Any of them should work just fine for what you're doing.

I believe the 'L' on the end just means that it's RoHS compliant, but there's no functional difference between one that has an 'L' on the end and one that doesn't. My understanding is that 'R' chips are still in production, but 'B' chips are not. Needless to say, the 'R' chip rapidly became the preferred device for almost everyone who used FT232 chips, but of course it did require some re-design of circuit boards if one was previously using the 'B' chip. Then around 2006 or 2007, FTDI introduced the 'R' chip, which was an all-in-one, software compatible, stand-alone solution that didn't require any external components. It requires a number of external components including a timing source and EEPROM. When that came out (around 2002?) we had a 'Eureka!' moment, because prior to that, we had not found a way to make VCDS work properly via USB. Again, I will happily buy a genuine 409.1 cable if there is a difference.Ĭlick to expand.The 'B' is the original chip from FTDI that offered control over latency. Just truing to sort this as I am chasing a drivability issue in a Subaru and even the factory Subaru diagnostics isn't as in depth as ecuExplorer. The VCDS will communicate under the OBD2 tab no problems. So what I am wondering is, is there something 'special' about the 409.1 cable and if not, I have to wonder when I plug the VAG-Com cable I have into my computer if it automatically 'connects' to the VCDS instead of the ecuExplorer which leads me to my second question.if I uninstall VCDS what do I have to go thru to re-install it? would I be 'locked out' of ever using VCDS again?

Sad but true, i'm NOT pc savvy (but pretty dam good at diagnostics) so I downloaded the ecuExplorer and got it to 'work' but I can't communicate with the ECU.

One, is the 409.1 cable available? I see the clones, and although I need this for a different purpose I would much rather buy a genuine cable from Ross-Tech if possible. it requires a vag-com cable KKL 409.1 (from what I gather) I currently have a Hex+CAN cable (legit, as I registered it here) I have a couple of questions. There is a open source Subaru diagnostic/data logging program called ecuExplorer. I don't expect much help here, but want to support Ross Tech if at all possible.

Vag-com vcds