BMW ICOM vs K+DCAN cable, which one you need?

What can you do with an BMW ICOM emulator, and which you cannot do with a K+DCAN cable? (especially in for E series) Here is something useful for education.

ICOM A2

K+Dcan cable

Diagram:

 

Price:

€469.00

€17.45

Vehicles:

New and old BMW vehicles:

E & F series up to 2017

Old BMW E series (1998 – 2008)

Software:

ISTA-D 4.04.12

ISTA-P 3.60.2.001

Inpa/Ediabas, Ncs expert, Winkfp, E-sys, ETK, Easyconnect, Itoolradar, BMW standard tool, coding database, coding tool

INPA/Ediabas

ICOM can be used with diagnosis and also programming. While DCAN cable can do all of those it is not safe to program modules because there have been a lot of cases where modules were bricked. You can only get your 1B file using FSC generator with ICOM on an E series car but cannot generate 1B file using a DCAN cable since it will give you an error. There is another way though of getting your 1B file without using an ICOM on an E series through the USB port inside your glovebox accessing the hard drive directly. Rather than going through all those stuff, it is more convenient to just buy the lifetime FSC code and be done with it.

To see if I understood:

Programming = Flashing a module, which means changing the actual software. Best done with an ICOM.

Coding = Reading and writing the memory which contains the configuration. Can be done with a K&DCAN cable.

ICOM: fast protocol, allows to secure flash software and read/write access the entire memory. Similar to JTAG programming.

K&DCAN Cable: slow serial protocol, flashing would take ages and errors could occur. Also, not possible to access the entire memory. Similar to RS232 bootloader access.

You program a module if you want to update the software to a newer one or if you a retrofitting a new module and want to flash it. ICOM is a lot more stable than dcan cable when it comes to programming. And you are right there are modules that takes hours to finish and any interruption in the process will surely brick that module. You can get a cheap china clone ICOM but finding a refutable vendor selling a good working ICOM is not easy. I’ve been using China ICOM from http://www.obd2france.com/wholesale/bmw-icom-a2-b-c-diagnostic-programme-appareil-avec-wifi-fonction.html it’s a good helper in my garage repair work. You can also get recommendations from others who bought a working clone ICOM.

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How to rework ICOM A2 with heatsink for Cooling chips

This is a great solution of ICOM A2 reworkwith a heatsink which is cooling both chips.

(GREAT THANKS to B1257)

Now here are some pictures about the heatsink I made.

Picture1 As you can see in my way the heatsink is made with two parts. The main center plate which will later touch the complete case for a better heat dissipation. And second the small CPU plate which is glued with a special Thermal Bound paste for FPGA chips on the center plate. You can see the compound type on the picture.

Picture2 Shows the Temp in C° after an idle running time of the head about 30 minutes, without any cooling.

Picture3 Original there are two pads for the cooling, but not one is touching the case, after a longer time the complete case will warm up in a way that the both chips are near out of max temp range, which is in a normal grade about 70°C. For our heatsink I will use a small pad for the MICREL chip to give me the right contact to my center plate. Second reason is that the pad gives me a little bit place for a realignment to center the main plate with both chips.

Picture4 You can see new srewls and bolts to compensate the new height. The screwls dimension of the innerside srewls is 2.5x12mm (countersunk bolt, this is important, because we cant fix the center place in the case if there is not enough place with normal screwls.)

Picture5 Be careful to center the plate exactly with vary the three plastic bolts, may you have to cut it a little bit. Check the space between the case and the center plate one or more times. Take care that both chips are touching the heatsink, because some cases can vary the height.

Picture6 Apply compound paste to the center plate, where the heatsink is later touching the case for the best heat dissipation.

Picture7 For the best way take care that the complete heatsink is touching the case. See the red arrow.

After the heatsink mod the temps are always inside the specs. I remember 5 hours idle running about 40.5C° room temp about 26°C.

Attachment:

Heatsink Dimension PDF overview

https://mega.nz/#!C88F2LjL!rVms_i_EzXJHLw8H9KlWUrNAz6Q_iqb0-XqMlZEYCyM

Sketup File

https://mega.nz/#!TsMDBJ6J!swzuKD5_4TnTrVhzjiEqrwTWcV5yDp5mu0wYwnpZm84

I hope this helps you to mount the heatsink in a proper way.

So advice to all -

To avoid issues, please check the PCB design (with the cooling plate) before your buying. when buying from China, it seems obd2france.com is one of the safest way to make sure of things quality.

This is their ICOM A2 pcb with a cooling plate

(BIG THANKS to B1257 in http://cartechnology.co.uk/)

Original - from obd2france.com obd2 francais service technique:How to rework ICOM A2 with heatsink for Cooling chips

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bmw icom francais

ICOM A2 INPA reset/calibrate steering angle on BMW F30

i'm retrofitting cruise control on a BMW F30 2005.
Changed the parts needed and added cruise control to the VO and coded the modules needed to code.

Next and last step is Resetting/Calibrating the steering angle sensor in INPA but it gives me the following message and nothing more happens:

Calibration steering angle only with steering wheel balancer !!

Okay this was actually really easy

1. Start by launching Toolset 32 / Tool32:

2. Choose "Load SGBD Group file"

3. Find your DSC module and click "open", (In my case for a E90 2005 F30 it was DSC_87.prg)

4. Scroll your way down to "lenkwinkel dsc abgleichen", ignition on and double click that.

Wait for the job to finish (took about 10 seconds for me)

DONE!

Steering Angle calibrated and VIN-matched to car.

Done!