Hi, I'm running into a little issue with my passenger car seat. All buttons and positions work as intended except for the back reclining position. It will move the back side all the way down, but will stop only half way on the way up. As opposed to the driver side where it can be moved all the way up to near vertical. I do not see anything stuck in the mechanism.

After some digging here, I believe the seat may need to be re-calibrated. I checked with my local jaguar specialist but didn't appear to have any knowledge on re-calibrating the seats. I also don't really fancy paying dealership prices just to get it plugged in and click on a few buttons on their laptop.

So I'm looking into getting one of those Mangoose clones and the SDD software to do it myself. If I got it right, when using SDD, the car battery should always be plugging in with a power supply when programming, but is okay to not have power supply if only reading fault codes.

My question is, do I really need a power supply plugged to the car, if I only want to re-calibrate the seats? I'm not interested in anything else at the moment (reading codes will come in handy though when my generic OBD tool isn't up to the task).

But if the general consensus is that a power supply is also highly recommended for a simple seat calibration, will something like this do the trick:
Cheers

 

I might think so, but if you side step through the pictures, the last one has batteries in the list of not applicable applications.

 

I re-calibrated my seats with SDD recently, from memory it only takes about a minute per seat but the ignition has to be on. I connected a power supply because I couldn't say for sure the voltage wouldn't drop enough to upset the module mid-calibration, and not knowing means playing safe. The cost of a power supply will be lower than the cost of a new seat module.

I made one from an HP Server power supply, it's fairly straightforward and a nice afternoon project with the soldering iron. I get a steady 13.4v and a nice fat green battery symbol in SDD from mine. Instructions are here

 

I was actually looking at DIY power supplies and fell on the same link you have shared! Glad to know it has worked for you, I feel better about trying it out. I like little projects like these. Think I will go that route.

Next unknown I'll have to have my fingers crossed for, is how well SDD works on Windows 10 64bits. Seen a few people mentioning it worked for them, and others that where it was very problematic. I do not own a laptop with Windows XP (Or Seven 32 bits) on for better compatibility, will have to take my chances with what i have on that.

 

I’m still stuck on ‘the jag specialist had no idea how to recalibrate the seats’. ok?!?

 

Yeah I know, I got a bit concerned too. Worries me a bit that I know more about the car after only one year of Jag ownership, than an actual jag specialist. I've only been there a couple of times for servicing, and always felt something was a bit off. But he's the only one around without having to drive hours away. Hence why I try to do as much as I can myself these days, at least I trust my work.

 

No.

 

With all due respect, I’d say connect the charger. Just like it mandates in the Workshop Manual.
And for the cost of a charger, with electronics to ensure battery health and not overcharging… go get one already.

 

Ham radio power supplies are low noise and run at about 13.8 VDC if you don’t want to roll your own. The power supply should be at least 40 amps.
Check out the SDD sticky which has links to the UK (I think) Jaguar forum with info on SDD virtual machine operation. I run my SDD V130 on an intel based Mac with Windows 7 VM. You can do the same with Win 11. You’ll also need a Mongoose or similar interface.
Autel also makes OBD analysis devices with Jaguar specific software but I don’t know if these have the seat calibration routine. Others may be able to provide this info. The Autel device will probably be much easier to use than the cumbersome SDD.

 

On a side note I was told an icarsoft LR V3.0 could recalibrate seats , never tried but that was info from the sales agent.

 

I recalibrated my seats without a power supply. It doesn't take long, and with a good battery is reliable. It isn't loading software or doing reprogramming: just actuating the seats to their limits and recording it. Like when you do the windows after a battery disconnect.

I also used an HP server power supply to build a Jag compatible unit. Works fine, but it's not needed for the recalibrate.

 

Some thoughts...
Actually recalibrating the seat modules only takes about two minutes each (I did one two weeks ago)
Getting TO the calibration settings takes about two minutes
The power supply you referenced is ..... weird and unnecessary
Using a GOOD plain old battery charger is more than sufficient, even 20 amps would help a lot
You can use a plain old battery charger in many ways for years to come
A good plain old battery charger is fairly cheap

AND....
If you take a bit too long to do the flashes, maybe your battery is a bit too low, or you see something else in SDD that you find interesting and get distracted for a minute...........
...... you may brick your modules.
Also, I'd suggest NO to a M-A-ngoose cable, cheap Chinese copy. You MAY get a good one and be happy forever, or you may get a crappy one and brick your entire car.
I got a Jaguar-Approved DA Dongle and it works perfectly well for a third the price of a M-O-ngoose cable, which are also Jag Approved.

 

@Cee Jay , I was thinking it. Glad you wrote it.
Incidentally, my 35 year old battery charger (20 amp) works just fine. It was needed for my first car; a Fiat Spider that started to eat batteries… after I installed the Alpine system, lol.
Strange, she started to drink gas like Koolaid after I installed the dual Webbers…

 

For seats calibration, you don't need a power supply. Just be sure the battery's full charged. If using a power supply, it MUST meet the required specifications particularly the quality of the output current. Cheap power supplies and even battery chargers may introduce module damaging noise, ripple, and inconsistent voltage. That's why Midtronics, the industry leader, is advised. There are other brands with equivalent specifications.

 

Cheers for all those comments. Everyday is a learning day with the XKR

As I'm mostly the only one using the car, and very rarely drive around with a passenger (which the passenger seat is the one having problems), I'll take my time to source all the right equipment, rather than rush it on the cheap! Definitely don't want to brick the car, being my daily driver. Will probably go for that DA Dongle you mentioned @Cee Jay . Looks quite neat.

 

Don't understand how these dongles work , I am a flintstone when it comes to computers. Do you plug it into your obd port and your laptop is that it? What else is required I am assuming I need to download some software. Is it very user friendly?

 

Well, of course you will need the SDD software! You can use any version you wish, but it would be a better setup if it uses a dedicated laptop. Mine is Windows 7 with the latest stand-alone SDD, the one with all the files local and nothing else deeded to download. Course that means the file versions will never be updated as the online newer versions would be, but why would Jaguar update files to a car that's over ten years old?
HOWEVER, this program COULD also be used with every other JLR vehicle if you got the online version, which is quite a bit of expensiveness and requires a monthly subscription, if I recall correctly. TopiX?

 

So the SDD software cost' s money as well as the dongle what type of money we talking about.

 

Maybe you should read through some of the SDD threads in the main Forum. Way too many options to list prices and such. Many many versions of SDD also.

 

Sounds to complicated for my limited knowledge and needs . Thx anyways