Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 08:02:50 -0700
Reply-To: "Charles \"Luke\" Lukey" <luke@SEANET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Charles \"Luke\" Lukey" <luke@SEANET.COM>
Subject: Re: Digitool Installed, totally Excellent!
In-Reply-To: <005301be9f5a$62e37760$10e1e1df@marshall>
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Is there a photo of this beauty somewhere? While I've had no trouble with
my '88 Wolfsburg Edition (pound head on wooden desktop) a Digitool sounds
like a worthy addition to the toolbox.
Charles "Luke" Lukey
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Marshall Ruskin
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 1999 10:10 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Digitool Installed, totally Excellent!
Well, the digitool (as well as it's sibling) the Digifant-tool, is a
box-like instrument module, about the size of a rectangular "coffee mug?",
with 2 sets of readouts, that is connected to the ecu via a wide ribbon
cable. The cable is long enough to reach the dash.
The module has a row of leds, with a legend, that show activity of the
starter, fuel injectors, fuel pump, coil etc - I forget 'em all, it's in the
van, darn it!
The is also a large LCD display, and a rotary selector switch with a legend.
The LCD shows voltage from the sending unit that is selected by the rotary
switch.
It shows O2 sensor, AFM, Temp 1, Temp 2, an independent probe that you can
connect to anything, and darn it, it's in the van - I can't remember what
else.
So, the leds, being basically binary, show activity (which is "cool" and
also useful) and the LCD shows the state of the voltages the ecu is getting
from the senders.
Now, since the cable gets connected to the ecu (soldered right onto the
ecu's board), the voltages are really very useful for extensive diagnostic
purposes, more so than if they were directly taken at the sending units
themselves.
More on the cable. The cable has 2 sections, a short 12" one, and a much
longer one. The short one has the actual wires laced out so it can be
soldered to the pins on the ecu's circuit board (where the main harness
connector is soldered). The other end of the short cable is a 25 pin female
connector.
This connector mates to a male connector, on the long cable that ends in the
digitool module. The purpose of the connector, is so that the tool can be
disconnected when not needed, without a big fuss.
In case anybody's confused, the short cable stays permanently attached to
the ecu. The long cable unplugs when not needed, and the digitool can be
stowed away.
Needless to say, I think it's ingenious.
Cheers!
Marshall
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