Shiv sent my Xede to to me with two maps loaded. He was kind enough to install the additional wire that I need to bring to ground to switch to the second (higher octane) map. Has anyone done this? If so, any installation suggestions? I'm hoping to find a lighted switch, so that when I switch to the higher octane map, the switch lights up and reminds me that I had better have the good stuff in the tank.

Also, the Xede has a bi-color light to indicate status (red/green). This is useless, unless you want to install the Xede where it is visible. Not that it's an ugly unit, but still . . . Any one figured out how to wire a remote LED to indicate status?

 

pull the LED off the unit.

solder two wires to where the LED DID connect.

Run those wires to where you want your new LED

install LED

Solder the wires to LED pins

 

Okay, so this wire needs to be wired into a switch? Is this wire going to act as a power wire or a ground wire? I'm confused with what you stated.

If it is a power wire, then where are you supposed to ground it? Is there a spot on your XEDE? If it is a ground, are you supposed to get power from anywhere?

 

Yes, Shiv sent the Xede back to me with a new wire attached that has a label on it that reads "bring this wire to ground to activate 100 octane map." It seems clear to me that this wire is acting as a ground wire and that the Xede is using its existing power source. I want to use a switch to gound the wire, but have the switch light up when I bring it to ground. A bit counterintuative, I know, but there must be such a switch somewhere. I will use Radio Shack as a fall back, but would prefer someone with some expertise with the Xede to adivse instead.

 

sounds like all you need to do is splice in a switch somewhere in that wire. Now, not having done this before, i'll tell you what i think you should do based off the information you've given me.

1. Have that wire run FROM the ECU to the switch as the hot wire ("power wire")
2. Run a wire from the ground plug on the switch to a ground plug in your car.

This will ground the ecu when you flip the switch and then kick you into the higher octane map. If you want the switch lit up when you flip it, just buy a switch with a light in it.

OR

you could buy a switch and also buy a warning lamp and wire them in serial. From the ECU to the switch as above, then from the ground on the switch to the positive on the lamp, then from the ground on the lamp to a ground in the car. Easy.

 

The Xede now has the capability to switch maps via an external switch. You load two sets of maps (each set is a "map bank") with a laptop. Once the map banks are loaded, you can switch between them with an external switch.

 

Ok. I've tried a couple of combinations and have not yet found a satisfactory solution. I spliced in a single throw, single pole switch and it works. I don't have a light, though. The light switches I have found all assume that you want to bring power to a load, not ground. So the switches have a ground lead, a power lead and a load lead. I would have to hook both the ground lead and the power lead to ground in order to bring the load lead to ground. That wouldn't light the switch, obviously. Instead, I went the switch/warning-light-in-serial route.

I used a multimeter to find that the Xede wire that needs to be brought to ground is putting out about 5 volts. I tried to wire in LEDs that took from 2.8 volts to 12 volts. None of them worked. I assume this is because the Xede's resistance is too high as compared to the LEDs' resistance. I'm not sure, however, how to determine the Xede's resistance (especially at that specific wire). Also, if I start throwing in resistors, will that effect the Xede if they are in series (Xede/switch/resistor/LED/ground)?

I know I could use a single throw/double pole switch and wire an LED from an accessory power source. The LED-in-series solution has the added comfort level of being activated by the actual power supplied by the Xede. Not 100% reliable, of course, but certainly more intricately involved in the actual circuit than the latter solution.

 

I believe:

___ ground lead (going to ground)
___ power lead (coming from external power)
___ Load lead (coming from your ecu)

What that lamp would be doing is using your load lead as the switch to connect the power to the ground thus competing the circut and lighting the lamp.

Ground is obvious. Load lead is obvious. For external power, you may want to try vampire clipping the power source TO your cigarette lighter.

 

No. I don't think so. If you wire the switch like that, when you flip the switch to the on position you will close the contacts between the load lead and the power lead, introducing power to the load lead (and therefore the XEDE). I don't know what that would do, but I would be attaching a 5 volt output wire from the Xede to a 12 volt power source. That can't be good, can it?

 

Hmmm... Lets look at it like this, your 3 prong warning lamp has a switch inside of it that turns it on and off.. for the following crap-*** diagram: (EP = external power) (SW = switch, or load lead) (GR = ground)

____ / ______
EP-----sw-----GR

The when the current from the load lead is introduced into your lamp, that trips the switch inside and completes the circut.

The ACTUAL switch that you flip is what allows the load lead current into the lamp.

Process would work like this: (knowing that power is constantly trying to go through the lamp, but is not allowed because there is a break in there)
1: You flip switch
2: current from ecu (load lead) is passed through the switch and onto the lamp.
3: this current trips the internat switch in the lamp, allowing the power current to flow through and onto the ground, completing the circut and allowing the lamp to light.

But IF that is true (which i damn sure think it is), then it sounds like you may need a 4 prong lamp in which you would add one more wire that goes from your load power to load ground. Basically a relay. I think i may be confusing myself. Does something like that exist?

But i digress, why not try something like this:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=272%2D336
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=272%2D704
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=272%2D334
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=272%2D345

 

I don't know whether that exists. I've been to a couple of electrical supply shops and they've looked at me like I'm speaking another language. I think that a switch suited to this purpose could be simple: pwr-----light---/---gnd

When the / is removed, pwr flows though the light and to ground. I just can't find one like that. A 4 prong switch would operate like two parallel switches controlled by the same toggle, I would think. I don't want that, because I want the LED to be lighted by the actual current that is flowing from the Xede.

The links you sent are for LEDs I would either wire into the circuit in series (as I would prefer) or into another circuit that is controlled by the same switch (a double pole/single throw switch). The latter method would be easier, but as mentioned not desirable. Since I can't fin the former, I want to wire it like this:

Xede----->switch---->(resistor)---->LED----->ground

I did it without the resistor and the LEDs I tried didn't light (several different ones, from 2.1 volts to 12 volts). I measured the voltage at the Xede and found 5 volts. My assumption is that the Xede's resistance is higher than the LED's resistance, so the LED doesn't light.

So, I need to figure out

1. what the resistance of the Xede is

2. whether placing a resistor in series with the Xede will effect the way the Xede functions

3. What size fuse I should use

 

This may sounds stupid, but as most LEDs are pole-sensitive, did you have it wired in the right way?

 

Not stupid, but yes, I tried each one both ways

 

At this point man, i'm out of ideas. You may want to actually take it into one of those wiring guys for them to take a look at.. Get a hands on feel, ya know? Maybe the language barrier between professional and amateur electrician is holding this from progressing. :/