How to set up MMCD & make a logging cable

[BOOTZ]

***This article is for OBDI DSM's***


First thing you should do is get MMCD on your Palm, make sure you are using one of the supported devices from http://mmcdlogger.sourceforge.net/ Once you get MMCD on your Palm it’s time to make the cable. I used 18 awg wire.

Schematic:


You need a 10K resister and a 1N914 diode, I got mine at a place that does T.V. repairs. When I first made the cable I didn’t read the schematic correctly and thanks to steve on DSMTuners message board he told me what was wrong with my cable. When installing the diode make sure you have the correct end connected to the RS232, the end with the thick black line should be connected to the wire and the other end should connect to the RS232. For the resister it doesn't matter which end is connected to which wire.

This is what the bad cable looked like:

Now this is what a correct cable looks like:



Once you have your cable made wrap it with electrical tape or put it in some type of casing so nothing will come in contact with the wires.



What I did was take come alligator clips, connect them to the end of the cable, just to make sure the cable is working. The reason I did this is because before I put connecters on the ends of the cable and the cable didn’t work. When I went to remove the cable the connecter got stuck on the OBD pin and I had a bare wire, and it was a pain to get that little connecter off.



Now connect the wires to the OBD port.



Connect the cable to your cradle and place your Palm in the cradle, start up MMCD and press new then, press on RPM so it turns blue and press on the box beside it. Uncheck the Pause button and MMCD should start up. If not then there is probably something wrong with your cable or your connection with the OBD port. I had to re-connect pins 10 and 12 several times before I got a reading.



Now attach connectors to the end of the cable. Make sure to go one wire at a time, don’t remove all the wires from the OBD port.


And reinstall the cable.

[BOOTZ]

Now it’s time to hide the cable, what I did was remove the piece of plastic beside the OBD port, there is a hole in the panel with 1 screw. Remove the screw and the panel will come out.



I removed the plastic beside the driver seat, not sure what it’s called but it has 4 screw securing it to the car. I ran the wire under the carpet to keep the wires out of my way.



Re-install the plastic beside the door.



I was thinking about installing the Palm inside my cluster so I wouldn’t have to take my eyes too far from the road, however this would have made it difficult to read some of the gauges.



So instead I put it infront of my deck.



After getting it in a good location where it would be flat and not hitting my deck I applied Velcro to the bottom of the cradle to help keep it in place while driving.



One thing to look out for is your e-brake, I was working on my driveway and forgot to put it down when picking a location. I got lucky because the e-brake is about 1mm away from the Palm.





I hope this is useful for some people, I took as many pictures as I could to make it easier for people to get MMCD working.