How to burn your own EEPROMS for a Digifant 2 ECU

[the flying mantuan]

How to burn your own EEPROMS for a Digifant 2 ECU by TFM

This guide has been written following me “chipping” the ECU  in my  Digifant 2 fuel injected Mk2 Golf. Having no prior knowledge of doing this I decided to document the process I followed to successfully “chip” my Golf. Should you notice any discrepancies please let me know and I will make the necessary corrections.  I take no responsibility for any fried “chips”, ECUs or anything else you may feel like playing with.  Any work done on your own vehicle is done so at your own risk!

If you need to know how to get to the 'chip' have a look here http://clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=206792

   Following this guide will give you the knowledge to be able to:

1. Dump data from an existing 'chip'.
2. Write data to a replacement 'chip'

   Following this guide will not give you the knowledge to be able to:

1. Locate the specific fuel look up maps.
2. Modify the fuel look up maps.
3. Interpret the data either written or read from the 'chip'.

    Items needed

1. Phillips screwdriver (large).
2. Needle nose pliers or similar.
3. Small flat blade screwdriver.
4. EEPROM Programmer.*
5. Spare jumper (No not the woolly kind).
6. Blank 27sf512  EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).**
7. Laptop/Computer with the necessary ports and software for your chosen Burner.
8. ECU file (binary) of your choice e.g. example.bin

*I use a Willem Dual Powered Burner as its cheap! (circa £10 + P&P at the time of writing). Consequently this guide will written using this device. There are many universal readers/programmers which work just as well or maybe even better but for me it was more than adequate. All directions in this guide are given with the Willem in the position as shown below.



**  The original EPROM found in the first factory original ECU was an ST 27c64. I however, prefer to use SST 27sf512 EEPROM because they are:

1. more readily available.
2. cheaper
3. electronically erasable and can be written 100s of times.

The original 27c64 are UV erasable and require a special eraser to wipe them. It takes approximately 15 minutes to do. The only other difference is the amount of memory which they hold (64K, 27sf512 have 512K).

[the flying mantuan]

Reading the 'chip'.

Connect your chosen Universal Programmer to your computer or laptop and pop the 'chip' into the ZIF socket. Normally the bottoms pins either side of the 'chip' will sit at the bottom of the ZIF socket of your chosen device. Push the lever down (away from you) to lock in the 'chip'.

Using the software accompanying the Willem select, using the “Device” drop down menus, the type of  'chip' you wish to dump. In this case it is a 27c64 I have other OEM 'chips' which are 27c256, its just a matter of selecting the correct one.



Ensure the jumpers shown on the screen matches the position of the jumpers on the board. If they don't use a small flat blade screwdriver to adjust them up or down so they do.



Now click the “Read Chip” icon (circled in red).



The Willem will now dump the contents of the EPROM to your computer or laptop.



Click the “Buffer” tab at the bottom of the window and you should see something like this.



If you do then you have more than likely dumped the contents correctly. Save the file in the normal manner and you will have created a .bin binary file. Job done!

[the flying mantuan]

Writing to a new 'chip'

Insert replacement 'chip' into your programmer and select the type of 'chip' using the “Device” drop down menus. In this instance I am using an 27sf512. First I erase it then I will upload a replacement binary file which contains modified maps.



Ensure the jumpers shown on the screen matches the position of the jumpers on the board. If they don't use a small flat blade screwdriver to adjust them so they do.



You now need to add the spare jumper to the board. The jumper circled in red is the one you have to insert. For some reason the Willem software does not tell you should do this but it needs to be done to get it to work properly.



Now click Erase Chip icon (circled in red).



Then click OK and the chip will then be erased.



When erasing you should see this.



This 27sfs512 should now be empty. Now select the binary file (.bin) you wish to upload to the EEPROM using File>Load etc. In this instance I am going to upload a file 32k in size. Now because we are using a slightly different 'chip' with more memory we need ensure that the data we wish to write to the new 'chip' is  written to the correct area. Using the table below complete the offset address section in bottom right entitled offset (Hex).



So if our binary file is 32k and we are using a 27SF512 'chip' we need to set the offset to 008000

Your window should now look something like this. I have circled the offset address box to show where you need to input the offset from the previous table.



Now remove the additional jumper which we put in place to erase the 27sf512 EEPROM. Then click the Program Chip icon (circled in red).



It will ask you to confirm the offset, just click yes.



The contents will now upload and you should see something like this.



It should take no more than 5 or 6 seconds to upload and when complete it will automatically verify the contents. You have now successfully burned a 'chip'.

In order to maximise any performance gains (if you are fitting a modified EEPROM) I would suggest setting up the vehicle as per rubjohnny's excellent guide to tuning the Digifant.

Any question feel free to ask!

thanks
TFM

[rossbarry1]

any maps available?

[the flying mantuan]

I am currently collecting bins (maps) and have so far got a couple of standard ones and an AmD version.

If I can get more I will host them and make them freely downloadable.

thanks

TMF

[X4MGS]

This wants posting in the Maintenance & Info Section...

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?board=40.0

[Bigdunc]

i have a chip i got off ebay guy said it was off his remapped car might be worth me trying to get the chip dumped to a bin file

[the flying mantuan]

I'd be happy to do it for you if you want. 

PM me if you want