PCIII not communicating

DailyCommuter said:

I have insalled the full header exhaust system now, Which eiminates the o2 sensor. so no matter what the bike wont run great now. And please don't anyone suggest that I put the old exhaust back on until I get the new PCIII. Seriously would you. Too much work, I'd rather not ride than do it all over again.

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Please see this previous post in this thread.

You can unplug the PCIII injector connectors and put them in the tool tray, then plug the FJR connectors back on the injectors. Even without the O2 sensor you can ride your FJR and it should be fine, not optimum, but fine. Ride it like this until you resolve the PCIII problem. I have unplugged my PCIII injector connectors from my Gen I a couple of times and have ridden it with the O2 sensor unplugged with no issues. Even with your revised Gen II ECU software you will be ok running the stock FI with no O2.

Relax 'n ride. Or, ride 'n relax.

ionbeam said:

It sounds like there is a problem with either the battery coupler or the battery. Can you check the battery connector at the PCIII with a DMM and confirm that you are getting 9 volts to the pins of the PCIII? Are you sure the USB port of your laptop is good? I know you have swapped the USB tcable and it did no good.
The Power Commander software says "Serial: N/A" at the top right hand corner of the screen and does not show any serial numbers or "TP" readings.

Answer: The Power Commander USB needs to be powered up by either the bike or a brand new 9 volt battery via the battery adapter. If the unit is not powered up, the computer will only see a USB device being plugged in, but will not allow the software to communicate. If a battery has been plugged in for around 5 minutes, it may be too low on power to allow good communication.

I am trying to communicate with my PCIIIusb using the supplied 9 volt adapter, but the computer does not see it. What should I check?

A low battery will keep the PCIIIusb from communicating. The PCIIIusb can quickly drain (about 20 minutes of use) a new battery, so make sure to not leave it plugged in longer than necessary. Also, make sure the cable is pushed all the way into the PCIIIusb's port. Sometimes the connector needs a fair amount of pressure to fully seat it.

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Alan I'm not sure what you mean. Just plu the 9v Battery into the adapter and check the adapter pins, or are you saying inside the PCIII, Because I cant see any thing inside the unit.The answer to the first one isyes I've been through 4 9V batteries, each of them new. All wih the same result.

As far as the USB port. I have 4 onboard usb ports on the laptop. I tried 2 cables in all 4 ports 1 at a time. No difference. I know the usb ports work because they are usually occupied by other devices that I have no problem with. I also installed the software on my wife's Laptop. same result, No communication.

Also there is the separate issue of the fact that the lights on the face of the PCIII don't do anything when I roll on or off the throttle with the bike running. The tech guy said they should go up and down with the throttle movement. One would think maybe that the TPS on my bike is no good, but If I ust the DIAG. mode and check it with that there is a good reading right through the whole throttle range, Both with and without the PCIII connected in line. I had grounded the PCIII directly to the battery as it said to in the directions. (which I'm kind of surprised no-one asked about yet..) Its already out of the bike and packed up for shipping now anyway. I tried one more time to see if it would communicate while not installed and no go. So they can have this back and Repair or Replace it. I'm very sour on the whole thing right now so everyone please and thankyou for your efforts, We'll pick this up in a couple weeks when I get it back. All I can say is they better find something wrong with it. Because if it comes back to me and they say it was fine. I'm driving to NV and Burning them down! :fire: :focus: :gun: :trinibob:

ionbeam said:

DailyCommuter said:

I have insalled the full header exhaust system now, Which eiminates the o2 sensor. so no matter what the bike wont run great now. And please don't anyone suggest that I put the old exhaust back on until I get the new PCIII. Seriously would you. Too much work, I'd rather not ride than do it all over again.

Click to expand...

Please see this previous post in this thread.

You can unplug the PCIII injector connectors and put them in the tool tray, then plug the FJR connectors back on the injectors. Even without the O2 sensor you can ride your FJR and it should be fine, not optimum, but fine. Ride it like this until you resolve the PCIII problem. I have unplugged my PCIII injector connectors from my Gen I a couple of times and have ridden it with the O2 sensor unplugged with no issues. Even with your revised Gen II ECU software you will be ok running the stock FI with no O2.

Relax 'n ride. Or, ride 'n relax.

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Thanks Alan I will.I'm gonna do that right now... See ya...

Few years ago, I had same issue with my PCIII. There was no any communications between laptop and PCIII.

Spend some time before I figured out what was causing a trouble. USB cable connector on the PCIII side was not fully in the slot. It was very hard to see it. Found out that just accidentally. I have to push extremely hard USB cable to the PCIII. Looks like something was blocked inside the slot. After that just start engine and BINGO….

Chris, Make a point to watch the PC LEDs when you plug in the 9V battery connector. The PC should cycle through the whole set of lights and end with only one on. If you don't get the cycle, it isn't accepting the battery power. Plug in the battery before the USB, then plug the USB into the computer. BTW, give the USB connector at the PC end a good shove. It has to positively snap into place. I have had exactly the same symptoms when I failed to completely seat the USB. Dan

EDIT: Just saw Dragan beat me to it on shoving the USB connector into the PC. Unpack that puppy and try it. I'll bet you a bowl of Chicken Noodle soup that's your problem.

BkrK12 said:

Chris, Make a point to watch the PC LEDs when you plug in the 9V battery connector. The PC should cycle through the whole set of lights and end with only one on. If you don't get the cycle, it isn't accepting the battery power. Plug in the battery before the USB, then plug the USB into the computer. BTW, give the USB connector at the PC end a good shove. It has to positively snap into place. I have had exactly the same symptoms when I failed to completely seat the USB. Dan

EDIT: Just saw Dragan beat me to it on shoving the USB connector into the PC. Unpack that puppy and try it. I'll bet you a bowl of Chicken Noodle soup that's your problem.

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Too Late its gone in the mail(ups) . Now Why didn't the tech support guy say anything about the lights cycling? When I hook up the battery only the bottom light comes on steady and stay's lit. That's it. He said as long as I have a light on steady I'm good to go. As far as the usb cable being pushed in all the way; if I push any harder it will break. It's in believe me. Besides any of this, computer, USB, and Battery connector stuff; Does the PCIII in fact run the lights up and down when the bike is running, and you roll the throttle on and off? Mine doesn't. The very first time I took this out of the package and sat down at the laptop with everything, When I hooked up the battery the first time I got the very top and the very bottom light on at the same time, then just the bottom one stayed lit. Nothing else ever lit up. Plus like I said, wiht it installed in the bike and the bike running, I get no lights excepth the bottom one. I think its defective. I'll just have to wait now, its gone. To bad I didn't get more help from DynoJet, talked to 3 different people. None of them better than the other. Totally disappointed all around on this one!

What does your battery adapter look like? where do the black and red wire go in, in relation to the plug. On mine, with the white plug plugged into the PCIII with the tab on the bottom.... The red wire is in the bottom left pin and the black one is in the top right pin. I tested the plug with a multi meter. 0 resistance between end of pin and battery connector on both colors..

Red is bottom left and black is top right on mine, too.

With battery atttached and ignition on (but bike not running) lights go up as throttle is opened. I didn't do it with the engine running because it's late and would make too much noise - I'll try it tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it works the same way when the bike is running, without the 9V attached. My leds run up and down a couple of time when the PC is powered up, either by attaching the battery or turning on the ignition. It looks like some kind of diagnostic is going on. If you get no light display, I can't tell you for sure that your unit doesn't work right - but, it sure doesn't work like mine.

In the computer business, we used to call that "Machine broke".

OK, with the engine running, the LEDs step up as you open the throttle. I can think of no alternative to you having a defective unit - based on all the symptoms. I'm wondering if it was ever operating to start with. You may have been seeing no benefit from it at all. Could be a very pleasant surprise when it comes back.

If you want to take a run up here this weekend, I'll be happy to go over all of it with you, using my bike and PC, so you can see what is supposed to happen. Send me a PM and I'll PM back all the info you need to get here. It'll take about 25 minutes less than your trip to the Dunkin Donuts.

Dan

Dan, Thanks for the offer, It's probably one of the nicest things to come out of this, but kids have soccer and stuff, and I'm hardly ever around for things like that so I'm going to be super dad for a few days. My girls always like look at me as if they want to say, " hey, look Mom, it's that man from all the pictures again!" I don't think that this unit was ever working either. Very poor customer service from DynoJet's end. I could understand having to go through this 2 week ****, if the unit had been in my bike for a year and stopped working, Then yeah its under warranty, just send it in and deal with it, But this is BRAND NEW out of the box broke. They should have overnighted one to me immediately. Or Jeff should have, or Jeff's Distributor should have. I don't care who would wind up dealing with it. It shouldn't have had to be me. I'm the customer. All I got was a them's the breaks and a pat on the back, and sorry its the policy. Screw them and their policy. If there were a way to get my money back, I'd never put it in the bike now.I'd go with something else instead. Again I gotta say very disappointed with everyone involved!

DailyCommuter said:

Very poor customer service from DynoJet's end. I could understand having to go through this 2 week ****, if the unit had been in my bike for a year and stopped working, Then yeah its under warranty, just send it in and deal with it, But this is BRAND NEW out of the box broke. They should have overnighted one to me immediately. Or Jeff should have, or Jeff's Distributor should have. I don't care who would wind up dealing with it. It shouldn't have had to be me. I'm the customer. All I got was a them's the breaks and a pat on the back, and sorry its the policy. Screw them and their policy. If there were a way to get my money back, I'd never put it in the bike now.I'd go with something else instead. Again I gotta say very disappointed with everyone involved!

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I agree Dynojet should have overnighted you a new one ASAP. Good customer service is such a simple thing, yet so many companies just don't get it. As consumers the only thing we can do is vote with our wallets. Based on your experience I'll never buy from Dynojet. I hope others here take notice as well.

DailyCommuter said:

Dan, Thanks for the offer, It's probably one of the nicest things to come out of this, but kids have soccer and stuff, and I'm hardly ever around for things like that so I'm going to be super dad for a few days. My girls always like look at me as if they want to say, " hey, look Mom, it's that man from all the pictures again!" I don't think that this unit was ever working either. Very poor customer service from DynoJet's end. I could understand having to go through this 2 week ****, if the unit had been in my bike for a year and stopped working, Then yeah its under warranty, just send it in and deal with it, But this is BRAND NEW out of the box broke. They should have overnighted one to me immediately. Or Jeff should have, or Jeff's Distributor should have. I don't care who would wind up dealing with it. It shouldn't have had to be me. I'm the customer. All I got was a them's the breaks and a pat on the back, and sorry its the policy. Screw them and their policy. If there were a way to get my money back, I'd never put it in the bike now.I'd go with something else instead. Again I gotta say very disappointed with everyone involved!

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No problem. Offer stands open, at your leisure.

BTW, when the new unit arrives, be very careful with the ground wire. I grounded mine directly to the battery negative terminal.

I spent about two hours by the roadside one afternoon while a friend had to take his bike apart to pull the PC out. He hadn't followed their instructions on where to ground it and the bike completely quit in the middle of nowhere. Once at home, he reinstalled it, properly gounded, and everything was fine.

I had it grounded to the battery. Just so that is clear. Directions were follower exactly. Also like I said before, right out of the box before it was ever installed the unit didn't cycle the lights at start up. Only that 1 bottom one lit up.

Well finally I recieved back My replacement PCIII direct from Dynojet. It appears as though the "brand new in the box" unit I bought from Jeff at Bike Effects was No Good,

So to sum up how I feel about this whole transaction.

I paid more for something that I could have bought from a stranger for less money, for 2 reasons, (1) to do business with and support a forum member who I've made several hundred dollars worth of purchses from before this one, and (2) specifically because if there were a problem I would be treated better than if I was dealing with a stranger. I'm sorry to report that I will no longer buy that way. If I can get a better deal somewhere else on an exact product, I will buy it elsewhere.

The small money I saved was not worth the aggrevation. If I bought it from a local dealer I could have walked in and exchanged it. I had to Pay for shipping back to DynoJet, and then again for them to ship a replacement unit back to me. I will always be he first to spread the word about good, above average, or just plain excellent service. That applies to bad also. Either Jeff or his distributor should have called DynoJet on My behalf and immediately at their cost had a replacement unit shipped overnight to me. Instead All I got was "I don't have it in stock, and neither does my distributor." That was stranger treatment, Return customer from the forum treatment would have been what I just said, They call Dyno and have one overnighted to me.

Now the reason neither of them were wiling to do this was If I return the other unit to them, and they in turn ship it to dyno for repair,replacement, credit or whatever and Dyno finds nothing wrong with it, then they are stuck with a used unit that cant be sold as new. As far as I am concerned TOUGH ****. Cost of doing business! Cost of keeping repeat customers happy, and repeating. I sure shouldn't be stuck with it. Now as it turns out I did get a brand new one for replacement, but thats what I paid for, and paid for, and paid for.

Nothing personal here, but I have always posted the good, so this time I am posting the bad, ....... Sorry Jeff, but you've lost my business over this one.

Chris, did you get it installed and running?

oh yeah. I installed it exactly as I had done with the other one. The first one that I bought from Jeff was clearly defective. This one works perfectly. I installed Dale's Map on it, and I love the way the bike performs and sounds with the new exhaust and a working PCIII.