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M2 Technical Topics > N55 Engine / Drivetrain / Exhaust / Bolt-ons / Tuning > Flashing in the Bay Area? (The 20 AMP Challenge)

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      10-18-2020, 03:38 PM   #1
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Flashing in the Bay Area? (The 20 AMP Challenge)

Anybody in the Bay Area who's done the ECU firmware flashing (properly w/ PSU) willing to work with me? Happy to compensate appropriately. At this point it's verging on the absurd for me to do this myself.


Some background:
Basically I don't have a 20A circuit capable of supporting a 70A PSU (or a 70A PSU for that matter) and it appears that my ENET cable is not working (can't resolve a fallback IP address via DHCP with my car running but was able to connect via Veepeak and Bimmercode before, going to confirm that veepeak still works later today)

I have a Carplay unlock so I'd prefer not to update the iDrive ECU if possible to avoid losing the unlock.
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      10-18-2020, 10:54 PM   #2
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I don't live near you, but I can remote into your laptop and try. What are you trying to flash? And why do you need a 20amp circuit?
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      10-18-2020, 11:21 PM   #3
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I'm trying to flash everything except iDrive (and things with iDrive dependencies) up to the recent firmware.

What I've been reading is that if your car voltage drops below 13V while flashing you can brick the ECU requiring a bench flash. Max draw for the in car flash is 70A, a PSU like that needs a 20A circuit.

I've seen flashing without a PSU described as "russian roulette." It can work a ton of times until it doesn't and I don't trust my battery or CTEK that much.

Thank you for the offer to remote in though.
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      10-19-2020, 12:01 AM   #4
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Ok, so 70a at 13v is 910w. Every house has 20amp breakers that handle 2400w. Even if your house only has a 15amp breaker, it'd still be okay cause that's 1800w it's capable of supplying (15a x 120v). And even a 10amp breaker would be okay, granted there is nothing else running on the circuit.
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      10-19-2020, 01:21 AM   #5
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I agree, in fact I am skeptical that an F87 is actually going to pull 70A from a PSU but I can't take the risk of bricking it. Worst case scenario I'll get a dealership to update the firmware and then bug kubax about whether I can unlock carplay again.
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      10-19-2020, 02:32 AM   #6
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I hooked up a 30A power supply and the voltage didn't drop below 13.5v the entire time; I flashed everything there was an update for, including the HU, which took the longest by far
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      10-19-2020, 01:25 PM   #7
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@Nezil do you have a setup for flashing the car safely?
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      10-19-2020, 03:07 PM   #8
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I just make sure that my battery is fully charged and put a trickle charger in it during the flash. Never had an issue with 15 or so flashes.
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      10-19-2020, 03:36 PM   #9
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As for the enet cable, are you using windows or mac? If it's windows, you can look at the device and driver settings, as well as the settings in the flashing software you're using. There might be a setting messed up where it's looking for a static IP, but it only has access to a dynamic IP. So it can't find the specific IP it's looking for. Can change this in the settings, or uninstall/reinstall the enet drivers to reset everything to default. I can check all this in Windows for you, but I don't have any experience with Mac. It would be the same principle on Mac, I'm just unfamiliar with the menus so it'd take me a while to find what I'm looking for.
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      10-20-2020, 08:29 AM   #10
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You don't need a 70A PSU. 30A will be more than enough. A trickle charger won't help because what you need are enough Amps to provide power (in the event where it is needed).

This is what I used for a 2 hour flash session with kubax: https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DXAEC8...3200491&sr=8-3
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      10-20-2020, 08:56 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2 View Post
You don't need a 70A PSU. 30A will be more than enough. A trickle charger won't help because what you need are enough Amps to provide power (in the event where it is needed).

This is what I used for a 2 hour flash session with kubax: https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DXAEC8...3200491&sr=8-3
2 hour flash? Mine take about 2 or 3 minutes.
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      10-20-2020, 09:01 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cecaa850 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2 View Post
You don't need a 70A PSU. 30A will be more than enough. A trickle charger won't help because what you need are enough Amps to provide power (in the event where it is needed).

This is what I used for a 2 hour flash session with kubax: https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DXAEC8...491&sr=8-3
2 hour flash? Mine take about 2 or 3 minutes.
It wasn't a bootmod3 flash. It was a full idrive upgrade
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      10-20-2020, 10:33 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2 View Post
It wasn't a bootmod3 flash. It was a full idrive upgrade
Got it. I haven't messed with that.
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      10-20-2020, 12:20 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2 View Post
You don't need a 70A PSU. 30A will be more than enough. A trickle charger won't help because what you need are enough Amps to provide power (in the event where it is needed).

This is what I used for a 2 hour flash session with kubax: https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DXAEC8...3200491&sr=8-3
At this point I'm gonna bite the bullet and take it into the dealership for the updates, the cost of a power supply is a little less than what the dealer service should run. I suspect I could get by with my CTEK which can maintain 7A and a full battery as a buffer but I don't have the stomach for risk these days.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony1s View Post
As for the enet cable, are you using windows or mac? If it's windows, you can look at the device and driver settings, as well as the settings in the flashing software you're using. There might be a setting messed up where it's looking for a static IP, but it only has access to a dynamic IP. So it can't find the specific IP it's looking for. Can change this in the settings, or uninstall/reinstall the enet drivers to reset everything to default. I can check all this in Windows for you, but I don't have any experience with Mac. It would be the same principle on Mac, I'm just unfamiliar with the menus so it'd take me a while to find what I'm looking for.
I have a windows machine I'm using specifically for this purpose.

Virus scan is uninstalled.
Firewall is off.
Plugging in cable to car after car is on and then plugging into computer.
Waited >2 minutes.
Ensured DHCP was on (that's the automatic IP thingy)

And everything else I could find across this and other f-series forums. I opened up the cable and the setup looks right so it's not obviously that the cable is bad. I've ordered a replacement cable to make sure that's not the issue.


Thanks everyone for your input.
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      10-20-2020, 03:30 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2 View Post
You don't need a 70A PSU. 30A will be more than enough. A trickle charger won't help because what you need are enough Amps to provide power (in the event where it is needed).

This is what I used for a 2 hour flash session with kubax: https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DXAEC8...491&sr=8-3
This is not a power supply. A power supply will give a constant voltage under changing load conditions (needed for stable flashing). A charger will supply constant current but voltage can vary.
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      10-20-2020, 03:36 PM   #16
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what I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NPT4TK

mainly use it for bench testing head units etc
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      10-20-2020, 04:39 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PackPride85 View Post
This is not a power supply. A power supply will give a constant voltage under changing load conditions (needed for stable flashing). A charger will supply constant current but voltage can vary.
No, a power supply would provide constant amperage which this one I linked does (as one of the modes)
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      10-20-2020, 07:03 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2 View Post
No, a power supply would provide constant amperage which this one I linked does (as one of the modes)
You don't want a constant current when flashing you want a constant voltage. That type of charger can only apply a constant current. It's not possible to do both at the same time unless you figured out some real life scenario where V=IR doesn't apply.

BMW recommends power supply voltage between 12.4-14.4 with min 45A output. Your charger can maintain that current output but it's going to allow the battery voltage to vary during module flashing as the R value changes (Chargers will apply some voltage over the standard 12.7V to charge, usually 14.X but it will vary with load) . Amp draw is going to depend on the load if V is constant. That is why BMW recommends the $1000 constant DC voltage power supply that can output 70A max.

Last edited by PackPride85; 10-20-2020 at 07:36 PM..
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      10-20-2020, 07:24 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Devo View Post
what I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NPT4TK

mainly use it for bench testing head units etc
This is probably OK but bare minimum. 13.8V at 30A is under the BMW recommended current minimum.

If you are handy with DIY electronics this is probably the best value solution:

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1262137
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