One does not simply connect to it like it’s a router, there are lengthy password/login numbers to type in. And in the end it’s not going to give you any control over the vehicle.
[quote=“jlw, post:1, topic:46996”]
I’ve heard stories of people getting useful data out of the ODB port, not so for me."
"Regardless, it is a lot easier than driving 30-40mi round trip to hear a temperature sensor was unhappy 3 days ago.
[/quote]So, the data has been useful then?
In as much as the CEL goes out when the codes are read on my bike, yes. The act of reading them is useful, the actual information not so much. Other thing I have learned is that 3 hot/cold cycles on the Triumph will reset the CEL if the error is not persistent. All the errors mine sees are transient, it appears Triumph located the intake air temperature sensor right on top of the engine block and so the air that gets sucked past it is quite hot. There are many tips on the wonderful triumph rat forum for how/where to relocate it.
I’m too lazy, thus far. It is a non critical, non life threatening issue at this point and I don’t have time for it. I can spend my time working on critical, life threatening problems with my BMW.
I have a similar USB version of this. The item itself is not useful without proper software, and nice, user friendly, useful, free software, is hard to come by.
When used on my car, (when the informative engine light lit up) I was informed that there was a cylinder misfire. It would have been much nicer if it told me that the spark plug cables needed replacement.
The ecu can’t really know the root cause of the problem (bad wires), it can only tell you the symptoms it has access to (misfire detected).
I find that googling the error code and the model of the vehicle will turn up tons of forum posts by others with the same problem, and usually a solution. Not 100%, but nothing is.
The one I got from amazon has bluetooth:
Amazon Bluetooth ODB2
I use the torque application on my android phone/tablet.
Play Store link to torque, there is a free one as well
Like Jason said, it will use power so don’t leave it plugged in for long periods. I just leave mine in the glove compartment until needed.
This is what I use, and it works a lot better. Many applications are designed for bluetooth OBD2, not many are designed for wifi OBD2. This sounds like a small issue and it isn’t.
The battery draw thing can be an issue if you aren’t driving regularly, but otherwise you will probably never notice or need to. Unless you are monitoring your car’s performance diagnostics regularly I can’t see much of a benefit to leaving it in, anyway.
These things sport a smorgasbord of brand names (many of them sounding like something out of a Chinglish spam email) but they all have the same color scheme.
I use a USB one with a cable (I prefer wired interfaces for most things) and my son uses a bluetooth one so he can connect it to an app on his android phone.
If you just want to reset a CEL, read a code, or keep track of the state of different monitors (a common activity for folks trying to get a cranky vehicle to pass inspection/emissions testing), there are plenty of $15-$25 stand-alone devices that will be a lot easier to use than connecting to any device over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB.
The Autel MaxiScan MS300 is one example that’s worked fine for me recently, and certainly would cover the author’s usage as described. No cheaper, but a lot simpler.
I’ll probably pick one up, but sadly it’s going to rest in my toolbox until I need it, or I get another car - I’m currently driving something so old that not only does it not have an OBDII port, it doesn’t even have a computer to connect one to. Apart from the alternator, lights, distributor and radio, it’s 100% mechanical.
Though, it is kind of hilarious - sometimes I’ll mention that online, and the age of the car (1990 model), and there’s no shortage of Wikipedia mechanics who will rush to tell me that “ACTUALLY, it’s there, you just need to find it, it’s under the dash”, as if I don’t know my car inside and out.
Maintain the thing well. It will be useful once the EMP happens.
Well, I drive a 1990 Nissan Vanette, so that might be a trick. They’re most famous for overheating and then burning to the ground, in fact, Nissan recalled the entire line and crushed the lot, after five recalls.
Which also makes it a bit of a hodge-podge nowdays - I keep having to substitute parts, because it’s very hard to find anything OEM for it anymore. I spent 18 months trying to find a wing-mirror, once.
But, The Mighty Van has never let me down, and I take good care of it. Though, if an EMP does go off, it’s still stuffed - It still has a distributor cap, which probably would not survive.
If there are no semiconductors with small size of the junctions, it’s likely it will live. Distributors are mechanical, the ignition coils are high-voltage rated potted systems, the only semiconductors are the diodes in the alternator and their junctions are about football-field sized and with a thermal mass of a destroyer warship.
Virtually all the EMP damage is thermal (even voltage breakdowns have thermal effects; avoid them and the chip will survive. You can measure the reverse breakdown voltage of a diode by a high voltage source current-limited to some tens of microamps. Every diode is a Zener diode (lousy and with junction not optimized for the reverse breakdown so they don’t like it much).). The effects are very similar to ESD. No wonder, as they are all from the electrical overstress family.
As I’ve understood it, the genuine/original make of bluetooth ODB2 readers will power off with the car/bike and not drain the battery. Sadly, most ones offered are some cheaper clone that stays on, and there’s no way to know what you’re buying.
If there’s at least one signal on the bus that goes L to H or H to L when the car is powered off, all you need for the mod is one transistor. Two, at most.
I have one of these. It sucks. It won’t even give me the full, real code. Plus it can’t reset anything. The real tool is about $1500
The thing is just an interface between the CAN bus of the vehicle and your computer. Are you sure you just don’t have the right software?
I know for a fact I have the wrong software. Because I have the OEM crap software that came with it. The thing is junk. You are only privvy to a general list of codes with these things. They say it’s complete for some makes, but you are just getting the group codes at the top of the hierarchies not the subcodes.
OEM software tends to be crap. Can some car hacker here suggest something better? I have only superficial theoretical experience with these…
