I'm happy to say that Santa brought me a brand new Cipher this year. Cipher is a great diagnostic/tuning tool that's made by UpRev. Cipher queries the ECU through the OBD-II standard and bases its options on the specific ECU in use.

You can use it to scan for and reset CEL codes... raise or lower the idle... raise or lower the ignition advance... view any of the sensors Cipher detects... clear the ECU of it's learned settings... operate/test many BCM parameters like the door locks... power windows... lights... blinkers... wipers... trunk... horn... you get the drift.

Here's a view of Cipher's real time sensor display. You can see that I included the G35's internal A/F wide band sensors in the data. This is a cool way to see what your Air/Fuel ratio is without buying a gauge and putting a sensor in your cat or TP.



Here's a view of Cipher's data collection screen. I'm still deciding on the specific parameters to record and graph, but you can see how it works. You can combine any number of graphs together to make things easier to read... it's nice to see both A/F sensors on the same graph... same for engine speed and ignition... I've changed things around several times... it's very flexible.



UpRev's Cipher software is pretty solid. It hasn't crashed since I started running it and it seems to perform pretty well. Cipher comes on a CD with a USB OBD-II cable. The software is easy to install and easy to get going.

 

Looks like it would be fun to play with.

 

how much?

 

you should use it to compare mods.

ex. air intake temp - compare cold air vs ram air, engine cover vs none, etc.

 

looks awesome

 

Several people have PM'd me about the Cipher system. It's probably easier to just answer here, once. Cipher is produced by UpRev, here's a link to their site. UpRev also has a FAQ that answers a lot of questions.

The Cipher software is not protected in any way. Anyone can download the software from the UpRev website. The USB cable is specific to Cipher. If you read the FAQ, you'll see that no other OBD-II cables will work. You need the Cipher cable.

The only drawback to Cipher that I have found so far, is that you have to have a running notebook in the car when you want to test. There's no problem running the cable over the steering wheel to keep the wire out from the pedals and your feet, but slamming on the brakes would launch the computer.

 

im sure you can use another cable as long as you have the correct usb drivers

 

That's awesome! I want one..... Burn everyone a copy!!!!

 

thats why you have seatbelts duh.

 

i have the program, thats easy to get, i am actually about to buy the program so i can raise everyones idle and advance the timing on cars for some more horsepower...


the cable is the hard thing to get, you have to use their cable

 

WOW only 400 bucks not bad.

 

Nice present jb.

 

Good point, w0ady!

It can compare anything the G35 can measure through the ECU.

I think the cable has firmware in it. The UpRev guys know that the cable is the only thing keeping the masses from stealing their product, I think they have it covered. In any event, as a programmer myself, I would not do anything to help people steal their product.

Burning is not required. Anyone can download the software for free.

Yea, but they don't hold a notebook computer too well. I'll work something out. I don't expect to be running through the gears at WOT during traffic, so it isn't too bad a problem. ur 2 4 2 today... (w0 speak... )

I would think this would be a great tool for you, especially with your shop. It's a very cost effective was to raise and lower the idle and timing. It's cheaper than Nissan's Consult II, for sure...

Thanks, Sean.

I've wanted to be able to determine the A/F ratio in my G for quite a while, but wasn't sure of the best way. I did a lot of reading. I like that the Cipher adapts to different ECU's for diagnostics and logging, and also that it reads and clears codes, and changes the idle and timing.

I still might get a UTEC some day. I don't think the Cipher replaces a UTEC by any means, but I also don't think that a UTEC eliminates the usefulness of Cipher. I'm still learning about Cipher and all this stuff, but it's fun. I can bring it on the 6th if you want to see it.

 

Congrats, _jb. The Cipher tool is very neat program. Chris/maximumsportz was showing me the ins and outs of the program at our cocoa beach meet.

 

Thanks!

I remember Chris raising the idle on one of the ST Sedans, but didn't get to look at his setup. I have since read several of his posts about it. I believe he was in on the initial Cipher group buy.