I mean I guess I could just keep replying to this.

 

It varies greatly between year, make and model. Something that works for one may not work for all. You mention tools like enigma and you probably are aware of carprog as well. I'm just going to say, beware of cheap clone tools, they do not work well and will cause many problems. You will get along much better if you treat your work with respect and buy proper equipment.

For the most part you can get by with a 13-14V 2A power supply, eeprom reader, and something to read motorola mcu's like 908's and 9s12's which are very common. ORANGE5 from Scorpio-LK is an excellent tool for this type of work. You could always just build your own reader pretty cheaply as well if you wanted. No special jigs, just need schematics to wire what you need to do/test on bench. Good scanner is a plus as well like autel 908.

 

It varies greatly between year, make and model. Something that works for one may not work for all. You mention tools like enigma and you probably are aware of carprog as well. I'm just going to say, beware of cheap clone tools, they do not work well and will cause many problems. You will get along much better if you treat your work with respect and buy proper equipment.

For the most part you can get by with a 13-14V 2A power supply, eeprom reader, and something to read motorola mcu's like 908's and 9s12's which are very common. ORANGE5 from Scorpio-LK is an excellent tool for this type of work. You could always just build your own reader pretty cheaply as well if you wanted. No special jigs, just need schematics to wire what you need to do/test on bench. Good scanner is a plus as well like autel 908.

Thank you for your quick response. Is there one tool out there that has all of this? I will grab the autel 908. You recommend Carprog? Enigma is very expensive.....

 

Thank you for your quick response. Is there one tool out there that has all of this? I will grab the autel 908. You recommend Carprog? Enigma is very expensive.....

Also, how will the autel help me if the cluster is not actually in the car?

 

I looked around for an eprom programmer and eventually settled on one from this company: https://www.mcumall.com/store/Programmer-Universal

My purpose is to transfer calibration data from a Dallas RAM chip which happens to be soldered in place So, tit needs to unsoldred, contents copied and copied to a new chip installed in a socket without damage. Plugged into line power, the batterie s in the chip should not be used. In a new chip, the batteries are inactive until the chip is accessed.

A low-cost programmer has been called a Willem programmer, but it REQUIRED a REAL PARALLEL Port. You generally need programming adapters. USB to Parallel adapters won't work which was aproblem with CNC controls too.

Assume you know very little, you should look up the I2C bus. This bus is used to program the BIOS's in modern laptops.
it's an inter-IC communications bus designed by Phillips, now NXP that uses a couple of pins.

My only experience with EProms was the 2716 which was an ancient beast. UV eraseable and it required a -21V power supply for programming only. This supply MUST NOT overshoot when turned on. I also used the Dallas battery backed up RAM chip.

FRAM is probably the best read/write with no wear limits technology.

I am going to go out on a limb here based on some GM info. If your part of a dealership or a bonified automotive shop or have locksmith credentials you can be granted access to "security sofware". Their new scanner and software are license and subscription based as I understand. You must have internet access and you can buy a 3-day access minimum plan.

This always guarantees the latest software.

I do belive that the I2C method is probably a hack and not the way the dealer does it which is very likely scan tool based.

 

It looks like the enigmatool website has not been updated since 2018. That product although expensive seems to over an all in one solution to reprogramming the cluster eprom.

 

Carprog is ok an would help with reading eeprom and mcu's but its not the best for dashboard work so it may be overkill for you, I mostly only use it for airbag related stuff. Never bothered with enigma since I get by with eep/mcu readers and manual calculations.

As far as a low cost eeprom reader the TL866 II is a great little reader but it does not do mcu's.
My favorite readers go like this:
EEPROM = TL8866 II (from XGECU)
EEP/MCU (unsecured) = Orange5 (from Scorpio-Lk)
MCU (secured) = Xprog (from ELDB )

The 908 you make it believe it is in the car.

 

Agree with @narkeleptk on choices here. I have a TL866 II PLUS Mini programmer and it does over 15,000 different EEPROMS. You can hack them to read in circuit and it is a powerful little tool. CARPROG I salso a great choice but there is a plethora of programmmers out there for uP reading. Happy hunting.