LIVE Tuning

Introduction

LIVE tuning allows you to modify the calibration of the ECU while the engine is running. It is provided as a separate part of the VehiCAL Logger.

LIVE is supported by most Bosch MED17/EDC17 and MG1/MD1 ECU’s that the logger supports. A notable exception are Ford (all) and BMW (gasoline), as they run their own code inside these ecu’s, which is unfortunately not compatible with this feature.

You can save hours in waiting for reflashing, which makes it a no-brainer to use LIVE during the development of any ECU software.

 

Functionality

To enable the functionality the ECU must first be patched, whether in bench mode or by OBD (only by tools that support full writes over OBD).

After the patch is installed, you select the last file that you wrote to the ECU for monitoring, and then make changes to this file. You can simply overwrite the file, and as soon as the file is modified the changes are instantly loaded to the ECU.

LIVE works directly with the binary file. No A2L or other data is needed, and you can use any file editor – WinOLS, Swiftec, TunerPro etc. For WinOLS with OLS1007 (all OLS300 owners have this plugin) it is possible to push the changes to the ECU as soon as they are changed in the editor. Details are provided in the documentation.

The LIVE functionality is automatically interleaved with data logging. The tool does both at the same time, so you never need to disconnect the logger.

 

Limitations

The changes loaded by LIVE are non-permanent. If you cycle the ignition, they are lost. The tool detects this and stops monitoring. You can then restart monitoring and it will synchronize all your changes at once, so you can continue working immediately if you made a small break or cooled the car down.

The ECU has a limited amount of CALRAM. This means that if you try to change too many different modules, then you might receive an out of memory error. If this happens, simply flash the latest version to the ECU, and then continue LIVE tuning/monitoring with this version. It makes sense to flash the initial base file, that contains the largest amount of changes and then use LIVE for fine-tuning.

 

Pricing

For standard customers the price is 5 credits/VIN. LIVE also requires the advanced logging protocol to be purchased for the vehicle, which is another 5 credits/VIN, if not already present.

For PRO customers LIVE tuning itself is free of charge, however it still requires the advanced logging protocol to be purchased.

 

More Information

For more in-depth and technical information, please refer to the documentation.