this device, or this in itself can be the first flasher?

This would be amazing, if its undetectable. Would definitely pick it up for my GT

[freedom]

Originally Posted by mmridul

@sankar, quick questions
1) Since you mention that warranty is such an important factor, is the remap not detectable at the workshop? (i.e. even when the stock map is loaded, doesn't the MD5/ SHA256 signature change to reflect the fact that the ECU has been tweaked/ played around with)

2) Does the ECU need to be mapped before the first use of this device, or this in itself can be the first flasher?

This would be amazing, if its undetectable. Would definitely pick it up for my GT

Since you are talking about checksums, I assume you are into computers. Flashing is a "full" bit-by-bit copy. Imagine cloning a disk using dd instead of copying files.
I am pretty sure the checksum won't be an issue. If there was some meadata about the ECU like modified time that is outside the ECU memory then it can be used to track the last change.
Manufacturers are skimping on carpets to hide damgling wires, I would like to believe that they won't spend on a memory to track ECU update timestamp.

[Sankar]

@mmridul
1) The remap when flashed back to stock is not noticeable by the technician who is scanning the vehicle to send the log to the manufacturer for warranty approval. The checksum cannot be detected by the dealer it is beyond their scope.

1.1) If the manufacturer wants to "scrutinise" the ECU then of course they can can find that it has been tampered with. This is not done usually unless there is a major warranty claim like a blown engine!

2) This device can do the first mapping itself. But the VW 1.5 and 1.6 TDI ECU needs to be unlocked before it can accept a remap. So for this the technician will need hands on access to it. For other ECUs that doesn't require this unlock (For eg: 1.3 multijets) everything can be done remotely.