PassThru with mega macs

Ihringen, Germany, August 16, 2016. No matter the brand, all the latest vehicles have a number of systems and functions which are protected against unauthorised access. This represents a clear disadvantage for independent workshops who need this access in order to encode a replaced component, to activate an additional vehicle system or to flash/update a control unit, to name just a few examples. Like in other complex situations, only the relevant data and activation codes from the manufacturers themselves can help. By law, access to this information must be granted to independent workshops for vehicles as from Euro 5 emission standard. Manufacturers provide this access – subject to a charge, of course – and often require the person requesting the data to undergo a check.

 

Calculating the demand without any investment risk

The option to use OEM data* not only gives independent workshops a certain degree of independence from the service of their brand colleagues – it also saves time. So, how does the data get to the vehicle? The solution is known as ‘PassThru’ and involves the original data being directed via the Internet from the manufacturer portal and a router directly into the vehicle. Yet, only a few workshops currently know if and how often they will want to pay for access to each manufacturer portal.

Owners of a mega macs from Hella Gutmann can easily work this out for themselves without incurring additional costs for hardware. Because the electronic ‘universal key’ provides access to the portals of all manufacturers (once activated), they already have all that’s needed at hand: the small VCI (Vehicle Communication Interface) of their mega macs or mega macs 66. The free PassThru software, which can simply be loaded from the Hella Gutmann portal to the workshop PC, turns the VCI/mega macs 66 into a PassThru interface. Once plugged into the vehicle's OBD interface and connected to the PC via USB, this hardware acts as a router. What's more, a special piece of security software checks the connection between vehicle and PC.

 

Option: mega macs PC x-Change stand-alone solution

Depending on the required task and the speed of the Internet connection, data transfers from OEM portals can take several hours. Because the mega macs cannot be used for diagnostic work while the PassThru process is under way, Hella Gutmann offers an optional stand-alone solution. mega macs PC x-Change can be operated in conjunction with a PC/notebook/tablet and has its own VCI just like the devices of the mega macs series. As well as the PassThru function, mega macs PC x-Change also carries out diagnostic functions such as the global check, reading/deleting of error codes and data storage. Since accessing several manufacturer portals from the same PC is viewed as a potential cause of IT problems, a further bonus of the additional PassThru solution is its modular design. To be on the safe side, users can simply combine a mega macs PC x-Change with several notebooks/tablets for the individual manufacturer portals.

* The use of the OEM portals is subject to a wide variety of conditions and is at the expense and responsibility of the workshop.
www.hella-gutmann.com