I decided to put this right at the top of the page as everyone that has one wants to know how to update the software .... either Ravn will send it to you in an Email or you will have to go to his Site and download the updates from there .... You need to send him an email if you have purchased and paid for his software and he will give you your personal password to get into the ranger ev area to download the update you need for your Unit ........... Here is how once you have the update to actually do it to your personal Unit .............. You do not even have to move the Unit ... You can lean around the seat and actually do it from the passenger seat without moving anything but I will so you can actually see how the update is done ..................
 To put it as simple as possible ... You will need a media stick (usb) to transfer the update .. you copy it from the email directly onto the media stick ... make sure there is nothing else on the media stick ................. Then Slide your seat forward and tilt the seat forward ... remove the lid off your unit if need be .. I can do it without removing the lid but I will remove it and turn the unit around so you can see how really easy it is ....................... |
 I have turned it around so you can see it ... turn the switch to off ... this is the reason I installed this switch is so you can turn off the unit if you are going to be parked a while or if the vehicle is not plugged in for a long time ................... |
 Take your media stick , unplug the lower left hand usb plug and insert your media stick into that same usb hole ... turn the switch back to on ..... you will this way actually be able to see the monitor still work ............. you can actually see when the update is done the screen will turn white ............ at this point shut off the switch again, remove the media stick and plug the bottom usb plug back into the hole ........................ |
 Turn the switch back to ON , and place the unit back where it belongs , if you removed the cover snap it back into place .......................... there you have done a complete update ... Less then 5 minutes .............................................................................. |
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OK, as we have become quite excited as a new member of our Ranger EV community has been able to start into and write a program to be able to monitor much more while driving then with the NGS tester .. Driving around with cables and wires running between your legs and over to a monitor that we strain to see due to the small size and monochrome colors is much to be desired .... a Guy who will just be know as Ravn is a ranger ev owner that has been spending hours and hours cutting and pasting info from his personal ranger to do this for us ... Of course the Normal Disclaimer he is doing this for his own personal ranger and takes no responsibility whatsoever for anything that may or may not happen with the use of either the software or the hardware that is installed to do this ... You install it, you take the responsibility for it ....... Like a lot of us he is happy to help but since you are copying him he is not doing it for you he has no control over what you do with what he gives you ................. The users of the unit have agreed to pay him for his consultation not for any other form of or items .. He is happy to sell you the usb item it happens to have the program on it what you do with it is up to you ......... He has given me a list of the items needed to do this .. We can purchase the items and put it together and install it in our ranger ev's ... we then just plug in the program from there and hook up our choice of monitors ........ I am personally going to install a media center in my ranger ev since there is now ones that use bluetooth and I will be hands free since our state is already looking into putting this into law I might as well get ready for it ... I will be doing 3 of them all at once here , I have ordered the parts and am now waiting for all of it to get here ... I will take pics and post the total install here on the website ... If you choose to copy it that is up to you ... If you would like the software you can contact me direct and I will get you in touch with or I can get the usb tool for you, again you install you take responsibility.. If you copy me I have no objections to it ................ On to the start of the project .................... |
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Here is the partnumbers from www.netgate.com If you want to compare prices, the other one is www.mini-box.com The partlist is as follows: 1 pcs. Alix 3C3 SystemBoard (Part no. ALIX.3C3) (This is the one with VGA). 1 pcs. Alix.3 Indoor Enclosure. (Part no. box-2c) 1 pcs. Alix.3C3 USB+audio+vga faceplate (Part no. brk3c3) 1 pcs. Antenna cable (Part no. PIG-UFL-RPSMA-BH-8) 1 pcs. Atheros 5004MP Wireless miniPCI card (Part no. 5004 MP ATHEROS 4G) 1 pcs. Wifi antenna (Part no. ANT-3OMNI-RPSMA) I addition you need someway to power the board. It uses a 2.1 mm jack, with center positive. I would recommend a fuse on the wire. |
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Above is the parts needed for the boxes that go internally into the ranger ev ... along with this box we need to have a elm 327 device ....... converter box .... you can find them off of ebay ..... The only thing you have to look for is 1: It is USB 2: That it supports J1850 (VPW/PWM).
This is as far as you really have to go on buying items if you are going to use a wireless device .. the software will come with a passcode key for each different card sent from Ravn ... You will be able to monitor this with any wi-fi wireless device .... so if all you want to do is be able to look at the codes clear them , etc. when you have a problem this is as far as you will need to go ... but if you are like me and you like to monitor whats going on in you ranger ev then it would be nice to have a monitor in the vehicle to do this ... I decided on a media center but you can actually just buy a small 5 or 7" monitor to just plug in when you want to monitor the ranger and you could just keep it in the glove compartment another idea I had before I decided I would like the media center ........................... |
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 I have chosen to add instead of just a monitor a whole media center ... I found this one off of ebay and it supports bluetooth so I can have hands free mode to talk built right in .. the microphone and all is already there ................. In fact I like the idea so much I am going to add them to my dads, my brother in laws and mine ............................... |
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Since I purchased a media center instead of a monitor I also need a way to connect it to the box so the aux. video input will come from the box ..... This is another small converter box to convert the signal from vga to a composite signal .. you hook up the vga output from the box to the vga input of this device and it then converts the signal so you can hook up the composite out to the composite in of the media center ... sounds harder then what it is , it is just plug and play stuff .......................... you can do a search in ebay again and find this ... a search for vga to a usb/composite conveter will find it for you ................ well until I get all the parts that is it for now ... Ravn is doing the software work and hopefully about the same time he has it all ready to do a test run here in the U.S. I will have all the parts to test it out and get the beta tests out of the way so he can start doing some final adjustments on the software so we can start using it ...... |
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To clarify it .... the Software is in a flash card in the box .... the software is upgraded by using the USB mediastick that will be supplied with the passcode for your particular ranger ev by Ravn.... |
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 I received all the parts from Netgate that I ordered so I am putting it together ... this is the mainboard assy. , I slid in the wireless board and connected the pigtalil for the antenna to the board added the front plate ..................................... |
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 I slid the plate into the case and added the back panel and screwed the external antenna on ... |
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 Ok, I now have 6 of the boxes all put together and stacked up and ready for life !! I now only need the flashcard From Ravn and the adapter to hook this box to the OBD II connector ... starting to come together now ! |
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 I am installing the media center since I have all the parts now ... first we need to take the old radio out .. there is a ranger kit with this one so we need to also remove the bezel assy...... |
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 with this media center you need to grind out the upper and lower part of the bezel in order for the media center to fit in the unit .. not too hard just grind the top and bottom lip down to level ... then they have a bracket that goes on both sides .. they are in the ranger conversion kit ... |
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 in the kit is also a great wiring conversion cable ... you just butt splice the two cables together and it is just a plug and play item ..... plug in to the back of the media center and it then plugs into the cable that is already in the ranger ev , a great easy conversion !! |
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 Installed back into the dash and this is a radio system ..... |
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 this is also a great DVD, and every type of cd possible can be played on this .. it also has a USB plug in the front to hook up an ipod a media stick ... This thing is loaded ....................................... and everything is touchscreen ... |
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 This thing even has a great bluetooth ... hooked it with my cell phone and I now have a complete wireless system .. hands free and the works !! Well the Media center is now installed, I now will start getting the wireless sytem from ravn ready to go , I need to build some holding brackets so it will be hidden under the dash ... |
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OK the first thing I need is some power for the wireless box and a way to reboot it in case it locks up .... I found the 2.1 mm power connectors at radio shack .. current part# is 274-1567 package of 2 .... these are a size K Coaxial DC Power Plug .................................................... |
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 Finally have all the parts to start installing the box ... first we needed a custom box to put this stuff in to mount it and I had decided the easier the better so no screws, no wiring for anyone ... the unit should be plug and play !! Here is part 1 my dad went and made me some test boxes to be sure it works .. this is the box we settled on ... |
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 Ok the two halves are easily seperated for installing the parts ....first Ravn wanted a way to be able to cycle the power on the unit for updates etc. so I found these nice single pole single throw switches and installed one in the box ... |
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 Step 1 velcro the main wireless unit to the bottom of the box assy.... |
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 Step 2 Velcro the elm 327 adapter and the VGA to RCA composite adapter to the main unit and start wiring it up ..... |
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 I dont see much easier then this ... once everything is velcro'd into place wire it up, wire tie all the loose cables into place inside the box ................ |
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 I needed 12 volts for the main unit ... you could run 2 wires all the way from the fuse box or the back of a cigarette lighter but since the NGS tester gets its power from the OBDII plug in and it is not used since we no longer have to plug in the NGS tester I am pulling out the 12 volts by cutting into the 6 FT extension RS232 cable I used to extend the OBDII connector from the back of the seat to under the dash ... so I pulled out the minus and plus from the cable so I could just solder up the power plug and done ! less wires to run to the front ..... |
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 OK everything is put together lets hook up all the connectors , make sure the wire ties are good and nothing moves and lets close it up flip it over and add the two main pieces of velcro to the bottom of the whole unit !! |
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 OK, here it is finished and ready to install, all cables are hooked up ... I do not have the main cards yet but I built these with velcro so it is just pop the top and pull them apart , not a problem to slip in the card after this is all installed ..... plus I want to have everything ready when the card gets here for testing ..................... Lets get this installed !! |
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 to start with remove the strip just inside the drivers door to hide the wires under it ... there should be just enough room for the 2 wires we need to run ... we need to run the RS232 6 foot extension cable and a 12 foot Video RCA composite cable ... both are very small so this should hide well ..................... |
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 OK , lets velcro the main box behind the drivers seat, it fits perfectly right under the rear drivers side speaker, the velcro will easily hold it into place ...... |
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 Run the 2 wires from behind the drivers seat tucking it nicely against the edge where the cover will go over it perfectly ! |
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 you could remove this front piece but I found it was actually very easy to carefully pry the bottom part in towards the center of the ranger and slip the two wires under it and up the unit to come over the top completely hiding the wiring .................... |
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 OK put the cover strip back on now because you are almost done ...... |
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 Right at the end now .. I removed the two screws holding the NGS female plug in the dash and turned the plug around exactly 180 degrees , it is now facing under the dash perfectly hiding the connector since it is going to be plugged in all the time ... I then just ran the video cable over and plugged it into the aux. plug in on the media center , wire tied the extra wire up under the dash and the system is ready to go !! I did this one in about 20 minutes ..... just give yourself an hour and dont rush and it will go smooth ... I have built the ones that I put together to be plug and play , I have already soldered everything butt spliced everything that needs to be done and I will of course plug it into my ranger ev and test each and every one to be sure they work ..... If anyone wants to purchase on give me a email and I will be glad to give you the fully assembled price ... I am sure most of you can and probably want to build it yourself that works also but there you have it I will post when I get the cards and start the testing !! |
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