cheapthrills

You could always call them, Mike will make it right.

While not as upset as you over your experience there is bits of information people should understand when buying one of these. One being tech support, while everyone is extremely nice, Mike will go out of his way to make things right for you but I have had some issues that Mike could replicate on his box and nobody had an answer to. I also had been mis-informed when I first bought it and was doing the zero travel, the gentleman on the phone while trying to be helpful told me to do a write all (when nothing was ever read in), basically zeroing out the board. I caught on when I floated down the road like a marshmellow. Just a bunch of little stuff that made it rather aggravating to own. The hardware is clearly superior but IMO the execution needs improvement. I still may venture back someday if I'm not happy with the GM update, time will tell.

village idiot

Eh, kinda. When I called for some guidance on what to change for stiffer sway bars, they literally couldn't tell me ANYTHING. They didn't even have a starting point. I think "I wish I could help more" was their best answer.

cheapthrills

I understand that part, call to send the board in. I'm sure they can handle that.

rikhek

He doesn't spend much time monitoring these threads. Mike has always said to call the shop and a real person will help you.

wjresq

I was an early adopter of the DSC Controller and really liked the board, even having made several posts here about it. I had no problem communicating with it with the DSC Tuner or Utility software or upgrading the firmware from V1 to V2 with my Win7 Dell XPS laptop. Even the WiFi sort of worked. Then the new SiLab drivers were released in late 2017 concurrent with the V3 upgrade to the board (the DSC USB driver button on their website simply links to the Silicon Labs site). I had upgraded to a Dell XPS Win10 laptop in the meantime. When I went to do the V3 upgrade to the board, the computer would not communicate with the board. I tried my other various Win7 and Win10 64 bit machines and had similar experience. I was getting baud rate errors and other errors saying the board wasn't communicating.

DSC was kind enough to send me a new board, but the same kind of error is still occurring. Whether it's a Win7 or Win10 computer (and 32 or 64 bits), I get the following message when I run the Serial Port Tester in the Tuner software: "Device is not responding correctly. Check to make sure that the correct port is set, and that the device is working correctly."

I've checked every possible serial port parameter (and even the infamous Win7/10 USB power management parameter that allows Windows to de-power the USB port), changed com ports, turned off virus software and the Windows firewall, etc. I've installed and uninstalled the driver and Device Manager always says it is working properly. I'm a computer junkie in addition to being a car nut. But I'm beginning to think there is some sort of a driver compatibility issue and/or bug in the Controller firmware that is at the root of all of these communication problems.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem and found any solution? I've spoken to the guys at DSC, but they were not using the most current drivers and were unsure about the problem as they were communicating with the boards. They told me that the firmware hadn't changed - which makes me think the problem is in the SiLab driver, which has changed.

In the meantime, I've re-installed the OEM board and did the update to that. The results were good, with the OEM board now causing the car to feel almost as good as the DSC Controller did. I'd prefer, however, that the Controller go from being a paperweight on my desk to back in the car, but not until the communication issues get fixed.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Patches

wjresq, I am having the same issue you are with my XPS Win10 laptop and the SiLab drivers and have only once communicated with my board over the last few months and that was a flaky session with WiFi. Like you, I have tried virtually every config with the port with zero success.

cheapthrills

One of the reasons I sold my board is this whole Comport thing. When I did the back to back firmware updates this summer my very old laptop (vista) I kept only because it still had comport drivers that worked really just about stopped working. My PC and newer laptop never came with comport drivers and when I attempted to install some so I could toss the vista machine the drivers would not work on either the PC or the laptop. I spent a lot of time on this and I know computers pretty well. That's when I decided when I got my new Z the board would not be going in. I personally am looking forward to just the GM update and not having to F around with the board. I told Mike several times the legacy comport structure of the software is very antiquated and really needs to go.

joemessman

Try running it in compatibility mode. On the Windows 10 machine right click the installer and click on properties, and then click on the compatibility tab and select Window 7. See if that works. Or even try Windows 8.1. Sometime that works for me with various drivers like that. I have had a lot of experience doing this. It may or may not work, but it's worth a try.

TCorzett

The first time I tried to connect my laptop (Macbook Pro running a fresh install of Win10 Pro on bootcamp) to the DSC I was getting an error talking about not having the correct comm port bit rate. Turns out I downloaded the SiLabs "Windows 10 Universal" driver... rather than the "Windows 7/8/8.1/10" driver. Uninstalling the "Universal" driver and installing the other made everything work properly. That said, as I look at the SiLab page now I thought there were two version (64-bit or 32-bit), but now it doesn't seem that way.

kensredvette2

I also have not been able to connect to the V3 controller until today. I have tried several times and spent some hours going though various serial settings, etc.
However, this worked for me with a Dell 9343 laptop with current W10. PROVIDED THAT...
Use the serial driver v6.7.5.1893 (Not the Universal). In dev mgr, set com port to your choice (com 3 or 5 is typical and both work for me), and IMPORTANTLY set the baud rate in dev mgr to 19200 and the serial protocols to default.
Open DSC tuner and under tools, check to see if the correct com port is found. DO NOT CHANGE the baud rate from 57600 and DO NOT CLICK APPLY.
Close the tuner program and disconnect the USB cable from the computer. Then connect the controller cable, then open DSC tuner and go directly to 'read all' to check connectivity.
You may need to try the com port lottery (meaning changing com ports to see if one works). I did not need to do that and found 2 com ports (3 and 5) that worked.

There may be other paths through the maze for connectivity, but this one does work for me.

Connecting to the controller JUST SHOULD NOT BE THIS HARD. In many other ways, DSC products and customer support are excellent.

Ed'sC7

I’ve read through all 76 pages of this post and haven’t been able to find an answer to my question. So I apologize in advance if it was covered somewhere in this post. Here it goes.

I’m very interested in this controller for my 2017 GS. However, I’m concerned that this controller may affect the tune I have on my car due to the Edelbrock SC that I have installed. Is this DSC Controller entirely independent of the vehicles ECM and it will have no affect on the non-factory tune?

Again - sorry if this has already been covered

Ed

Foosh

It is entirely independent of all other software and other car systems. Programming is done directly on the DSC controller via mini USB port, but it interfaces with the center console control **** exactly the way the OEM MSRC controller does.

Moreover, you don't have to mess with it at all. It comes with DSC's recommended settings right out of the box.

wjresq

You get the Gold Star UberGeek/DriverStud award for this post! I was finally able to get the board to talk perfectly and consistently on my two Win10 laptops and Win7 desktop computer (all 64 bit) with driver 6.7.5.1893 and setting the port speed in Device Manager set to 19200. The Tuner software on my various computers showed up with different speeds other than 57600 at the Serial Port settings, so I set them to 57600 and hit Apply. Everything now works. I tested both the 1.6.1 and 1.7.1 versions of the Tuner software. The particular COM port did not matter for me, so long as they were consistent in DevMgr and the Serial Settings. (My desktop computer was using port 256 and my two laptops used ports 3 and 5).

As you correctly note, it should not be this hard, or take a village (a/k/a the Corvette Forum) to figure this out. (I am certainly glad I wrote my original post!) There is something in the Tuner software that clearly needs rewriting, as the deliberate mismatch between the port speed in DevMgr and in the Serial Port settings in the Tuner software in order for communication to occur is nuts. Likewise, DSC's blind transfer to the SiLabs site to download USB drivers without at least a note as to which ones work and don't work also needs to be addressed. Similarly, DSC's video dealing with communication issues that says no more than try different COM ports is clearly inadequate.

The current situation is likely costing DSC sales of an otherwise great product, as folks want hardware and software to work seamlessly and without the kind of aggravation this situation has caused. But, thanks again for the post. The board will no longer be a paperweight.

badhabit_wb

A lot of custom software works like this. I have several different devices that use a serial port and using an adapter to make things work is crazy. At least with the DSC box you can plug it into a usb port. As custom things go this one is pretty simple. Also once you get it running you won't have to deal with it unless you switch machines. I'm running it on my laptop and on a windows 10 tablet with no issues. The tablet is nice because I just take it to the track and if I'm not satisfied with the setup I adjust it between runs.

0DSC Sport

Great post thanks for all the hard work. We have really been working hard on 18.0 it has even more support. And yes takes the same driver no change there only more options and a help menu that pops up I'm writing .one of that next week . I'll be glad to send out beta versions of 18.0 .
Thanks again to all that have helped and supported tirelessly the DSC product we have worked hard to provide the most powerful tool for tuning the chassis providing the best ride with uncompromising performance .

kensredvette2

Thanks all for the feedback that the connection process works! And don't forget TCorzett that helped me realize that the driver may be a culprit as well. I did have some connection issues even with the new driver, but then found the baud rate setup that seemed to work.

kensredvette2

I posted this in the Z06 forum as well, but it applies to all C7 MRC's.

This post is a summary of information from DSC and others - yet focused for those wanting to adjust/tune for steady state conditions rather than track type tuning. I am not connected with DSC in any way, except that I did purchase a C7 controller.

Despite the extensive track testing and handling performance improvements of the DSC sport controller with serious driving, a very common comment is how the DSC controller provides a ‘better ride’ – which almost always means a bit softer. For me, I must admit there are days when I don’t want to be able to count the pebbles on the road with my butt when driving the C7.

The recent GM MRC update does offer a cushier Tour setting, but you are stuck with what GM provides.

The DSC controller also adds good tuning options for those ‘relaxed steady state’ driving days. Yet, when the situation calls for it, the controller will instantly change to performance values. The G Table is one of the tables that provides this ability for tuning which feeds those values to the damper calibration table. But tuning for a compliant ride risks the effect of ‘float’, so the steady state parameters do need some attention.





The G table tells the damper calibration table how much current to provide to the dampers. (along with the other tables). However, this table has a ‘comfort zone’. The comfort zone parameters OVERRIDE the percent values in the G force table and enable very low damping (ie ‘comfort’) in steady state conditions.








The zone (ie when to ignore the vales in the G Table) is defined by the G Comfort parameters
The Default rate parameter is the value provided to the damper calibration table when comfort zone is ‘active’ and is typically 1 to 10 – which is much lower than the values in the G table.

You will exit the ‘comfort zone’ when:
The actual G force of the car exceeds the ‘G rate max’ value you set (ie 35 = 0.35G)
The G force rate of the car (ie sudden changes in direction, accel or brake) exceeds the value in the sensitivity parameter. (G force rate can be exceeded with small but quick events such as brief and sudden turns.)

A common complaint about the plush tour mode in the DSC V2 calibration file is ‘float’, and particularly with the rear dampers. The values in the low end of the damper calibration curve (up to about 20%) are key to getting just enough damping to avoid excessive ‘float’.
This chart is an excerpt of the damper calibration curve I am trying. Note the slightly increased values for the rear dampers aimed at the rear end ‘float;.






I am trying out several versions of settings and will report back when I have had a chance to observe how the settings behave. The objective I am pursuing is to find that compliant ride in the Tour setting without excessive ‘float’.

Foosh

Outstanding post!

0DSC Sport

Fantastic observation your dead accurate the Gtable override is the default comfort tab below gtable . This is the missing link to the oe controller's to get a soft comfort ride the center must be compliant this makes performance very much impossible as you always have the hole in the center of the table to contend with. I found this issue early on in IMSA racing a cup car .
so understanding the the default area to stop the floating go into the shock calibration table in the rear take the value in 7% and copy it into the the values before to 0% this small current will control the rear shocks
Let me know all table revolve or start at shock calibration.
Have fun tuning
Also note worthy make sure to remember the Velocity overrides in conditions the Gtable as it is used as the main or direct offset to the Shock calibration table

Foosh

I agree thats what is missing with the new OEM settings, having evaluated the new calibrations in my new '18 for several hundred miles, after considerable experience with the DSC in my '14.