DIY HBO diagnostic cable 4th generation

Greetings, readers))) My next job)) At the moment when I decided to install HBO (oh, maybe someone missed it), the first thought that came to me was HOW WILL I SET IT UP AND DIAGNOSE IT? I looked at the price tags on the cords HER MOTHER LEGS 2000-2500 RUBLES... WELL THE FUCK. And I decided to look for information on the drive... and here it’s all boobs and pussies! I barely found the necessary information among this garbage... thanks to the guys who answered and suggested))) and now I’m far from installing an LPG, I order an adapter that fits the DIGITRONIC MAXI-2 for 42 rubles))) and buy a connector for a VAZ 2109 fuel pump (60 rubles, I think) ) the wires from the computer mouse were given to them by IT specialists from work)) thank you very much for this too)) and I soldered them according to the diagram and today I decided to check the functionality))) and voila))) I downloaded the software on the computer and installed it from the World of Gas website here on different brains)) and off we go)) when connecting, I asked for some kind of firewood, but immediately downloaded it from Tyrnet safely and showed the dynamic parameters))) I looked around and didn’t touch the settings because the car works fine, the dynamics are excellent and the consumption is excellent

)) so I left it for later)) I’ll skate a couple more hundred and maybe I’ll twist a thread)) all the beaver guys)) thanks for your attention))))

Cable for HBO Lovato

How I made a cord for HBO

I decided to install gas equipment on my car and contacted a specialized office. They supplied me with Lovato equipment, but they couldn’t set it up correctly. My city is not large and the other companies that I could find did not install and service Lovato.

Hopelessness is the engine of progress; I had to figure out the issue myself. An external inspection showed that the equipment was installed correctly. This meant only one thing - the problem was an incorrect setting of the HBO unit.

Our goal is to configure the LPG unit; for this, the manufacturer offers special software Lovato Easy Fast; it cannot be downloaded from the official website, but can be found on the Internet. After some googling, I realized that the HBO cable is nothing more than a USB→UART converter. This means it’s easy to find ready-made options or even assemble it yourself.

How to make your own diagnostic cord for setting up 4th generation HBO

After installing gas equipment on a car, you will need a special cord to configure its controller. In addition, in the further operation of the machine, adjustment of the fuel system will definitely be necessary.

Therefore, for those who like to independently diagnose their car, in this article we will tell you how to make a universal cable for 4th generation LPG with your own hands.

Manufacturing of HBO cable

What is required to set up HBO?

• HBO cable (this is what we will do)
• HBO cable driver
• laptop with a battery life of about 2 hours
• Lovato Easy Fast program
• obd adapter
• mobile phone with bluetooth program Torque or ODB Doctor
• read the article about the essence of setting up HBO Lovato

So, our car already has 4th generation HBO installed, we need to configure it. Let's start with the connector; it can be found near the HBO unit. It is hidden under a black cap and looks like the one shown below. It is to him that we will connect.

Lovato connector pinout

Lovato connector pinout

• GND (Ground)
• Rx (data reception)
• Tx (data transmission)
• +12 (food, we won’t need it)

Correct connection of the HBO cable to the connector:

There are 2 types of pinouts for this cable on the Internet and they contradict each other. If I had had a voltmeter at hand then, I would have gone all-in :) As it turned out, if you mix up and connect the mass of the HBO cable to the +12 connector, nothing bad happens, but it’s better not to make that mistake. Rx and Tx can be confused. Rx and Tx of the adapter must be connected to Tx and Rx of the HBO, respectively, i.e. cross. It is absolutely clear that the cable will work only after all pins are correctly connected.

Where can I get a USB→UART converter?

You may be surprised, but a data cable that costs about $100 can be made yourself for $3. In fact, this cable is nothing more than a USB to UART adapter with special TTL levels. The PL2303HX chip copes with this task perfectly:

You can order a converter based on the PL2303HX chip on AliExpress, the estimated price tag is $0.85.

Chinese USB to UART converter.

Date cable from an old cell phone.

To connect to the Lovato HBO connector, it is very convenient to use DIP pins; you can buy them at any radio parts store or order them from AliExpress; they can be broken and used one at a time.

Pin strip for DIP mounting.

Solder wires to these pins and your adapter. I recommend making the wires long enough so that you can configure the LPG from inside the car; this is required for online setup, more on that later.

Assembly diagram

Key parameters you need to know before you start soldering:

• The output voltage from the HBO control unit can be 12v or, as on Zenit, 5v.
• Pinout of TX and RX signals in the diagnostic block of the gas controller.

For zenith and the like (with a 5 volt output), you don’t have to include a voltage regulator in the circuit at all, because The bluetooth board is powered by five volts. The location of the tx/rx signals may vary (depending on the manufacturer of the gas brain).

Assembly diagram of a bluetooth adapter for HBO

To assemble the Bluetooth adapter compactly, it is advisable to trim its connector.

Prepared connector

Next, according to the diagram, solder the voltage converter directly to the terminal connector contacts. Then solder the matching module and the Bluetooth board itself to the outputs of the converter. Power supply +3.3 V is taken from the transistor on the bt board or from the built-in board (leg number 12).

Setting up the “brains”

Read about the correct setup of Lovato LPG

using the official
Lovato Easy Fast
and our cable.

Very often, car owners with installed gas equipment are faced with the need to review/adjust some parameters of the gas “brains”. For this purpose, you need to have a special tester (which is very expensive and not economically feasible for private use) or you need a diagnostic tool in the form of a laptop with installed software and a cord to connect the gas “brains” and the laptop. Branded cords that are commercially available are not cheap, so you can try to make a cable for HBO yourself. How to do this and where to get the components of the future cord for HBO will be discussed in our article.

How to connect

You can check the connection of the module (board) to the computer before making the cord. To do this, you need to download and install the driver for your operating system from the official website of the ECU manufacturer or from resources that distribute gas equipment. There you can also download a program for configuring the HBO.

Having connected the adapter board to the USB port of the laptop/tablet, you need to go to “Device Manager” - “Ports” and check the connection.

If an exclamation mark icon appears and error “Code 10” there may be several reasons:

In the latter option, you need to find a driver on the Internet (using the selection method) without checking the authenticity of the chip and install it.

After installing and launching the program for adjusting the control unit, you should connect the cable with the laptop to the gas equipment ECU. If the program shows “the controller is not connected,” then it is necessary to swap the TXD and RXD connectors.

Cable assembly

Let's look at making a DIY HBO diagnostic cable to connect a laptop to gas “brains” using the example of an HBO cord for one of the popular models of brains from the Polish company Stag.

Components

Actually, the diagnostic cable for HBO itself consists of:

The connector for connecting to the gas brain block (in our case it is a standard one) is a 4-pin waterproof automotive connector that can be bought in a car/radio store or ordered from Aliexpress, as we did. The price of one connector was about 60 cents.

Next, we will need another USB type A connector for subsequent connection of the finished cable for HBO to the laptop. This connector can also be bought at a radio store or ordered from Aliexpress. This connector cost us $1.10.

What can a cable do?

With this adapter you can:

1. Read error codes for HBO faults (erase them).
2. Adjust (program) ECU parameters.
3. Gas level sensor calibration.
4. Setting the parameters of the ignition timing variator (IAC) and much more, it all depends on the controller model.

A homemade cable for diagnostics is universal; for many units you will only have to change the location of the terminals in the cord block.

Diagnostic cable pinout and compatibility table:

HBO compatibility with specific cables

It was already mentioned earlier that, despite the general similarity in the structure of control units of different gas equipment, specialized cables are used to configure them. This is largely due to two features of gas equipment:

To make selection easier, we recommend that you pay attention to the following table, which indicates the compatibility of a specific type of HBO with a specific diagnostic cable:

Of course, you can buy a universal cable, but it is noticeably more expensive than any profile cord, so for individual use it is better to purchase devices designed specifically for your type of gas equipment. By the way, the cost of the latter is in the range of 500-1500 rubles, while universal cables are sold at a price of 2000.

Design and purpose of the device

It's no secret that almost all components of the design of modern cars are electronically controlled. Gas equipment of machines is no exception, therefore, to control its operation, a special control unit is used, which is the electronic “brain” of the unit. A cable for HBO is required to control this unit in a way convenient for humans, that is, through a special program on a computer.

Gas equipment is connected to an electronic computer through a special diagnostic connector, which, as a rule, is located near the control unit. Such a connection allows you to achieve the following goals:

Let us repeat, diagnostics and configuration of equipment occurs through a computer, so to organize them you need:

It is worth noting that most types of gas installations known throughout the world, for example, from , “Digitronic” and “AGIS”, operate on control units similar in design and principles of software organization, so it is not possible to find a universal cable for gas equipment in stores or make it yourself so difficult. Some experts in the “gas balloon” business, of course, do not recommend the use of such a device, but practice shows that it is completely safe to use them, because they do not cause software failures in the operation of various types of electronic “brains”. By the way, universal cables have already been tested more than once when setting up the same gas systems from Stag, Digitronic and AGIS.