Pre-Purchase Questions...

[twiki]

I own a 2021 Polestar 2 with Pixel lights and want to turn ‘em on.

I have ordered the needed cable to connect a Windows laptop to my car, and am waiting until it arrives before paying for my Orbit license (the $325 version).

While I’m waiting for the cable to arrive (should be a few days), I have a few questions:

1. Do I need to connect Orbit to my car (via cable) to have Orbit (the $325 license) get my needed PINs or can that be done by supplying my VIN separately?  If not, I guess I can pay for the license while waiting for my cable to arrive to save time…
   
2. How long does it take to get the two PINs?  Should I start this now while I wait the 2 days for the cable to arrive?
   
3. I understand the ability to Save and Load configurations, and also to restore to OEM before service visits and potentially before OTA updates to be safe.  But what about all of the settings made via the in-car options?  If I change settings in the car via the on-screen options, will those be reverted to defaults if I use Orbit to restore to OEM?   IOW, when I do a Save Configuration in Orbit, will it save those settings as well, or only if I use Orbit to make similar settings via Orbit?w days), I have a few questions.  BTW, I registered for the forums so I could post there, but apparently I’m not activated yet (email is confirmed though), so I figured I’d ask via em
   

[SashaSolitaire]

@twiki

1) and 2) The first thing is for you to email Andrew@OrBit your VIN. He'll get back to you very quickly (in my case it was less than a day) with both the VGM and CEM pins. Once you have the pins and your cable, you can connect your P*2 to your computer
3) You can save the settings after you make your changes in the car, to your laptop. Restoring to OEM would mean that you will have to re-do the in-car options that you might have changed.

[twiki]

Thanks for the responses.  I was waiting to buy Orbit until my cable arrived so as to maximize my 1 year license since i cannot connect without the cable.  Since the PIN codes can be worked on by supplying the VIN without an Orbit-car connection and takes a day or so, I should probably pull the trigger on Orbit now ;-).  

As for the settings... just to make sure I understand:  if I make changes from default settings using the car's UI and then use Orbit to "Revert to OEM", that will reset all settings to default; both those adjusted within Orbit and those changed via the car's UI.  For the settings adjusted in Orbit, I can use the Save/Load feature to re-apply them, but the settings changed via the car's UI that were reverted back to default via Orbit's "Revert to OEM" will have to be manually re-created in the car. 

IOW, the "Save/Load" commands in Orbit save and re-apply only those settings made within Orbit.  The "Revert to OEM" command in Orbit reverts ALL settings (not just those made via Orbit) to factory defaults.  Restoration is a two-step process of applying the settings changed via Orbit (via the Load command) and manually changing settings from default within the car's menus.

[BeachBoy]

Revert to OEM doesn't need any saved file or setting, you can do revert to OEM from a fresh install/laptop and it will bring the car exactly like it was from the factory.
It should not modify any UI changes, these are separate and not overlapping settings. However I'm sure ther emight be exceptions like if you have orbit in °F and then UI to °C and OEM is the opposite, I would be curious to test if when reverting to OEM it changes the user selected setting.

Save/load is just for you to save and reload configuration so you don't have to manually set a dozen options each time you come back from the dealer. Makes it super convenient.

[twiki]

Got it - thanks!  

I subscribed to Orbit with the Key service, supplied my VIN via email, and the cable should arrive tomorrow. Hopefully the cable works with a port rep as my Windows laptop has only USB-C ports.

Once everything arrives, I'll give it a try.

I've heard rumblings of a new OTA coming in a few weeks, so I'll try out the whole revert thing then.

BTW, I'm really only interested in changing 2 settings (for the Pixel lights).  Is it safe to presume that instead of doing the "Save" followed by "Revert to OEM" before the OTA and then doing the "Load" after the OTA, that I can just manually change those 2 settings back to their original values before the OTA and then re-change those 2 settings after the OTA?  For just 2 settings, it might be faster/easier than the reversion, etc...

[glennda5id]

Saving and loading your config and reverting using the revert to oem function will be easier and less error prone.

[BeachBoy]

I am using a port replicator with ethernet and it works (my cable is RJ45), but not all of them (adapters) work, I have one that doesn't!

I would revert to OEM, it clears up codes too as far as I know.

[twiki]

Thanks. I’ll try the cable and port rep tomorrow when the cable arrives. 

As for the revert to open- my only concern is having to recreate settings made directly in the car.

[x119]

Thanks. I’ll try the cable and port rep tomorrow when the cable arrives. 

As for the revert to open- my only concern is having to recreate settings made directly in the car.

What kind of settings are you referring to?

For any features that you turn on / off their settings will be wiped, but for the items outside of this activity will remain. Or at least have done so for me in the past.

[twiki]

So an update.....  my cable arrived today.  I installed Orbit on my Windows laptop and copied in the CEM and VGM codes supplied yesterday via email.  

The car connected right away (through my USB-C port replicator) so woohoo!  

After retrieving the initial profile, the engine oil display still showed instead of my BEV (Polestar 2) SOC value.  I pushed on nonetheless and the initial config programming failed complaining that the VGM wasn't accepted.  

I disconnected and restarted the Orbit app.  This time the profile applied properly and just to be safe, I re-copied the VGM from the email into the appropriate field in Orbit.

This time, all worked as expected.  My goal was to get the Pixel headlights on my '21 P2 activated, and I thought I'd try the setting to keep them on between car cycles, too.

I got config setting 109 set to "06..." but was a tad perplexed that setting 106 wasn't present.  Then I changed the list filter to "Show all settings" and there it was ;-).  

I don't know if either worked yet as it's daytime, but there were no errors so we'll see.  No error codes on the dash that I can tell, either.  Here's crossing fingers that 1) the settings worked and my Pixels are now on persistently and 2) no errors due to the config changes.

BTW, to address the question in the prior post - I was referring to settings like the car's OPD mode, steering wheel "weight", door locking setting, etc... anything that is a driver's preference set in the car on the touchscreen that isn't set by Orbit.  

The way I'm looking at it, and I could be wrong, is that there is a set of configuration changes that the driver can make in the car through the car's touchscreen without Orbit - I'll call these User Settings, and then a set of configuration changes that can only be changed via Orbit (and similar) via the Windows app - I'll call these Advanced Settings.  What I was asking is whether the "Revert to OEM" command within Orbit will set both the User Settings /and/ the Advanced Settings back to factory defaults.  Thus, even if I don't make a single Advanced Setting change within Orbit, doing the "Revert to OEM" within Orbit will essentially nuke all of my User Settings back to their factory defaults and I'll have to set everything back up in the car as if I just bought it.