I am trying to load the bytetronik software onto my ecu, but cannot get my car to go over 12v to allow the upload to start just gives me back a read back error over and over again. I have tried everything, I also do have a battery charger attached while doing this. I installed a brand new battery I disconnected my amp as well, but nothing seems to help.

One thing with my car is that my power steering is going in and out could the power steering pump be drawing off power, or could my after market radio do it as well?

Need some help on this before I send my ecu off to Bytetronik so they can upload it.

 

This may be dumb but is there any way to increase the voltage on car temporarily?

 

On my past car, battery voltage was 12.x at rest at the terminals. When running it was 13.x at the terminals. This would lead me to believe that if you attached jumper cables from a running car to your battery, you would have the required voltage available to load the software.

This is assuming there isn't some other issue, electrical or otherwise, that is preventing you from accomplishing your task

 

Sounds similar to the problem i have IIIIII..

We had a PS fault where the car lost all power steering intermitently, the the wife come home from work to find the PS fan working even after shut down, eventually drained the battery, i was able to jump it on sunday but then when i shut off the car would not restart even with the jump start cables, gone to it today and there is no power at all cant even crank it even with the jump cables attached... I knew buying this would be a problem car after i read the reviews but the wife insited that she wanted a MIni...

 

Suggestion...
Get everything FIXED before tuning it...and beytronics..good luck.
Sounds like you have a failed PS pump...a warrenty issue for 2002-2005 cars...some pumps fail to turn on...some stay on till the battery dies.....
Question...how many amps is the battery charger? Bigger than a trickle charger right? 10+ amps is usually the suggest minimum for updating software on the ecu....
If you are needing more, there is 100% an issue...thevpump is most likely on...hear a humming sound? If no humm..maybe an open cell in the battery.....
If a battery has been run down to dead, it may take 15-20 minutes of having jumper cables connected to the battery start the car (unless you use the under hood jump lugs)....less with HEAVY GUAGE 0 cables...but most places are selling Thin guage 10 cables that carry very few amps....But some older betteries just don't ever recover...

 

I just checked the battery and and it is reading 12.5-12.9v with the car off, so that is good. I am going to try a new charger tonight when I get home, something a bit larger the one I have is 6v/12v, and when I turn the key to the on position the pump does come on.

 

Pump is bad if it comes on with the key...
Pretty sure it should turn on AFTER the alternator begins outputting voltage....the it has 2 modes...a lower amp draw, low load "low" mode, and a hi draw, hi output mode....fan similarly runs as needed...
If you really want to get it do the software change...you can disconnect the pump or yank the fuse...it us a BIG one, on the underside (if I recall right) of the fuse block under the hood...
Trying to supply enough power to keep it running while uploading/downloading ecu software is kinda risky.....not to mention risking burung out the pump or starting fire due to no airflow... A few mini's early on DID burn...usually attributed to the PS pump AFTER the car was off or the wiring going to it...

 

Alright I am going to try and pull the fuse when I get home tonight. Stupid power steering, never thought a tiny mini would be so hard to turn without power steering working.

 

It is important for you to disconnect the battery charger since it’ll be feeding the battery a higher voltage. The ECU has built-in voltage regulators so ideally it shouldn’t be bothered by it but there is a chance that it might not be working. Please check the firmware update circuitry of your ECU as well. Controllers used in ECU generally don’t require that much current so I doubt that your power steering could be causing any troubles.

pcb assembly

 

No way I'd consider downloading to my car without a battery source. You can drain the battery in about an hour.

 

how would you know if the pump is bad when the key is on? i noticed some vibration in my steering wheel in ignition 1 (i think the fann is already working)