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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

RLTC Hidden options


Graham Rudd
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All of the Racelogic Traction control talk recently has managed to raise my enthusiasm to check out the configuration options again.

 

I'v noticed that there a LOTS of hidden menu options, any of you that have just tried all the alpha-numeric keys on each menu will know what I mean.... or perhaps I'm the only one sad enough to try that :(

 

Has anybody figured out what some of the extra stuff means? In particular I'd like to be able to use the LED as a gear shift light... I know its gimmicky, but I just can't help myself!

 

Does anybody have any idea how to do this? Are there any other options in this hidden bag of goodies that are worth playing with?  Most of it seems to be very cryptic, some of the values which beg to be altered with these hidden menu options look like a great way to kill yourself ;)

 

 

Thanks

Graham

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The unit was designed to be configurable from a bog stock Cortina to a late model F1 car. That is why there are SO many configurable options.

 

If you feel brave then by all means pave the way.

 

Yours,

J

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I don't know about paving the way, I suspect I'm more likely to provide a valuable object lesson to those with more sense.

 

Some of the extra things you get to change are cryptic to say the least.  You're presented with rather daunting questions such as, enter time in 1/100 seconds. Quite vague really, especially when thats all you have to work with.

 

Yet despite all of that I feel strangely drawn to play with it *gulp*.  I've just had a quick mess around with my Palm V, it'll work like a dream, no more lugging the damned laptop out to the car.

 

Do any of you have the pro version of the TC?  It could be useful to fill in a few of the menu blanks.  For example, things like the full throttle shift stuff is still in there, they just aren't transmitting the menu options.  It seems a little strange that they've gone to the trouble to remove the display of these options, yet still handle their selection.  Perhaps they intended to write some frontend software for it at some point but never got around to it? Either that or I've got a duff out of date TC unit, and you're all seeing things that I'm not!

 

Ok, now I'm just rambling, if anyone could shed any light on any of these other options I'd be extremely grateful.  I'm sure someone mentioned that they had their LED working as the shifter light.. did I imagine it?

 

 

Thanks

Graham

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The simple steps I did were:

 

1) Go to www.tucows.com, search for some terminal emulation software for your palm.

 

2) After downloading it to your palm, stick your Vx in the cradle, open HyperTerminal in windows and check that the palm can communicate with it ok.

 

3) Erm.. thats it really, it should all work if it can communicate with HyperTerminal, take cradle and palm to the car.  Oh, you may have to close hotsync manager first, to free up the port for hyperterminal to use when you're testing.

 

N.B. I said it will work like a dream, future tense, I haven't taken it out to the car yet to test!  I can't see how it won't work unless I've overlooked something stupid (a distinct possibility).

 

 

Cheers

Graham

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It looks like Martin and I will be playing silly buggers withour RL systems on the 14th October. We will let you know what happens.

 

 

As long as you save a master file of your settings you can down load it and reset the system.  I too am tempted to try everything just to see what happens.

 

Having talked to the  RL guys  the most common thing done is altering the stock 5%, 10% 15% and 20% slip  settings to slightly different values. apparently  7.5% is very popular.

 

 

May be we should organise a prat about  with RLTC day somewhere and see if we can really screw it up.

 

I have a PC link for my palm 3, could I use that???

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Has anybody figured out what some of the extra stuff means? In particular I'd like to be able to use the LED as a gear shift light... I know its gimmicky, but I just can't help myself!

 

You just go to the shift light menu option and set the RPM you want the light to come on at. It's that simple, I have put mine in the dash of my Integra Type R in a space near the rev counter, glows nice and bright :)

 

Oops, just read above you don't have the pro version. do you have a manual? It shows all the menu options in there.

 

 

(Edited by HardHead42 at 11:55 pm on Oct. 2, 2001)

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Quote: from Graham Rudd on 11:36 pm on Oct. 2, 2001[br]The simple steps I did were:

 

1) Go to www.tucows.com, search for some terminal emulation software for your palm.

 

2) After downloading it to your palm, stick your Vx in the cradle, open HyperTerminal in windows and check that the palm can communicate with it ok.

 

3) Erm.. thats it really, it should all work if it can communicate with HyperTerminal, take cradle and palm to the car.  Oh, you may have to close hotsync manager first, to free up the port for hyperterminal to use when you're testing.

 

N.B. I said it will work like a dream, future tense, I haven't taken it out to the car yet to test!  I can't see how it won't work unless I've overlooked something stupid (a distinct possibility).

 

 

Cheers

Graham

 

Erm, what about the difference between DTE and DCE connectivity, i.e., the PC is wired and configured for DTE, whereas the RL TC is configured for DCE, as is the Palm docking station?

You can't wire DCE to DCE without some form of cross-over.

 

Such cross-over is called a NUL MODEM cable.

 

 

 

(Edited by Paul Booth at 11:58 pm on Oct. 2, 2001)

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Also if the Plam is running TTL rather than RS232, there will be level shifting circuitry in the cradle in which case you will have to supply power to it as it is usually supplied from the PC end side via the DTR/RTS lines which are not present at on the RLTC (It only has three wires connected (Ground,RXD,TXD), not sure about the Palm V you may be OK but it's definately the case on the Handspring range.

 

 

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Oops, sorry Paul, you're right, it will require that you'll need a cross-over cable. Its just as well, it allows you to add a bit of slack to the RL cable! I use the one I had to build to see what my bloody cablemodem was up to when NTL assured me nothing was wrong... must stay calm, mustn't start thinking about NTL. (my favourite gripe subject) :(

 

And I believe the palm designers did things properly, its RS232.  Honestly.. some manufacturers ;)

 

 

Cheers

Graham

 

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Quick update, I'm sure some of you already know this but for those of you that don't:

 

The diagnostic LED definately can be used as a gear shift indicator even if you haven't got the version which is meant to include it.

 

Hit G on the main menu, don't worry that there isn't an actual option there.  Then hit C and you'll be asked to enter the RPM for the shift light.  It seems you have to enter five digits here or strange things happen. So if you want 6000RPM hit 06000.  Enter 65535 to return it to being a good old diagnostic tool.

 

 

Have fun,

Graham

 

 

(Edited by Graham Rudd at 12:49 am on Oct. 4, 2001)

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Quote: from HardHead42 on 11:10 pm on Oct. 3, 2001[br]
Quote: from Paul Booth on 7:24 pm on Oct. 3, 2001[br]

Been passed your house twice today, and I'll passing it 4-6 times next week (there and back) so watch it. :biggrin:

 

Pop in some time ;)

 

Depends on the time. It's likely to be about 18:00-19:00 and then only if the guys in the USA make it to the UK for the meeting.

 

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