dball2 and idatalink thoughts

So I thought I would share what I experienced during a couple of installs lately. A little background: I am not a professional mobile installer, but have worked as a tech in the commercial fire /security industry for 25+ years, I have done a half dozen or so remote starters for family and friends.     My first one this fall was in my son's 2002 Nissan Altima, and it went great. I used a Bulldog Deluxe 500 (inexpensive and easy to get) with a DEI Xpresskit PKALL, no issues.    The second was my daughter's 2010 Mazda 6 (w/o smartkey), here is where I had problems. I used the Bulldog 500 again, with a Dball2. I could not get the Dball2 to talk to the CAN bus, no matter what I did, I had it down to just 12v,grnd,CAN high,CAN low,ignition,GWR,and the TX and RX to the PATS connected, could not get it to program, I did reverse the TX and RX connections, and also the CAN high and low connections just in case, but still no go. ( I did talk to Directed tech support, but could not come up with a solution), so I gave up, and ordered an Idatalink TB (after reading recommendations here on the site). It worked great, no problems, granted it is not talking to the CAN bus. Wondering if anyone else has seen this on a Mazda?    The third was my niece's 2008 Saturn VUE I finished yesterday. I again used a Bulldog 500, and tried the Dball2 (re-flashed) I had from the Mazda, and it worked. The only thing is, after initiating the start, it doesn't always crank on the first time, it cycles the parking lights on, then shuts them down, then starts the sequence again automatically ( I don't have to initiate from the remote), and it will then crank and start. My feeling is it's something with the Dball2 and the PATS. I do have the RFLCHGM harness installed, it's not a big deal as it always does start, just wondering if anyone has seen this. Great site, Thanks     

you might have had a dball2 issue due to it not being flashed. Unlike the PKALL which comes PRELOADED out of the box. Pre-loaded is just a software solution for every vehicle out there. As far as the DBALL2, it requires a specific flash. This is me under the impression you didnt flash it. If you did, it could be a communication error between the Bulldog-DBALL2. The only thing I can think of is you used the wrong 2way data protocol. ADS, Fortin or DBI. I believe that unit is a directed product, therefore it uses DBI. Have you set the unit to register and program a tach setting?Ted

2nd Year Tier 1 Medical School

Still installing as a hobby...pays for groceries

Compustar Expert

I did have it flashed, I bought the Xkloader and did it myself, actually during troubleshooting, I did a hard reset and flashed it a second time (not 10 though). The Bulldog doesn't have D2D capability, it's all W2W. I thought maybe I had a bad Dball2, but it did work fine in the Saturn. Thanks,