Importance

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Abstract

A system for testing the electrical components of vehicles and vehicle electrical system prototypes, referred to as 'wiring bucks', includes a hand held tester to which a translator unit can be detachably engaged and with which the tester is in RF communication. The translator unit can be detached from the tester and plugged into a test receptacle under a vehicle's/wiring buck's dashboard to communicate with the vehicle/wiring buck by translating computer formatted data from the tester to vehicle bus-formatted data, and vice-versa. Then, the vehicle's/wiring buck's VIN or identification is scanned into the tester or manually input into the tester, and the tester transmits the VIN via an RF link in the assembly plant to a computer in the plant. Based on the VIN, the computer determines the electric equipment that the vehicle/wiring buck has, and the computer transmits this information back to the tester. The tester then determines which tests to execute, and the tester causes the translator unit to undertake these tests. The translator transmits the test results back to the tester which in turn transmits the results to the computer. A portable current module can be provided that monitors the current drawn from the vehicle's/wiring buck's battery during the testing and for communicating this data to the tester via RF link.

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First Claim