Wondering if anyone knows any use for the files generated on an SD card inserted in the NAV unit when you set "Logging" on in the Factory Setup Screen (HCH 2006). To get in the screen hold "MAP" "MENUE" and "CANCEL" down together for a few sec. Every time the engine is started a new file is generated with a name similar to this:

060929_0049.vpl

The 1st 6 digits are the date. Viewing the file in WinXP in Notepad the 1st 6 lines of the file read:

41BCA9151A1902114415
22C0A341
1D1D
84FFEC0003000195
24FF3800240001C6
490000000049

And it keeps going like this for pages. I would love to be able to extract GPS or milage data from these files for writing off travel. I've called American Honda, Alpine, my dealer etc. No answers.

Anyone have any ideas?

I am looking into this data, it appears to be some type of hex.

i can think of a couple things is could be, any other ideas would possibly be useful

• OBDII data stream<
• GPS data stream<
• proprietary system data stream<

there is also a feature in that factory manual that lets you back up your presets, addresses, calendar etc onto the memory card.

if anyone has any information about this file please post here.

I've looked at this before and can open it in a Hex editor but I think it is mostly GPS coordinates and settings. My largest file is a 19 MB text file and several 15 MB files. I just searched through another one and only recognized one word ("Unreliable") though I've never seen this on the display screen so maybe it knew that from an internal program note about being on a non-digitized road or in an un-verified area.

Note that the first 6 digits are the date in the format of YYMMDD instead of MMDDYY like most of us use ... and the last 4 digits in the file name should be the time of day (thought it was local time but it might be Greenwich time also - can't remember but thought it was local time). I've used this to my advantage if I forgot when I arrived/departed a client or customer site - so I just read the log file timestamps and it tells me. Presto.

I've been able to change the startup image and can find the text for the Nag screen in the files as well but I've not managed to re-compile the edited file into a format that the car will recognize as the original file's replacement and thus still have the same text in my nag screen.

--> Averaged 685 miles/week and 49.0 mpg in first year (35.7k miles from Aug 7, 2006 to Aug 7, 2007)

Interesting, what makes you say it looks like gps coordinates?

No reason but why would it log something like throttle position and outside temperature in code? I also notice that the file Modified Date is the actual time it was captured but the filename timestamp is, for me in the Eastern time, about 5 hours ahead so that would make it basically Greenwich time. If you are in Indy then let me know if it is 6 hours ahead (my files were pre-daylight savings time so I need to do this again and see what the new timestamps are).

Also, if I open the file in Notepad then I see a pattern of the binary codes (the entries similar to "0D0000CEC3" which is nearly identical to when Microsoft Outlook crashes on you and reports an error starting with "0x800CCC06"). If only there were a converter to decipher what the binary means. Anyone? When I view it in a Hex editor it just resolves it to "0D0000CEC3" which doesn't help.

Anyway, in the file there are a few header lines then a line similar to "17FFF80001000011" that is followed by 25 lines of the binary code then another line of that longer entry then another 25 lines, a longer entry, 25 more lines, etc. This just seems like a regular sampling of data like the GPS would be. What I should do is disable one portiong of the Logging and see what change that makes if any.

In one of the files I can find words like "Road" (which resolves to "52h 6Fh 61h 64h") so I'm thinking it has something to do with GPS. "Road" converts to "01010010 01101111 01100001 01100100" in Binary but I don't think everything is Binary as there are other letters but this entry ("10On DB Road" actually) repeats many, many times inside this single file. It must be a road and the heading and something similar.

--> Averaged 685 miles/week and 49.0 mpg in first year (35.7k miles from Aug 7, 2006 to Aug 7, 2007)

Okay so those lines are in Hex I believe. I converted a section of a file to the following:
0D0000808D = 32909
0D00004A47 = 19015
0D00002E23 = 11811
0D00003835 = 14389
0D00003439 = 13369
0D00004845 = 18501
0D0000424F = 16975
0D0000303D = 12349
0D0100222E = 16785966 (?)
0D00000E03 = 3587

And the first four lines of the file convert to:
41D40B8E93 = 1104415630
1641CF0C17 = 1104088087
22A678FC = 581335292
1D1D = 7453

Still no idea. I was hoping they would be Lat/Lon coordinates. The coordinates near me should be 40.xx and 80.xx so none of these relate right off the bat.

--> Averaged 685 miles/week and 49.0 mpg in first year (35.7k miles from Aug 7, 2006 to Aug 7, 2007)

8 bit microprocessors use Hex pairs 00 to FF. The most an 8 bit proc can handle is 255 decimal or FF hex or 11111111 binary. If it's pure ASCII, the only human friendly numbers are 32 to 126 decimal, everything else is control codes and stuff like that.

<CR> is Carriage Return and <FF> is Form Feed.

Converting your strings to Hex pairs and, where applicable, ASCII, it looks like...
0D0000808D = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 128, 141 =
0D00004A47 = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 74, 71 = JG
0D00002E23 = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 46, 35 = .#
0D00003835 = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 56, 53 = 85
0D00003439 = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 52, 57 = 49
0D00004845 = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 72, 69 = HE
0D0000424F = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 66, 79 = BO
0D0000303D = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 48, 61 = 0=
0D0100222E = <CR>, <Start of Header>, <NUL>, 0, 34, 46 = “.
0D00000E03 = <CR>, <NUL>, <NUL>, 14, 3 = <Shift Out>, <End of Text>

And the first four lines of the file convert to:
41D40B8E93 = 65, 212, 11, 142, 147 = A, 212, <CR>, 142, 147
1641CF0C17 = 22, 65, 207, 12, 23 = <idle>, A, 207, <FF>, <End>
22A678FC = 34, 166, 120, 252 = 4, 166, x, 252
1D1D = 29, 29 = <Group Separator>, <Group Separator>

This may not make a lot more sense, but hopefully it may help you get on the right track.

It's been 40 years since college so forgive me my errors.

I dont know that the hex is ASCII, if it is, what if its some ASCII character encoding like unicode?

this data means something to someone, hopefully we can figure it out.

as for why it would log throttle position, it would be possible that the program is a remnant of factory development testing. This type of log would be useful for design analysis by engineers. There could be On Board Diagnostic data logged in there. This would be useful to capture intermittent problems. Meaning the dealership could say "we put a chip in your car, drive it for a week if you notice the problem remember what time it happened and then bring the car back" they could then look at the data and see if there is an issue there.

I would rather it be GPS data, as i could use this to make my life easier and have some fun with it.