DBALL / DBALL2 / DBALL2pro Tips

I have been working with DEI's DBALL series for a while now, and know they can be temperamental. I wanted to share my experience with these units, and how I make them work every time.

1. Unselect any features the vehicle doesn't have (i.e. windows, door locks, etc.). Some installation guides are for different makes and models as well. Here's the thing. If the DBALL can't control it or see it on the CAN, (i.e. a handbrake, hoodpin, etc) unselect the feature! This will help prevent false factory alarms and make the DBALL more reliable. Just remember, any feature unselected will have to be manually hooked up to the alarm/remote start.

2. ALWAYS flash the unit TWICE!

3. Hook up the DBALL first with only power to the alarm/remote start. Program the DBALL and see what features it detects first (i.e. handbrake, brake pedal, hood pin, door triggers, etc.). This will prevent a lot of rework. The feature guide from DEI isn't always correct.

4. If something isn't working right, try an older or beta firmware.

5. Troubleshooting is always a pain. I have sometimes had to flash up to 10 times before the module began working. Other times, a CAN wire was not as connected as I thought it was. Always check continuity between the DBALL wire and the vehicle's wire (both sides of the splice) to make sure it's a solid connection.


*A note when soldering: Newer vehicles use wires that are much softer than older vehicles. I can't count the times I have overheated a wire and it snaps inside the sheath and makes for an interesting 6 hours of troubleshooting. Always be careful with your heat, especially when using a torch! :)


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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

X2 with all of the above.
Especially the part about soldering, tiny CAN wires with the plug almost inaccessible behind the fuse box, lots of fault codes when I fired the car up, 3 hours wasted finding it, one of the CAN wires had broken at the joint.
P.S. You've wired it D2D, things don't work say tach. Don't worry hardwire it won't affect anything.


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Test before boxing up.

@freqsounds
Can you clarify point 3 a little more? Do you mean connecting the wires for DBALL2 as specified in the instructions but only connect 12V and ground to the RS/alarm, and then connect the D2D cable to program? How can you tell which features are detected?

I use the dball as a last resort. You shouldn't have to do any of that. I'm an expeditor. I don't really have time for that. The Idatalink/Flashlogic mobile app works much better and faster so I use it more than anything. There is a reason it has earned the name DB-some or DB-fail. I'm not a directed hater I use a lot of their stuff just not the DB -all.

sam369 wrote:

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@freqsounds
Can you clarify point 3 a little more? Do you mean connecting the wires for DBALL2 as specified in the instructions but only connect 12V and ground to the RS/alarm, and then connect the D2D cable to program? How can you tell which features are detected?

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Yes, connect all the necessary wires per the diagram for the car. Only connect the power and ground to the RS. Connect D2D last. Then test all supported functions. The supported functions are listed in a chart in the installation guide.

It's equally important to disable the features that your car doesn't have because the DBALL is easily confused.

The DBALL doesn't detect any features. It will monitor sensors, but it has no way of knowing whether the car has power door locks etc. If these features are left enabled when the car isn't equipped, it can send an 'unlock' or 'lock' command (for example) and confuse the car, possibly setting the alarm off OR the car will send a response to DBALL that it's not expecting, and the DBALL will freak out. This is typically where all DBALL issues occur. Bad programming by DEI that has an undocumented workaround.



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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

brownsfan1 wrote:

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I use the dball as a last resort. You shouldn't have to do any of that. I'm an expeditor. I don't really have time for that. The Idatalink/Flashlogic mobile app works much better and faster so I use it more than anything. There is a reason it has earned the name DB-some or DB-fail. I'm not a directed hater I use a lot of their stuff just not the DB -all.

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iDataLink has its quirks too, just not as bad as the DBALL. But this info will make a DBALL work every time, which is the point of this thread. From a technical standpoint, features that the car doesn't have should be disabled on any module that connects to the bus.

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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

They all have quirks. But the DBALL is the absolute worse. I won't use them on Toyota anymore. The only Directed modules I use now are the tried and true XK01 GMDLBP for older GM cars and trucks. Because those work awesome. Like I said I use a ton of Directed products. I have been using more and more remote start units from them lately. I like them. I have directed 2way led alarm/starts in all my cars. Including my service van. But they all have idatalink modules in them.

Thanks for the answers and suggestions.

I contacted two sellers when buying the RS/alarm. Both of them recommended DBALL2. I am not sure if it's because idatalink doesn't have good support for my car, which is a 2016 Altima.

I'll follow the suggestions by @freqsounds, and test everything out before finalize the installation.

Hi guys, I am planning to install the dball2 along with the CHTHD2 harness into my 2013 Jeep Wrangler. From all the install guides, videos, and forums, it sounds pretty straight forward.

I will also install a Viper 5706v alarm. Should I install the dball2 first, or the alarm first? My jeep is "remote start ready", so I imagine I should flash the dball2 with the RSR feature...? Also, what is D2D?? I have seen that a lot and don't know what it stands for.

Thanks a lot!

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AJB

D2D is Data to Data. It means the DBALL can communicate with your Jeep (i.e. Send an unlock command, send a start command, etc.) so you don't have to hook up the 812658468 wires from the alarm system. D2D replaces those wires by sending commands to your car. That said, the chart in the DBALL manual will tell you what commands the DBALL can send to the Jeep. Anything without a check mark should be hooked up with the corresponding wire on the alarm system.


As long as you install the firmware to the DBALL for the correct vehicle, you should be good to go. If there's more than one, you can flash one, and if it doesn't work or is not working properly, you can flash the other. You can flash the DBALL as many times as you need to.


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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

Great info, thank you!

Do you have a recommendation on installing the dball or alarm first?

I thought I would do the dball first so I can use it, and add the alarm sometime later. Does the order of installation matter?

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AJB

They can't be done separately. They have to be installed at the same time.

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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

Ok, thank you. I have the CHTHD2 T-Harness, but the instructions refer to two different types (R1-R6 and R9-R10). Can you tell me the difference between them so I can figure out which I have?

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AJB

Never mind, the manufacturer has informed me that:

"The only difference between the two is the ORANGE / Green and ORANGE / Brown in the Blue connector in version R9-R10."

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AJB

freqsounds wrote:

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D2D is Data to Data. It means the DBALL can communicate with your Jeep (i.e. Send an unlock command, send a start command, etc.) so you don't have to hook up the 812658468 wires from the alarm system. D2D replaces those wires by sending commands to your car. That said, the chart in the DBALL manual will tell you what commands the DBALL can send to the Jeep. Anything without a check mark should be hooked up with the corresponding wire on the alarm system.


As long as you install the firmware to the DBALL for the correct vehicle, you should be good to go. If there's more than one, you can flash one, and if it doesn't work or is not working properly, you can flash the other. You can flash the DBALL as many times as you need to.

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@freqsounds With the D2D and all the wires that comes with the alarm system, I'm not sure which wires I have to hardwire and which I don't. For example, the Viper 5706v comes with a 10-pin heavy gauge connector harness for "Remote Start". I figure that since it says it's for Remote Start, I should connect that.

It has the following: (1) empty (2) +Fused 12V Accessory/starter INput (3) +Flex Relay input 87A key side(4) +Ignition 2/ Flex relay output (5) Fused 12V Ignition 1 Input (6) + Starter INput Key Side of starter kill (7) Starter Output Car Side of starter kill (8) + accessory output (9) Fused 12V Ignition 2 Flex Relay INput 87 (10) Ignition 1Input/Output

Do I have to connect all these or does the D2D connect to the dball2 and take care of everything?

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AJB

mraballard wrote:

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freqsounds wrote:

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D2D is Data to Data. It means the DBALL can communicate with your Jeep (i.e. Send an unlock command, send a start command, etc.) so you don't have to hook up the 812658468 wires from the alarm system. D2D replaces those wires by sending commands to your car. That said, the chart in the DBALL manual will tell you what commands the DBALL can send to the Jeep. Anything without a check mark should be hooked up with the corresponding wire on the alarm system.


As long as you install the firmware to the DBALL for the correct vehicle, you should be good to go. If there's more than one, you can flash one, and if it doesn't work or is not working properly, you can flash the other. You can flash the DBALL as many times as you need to.

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@freqsounds With the D2D and all the wires that comes with the alarm system, I'm not sure which wires I have to hardwire and which I don't. For example, the Viper 5706v comes with a 10-pin heavy gauge connector harness for "Remote Start". I figure that since it says it's for Remote Start, I should connect that.

It has the following: (1) empty (2) +Fused 12V Accessory/starter INput (3) +Flex Relay input 87A key side(4) +Ignition 2/ Flex relay output (5) Fused 12V Ignition 1 Input (6) + Starter INput Key Side of starter kill (7) Starter Output Car Side of starter kill (8) + accessory output (9) Fused 12V Ignition 2 Flex Relay INput 87 (10) Ignition 1Input/Output

Do I have to connect all these or does the D2D connect to the dball2 and take care of everything?

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Only connect the wires described in the DBALL manual. It will specify if a wire is needed from the alarm system. Other than that, the DBALL will take care of everything via D2D.

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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

brownsfan1 wrote:

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I use the dball as a last resort. You shouldn't have to do any of that. I'm an expeditor. I don't really have time for that. The Idatalink/Flashlogic mobile app works much better and faster so I use it more than anything. There is a reason it has earned the name DB-some or DB-fail. I'm not a directed hater I use a lot of their stuff just not the DB -all.

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I find this funny as I use the DBALL over the ADS product whenever possible in most cases. The only vehicles I wont use a Dball on is a Colorado/Canyon/Cobalt etc. Besides that I use DBALL whenever I have them in stock. I also find their XKLOADER3 to be a better option over the Idata loader. German Cars specifically I find the DBALL to be a way better option on.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

I agree with you Ravendarat. The Db-all, like all bypass modules has flaws but it also has some real advantages. Some of the suggestions in the original post are just false and will waste a ton of time. I don't doubt the original poster performs all these rituals but they are not necessary. The only suggestion that is helpful is #4. Sometimes an older or beta firmware can help, this is true for each one of the big three bypass manufacturers.

beegbie wrote:

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I agree with you Ravendarat. The Db-all, like all bypass modules has flaws but it also has some real advantages. Some of the suggestions in the original post are just false and will waste a ton of time. I don't doubt the original poster performs all these rituals but they are not necessary. The only suggestion that is helpful is #4. Sometimes an older or beta firmware can help, this is true for each one of the big three bypass manufacturers.

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These were true back in February 2014 when I posted this, but I still do them as a precaution. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes habit. What suggestion is false? I'll gladly fix it!

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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

The company I work for does a high volume of remote starts/db-alls. My latest flash report from directed has our road techs at a little over 7000 flashes of db-alls year to date. This is not including our shop location's flashes. I've never heard of an issue where anyone needed to flash a module more than once or de-select d2d options. If you look at my post history, you'll see I've addressed many db-all issues as they are far from perfect. I'm sorry if I'm coming off a little harsh here but it bothers me when I think about others reading this and wasting time. Thanks for your understanding.

Where can I find older firmware for flashing my DBall2? I am having problems getting it to remote start my toytota sienna 2015 smart key and am wondering if the problem is with the d2d ignition status that was added to the newest firmware. I would like to test with ignition status hooked up w2w as required in previous firmware. However I only see the option for flashing newest version, 4.07, when connecting to xpressvip. Thanks in advance.