Flashing Pro's & Cons

[Batfink]

[Kendo]

[Batfink]

sounds like the perfect senario there Kendo... 1 to play with and 1 to keep to return to factory if ever needed

Might look into that myself for Bee ...... now where to get a cheapie ECU hahahahahahahaa

[duc13]

[Ken]

I had a 99 model that I changed the ECU and rotor to an 04 model and flashed it so it's not that it can't be done. Just costs a bit more.

[Batfink]

So you can mod the 99 or 00 to be suitable for flashing.... something new to me and very good to know. Puts that copper 99 back on the buy table again HAHahhahahaaaaaaaaaa

So you have to replace the entire ECU but does that include keys and everything?

I have heard of Woolich software but not thse you mentioned, in fact I didn;t even know the busa had a service light LOL it would be handy when doing your own services to be able to change the display to suit.

[Ken]

Just the ECU unit. It plugs straight in and the rotor for the alternator has to be swapped over. The later ones have teeth on them for the sensor. They were getting expensive a few years ago to buy them but should be more around now as more bikes get wrecked etc. Use same key and harness etc. I'm sure there would be others on here that would have done it. Someone told me years ago when I wanted to flash my early one.

[Camel]

Almost 9 years to the day since hacking the Busa ECU became reality:


Photo from the Activboard website.
Camel

[Batfink]

So was that

Busa Hacking 101 - The Beginnings of Fun

[Batfink]

Hey Camel as you are the resident Guru could you please explain exactly what happens with a flashing?

does it physically change anything as there were rumors years ago that you could only flash some bikes a finite (max) amount of times due to some type of physical change or damage?

[Camel]

I seem to recall that the limit to the number of times a ECU can be flashed came from the Renasis technical manual for the ECU that is fitted to the Hayabusa, Subaru, etc. I think it said that's how many times they were willing to guarantee it for. That being said, I think it's bullshit. I treat mine like a USB stick, it's been flashed well over two hundred times with no ill effects. Others have flashed individual ECUs over a thousand times.

---

Okay, I've done a bit of research, it came from the Renasis data sheet according to Marlin Bially, AKA RidgeRacer, one of the founding fathers of ECU Editor; Renesas specifies that any block of flash will survive a MINIMUM of 100 flash writes and that there has to be a data retention life (usually minimum 10 years/100,000 miles). I quote: "It is a guaranteed minimum number of times you can flip individual bits from 1 to 0 or 0 to 1. BTW When you erase your flash all the bits are set to 1. If they were already 1 then that doesn't count as a flip. If you reprogram it to a 1 that doesn't count either.
But its a guaranteed minimum not a maximum. Doesn't mean at 101 cycles its toast, it just means don't go crying to [the manufacturer] if your data gets corrupted". Woopee, I doubt if anyone out there has flashed their ECU to death yet. I can't find any genuine cases.

[Batfink]

well, like all myths and rumors there seems to be some facts to it, or it has come form a factual basis. In this case it seems like the myth of limits os more err with caution of rewriting than reall set limits..


aahh the things you learn, relearn and get reminded of when an old topic is dragged back into the open and talked about again.

[robbo 3]

[Aussie Steve]

Re-flashing is not restricted to Busa's most bikes, these days, have editors for their basic ecu settings out there...My MT09 can be flashed to remove the electronic limiter, set the start mode to A, as opposed to standard, and trim the fuel maps to suit an aftermarket full exhaust system which is the only option as the muffler and headers are all one unit...something all bike makers seem to be heading towards.

[CeeJay07]