atterbud

Well I did not manage to get a response to my last query, so hopefully this one will work better.

Has anyone managed to flash their ECU with the Antigravity lithium battery and if so did you use the CTEK charger during the procedure?

My regular battery is dead and despite running a 25amp charger on it during the flash, it has failed multiple times. I have a brand new antigravity battery waiting to go in else the old one, but I am not sure if I can run the flash procedure against the lithium battery.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

i am trying to flash with the FV Brombacher MyGenius tool.

Antigravity

Disclaimer, we are not professional in regards to flashing ECUs but know some of the basics.. so I will not go in depth as I'm sure others are much more experienced in flashing, but I can relay the info we have heard from to clarify not to use any Battery alone for a flash.

- First thing we have been told is that it is very important to make sure your never have you battery go dead during the ECU flash, or have you power supply fail, apparently this can potentially ruin a ECU in some circumstances.

-We have heard in most all case you should not use the Battery alone to power your system during a flash, there is to much potential for over-discharge of a standard battery during a flash since the amp draw is high and it can take some time... the could over-discharge the battery and potentially ruin your ECU. So always use the extra Power supply.

- I have heard that you need from 50 or 80 Amp Power supplies and it depends on time the flash takes and the amps that are required to support the system during the flash. I also remember there are a few threads with recommendations of the types of Power supplies needed, but I know a regular CTek type charger is not sufficient.

The bottom line is we do not recommend using one of our Antigravity Batteries as the sole source for a Flash being the amount of time it takes and the amount of amps drawn can potentially also draw down our battery to the point of the protections turning off the battery due to over-discharge. So play it safe and find what the recommended Power supply is. Sorry we can offer more input, we just have limited knowledge on the subject, But I'm sure there are some very knowledgeable people on Renn who will know better and can assist.

Antigravity

I found this thread... might assist you, not sure... https://rennlist.com/forums/992/1222...y-charger.html

edmaverik

I believe using 25amp power source was the issue because FVD recommends a minimum of 50amp power source connected during the flash. When I performed my FVD flash last November, I had no issues flashing with my 50amp charger (as shown here at
The flash draws a ton of power as the the engine fans will turn on and off at full blast followed by a myriad of dashboard activities. Here is my FVD flash installed using my 50amp charger and all the power surges during the entire process (as shown here at ).

Do you remember what happened during your flash? Have you reached out to FVD? Rhonda at FVD is tremendously helpful. I would recommended leaving the original battery in and fully charging it at 10amp then attempt flashing using a 50amp charger and see if your car can be revived?

Good luck and keep us posted!

atterbud

I made a similar post over on Planet-9 and received some good information and advice from both forums. Thanks very much for the help.

As suggested I reached out to Rhonda at FVD and she had me send the error code to the engineers in Germany. They came back early this morning and asked for log files, and then responded within an hour with a suggested fix. It turned out that my belt and braces approach was overkill. I bought a new battery and a manual 50amp charger and the recovery process failed again. With feedback from the engineers at FVD they identified that the charger was fluctuating between 14-16.8v which was messing with the write process in the ECU. I changed over to the original 25amp automatic charger with the new battery and the recovery process and subsequent load of the modified file went without issue.


A few lessons learned to hopefully help out others who end up in a similar position:

1. Never use an older or suspect battery when performing a flash, even when connected to a battery charger that indicates it is at 100%

2. FVD have amazing customer service and support - reach out to them first

3. The MyGenius tool will put the ECU to sleep when it detects a problem to prevent damage - most issues can be recovered, but even if you cannot resolve the issue with guidance from the engineers in Germany, you can send the MyGenius tool and your ECU to Germany and they should be able to recover it

4. A large powerful manual battery charger that does not have a regulated supply will not have a stable enough current for the flash to proceed

5. Rennlist has many knowledgeable and helpful members who are happy to help you out of a bad situation😀