Guide For Focus Mk2/mk2.5 C-Max/kuga ~Elm 327 Cable And Ff2 Program

[jeebowhite]

is someone able to provide a link to the latest ELM Config software? I see Preee has the original files, but I cant see any links to the latest and greatest releases of all this software!

[Brazh]

is someone able to provide a link to the latest ELM Config software? I see Preee has the original files, but I cant see any links to the latest and greatest releases of all this software!

civil.iffc.ru/ELMConfig/ELMConfig.zip

if not working download and install this pack

http://civil.iffc.ru/ELMConfig/RuntimePack.exe

[Daz-ST]

Just downloaded the latest version of this wonderful software.

can someone explain what the driver option is for please.

(V)CP and FTDI D2XX option

can you update the PCM on a Focus ST 2.5 MK2.5

ty

[Brazh]

Just downloaded the latest version of this wonderful software.

can someone explain what the driver option is for please.

(V)CP and FTDI D2XX option

can you update the PCM on a Focus ST 2.5 MK2.5

ty

VCP - virtual Com port

FTDI D2xx - direct driver

Actually no matter I think. I'm using the second one. As I know ST reflashing is not supported. What is your PCM model? Other functions are working on ST, at least I tryed FOCUS ST MK2

[jarp]

Just downloaded the latest version of this wonderful software.

can someone explain what the driver option is for please.

(V)CP and FTDI D2XX option

can you update the PCM on a Focus ST 2.5 MK2.5

ty

If your ELM327 device has FTDI bridge inside, download D2XX drivers from FTDI's site and use D2XX.

You see, back in history computers had one or two serial ports (usually named COM1, COM2 etc, you remember). All the software etc. were able to communicate with devices via serial ports using serial protocol (RS232). And then came the USB (port and protocol, nothing to do with serial ports or protocol), replacing serial ports from computers. But yet still lot's of devices (like ELM327 chip!) uses serial protocol today, as it is so much easier to implement than USB. Child can implement serial protocol to their devices, you know, but USB, it's whole different thing. Same goes with software, they support serial protocol and serial ports as it's simple to implement and of course because devices still use them! However, here comes dilemma... We do not have serial ports anymore on our computers!

Here comes serial-USB bridges, like Prolific's PL2303 or FTDI's FT232R. They are able to communicate with devices like ELM327 using serial protocol and then transport serial data to computer via USB connection. On computer, there are drivers for these bridge chips and these drivers do communicate with these chips over the USB. Drivers do create virtual serial ports (opposed to real hardware serial ports), often called VCP (virtual COM port) and expose serial data read from USB to software via virtual serial ports. Software supporting serial ports (or COM ports, as they are often called) then can connect and their point of view they are just "talking serial" directly to devices. But behind the scenes whole chain is:

Serial Device <-> Serial-USB Bridge <-> USB Port <-> Drivers <-> Virtual Serial Port <-> Software

While back in days we had:

Serial Device <-> Serial Port <-> Software

Now, as USB and serial protocols are totally different species, this multilayered emulation can give problems. As you have found out, speed problems etc. Now, FTDI has implemented D2XX protocol, so that if software does support it, software can communicate directly with Serial-USB Bridge bypassing Virtual Serial Port. So chain becomes:

Serial Device <-> Serial-USB Bridge <-> USB Port <-> Drivers <-> Software

So one problematic emulation layer is removed. This requires, of course, support from the drivers and from to software, since this is vendor specific thing instead of standard thing. ELMConfig supports D2XX, so if you have FTDI chip inside of your ELM327, you should use D2XX, it's more reliable for obvious reasons.

Ps. You could, of course, connect ELM327 chip directly to serial port, if you have one and you would have the skills. This would eliminate all the emulation layers etc. Though, where do you find serial ports anymore and where do you find fast enough serial ports? Old computers had slow serial ports... Cannot remember what was the usual speed limit back in old days...

[Daz-ST]

If your ELM327 device has FTDI bridge inside, download D2XX drivers from FTDI's site and use D2XX.

You see, back in history computers had one or two serial ports (usually named COM1, COM2 etc, you remember). All the software etc. were able to communicate with devices via serial ports using serial protocol (RS232). And then came the USB (port and protocol, nothing to do with serial ports or protocol), replacing serial ports from computers. But yet still lot's of devices (like ELM327 chip!) uses serial protocol today, as it is so much easier to implement than USB. Child can implement serial protocol to their devices, you know, but USB, it's whole different thing. Same goes with software, they support serial protocol and serial ports as it's simple to implement and of course because devices still use them! However, here comes dilemma... We do not have serial ports anymore on our computers!

Here comes serial-USB bridges, like Prolific's PL2303 or FTDI's FT232R. They are able to communicate with devices like ELM327 using serial protocol and then transport serial data to computer via USB connection. On computer, there are drivers for these bridge chips and these drivers do communicate with these chips over the USB. Drivers do create virtual serial ports (opposed to real hardware serial ports), often called VCP (virtual COM port) and expose serial data read from USB to software via virtual serial ports. Software supporting serial ports (or COM ports, as they are often called) then can connect and their point of view they are just "talking serial" directly to devices. But behind the scenes whole chain is:

Serial Device <-> Serial-USB bridge <-> USB <-> Drivers <-> Virtual Serial Port <-> Software

While back in days we had:

Serial Device <-> Serial <-> Serial Port <-> Software

Now, as USB and serial protocols are totally different species, this multilayered emulation can give problems. As you have found out, speed problems etc. Now, FTDI has implemented D2XX protocol, so that if software does support it, software can communicate directly with Serial-USB Bridge bypassing Virtual Serial Port. So chain becomes:

Serial Device <-> Serial-USB Bridge <-> USB <-> Drivers <-> Software

So one problematic emulation layer is removed. This requires, of course, support from the drivers and from to software, since this is vendor specific thing instead of standard thing. ELMConfig supports D2XX, so if you have FTDI chip inside of your ELM327, you should use D2XX, it's more reliable for obvious reasons.

Ps. You could, of course, connect ELM327 chip directly to serial port, if you have one and you would have the skills. This would eliminate all the emulation layers etc. Though, where do you find serial ports anymore and where do you find fast enough serial ports? Old computers had slow serial ports... Cannot remember what was the usual speed limit back in old days...

how would i know if i have a ftdi chip in my elm cable

do you also need to install extra drivers

thankyou for the lengthy post explaining it all

[jarp]

I will continue a bit actually, if somebody is interested. So this emulation layer after emulation can cause problems by itself. But why are we having problems? Why do other devices work and other do not? Well, hello China! As USB took over and serial ports started to dissapear but still all the devices supported only serial protocol (again, it's trivial to implement compared to USB protocol), few companies smelled money. Let's make Serial-USB bridge chips so that hardware vendors do not need to do anything else than add one chip to their devices and software vendor's do not need to do anything at all! Great idea, and great profit!

Chinese being chinese, they of course smelled money also and started to clone thise bridges. As far as I know, most often cloned device is Prolific's PL2303. This was a bit unfortunate, because back in times Prolific's drivers were crap. And Chinese cloned these chips and sometimes cloned chips were inferior. And Chinese used Prolific's drivers for their cloned chips. Inferior chips and crappy drivers. You can imagine. Prolific got their act together and started to improve their drivers... and blocked cloned chips while they were doing it! So if you have cloned PL2303 chip, latest dirvers from Prolific do not work and you are forced to use crappy drivers for your crappy cloned chip! This is the reason why somebody said that their device do not work on Win7 but works on Win Vista. Or works with old drivers etc etc etc.

Ah, and China... ELM327 chip made by ELM Electronics based on Canada gained also popularity. So of course it was doomed to be cloned by Chinese. They had released version 1.0 of their chip and it was cloned. After that ELM Electronics realized that they need to protect their IP and they implemented copy protection for newer versions like 1.4b which had support for all cool features and had lot's of bugs fixed etc. Poor Chinese, unable to clone never verions... Well, just label these 1.0 chips... let's say... 1.5, it's better than 1.4b! People will buy them, they won't understand! And that exactly was what happened. Old buggy cloned chips is now inside most of the ELM327 devices sold in eBay and DX! Don't know if Chinese ever were able to bypass this copy protection or did they perhaps develop their own better chips based on this v1.0, but essentially, if you are buying anything else than genuine ELM Electronics ELM327 chip, it's Russian roulette. You just do now know what you get. You may get well-working device or you may get alfunctioning device! And you ask why your device won't work 500 000 bps? :)

So, if you really want to get real deal without problems, buy device which has genuine FTDI FT232R bridge inside (AFAIK these are not cloned - at least not often, so as long as you get FTDI, youre good). And as you are doing right thing already (do you really wan't to give your money to Chinese pirates?), you may just as well grab genuine ELM Electornics ELM327 chip also. Price difference is not that much...

Of course, problem is, that how do you know if you get genuine ELM327? I really do not know. I actually asked this directly from ELM Electronics. They answered, that you just cannot know. You will have to trust the seller. So ask seller if their devices have genuine chips inside and you're done your best...

I think I will cease my rant here, I hope this information is usefull for you who are wondering how things do work and why some devices will work and some will not...

[jarp]

how would i know if i have a ftdi chip in my elm cable

do you also need to install extra drivers

thankyou for the lengthy post explaining it all

If you have older OS like Windows XP, you have to manually download right drivers. Windows 7 does this automatically, you plug in device, Windows loads drivers from the Internet and Everything Just Works. You can check what you have from device manager:

* Launch device manager

* Expand Ports (COM & LPT)

* Right-click correct COM port and choose Properties

From here you should see Manufacturer and if you have FTDI chip, it says FTDI. Porbably Prolific for PL2303. I think, if you have Windows 7 and plug in FTDI's device wirth FT232R chip, Windows will automatically donwload latest dirvers which supports both VCP and D2XX at the same time... But you can compare the version number to one in FTDI's website. My version for FTDI's drivbers is 2.8.30.0 and D2XX protocol works just fine.

But if you have older Windows, you will see unknown device or something in device manager. You can still right-click and choose properties and then you can go to Details and choose Hardware Ids. From here you can see strings (VID and PID) which will tell you what device you have there. Just google them...

[ajk]

Can't remeber, don't think there is any difference. Ignition must be on yes(enigne not running).

Ok thanks

[Brazh]

I tried the VCP driver yesterday during reflashing. In comparison with direct driver it is a bit slower while reading and much more slowly during writing

[david9761]

Hi,

I've installed Elmconfig and loaded the image from my Mondeo mkIV , However I can seem to change any settings. I don't have the VIN text box, GEM box, appear. Please see attached photo below.

Any ideas?

[jeebowhite]

The GEM and other details I believe are on the MSCAN frequency, so they should be there. The bit you have seems to be only read only.

[jeebowhite]

Quick Question... I have a colleague who has a CMAX, seems that they dont have the "lights still on" warning when they remove the keys. I have had a look through ELMConfig 0.2.5 and I cannot see immediately if there is a tick box for this, its possible that their beeper is the problem, has anyone come across this option on any ELM config release?

Also does anyone have a link to the latest ELM config? seems a few folks are using 2.6 and I only have 2.5

[Brazh]

Also does anyone have a link to the latest ELM config? seems a few folks are using 2.6 and I only have 2.5

Just look at #1527

[Brazh]

Any ideas?

just tap "Central configuration" button

[david9761]

just tap "Central configuration" button

This just brings up a screen that tells me what equipment option's my car came with and without. No where to show how to change the auto lock, hill launch, delay times etc.

[david9761]

The GEM and other details I believe are on the MSCAN frequency, so they should be there. The bit you have seems to be only read only.

I have re-tried doing it again with no luck, out of interest I changed the model to the Kuga/Focus settings and I get the GEM page up like the rest of you guys but can I use this to change the Mondeo's CPU?

[jeebowhite]

Theres no reason you couldnt, but it could well write to the wrong memory address and that could cause you issues...

Also, thanks Brazh, it appears I overlooked those posts :) thanks :)

[pgee]

Hi,

I've installed Elmconfig and loaded the image from my Mondeo mkIV , However I can seem to change any settings. I don't have the VIN text box, GEM box, appear. Please see attached photo below.

Any ideas?

I think you do not have GEM, with S-max and Mondeo it is the BCM (HSScan) and/or IPC (MSCan). You have to read CCD from BCM or IPC under the tab 'procedures'. Let me know if it works because with my S-max I get a checksum failure from BCM but reading it with ignition off it strangly works. The IPC reads fine. What I still haven't figured out is wich CCD I have to change, IPC and/or BCM. Changing CCD from BCM I get a DTC that won't go away, even when I change the same in IPC. I'm working on it.

DON'T forget, first time reading CCD make a backup so you always can put the original back!!

Also, if you have elmconfig 0.2.10 you can download 'as built' but first put in your Vin if you do this.

[jeebowhite]

Does anyone else find that whenever you try to access the AS BUILT data, you get the URL:

http://www.motorcraftservice.com/vdirs/common/auth_error.asp?reason=no_logon

and:

An Error has been detected.

• You do not have permissions to this site/page or
• Your access permission may have timed out.

?

[tewsona]

n00b alert!

Just started programming and done a few options withELMConfig. Seem to have no adverse side effects aside from the car isnow estimating around 215 miles t half a tank. Clearly this is incorrect. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Adam

[jeebowhite]

thats more likely to do with your average values, but that would indicate 430 for a tank, which for an ST doesnt sound too bad.

[vibeone]

n00b alert!

Just started programming and done a few options withELMConfig. Seem to have no adverse side effects aside from the car isnow estimating around 215 miles t half a tank. Clearly this is incorrect. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Adam

Some values seem to get reset, even when you don't specifically reset the KAM, mine does the same - crazy low 'left in tank' figures and even a genuine loss of MPG short term as the car sorts itself out

Usually stabilises within 2 tankfuls

[tewsona]

Ah that's not too bad then, As its running some non stock parts I'm only getting about 280 to a tank. I was quite miffed at the reading of 215 miles to just under half a tank

As you say, it seems to be figuring its self out slowly.

Thanks for the responses.

[Tezza]

Adam,

Have you been ticking the eco mode box's :) lol