VE Radio / HVAC EEPROM reprogramming information

[ZerOne]

The following forum thread is for discussing the VE Radio and HVAC EEPROM programming document, located in our Documents section.

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[msenj]

A very heavy box showed up at my work today:



According to the seller, it came from a 2008 Calais V.

There are a couple of version stickers - One on the front says "SW 6.22", another one on the front that says "GB 6.21", one on the left side that says "SW 6.19".

There's also one on the back panel of the fascia that says "SW 6.03"

I'm assuming SW stands for software, but no idea what GB stands for.

Just need to get a programmer and then I can get some dumps for you guys.

[msenj]

Ok, Have powered up my headunit, which supposedly came from a 2008 Calais, and got greeted with the HSV logo and "Senator Signature 040".

This means either the guy I bought it off has no real clue of where it came from, or it did come from a Calais and someone has already had a play with the software. I suspect the former.

If it is really a Calais head unit that's been reprogrammed for a HSV with a Tech2, at least the EEPROM dump should show what bytes have changed to get the startup text and number displayed.

[MYTO8]

Nice one,
Did you power the unit up on the bench by itself? or did you power up in car? If in car how did you link the head unit to bcm? From My testing you will get a security lockout if not in car or with linked bcm

[msenj]

You can power these units up on the bench, outside of the car, and they'll work fine for testing.

It's only once they're on the GMLAN network and try to handshake with the car that the security lockout will kick in.

Also, I just won a complete dual-zone heater box on eBay. For $10. it's gonna cost me a bit to get the aircon discharged so I can fit it, and I suspect pulling out the dash is gonna be a nightmare, but I'm up for it!

Things are about to get very very interesting...

[ZerOne]

Score on the Heater Box Assembly for 10$

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Here is some more information to chew on....
This information has been provided to me via another member...

1. It appears to be an identical HCM on every VE
2. You can program its gender ("single zone", "dual zone", "triple zone" or "blower only" are the variants)
3. The loom on the dual zone and higher models (SSV, Calais, HSV etc) has temperature sensors in the cabin and outside, JHP use a bypass resistor in place of these to fudge a constant temp reading of 20 degrees which allows user control over temperature in the absence of a closed loop with a temp sensor
4. The HCE has to run through a learn procedure for the car it is installed on (it learns the positions of all the duct valves)
The information on this learn proceedure is below....

There is an OBD tool available specifically for testing and programming VE aircon systems, it is $345+GST

http://www.automotivehorizons.com.au/hv ... olden.html

If you take a look at the menu structure and it gives away some of the info about matching the HCE to the head unit and the learn procedure

I am not sure which combination of HCE gender needed to run a single zone HVAC system from a dual zone head unit and whether there is anything more complex required than adding the resistors in place of the missing temp sensors....

Here is the HCE Learn Proceedure
HVAC door relearn.
Ign on but engine off, press and hold the rear demister button till you hear all the actuators moving.
They are fairly quiet so close all the doors and windows so you can hear them working.

Also from reading the diagnostics tool manual, it would appear that in HCM single zone configuration, the outside temp and cabin temp values are software fudged to 23.5 degrees in the absence of the sensors.

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So hopefully, all you will need to change is the HCE Module, and then do a relearn procedure so as the dual blend doors are calibrated ????
(And hopefully you do not need to re-gas your air conditioning, or remove the complete HVAC heater assembly)....

[ZerOne]

Here is an image of the HVAC HCM Module....
It appears that this is the module that can be programmed to support Single, Dual, Triple or Blower Only.



I will have a look at the Workshop manual tonight, and try and work out what differences there are in terms of wiring, for the Cabin, Exterior temp sensors. (I know the Calais Interior Temp sniffer motor pipe is just to the right of the radio unit, up near the instrument cluster...

Will try and get some pictures up soon...

Ohh, and this module is located to the left of the HVAC blower fan, which is just behind the glove compartment..

[ZerOne]

Looking at the top of this image, you can see the HVAC Cabin Air temp sensor hose.


I dont know much about how it works on the VE, but with older Ford Falcon models, it was connected to the engine vacuum, which forced a steady stream of air over a thermistor to obtain the cabin temperature.

Also, on the Ford Falcon models, the sunload sensor for the HVAC system was located where the current ambient light sensor is on the Dash of the VE models. Ford at a later stage used this sunload sensor to automatically turn On/Off the headlights during dusk periods....
The Sunload sensor determined if the windscreen demist mode should be used to cool the glass, if there was an excessive amount of sunlight.

I cannot confirm this is the same with VE models, but hopefully this is the case as well.

[msenj]

Also, on the Ford Falcon models, the sunload sensor for the HVAC system was located where the current ambient light sensor is on the Dash of the VE models. Ford at a later stage used this sunload sensor to automatically turn On/Off the headlights during dusk periods....
The Sunload sensor determined if the windscreen demist mode should be used to cool the glass, if there was an excessive amount of sunlight.

I cannot confirm this is the same with VE models, but hopefully this is the case as well.

I read somewhere that the sun load sensor was the shared for the headlights and the HVAC system.

The car should already have the sun load sensor, the evaporator sensor, and one of the outlet temperature sensors already installed, I'm pretty sure dual-zone needs the other outlet temp sensor, the cabin sensor and external ambient sensors added. I was just going to buy them direct from Holden as it's extremely difficult to find a VE Calais at a wreckers.

I'm going to compare the my current manual heater box to the dual zone one and see what differences, if any, there are.

I am not sure which combination of HCE gender needed to run a single zone HVAC system from a dual zone head unit and whether there is anything more complex required than adding the resistors in place of the missing temp sensors....

Pics of the wiring differences and the sensor part numbers would be fantastic, as I intend on fitting all of them - I want proper dual-zone functionality.

So hopefully, all you will need to change is the HCE Module, and then do a relearn procedure so as the dual blend doors are calibrated ????

Does that mean the heater box is identical across the board regardless of manual/single/dual/triple climate? (I.e for the manual and single zone HCM gender, both vent doors move togther, for the dual and triple zone HCM gender, they move independently) If so, that's just saved me a ton of work.

I really need access to the service manual - Would make things a lot easier...

[ZerOne]

I will try and extract any missing information from the copy of the workshop manual that I have.
(I would upload it, but its 8.5Gb....)

I am working on a way to get this to people that really need it...
Not sure how to go about it at the moment though...