Just about the coolest circuit board related tool I have ever seen & how it led me to the CG Pro tool

So here I am doing my research on key programming and writing notes for all the complicated key services I could find myself doing someday when I come across just about the coolest adapter I have ever seen. It is a in-circuit MCU (microcontroller) communication adapter AND I have to have it. After some intense searching I find a tool that is not available for purchase anywhere like it is no longer in production. I managed to snip a screenshot of the adapter in the YouTube video given my most inspired idea of late: using google's image search to find the source of unknown things. (I know it has existed for a long time but I had not realized how much time it could truly save me)

What is cool about this is that, without this adapter, you would normally have to either use a logic probe to identify whether or not programming pins are grounded or not as well as a surface mount probe set with a wiring diagram OR desolder the chip from the board so you can place it into a specialized adapter for one of the tools you own. In-Circuit reading can be problematic and there are few tools designed specifically for this. It should be noted that this adapter only works with a specific part number MCU but what if we could get them for all the common MCUs in the automotive key world? To finish what I said earlier I did find this adapter for sale although there is no sign of such adapters for other MCU types as of yet. I ordered a few of them so that I can have them available here for purchase and so that I can figure out how to adapt them for use with the tools I already have. The module it originally came with is for a couple German cars older then 2005... but I have a list of MCUs used in newer cars so there could be a lot of common uses for it... who knows?

There are several high end automobiles that require these chips to be replaced or data extracted/written to them in order to add or delete keys. These are also on the higher end of the cost spectrum for customers as well as the complexity spectrum for the individual user. These kind of adapters could take a lot of time and effort out of such services as well as eliminate all possibility of damaging a potentially expensive/unavailable module. While I was successful in locating not only the adapter pictured above but the tool (or a clone of it) with a sub 30 dollar price tag it was not long before I found a current tool with specs that are very desirable that also comes with this same adapter....

Enter the CG Pro

While the previous tool that came with the mcu in circuit adapter was for early 2000 model vehicles... this tool has a variety of modern uses including being able to decrypt encrypted MCU types for a variety of European models. I do not own one yet but I most certainly will in the near future once its value brings it to the top of the "tools to purchase" list.