GS-911 Caution

[joe4702]

Just wanted to post a cautionary tale about my experience with a GS-911, latest WiFi version with the latest software and firmware.

Purely out of curiosity I was trying a few test functions, namely the ones to activate the turn signals, brake lights and headlights.
The turn signal and headlight tests worked, the brake light test did not illuminate the brake lights and either would say "test complete" or "invalid response from controller".

Much to my chagrin (curiosity killed the cat), after that, I had a "Brake Light Fault" error on the dash.
Repeated scans showed no error codes - I performed repeated clear all codes anyway, cycled the ignition, started the engine, disconnected the 911, etc.
No matter what I tried, still got, "Brake Light Fault" every time the ignition was turned on.
The brake lights worked fine through all this, there was no actual issue.

I then connected MotoScan, cleared all codes and finally the brake light fault message went away.
However, this time when I started the engine I now had a headlight fault message and the high beam would not come on.
Luckily this error went away after I cycled the ignition and engine again. '
Keeping fingers crossed whatever the 911 did to the controller doesn't recur.
If any of these spurious faults come back, I will try disconnecting the battery.

I do have a Denali CANSmart running 2 B6 brake lights, I don't know if that perhaps contributed to these spurious faults.
 
I learned my lesson, I am not going to use the 911 (or Motoscan) beyond the necessary functions like service interval reset, brake bleed, etc.
Unfortunately I think these tools are full of obscure bugs that can cause problems when interacting with the complex bike software.
I also wonder how much these developers are guessing how the ECU software works - I doubt BMW makes that information available.
These guys are probably reverse engineering some of these features by trial and error.
 

[smithy]

Originally Posted by joe4702

Just wanted to post a cautionary tale about my experience with a GS-911, latest WiFi version with the latest software and firmware.

Purely out of curiosity I was trying a few test functions, namely the ones to activate the turn signals, brake lights and headlights.
The turn signal and headlight tests worked, the brake light test did not illuminate the brake lights and either would say "test complete" or "invalid response from controller".

Much to my chagrin (curiosity killed the cat), after that, I had a "Brake Light Fault" error on the dash.
Repeated scans showed no error codes - I performed repeated clear all codes anyway, cycled the ignition, started the engine, disconnected the 911, etc.
No matter what I tried, still got, "Brake Light Fault" every time the ignition was turned on.
The brake lights worked fine through all this, there was no actual issue.

I then connected MotoScan, cleared all codes and finally the brake light fault message went away.
However, this time when I started the engine I now had a headlight fault message and the high beam would not come on.
Luckily this error went away after I cycled the ignition and engine again. '
Keeping fingers crossed whatever the 911 did to the controller doesn't recur.
If any of these spurious faults come back, I will try disconnecting the battery.

I do have a Denali CANSmart running 2 B6 brake lights, I don't know if that perhaps contributed to these spurious faults.
 
I learned my lesson, I am not going to use the 911 (or Motoscan) beyond the necessary functions like service interval reset, brake bleed, etc.
Unfortunately I think these tools are full of obscure bugs that can cause problems when interacting with the complex bike software.
I also wonder how much these developers are guessing how the ECU software works - I doubt BMW makes that information available.
These guys are probably reverse engineering some of these features by trial and error.

Hmmm....you seem to be the only one who has had this issue...I've been using the GS-911 since I bought my Gen-1 '17 model new and it works fine. Used on several other XR's, R's and RR's in that time and no issues. Maybe it's a Gen-2 thing..?? I'm also using the latest GS-911 firmware update.

Motoscan aslo works well.

Smithy.

[joe4702]

The service functions I've used so far have worked fine.
I know better than to mess with some of the more advanced test functions like activating the fuel injection, stuff like that. But I figured turning lights on and off would be harmless. Would seem to be some sort of incompatibility between the 911 and bike software. Motoscan does not have the headlight/brakelight/turn signal test functions that I played with on the 911.

When I had my Hexhead, the Motoscan IAC lock function didn't work properly but caused no harm on my bike, just a fluctuating idle while the function was activated. However I read that with certain other hexheads, attempting to use the IAC lock caused issues that required a trip to the dealer to sort out. So these sorts of bugs are not unheard of.

[smithy]

Originally Posted by joe4702

The service functions I've used so far have worked fine.
I know better than to mess with some of the more advanced test functions like activating the fuel injection, stuff like that. But I figured turning lights on and off would be harmless. Would seem to be some sort of incompatibility between the 911 and bike software. Motoscan does not have the headlight/brakelight/turn signal test functions that I played with on the 911.

When I had my Hexhead, the Motoscan IAC lock function didn't work properly but caused no harm on my bike, just a fluctuating idle while the function was activated. However I read that with certain other hexheads, attempting to use the IAC lock caused issues that required a trip to the dealer to sort out. So these sorts of bugs are not unheard of.

Must just be a Gen-2 thing then.

Smithy.

[joe4702]

Yeah could be.

I forgot to mention Motoscan showed a bunch of error codes while the 911 showed none. After clearing those the brake light fault message finally went away. So at the moment I'm pretty disappointed with the $400 911 compared to the much less expensive Motoscan.

[wessie]

It's going to be a Cansmart thing. The 911 is not going to expect to have to talk to this 3rd party device and vice versa. This is going to lead to confusion on the canbus.

Have you looked at the 911 support pages to see if there is mention of Cansmart in the FAQ?