Hi,

Looking for a WDS, they are impossible to find here in Australia.

Anybody got one or enough spares to put one together?

Thanks

Pic for reference

 

Ford, Mazda, Aston Martin and Jaguar all used the WDS. About 15 years ago I saw one (A GENRAD 3500) at a Home Depot (Giant Hardware store chain here in the US) sitting in the isle in the docking station and tried to find an employee to ask about it. It seems they used it with a hand-held bar-code scanner for inventory with different software.

There has to be a Ford dealer in the land of oz that has an old unit for sale??????

A bunch of us have all the Jaguar software you will ever need for the rest of you life!!!!!!!!!!

bob gauff

 

Thanks Bob.

Yes I know the software is not a problem, it's the hardware which is hard to land...

Not a single unit for sale down here, and there hasn't been ever from what i can tell. The Ford dealers won't part with any old equipment (I've called several dealers here, not a chance).

I missed out on one that was for sale in the UK it went for peanuts but the seller was a clown who wouldn't make any effort even when I offered him heaps of money.

And there's one for sale in Ireland right now, seller won't answer my messages...

So i'm asking here again...

 

I just bought a GENRAD GDS 3500 PTU on eBay a few minutes ago.
It is in Washington State so I should have it in several days.
The seller states that it cannot be tested for operation (no docking station) and it may be just a 'parts-unit'.

I'm sure the battery has been dead for some time. I have 2 PTUs and one docking station that functions so I will set it up to see if it works and WHAT it was originally IF the HDD is present???

I guess I should browse the internet for PTUs and Docking stations and become some sort of 'refurb' outlet.

Cambo, I will let you know if it works when I get it and see if I can get it to speak JAGUAR!!!!!!!!!

I should keep looking for working docking stations as those seem to be harder to find than PTUs.

You REALLY don't NEED a docking station if you can rig up some cables for a 'work-around' to load software.

You can also get one to exactly the way you want it and 'GHOST' a few HDDs in case???????? or WHEN Windows 98 CRASHES and the HDD is corrupted.

I have a STACK of 4.8 to 8.4 GB HDDs with Jaguar CD43 loaded and ready to go.
When one fails I insert a new HDD and keep going.

I'll post here when I figure out if I just wasted a hundred dollars or got a bargain.

If it's a good one I'll figure out how to get to the land down under.

Keep eyes OPEN for B203 and A204. You really only NEED these cables for Jaguar.

bob gauff

 

Wow Bob... i do a daily search on ebay.com & ebay.uk for "Ford WDS" "Genrad GDS" and so on, never even saw that one...

I'd prefer a docking station as well but frankly at this point i'll take what i can get.

I do want to set it up with Aston, Ford and Jag software (I already have the software just nothing to load it into).

But yeah the cables will be a challenge to find...

If you can do something then yeah i'm interested.

My plan was to "hotrod" it with the upgraded RAM and SSD's like you guys talked about in the main thread.

 

I have BOTH SSD and regular HDD 3.2 to 8.4 GB capacities.
The SSD can be 'tricky' as some can be recognized by the PTU and some are not.
I have had a few that did work and then did not.

The PTU board has 32 soldered in place and max RAM I have gotten to work is an extra 128 in the additional socket. I think the MAX is 256 for the Pentium I.

I tried a 256 but the PTU would not boot so I reinstalled the 128 and got a total of 160. It works fine.

IT MUST be PC66. I have tried PC100 because sellers say it is 'backwards-compatible' but it WILL NOT BOOT!!!!!!!

It's probably better that I found the eBay PTU so I can test it with a known good battery pack and docking station WITH a proper HDD installed.

keep in touch

bob gauff

 

Cambo - PM me - I recently purchased a genuine Mongoose Pro cable and IDS 131.3v i think so my WDS system is collecting dust. I have the docking station, PTU with rebuilt battery pack, upgraded 160 MB RAM and Jag 43 with spare Futisu/IBM 6.4GB HDD's & Ford 43 Software uploaded and the OBD and battery cables (I even have the rolling cabinet too that the docking station sits on) I simply pop the cover off, swap the HDD to switch between Ford and Jag. I even have coil testers which are fabulous with the Ford version of WDS.

Clearly I had the WDS bug and collected them off of EBay and fixed them up and kept one for myself.

I think it might be pricey to ship to Aussie... Let me know. I did ship one to the UK...

I'm traveling and will be back home on Sun..

 

It would be better to get a docking station and PTU together in case it is needed.
The base cabinet is nice but not necessary.
The docking station has a dual polarity switch for different country voltages.

Cables are the one thing to keep an eye out for.

bob

 

In place of the WDS i think iDS with V118.5 works best,I don't recall any limitations when working on the older cars...I may be able to get a WDS with docking station..Pm me

 

The problem with IDS 118 is finding an old VCM and cables.

I would love to have just IDS and NOT SDD with a VCM and XP PRO Laptop.
But finding that old combination is difficult.

I just get by with WDS and not worry about expiration dates.

bob gauff

 

Have sent PM's to Teck4Jag and Abonano...

Bob you can run V118 on a Win7 32-bit OS, I am and it's been fine. If you want a copy of the software... you know how to find me.

Yes the problem is getting hold of a VCM. I've been stung a couple of times trying to get hold of an original working VCM. 1st one I bought was a genuine but one of the PCB's was burnt out, way beyond repair. 2nd one I bought was supposed to be genuine and when it arrived it was a clone

3rd attempt I finally got a genuine one.

Problem is they are still selling for big money, $800 US or more. But if you keep your eyes open they do pop up for sale from time to time, more regularly than a WDS anyhow.

The reason i want a WDS is that an Aston DB7 Vantage is going to be my next car, should the planets align, but i'm not going to own a car like that without having the factory diagnostics to keep it going.

 

If you haven't found a WDS yet, I have one that I am willing to sell. It currently has Ford software on a SSD drive. Battery is junk. PSU on the docking station is junk. CD drive is junk. I have the battery cables and OBD II cable. Handheld works great. I was able to get the docking station to work by wiring up an extra PSU that I had laying around and using a laptop charger to attempt to charge the battery as well as pulling out a CD from my PC. Let me know.


Currently using a cloned VCM II and IDS 86.04 so I don't need the WDS anymore.

 

Bump!

Have sent PM's and messages, waiting to hear back from you guys.

Someone sell me a WDS please!

 

mechanic1972 says he has a working unit.

I have the one I bought but the battery pack is FAULTY (DEAD with code 2217) and I ordered 8 new NiMH cells to solder together a new pack.

I also ordered some RAM because it is SLOOOOOOOW with just 32MB.

I have no spare docking stations (only one) so I can't help you there.
I did a write-up on how to get a 40 to 44 pin ribbon cable to link to a CD drive and HDD to the PTU without a docking station. It's NOT pretty but it works if you lay it all out on a workbench until the software is loaded.

I also don't have any spare cables and you will likely need A204 (battery input cable) and one of the B cables to communicate with the OBDII port.

Keep in touch.

bob gauff

 

Thanks Bob.

I'm waiting to hear back from abonano and mechanic72... and Tech4Jag too although we had some discussions.

 

I wish I had another docking station but I have a few PTUs since they tend to CRASH Windows 98 (or fail to boot to GENRAD SHELL) right when a customer needs a key programmed or someone is waiting for a diagnosis.

I keep one loaded and waiting with Jaguar 43.

bob

 

Well I just bought a B203 cable, so that's one little step forward.

C'mon guys why don't you answer pm's / emails?

 

Sorry, don't frequent the forum much. Emailing you now.

 

Cameron, sorry - lots going on with the new house. I'm dropping you an email now.

 

Hello everybody,

I'm new on this forum, however I found when looking for an information about diag interface / unit suitable for both of my Jaguars, ie. XJ 4.0 Sovereign '96 & S-Type 3.0 V6 '00, I bought recently.
Do I need to buy the WDS or can use SDD with VCM (Rotunda) or Mongoose interface?
Both of the cars have OBDII socket, however I can read only some information by ELM327 and cannot clear any fault codes. A Delphi Autocom I'm using shows these cars as not fully supported. As a side note I'd like to mention that I'd like also to perform some programming (ie. function switching for remote & lights, key immo registering, etc.).
Important is that I found many misleading information about IDS / SDD, Mongoose and VCM Rotunda and their support for older cars. Mongoose is told as support cars after 2005, while VCM is supposed to not support XJ'96.

Please don't be offended by a little misuse of this topic; I spent a lot time googling for answers and here in the message #7 finally I found a tip, but not answering all my questions.

Thank you for your help.
Mark