Thread: Nanocom

I have had a Blackbox Nanocom Evolution since about late 2014 for my LR3.

I regard it as a good piece of equipment, however that does not mean it is plug and play - far from it.

Yes, it obtains codes easily, but my view is so what! The codes generated are only a hint to what might be wrong, and for the most part, have to be interpreted in conjunction with the often not so obvious symptoms. This is true with any code reader, and is not bashing the Evo. Also I think one has to have something available to just clear codes as sometimes, merely clearing the accumulated false codes collected over time makes problems go away.

The strength of the Evolution is the availability of desired software that one downloads from the Blackbox website as required. They do have a lot of software specifically aimed at the diesel engine vehicles, less so re the petrol units.

Downloading is easy, but choosing the software is hard. I blame Ford and Land Rover for that, not Blackbox.

In brief, you have to learn how to read and interpret the software file numbers which are a real tangle. Initially, this was at least for me, very difficult and time consuming.

Also, due to the design of the initial Solihull factory software load, one only knows what software your 3 was born with; updates are not recorded - you just never know for certain what is in there and it is hard to know if your new software even loaded. Until you get used to it, uploading is tough on the stomach, particularly when all the dash lights start flashing and the door locks start cycling.

Also for most uploads, you need a true 14 VDC sine wave power supply, (not a battery charger), but say a 10 amp minimum power supply making nice quiet clean 14VDC power. Less than adequate power for a 15 minute download spells trouble or at least frustration.

Also, as is common when working on any vehicle, keep at least the drivers side window down - the cycling of the door locks during some uploads, while sounding bad, can be bad.

In many cases, in order to do an upgrade, one has to first install a seemingly unrelated piece of software prior to installing the obvious software - not easy stuff. This is not a criticism of Blackbox, but does explain why it is near impossible to get a dealer to do a software upgrade - too much effort, for too little money and no guarantee of initial success.

To answer the question of it it is so tough, why bother? Well for me, while there is a good dealer in my village and also a good independent but north of me, the nearest LR dealer is in Iceland; to the west, on the Pacific Ocean, and east, someone in the next timezone, or is it two time zones away? In the south, well there is the States, but that has its problems as well.

In otherwords, like you, one has to be able to at least diagnose the 3 yourself or you walk.

Regarding keys, I am not clear that anyone has that sorted yet. The good news is that is why the creeps steal the German stuff and ignore Land Rover.

I recall that I needed a new key/keyfob and my dealer had to send the first attempt back to Solihull for a second go; the excuse being that the factory rekey software had got sick and bad keys were being shipped worldwide. That took a couple of months, so I think if you can get a key fast like, you are doing well.

The jpg is just to show you not all the world is melting. It was down to -30C after Christmas when I departed this ski resort, (Fernie), in southern British Columbia to return north to my village.

They are not the kind of days you want to be code reading, let alone diagnosing - best it be done in the summer.

In summary, no, as long as I have my 3, I would not get rid of my Evo even if it is no fun to have to learn how to use it.

Originally Posted by John_D2

$450 on gumtree? Prob not worth much on here now that you’ve mention it’s ‘got issues’!!

Something has "issues" - the Namocom?....My Car?.........Perhaps there is something dodgy between the key and/or car and /or Namocom? I'm annoyed spent the money on the key, have to take to a $$$ Fixit Bloke to get it coded when it should have been done by the expensive Nanocom. I hesitate to say the Nanocom has issues. Would gladly take $450!

Originally Posted by Tinggu

Something has "issues" - the Namocom?....My Car?.........Perhaps there is something dodgy between the key and/or car and /or Namocom? I'm annoyed spent the money on the key, have to take to a $$$ Fixit Bloke to get it coded when it should have been done by the expensive Nanocom. I hesitate to say the Nanocom has issues. Would gladly take $450!

The part about ‘issues’ was tongue in cheek humour. If you decide to sell it you will have no problems. They don’t stay on the 2nd hand market for long. Maybe just hold off on selling - it’d be a shame to judge your whole experience on what happened with your key. Don’t forget u own a Land Rover...it will break down & you’ll need a Nanocom to help you fix it.

Originally Posted by Tinggu

.... My point is this: an expensive item that I have had no use for. I'm tempted (at the Admiral's urging) to sell it on, but I believe that Murphy would pounce and I would regret it. .....

Consider yourself lucky that you haven't had issues with the D2(yet).

As for use:
1/. have you retrieved your EKA code yet? If not, then you haven't fully explored all it's uses.
2/. if you have retrieved your EKA code(and saved that info), then the next point would be to changed it to something far less annoying that what the factory programmed?
3/. have you had a BCU/immobiliser malfunction where the car locks you out of it, even tho you own it, have the key for it and know you can get into it, yet it still refuses you any entry?
4/. have you disabled the immobiliser/superlock function. Handy when these D2 things were new and expensive and every crook wanted one to rebirth or part it out .. but nowadays more valuable targets exist for those folks .. disable the security system, and forget EKA code.

As I understand it(and what happened to my brother's D2 was), a very dodgy battery can easily lock you out, on a 40°C day with a car full of groceries and zero tolerance for annoying electronic failures.

Possibly the most important feature of the nanocom on a D2 for those D2 owners that haven't yet fitted themselves a proper coolant temp gauge is it's instrument mode. As a Discovery owner you'd already know that the dash temp gauge is close to useless for every day driving, and that it's only useful function is to tell you that you HAVE cooked the motor, if the needle rise past where it normally sits.

Another handy feature about that isn't so obvious at first, is it's ability to upload a new fuel map to the ECU(as long as you have the correct ECU type) to repower the old timer D2. But you won't do that unless you have or plan to fit an exhaust temp gauge(EGT) to monitor engine health.

Sometimes the benefits aren't as bleeding obvious as you may want them to be

Thanks Arthur, your points are well taken. Yes, I have explored the EKA and changed it. And made a note. I have not yet been locked out but disabling the immobiliser/superlock function is on my list of things to do - I guess I'm wary of having a fiddle and buggering it up and never be able to drive my car again. I would dearly love to be able to simply lock and unlock remotely or with the key - my choice. Perhaps this thread is giving me a bit more confidence to "'ave a go".
You are correct about the Nanocom's instrument monitoring ability. I did make use of that when we had a cracked header tank and were losing coolant towing the van. A tidy way of mounting the device and securing the cable out of the way would be handy. I have wondered if there is a way of mirroring the Nanocom screen so it would sit in front of the instrument display and reflect up onto the windscreen as a Heads Up Display.

Can't remember how much blackbox's mount costs to buy, but is a viable option.
What brother has done is he haas a magnetic mount for his phone. comes with a circular stick on doodad that you stick on the phone and it magnetically attaches to the magnetic suction cup for the windscreen.
He's used the spare stickon magnet on the nanocom case and utilises the windscreen mount.
Doesn't look ideal and will fall off on medium bumps,ie. tracks or backroads .. etc.
I wouldn't recommend it tho for everyday usage.
And yes, the thick cable is a bit of a pain to deal with.

Having played around with the nanocom, I don't think you can really stuff anything up with your D2, unless you start getting into ECU flashing that fails during upload.