esv

Hi

1. Is the SECS S8 ecu available new and in production?
Any info available? (Website seems to be down)

2. Does anybody have experience with the RP Lab for the Marelli?

I like the idea of plug and play, and/or using the the stock hardware.

Hope someone can answer

Regards
ESV

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

The RP Lab software / hardware will be launched to the UK market within the next few weeks....

Just so people know, this basically allows anyone with a lap-top (and the relevant software / hardware upgrades) to live map L8. It can also be converted to dizzyless AND ALS operation at an additional cost, should the customer so wish .

Watch this space .

Anonymous

The RP lab gear is absolutely awesome IMHO

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Yeah, looks really good indeed.

jon@work

iTrader: (5)

unless you want it to drive a Pectel monitor

Anonymous

IMHO the monitor software it comes with is better than a pectel anyway, but i guess it depends if you already have the relevant hardware for each or not?

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

SECS monitors will still work though. The only reason the Pectel won't is to protect the software, as the Pectel monitors use data-streaming .

Anonymous

Oh the irony of it, its developed off of the back of cracking the original software and then made less useful to those with a pectel by being protected against anyone doing it back to them

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Even more ironic is that it comes with the ability to password protect maps, so tuners can now protect their software in the same way as with Pectel T6 .

Anonymous

Thats cool, but from the point of view of most people buying a programmable ECU it would make it useless to them as they couldnt edit it themselves afterwards or go to anyone other than that tuner, in fact arguabley its WORSE from that respect than a standard ECU.
But thats just a case of finding a tuner who will not use that option at your request i guess.

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

I'm not sure how you make that out, as a private individual can chose to lock the map or not, unless of course you mean if it was purchased off someone like Stu / Karl / Ahmed / PJ / GGR / TS / Martin or Harvey etc (which we see as our biggest market) who would want to protect their software from being copied and used by someone else?

Someone buying it as a toy to experiment with can still do so .

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Not really, the Pectel monitor doesnt work with the std software anyway.

Anonymous

I envisage a lot of people would want to:


Buy the kit
Have it mapped initially by "a pro"
Be able to fine tune it as things change on their engine

Obviously if the "pro" in question locks the map, that means that those people cant ever edit it themselves, and also couldnt take it to any other tuner for adjustments, they would have no choice but to go back to the person who mapped it initially.


Im sure that suits the tuners just fine though, and people buying the ECU's have the choice of using a tuner or not based on if they will lock the map or not anyway.


So i wasnt being negative, just pointing out both sides of it.

Anonymous

How does that change the irony of the fact that its a project started by hacking (or call it reverse engineering if you want to be posh ) the original software but its protected against other people returning the favour.

I would do EXACTLY the same if I had developed it, so again i wasnt having a go at it.

RS500/364

I have one new will be on ebay very soon or if someone pms me and i sort out the gold membership will be on here

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

My point was aimed towards the part of your statement i have highlighted in Red. I say not really because its no less usefull to those with a pectel monitor than teh std one they reverse engineered was in teh first place. Neither of them are any use to someone with a Pectel monitor.

Anonymous

Err, ok

Although i meant if you currently have a pectel setup, this ecu mod is less useful to you as it means you cant use your pectel anymore.

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

I'm sure the tuner will know his client base well enough to know whether or not it is safe to leave unlocked or not, at the end of the day, it is the aimed at both sides, and the tuners wanted this ability.

foreigneRS

you don't necessarily need a pectel monitor though, if all parameters can be read by laptop / car pc or whatever (including scoping and datalogging and displaying on a virtual dashboard)





if there is enough demand, a separate 'pectel style display' can be produced and sold for a comparable price. it could include datalogging and / or other external inputs depending on what the customer wants and how much they want to pay.

one of the reasons why the datastream from the RP Labs converted ECU is not compatible with pectel monitors is because the datastream is much faster and contains more information. a display for the ICP datastream could also be compatible with pectel.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Who wants shonky old pectel when you cna have that instead? LOL

Links for those pics would be better Nick.

Anonymous

Stu, i agree, fantastic bit of kit, with an awesome amount of data.

The interface is really good too


Its a credit to Nick etc

foreigneRS

those pics and more can be downloaded from

http://rplab.co.yu/Downloads/ICP_Too...orth_shots.zip

chip-3door

thank you matey, but i am not the full brains behind the project only the one that found it amongst all the other delights on the 'net and saw the potential and have helped to apply it to a shonky old ford

Anonymous

Would anyone normal really use an S8 ecu?

foreigneRS

Bosch-Man yes. why not? it's a good piece of hardware that needs a little more work on the software

Anonymous

And completely plug and play so very easy to install or uninstall too

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Yep, without Nick & Stu Sharpin, this would not have come to light .

Anonymous

Would only have taken someone into 'Grales and cossies and it would have found its way to the ford world anyway probably sooner or later though, things this fantastic are hard to keep hidden

Just might have taken a few more years

BlueSmoke

If I bought one from a tuner and he'd locked it and I then wanted to go elsewhere and he refused to unlock it, I'd do him under anti-competition laws

Anonymous

Dont be fecking stupid


If you buy windows microsoft dont post you the source code too

foreigneRS

if you wanted to take it to a different tuner to have it mapped, you would just have to take it to your original tuner first who would remove the map that you paid them for and leave it unlocked for the next tuner. the original tuner could keep a copy of your map on file if you wanted to go back to it. it's just like the pectel t6 in that respect.

imo this is safer for tuners than eproms that can easily be copied (or the protection on them reverse engineered), as the password encryption is a one way process that not even the genius behind it all can get around to extract the maps. he can however wipe it completely clean to start again if somebody cocks up along the line.

that is a feature that does not benefit the diy 'tuner' but does the pro's. and it's a fair system imo as you cannot expect a tuner to do you a map on, for example a yb with t34, -31 and greys etc, that you can just copy for your mate who also builds the same spec motor.

BlueSmoke

They are currently being dragged through the EU courts for not opening up the software and sharing their source code with competitors

Please accept your with honours

(now awaiting witty comeback )

Anonymous

Yep, i can certainly understand the logic of why someone like Stu would want to stop people being able to effectively have one of his "chips" for free.

Anonymous

no, for not opening up the interfaces to it enough, not the complete source

BlueSmoke

Not the complete source, no, but you know what I mean.

If you buy one and then you want something doing and are FORCED to take it to that one tuner and spend your money with him then IMO it does breach competition rules.

Anonymous

Jay, its not any different to currently when the data is written onto a chip that cant be edited.

foreigneRS

you are not forced to take it to that tuner in the first place though are you? you have a choice of who to use (even bigger than those few that currently have the equipment and ability to map L8) so that if you have a prefferred tuner or there is someone with particular expertise you can go to them or even have a go yourself

you're arguing about something that is not there in reality

BlueSmoke

Fair enough.

the original

the datalogging and virtual dashboard software can be used by people with pectel boards

esv

As I started this topic, thanks a lot for all the answers!!

I wonder, will the RP Lab be available only to pro tuners?

Will a diy-tuner also be offered to buy it?

No one know anything about the SECS S8?

regards
ESV

Anonymous

ESV

The RPLab one will be available to be bought by anyone, (via Mike Rainbird if you are in the uk)


SECS ECU's are probably best sourced secondhand at the moment, like from RS500/104 up above



The RPLab one is only for L8 AFAIK, so if you have any other ecu you will need to upgrade to an L8 first.