# Accuair E-Level Touchpad Controller Not Working!



## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

I fitted all my air ride around two years ago I think (E-Level) but never got around to fitting the height sensors. In that time the car has been off the road for most of it, probably covered less than 100 miles.

Anyway, I've got around to fitting my height sensors, been up to my unit many times getting on with the job, and using the air ride to check heights etc. I also bought the I-Level in the meantime and hooked that up, all fine.

Tonight I went up there, and my Touchpad controller is not lighting up at all, and is doing nothing when pressing any buttons  I checked to see if the I-Level was working and it wouldn't connect...Nothing.

After lots of head scratching, checking wires, fuses, power supply with a tester, unplugging things, plugging them back in etc...The I-Level just suddenly connected. But yet my touchpad is still completely dead.

If I (Remove the i-level)... and check for a live coming out of the ecu pin TO the red touchpad harness wire, there is voltage there at the ecu and through the plug. Same if I then add in the I-Level.

Can anybody help/advise? I'm pretty disappointed and pissed off that I've virtually never even had the chance to properly use the air ride and yet it's dying on me. Especially as I couldn't really afford to buy the recent i-level


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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

If you remove the i-Level completely and plug the touchpad directly into the ECU, do you get anything at all?

Also, what is the current health of your battery? When you do these tests, is your car running?


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Thanks for the reply mate.

Yep, I have completely removed the ilevel, and hooked everything back up as per standard install. Still nothing at the touchpad at all, zero lights, no buttons responding at all. Like there's no power to it.

Regards the battery, interesting point...The battery has been dead for quite some time as the car's been stood for a while. Every time I go up there I connect jump leads.

During all the setting up, I've been simply connecting the jump leads to my daily IS200 (They are permanently connected to the Corrado) and then turning the ignition on in the Corrado.

I'm about to go up there again, so if anybody has any pointers, they would be much appreciated.:thumbup:


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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

Ahhhha! More than likely you've got a bad ECU from the sounds of it. The ELS4 ECU is very funny when it comes to providing it with power when you have a dead battery. Here are a few things that you should know...

1. The ELS4 ECU does not like to be connected when the car is jumped.

1a. If you leave the ECU connected when the car is jumped, you will lose all user defined presets. I've seen this happen a few times.

2. The ELS4 system as a whole can have a parasitic draw. This is something I've seen pretty much across the board and independent testing has proven this to be true. Thus, you should keep a tender on it to keep your voltage within spec.

3. Low voltage is extremely harsh on the ELS4 ECU. Had a good friend of mine who had his battery tender fail and leave the battery with .6V in the battery come spring time. Long story short, the ECU wouldn't even calibrate. He phoned AccuAir and they helped him out with an ECU. They told him that it's important the battery be in good health and not drop too far below normal voltage. 

My best guess is that your battery situation may have permanently damaged your ECU.


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Oh ffs. 

So I can't have a flat battery without worrying about killing the ECU?! Not cool.
Does seem/sound like the ECU has taken a crap so that's my car off the road then

For what it's worth I've been up there again (Getting sick of it tbh) and checked it again, same deal. So I disconnected everything, unplugged the touchpad harness. Reconnected power and took some measurements.

At the touchpad ecu plug, assuming top left pin is #1, and bottom right is #12 I got:
#1 - 3.25v
#2 - 3.25v
#3 - Fluctuating between MINUS 8.18v and MINUS 8.42v
#4 - 0v
#5 - 4.98v
#6 - 11.2v

#7 - 2.77v
#8 - 2.77v
#9 - 0v
#10 - 0v
#11 - 0v
#12 - 0v

Meh. Had enough of this damn car.


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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

Install a nice kill switch in line or just pull the power completely. I just keep my car on a tender all winter.


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Yeah I had been looking at buying a battery maintainer recently too, just not got it sorted yet (Group buy on Noco genius)...Just tyical that this happens now I guess.

Do we definitely think it's the ECU rather than the touchpad? Just that the I-Level does work. Can anybody from Accuair help too?

Thanks for the replies mate.


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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

Honestly, it's really tough to tell.

If I were you, I'd grab a spare battery (maybe out of your daily) and throw it in Corrado. If you connect it, see if the touchpad functions.

Also, do you have full functionality if you plug in the i-Level? i.e. can you adjust all corners? can you hit your presets?


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## rgarjr (May 19, 2012)

Actually it's not that bad. I had my alternator go bad on me to a point where it stalled the car. Also, battery would frequently drop low and had to jump the car. ECU worked fine and didn't lose its presets. 

U think it's maybe the touchpad cable? Take your touchpad inside and hook up a usb cable and see if it lights up for a few seconds. 



RILEY UK said:


> Oh ffs.
> 
> So I can't have a flat battery without worrying about killing the ECU?! Not cool.
> Does seem/sound like the ECU has taken a crap so that's my car off the road then
> ...


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

rgarjr said:


> U think it's maybe the touchpad cable? Take your touchpad inside and hook up a usb cable and see if it lights up for a few seconds.


Cheers, I'll maybe try that one day when I can be bothered...Lost all interest in it now. Spend £4K (Total inc build, import costs etc) on air ride, cover less than 100 miles and the car is now undrivable. :thumbdown:


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## Iku (Mar 11, 2009)

It doesn't take much effort to test it and get it going man. Don't let that money go to waste. If you are letting the car sit for extended periods of time, you should pull your negative cable off the battery. AccuAir stuff is sensitive, you should treat it like it's worth the money you spent on it!


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Just finding it hard to keep up the enthusiasm...Been at this game for a long time, and had the Corrado for 10 years. Think I'm getting too old for it all.

*Anyway, I have just got home from my unit and brought the touchpad with me, I have just done as rgarjr suggested, and plugged the touchpad into my PC via usb. Nothing at all happens.*


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Oh dear, seems someone else is having a similar issue. Turned out to be fried ECU AND Touchpad.  Although they don't know the exact cause... http://www.airsociety.net/forums/showthread.php/5174-Accuair-touchpad-controller-not-working


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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

that does happen from time to time. this is why it's important to regulate the voltage in your battery when the e-level is connected.


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

But nobody ever told me that, nor did I think that a simple dead battery/use of jump leads could damage things. If the 25+ year technology in the digifant ECU is OK with it, then why shouldn't the accuair kit be OK with it?

Saying that the accuair kit is sensitive is just covering up poor design to me. It simply shouldn't be, because batterys do die, mechanics do work on cars and disconnect/reconnect them etc as do DIY enthusiasts who could (Like me) face potential damage without ever being told about it...

Pretty p|ssed off that something I've done many times all my car enthusiast life without ever having an issue, has possibly caused some damage to a part(s) that cost a lot of money.

Any thoughts on what has actually died here? Does the plugging my touchpad into my PC with nothing happening tell us anything? Should it do something?


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## rgarjr (May 19, 2012)

It's been a while since I connected my Touchpad to a computer but it did light up the LED buttons


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

*Update*:

I bought a new touchpad and usb cable from accuair...It arrived at the door with a delivery guy demanding £32 GBP in damn import tax 

Anyway...

Plugged it in (With the old USB cable still in place) and it lit up and works, so problem solved. I tried my original touchpad again to be sure, and yep it's totally dead.

So the suspension is up and running again at least, but pretty disappointing that my touchpad died after hardly any use at all. 

What to do with it now?


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Any ideas if I can do anything with the broken touchpad? I've stripped it down, but there's not really much to see. It has a slight burnt smell, very slight.

Worth taking to an electrical bod maybe?


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## [email protected] (Aug 22, 2006)

RILEY UK said:


> *Update*:
> 
> I bought a new touchpad and usb cable from accuair...It arrived at the door with a delivery guy demanding £32 GBP in damn import tax
> 
> ...


Next time, you should buy from an authorized dealer, we're usually a little less expensive when it comes to shipping. Accuair only ships UPS, but we can ship USPS GXG and that will help you with lower taxes / duties.

You can always send your touchpad back to AccuAir and have them give it a rebuild. Sometimes they're generous and they'll cut you a deal on a refurbished unit.


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

I did suggest to Accuair that maybe they could supply me from/through a dealer here in the UK, but this is the response I got back:


> Unfortunately any sort of repair/warranty parts need to come directly from us.


Although now thinking about it, it hasn't really turned out to be a "repair/warranty" part :what: I think all I got was a half decent deal that probably ended up a similar cost (With import tax) to what I could have paid buying here from the UK...

Either way, still annoyed that the touchpad died after hardly any use at all and now worried that it may happen again. I'm a perfectionist and everything is fitted perfectly as far as electrically and physically.


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## [email protected] (Aug 22, 2006)

Hmm, sounds like someone is towing the company line


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Sounds that way:what: Suppose when I'm under pressure (Struggling to afford things and car basically off the road unusable) that I've gone with the most obvious choice in trying to sort something with the manufacturer, hoping that a better solution could be found...

Anyway, for those interested here is the touchpad split open, nothing to really see.


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