Diesel heater hidden settings menu: PIN 1688 and values
Updated
On the classic 5-button LCD the advanced menu sits behind a 4-digit PIN after the clock and timer pages; the manuals do not print the PIN, and owners report 1688. The items are minimum and maximum pump rate, minimum and maximum fan speed, supply voltage and the fan magnet setting. Write down every value before you change one, and note that several panels have no such menu at all.
Which controller do you have?
The same number means different faults on different controllers. Match yours to a sketch first. The PIN menu described here belongs to the classic 5-button LCD and a few related panels; the H1 to H6 panel, the Vevor M-button panel and the knob LCD do not have it.
- 5-button LCDE-01 … E-10 with two digits, on a black panel with five round buttons
- Vevor M-button panelE-xx flashing on a colour screen, four keys including M, voice prompts
- Rotary knob, LEDsNo screen: an LED flashes a count, pauses, repeats
- LCD, E-2 … E-10E-2 … E-10, one digit after the dash, no E-1
- Rotary-switch LCD, E0 … E15E1, E2, E3 … with no dash, on an LCD switch you turn and press
- Knob LCD (Hcalory HC-A01)E-01 … E-10 on a colour LCD with one push-turn knob
At a glance
| What is happening | A PIN-protected page holding the pump, fan and voltage settings of the heater |
|---|---|
| Most common cause | One owner each: 24 V set after a controller swap, large-heater values on a 2 kW heater, upper pump value too low |
| Check this first | Identify your controller, then write down every value before changing any |
| Evidence | Manuals and owner reports |
How do I get into the hidden menu on the 5-button LCD?
This is the black panel with five round buttons that shows a Hz figure in manual mode. If yours shows H1 to H6 instead, skip to the section on panels without this menu. The controller pages show how to tell the panels apart.
- Press the settings button and step on from there. The clock comes first, then the timers, then the PIN-protected advanced settings. Manual The OnTrack sheet steps through with OK. Owner videos press settings three times and show the PIN page as a padlock with four dashes. Owners
- Enter the 4-digit PIN with the arrows, pressing OK after each digit. The OnTrack sheet and the Hcalory M98 manual both say a 4-digit password protects these settings, and neither prints it. Manual
- Owners report the PIN as 1688. Two owner videos show it opening the menu, and a workshop test sheet from Heatport/Pango records 1688 on the heater it tested. Owners
- Press OK to step through the items. On the Hcalory M98 version the values are saved only when you press confirm at the very end. Manual
Write down every original value first
Before changing anything, step through the whole menu and write down each value as the heater came. Pump and fan values set the fuel to air mixture, and a wrong mixture burns dirty and makes soot and smoke. If the heater runs worse afterwards, put the original values back.
What does each value do?
The Hcalory M98 manual lists the items for this panel in order. Manual Owner videos show the same order. Owners
| Item | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Pump minimum | Pump rate in Hz at the lowest heat setting |
| Pump maximum | Pump rate in Hz at the highest heat setting |
| Fan minimum | Fan speed in RPM at the lowest setting |
| Fan maximum | Fan speed in RPM at the highest setting |
| Voltage | 12 or 24, to match the heater and its supply. The M98 manual says it can only be changed with the heater off. |
| Speed signal (SN) | 1 for one magnet or two magnets of opposite polarity, 2 for two magnets of the same polarity |
| Password | Lets you change the PIN |
Notes on single items:
- Speed signal. The M98 manual says the wrong choice makes the speed reading wrong by a factor. Manual Two owner videos show 1 as the value their heaters came with. Owners
- Glow plug power. Some units have an extra item numbered 1 to 6. The M98 manual prints the steps for one of its panels as 35, 40, 45, 80, 85 and 90 W and recommends leaving the default. Manual One owner video shows the same list with 5 as the default. Owners
- Burner on or off. One owner video shows this as the last item on his unit. Owners
- Limits. One owner found that extreme entries are clamped: the unit falls back to its own limits. Owners
What is the correct pump Hz range?
There is no single range in the sources. They differ, probably because they describe different heater sizes and different things (a range you may choose from, or the value one heater was set to).
| Source | Pump minimum | Pump maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Hcalory M98 manual, voice-prompt panel: adjustment range | 0.8 to 2.5 Hz | 3.0 to 8.0 Hz |
| Workshop test sheet, one 5 kW heater as found | 1.6 Hz | 5.5 Hz |
| Owner video, 5-button LCD | 1.6 Hz as shipped | adjustable up to 8 Hz |
| Forum post relaying another forum | 1.6 Hz default, range 0.8 to 2.5 Hz | not given |
| Owner, 5 kW all-in-one as found | 1.6 Hz | 2.4 Hz |
| Owner, 2 kW heater as found | 1.6 Hz | 5.5 Hz |
| Owner, 8 kW garage heater as found | 2 Hz | not given |
The first row is from a manual. Manual The rest are owner reports and one workshop sheet. Owners The workshop sheet records the settings of one customer’s heater. It is not a specification.
Fan values vary in the same way. The M98 manual gives ranges of 1360 to 2600 RPM for the minimum and 3000 to 5000 RPM for the maximum. Manual The workshop sheet shows 1680 and 4500 RPM. One owner found 1500 and 4300 RPM, and one owner video shows a minimum that would not go under 1500. Owners
What happens when the values are wrong?
- Upper pump value too low. The owner whose 5 kW heater was set to 2.4 Hz had shutdowns. Raising the upper pump value cured them. Owners
- Large-heater values on a small heater. One owner of a 2 kW unit found it set to 1.6 and 5.5 Hz and sooting. He settled on 1.0 and 3.0 Hz for the pump and 2500 and 5000 RPM for the fan, at about 500 ft, and the soot and smoke stopped. Owners Those are one person’s values for one heater.
- Voltage set to 24 on a 12 V system. One owner cleared E-01 after a controller swap by setting 12 V. Owners See E-01.
Lowering the pump rate for elevation is covered on altitude tuning.
What about the blue panel, the B2010 and three-button panels?
- Blue LCD with arrow keys. One owner video reaches the PIN page by pressing a button three times and enters 1688; the menu includes the 12 V or 24 V choice. A second owner video gives 9009 as the password for the fuel and fan settings on newer heaters. Owners That is one report for each PIN.
- B2010. Long-press the setting button in standby: clock, timed start, timed shutdown, then a four-dash password page. The manual prints no password. Behind it is a four-character parameter such as P1H2: mode, 12 V or 24 V parts, 5 kW or 2 kW, and pump size (22, 28 or 16 mL). Press power to save; nothing is saved if the menu times out. Manual No pump-rate or fan-speed item appears in that manual.
- Three-button panel that sleeps to SLP. One owner video holds a button until four dashes appear and enters 1234. The pages are clock, start countdown, run duration, mode, 12 or 24 V, heater size and pump size. Owners
Which panels have no tuning menu?
- H1 to H6 panel. One owner found a code-entry screen behind the power button, but none of the codes he tried opened a settings menu. Owners The Vevor CY and Liwolf manuals describe a five-key H1 to H6 panel that is probably the same design, and neither describes a tuning menu for it. Manual See the E-2 to E-10 panel page.
- Vevor M-button panel. Holding up and down for 3 s with the heater on opens items 001 to 010: board version, fault code, shell temperature, supply voltage, gear, cabin temperature, altitude and Bluetooth matching. They are for reading only. Manual
- Knob LCD (Hcalory HC-A01). F0 to F9 are everyday settings such as the clock, tank size and pump size (16, 22, 28 or 32, default 22). En00 onward are query items such as fault code, voltage and altitude. Manual The copy of the HC-A01 manual read for this page lost its key icons. The A-2209 control switch sheet, which describes a panel with the same keys and menus, opens the settings by holding Set for 3 s and the query items by holding Set and power for 3 s with the unit on. Manual
- Vevor CY single-knob LCD. Its engineering mode holds supply voltage, ambient temperature, manual pumping and remote matching only. Manual
When should I stop?
- You cannot recover the original values. Do not guess from a table on this or any other page.
- The heater still soots after a modest change: look for the cause on soot build-up and the clean burn.
- The menu will not open with any reported PIN. Your panel is probably one of those with no tuning menu, and no source gives a way to add one to it.
Related questions
- What is the password for the diesel heater advanced settings?
- The OnTrack, Hcalory M98 and B2010 manuals do not print it. Owners of the classic 5-button LCD report 1688, and a workshop test sheet records 1688 on the unit it tested. On the blue panel one owner video uses 1688 and another gives 9009. One owner video of a three-button panel uses 1234.
- What is the correct pump Hz range?
- The sources do not agree on one. The Hcalory M98 manual gives adjustment ranges of 0.8 to 2.5 Hz for the minimum and 3.0 to 8.0 Hz for the maximum. One tested 5 kW unit was set to 1.6 and 5.5 Hz. Owners found other values on their heaters. The values your own heater came with are the only reference for it.
- 1688 does not work on my controller. Why?
- You may have a different panel. One owner of an H1 to H6 panel tried several codes and none opened a menu, the Vevor M-button panel has only a read-only menu with no password, and the knob LCD has settings and query items instead of a PIN menu.
- My heater shows a voltage error straight after I changed the controller. Is it this menu?
- It can be. The menu holds a 12 V or 24 V setting, and one owner cleared E-01 after a controller swap by setting it to 12 V. One owner video shows the battery icon flashing when the wrong voltage is chosen.
Where to go next
Sources
Everything on this page is compiled from the documents and discussions below. We summarise them in our own words; follow the links for the originals.
- OnTrack Outdoor: LCD controller instructions V1 (PDF) (cdn.shopify.com)
- Hcalory air heater user manual, M98 (PDF) (cdn.shopify.com)
- B2010 controller operating manual V1.2 (PDF) (cdn.shopify.com)
- Vevor diesel heater manual, XMZ-D1 / XMZ-D2 (PDF copy) (tuitam.pl)
- Hcalory HC-A01 toolbox heater user manual (archived transcription) (web.archive.org)
- A-2209 Bluetooth control switch manual, Alza import (PDF) (dwn.alza.cz)
- Liwolf parking heater all-in-one manual V1.0 (PDF) (cdn.shopify.com)
- Vevor diesel heater manual, CY-5001 / CY-5002 / CY-5004 (PDF copy) (xlrzbfnheqpszgtyhdkh.supabase.co)
- Heatport/Pango diagnostic sheet for one customer heater, INV-15101815 (PDF) (cdn.shopify.com)
- Owner video: Chinese Diesel Heater Controller Instructions Advanced Settings PIN Code (The Wrinkly Nomads) (youtube.com)
- Owner video: Diesel Heater Advanced 1688 Menu (Arup Sarkar) (youtube.com)
- Owner video: New Blue Chinese Diesel Heater Controller Functions (Van Life UK) (youtube.com)
- Owner video: LCD Controller, Remote Pairing and Temperatures (Sam's Motor and Machine) (youtube.com)
- Owner video: Chinese diesel heater controller with three buttons, all functions (Van Life UK) (youtube.com)
- Owner video: Chinese Diesel Heater New Controller Q and As (Mic S) (youtube.com)
- Owner report: values found on a 5 kW all-in-one, upper pump value too low (Canal World forum) (canalworld.net)
- Owner report: 2 kW heater shipped with large-heater values (Reddit r/dieselheater) (reddit.com)
- Owner report: pump default and range relayed from another forum (Expedition Portal forum) (forum.expeditionportal.com)
- Owner report: 8 kW garage heater, factory minimum pump value (drive2.ru) (drive2.ru)
- Owner report: item order, and extreme entries clamped by the unit (GoFastCampers forum) (forum.gofastcampers.com)
- Owner report: E-01 after a controller swap cleared by setting 12 V (Expedition Portal forum) (forum.expeditionportal.com)