You can back up the original the first and only first time you connect the VCI to the bike.

 

This software is a total steaming piece of dog ****. I've been trying to use it for months now and it doesn't do what it is supposed to do. I can't load anything from the VCI to the computer. I've been fighting a ping problem since the bike was new and it just got worse when I changed the AC and the pipes. I finally had to back off the timing by 9 degrees in some cells to get rid of the pinging. I had to keep changing cells in the timing charts to stop it from sounding like a coffee can full in nickels. I finally got it running pretty good, good power, no ping, and it runs as good if not better than an identical bike that was dyno tuned at the dealer. Just for grins I tried to load this config from the VCI and it will not show up. It shows on my hard drive but I cannot download this file from the VCI. If I select manual load, from VCI it shows some files that were saved previously but it doesn't show the currently loaded file. It's not actually getting the config file from the VCI. If there is a way to get the actual file that was loaded to the VCI I can't figure it out. This is the root of all my problems to date. I loaded a file from the VCI of an identical bike that was dyno'd, and this file doesn't work worth a damn on mine. Now I find out that it didn't really load the file from this VCI the way it had been flashed to the bike.
Jesus H Christ I wish I had bought any other tuner other than this piece of crap from Harley. There seems to be absolutely no support from these unscrupulous bastards. If I wrote software this bad I would've been out of a job 20 years ago. It's not bad enough that the VCI cost $460 but I had to pay extra for the crap program, then I have to debug it too. I'm friggen pissed about this and I hope someone else is too. The top of this thread should be "buy something else" like the TTS Master tuner.
Please excuse my anger with this but it has really been a thorn in my side for about 4 months now, and after spending +$25K for a new bike it's been painful to say the least.

 

I believe this is wrong, not only can you not download the stock map but you cannot load the current file from the VCI either. If I'm wrong someone please tell me how.

 

I agree completely, though I haven't had the problems you have.

The SEPST software is rubbish. It looks like it was written on a shoestring, it gets no support from HD and the range of maps is very limited.

If you you do persevere and get the hang of it you can get the same level of tuning you can with the TTS but its probably better to go straight there if that's an option. Downside with the TTS is that even less tuners are familiar with it than the SEPST; not a problem if you don't plan to take the bike to a professional tuner.

 

Thank you for agreeing with me on this. The only reason I didn't go with the TTS is, as you say there are less tuners familiar with it. Nobody in this cow town knows anything about it. But since I've had to figure all this out myself, I wish I'd gone with the TTS, since it has features, like being able to tweak to speedo, and some support from folks like Fuel Moto etc.
Harley should be ashamed. I got the SEPST wire tied to my handle bars now and I'm off to Sturgis I hope some dumb bastard steals it. I'll make an insurance claim, and get the TTS.

 

The last MAP that was loaded from the VCI into the bike is stored on the VCI and can easily be retreived. When you open the software and have the bike connected, ign on, run switch to run, you click on the tuning fork to load a file, instead of picking one from the list click on the VCI tab and it will show the current MAP that is on the bike, click it and it will download into the software and you can edit or whatever. The "save as" and load back into the bike.

 

The software and support could be better but it no where near as bad as you say. I've tried to help you before asking questions and making sugggestions with no response. You kept saying you were hearing pinging but there were no knock events in the logs.

Your posts describe loading configs from other bikes. I have no idea why you didn't just start with a map close to your config and go from there. Maybe you did but it wasn't clear in your posts.

It sounds like you finally got it running pretty good, good power, no ping, and it runs as good if not better than an identical bike that was dyno tuned at the dealer. What is your complaint? That it didn't magically do all this for you? That it actually took time and work?

I am completely confused by your remarks about loading files to/from the VCI. I can tell you that when you upload a map to the ECM when the upload is complete it then downloads the map to the VCI. This map is then accessable from the PC. So if you take the VCI to a tuner it has the latest map on it for the tuner to start from. You can easily access the map from the VCI.

If you were to follow a methodical approach;

1. Load the appropriate starting MAP (not one from someone else's bike)
2. Smart Tune
3. Adjust timing (if pinging is bad you can do this step 2)

I've been using the SEPST since 2008 with very good results as have lots of others. This sounds a lot like operator error.

 

You can not upload the map in the ecm to the vci. Only the TTS tuner does this the first time connected, to get the stock map.

 

If you follow Sepst and TTS discussions on all forums both are on par. The extra features of the TTS may be useful. Lately Steve Cole has been getting blasted about the TTS. so even with support there are problems. TTS is found to be limited in the range of maps to meet the mod combos.

Really? Your dongle wire must be like 5 feet long, mine does not even reach the bars plugged in.

+1. The software uploads to the VCI and downloads from the VCI. The VCI is a conduit to flash the ECM, but the VCI does not download from the ECM. Even the TTS can only save the original ECM file as a backup but will not let you make changes to the original or to read it, just save it for a return to stock flash.

This thread needs to be re started.

 

After smart tune is it ok the smooth out the VE setting that like using the graph? Also inputing numbers for box that don't get filled?