22 replies to this topic

[garyk220]

After reading Ian’s (cyberman) post about the OBD-II port diagnostic reader and Bluetooth link to a laptop, I decided to get one of these for myself. It is a Bluetooth device which simply plugs into the OBD-II port in the passenger footwell. Details of the device can be found by clicking here It uses freeware software, OBDGauge, which can be downloaded from the Vital Engineering website or from the developer’s website here

The basic functions of the software are;
- graphically display engine sensor data live
- read ECU fault codes & reset the engine warning light
- basic data logging facility

I’m using it with my XDAII Pocket PC, and after a few teething problems with the Bluetooth Manager on my PC, it is working very well (Sinclair from Vital Engineering has written a front end to OBDGauge to replace the limited functionality of the Microsoft Pocket PC BT Manager )

Running my XDA from battery power, it can communicate with the device from anywhere within 5 or 6 paces of the car.

OBDGauge displays real time sensor values graphically; throttle position, engine revs, speed, engine load, ignition advance, coolant temp, intake air temp, air flow, O2 sensors and fuel trim. It works really well, and the digital speed display is a useful supplement to the speedo. The fuel trim and O2 sensor data looks pretty useful too, but I’ll need a while to fully understand these

The software also reads ECU fault codes and allows you to reset the engine warning light. Fortunately my car has no fault codes, which is reassuring, but I decided to simulate a problem by disconnecting the AMM. I started the car and let the engine idle for a few minutes 3 times (the ECU needs 3 cycles of engine start-stop to log a fault). The next time I fired up the engine, the warning light was illuminated

The diagnostic menu read the ECU and correctly diagnosed a faulty AMM, displaying the generic code “P0100 Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit Malfunction”. I switched off the engine, reconnected the AMM to the wiring loom and selected the reset warning light button. When I next started the engine, the light was extinguished

Interestingly, the ignition advance had reduced from around 30 degrees to -1 degree, the idle was up at 1100rpm and there was a lot of water/petrol vapour pouring from the exhaust. After a few minutes of idling, the ignition advance began to creep back up and the revs slowly dropped back to normal. Presumably the ECU relearning after running on a fail safe mode.

The software also has the facility to log sensor data to a file, This would be pretty useful for hillclimbs and track days, to review key engine parameters and compare speeds on different runs.

All in all, I’m very happy with the device, and a very big to Sinclair at Vital Engineering for re-writing the BT software to sort out the Microsoft problems on my Pocket PC. Most manufacturers would have washed their hands of the problem, and suggested I buy a HP PDA.

Most of the functionality of a Tech 2 plus some basic data logging, all for under £200. And the added advantage of never having to go near a Vauxhall dealer again

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•  OBD_device.jpg   5.57KB   0 downloads

[garyk220]

I’ll post some photos when I get the car kit (cradle and power supply) installed, but in the meantime, here’s a few screenshots from the user manual.

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•  OBDGauge.jpg   40.73KB   0 downloads

[JimH]

Sweet. It's a shame my dog ate the spare room because I'll have to wait until next month to buy one.

[s1oww]

I want one,i wonder what deal could be struck if a few of us were interested. It says on there site 5 for £699, so thats £140 each, just no sotware. I wonder how much with software.

[Bengie]

It uses freeware software, OBDGauge, which can be downloaded from the Vital Engineering website or from the developer’s website here

£140?

[ShinyAndy]

I *hate* you now

[Bengie]

Why? Just because I pointed out the software was free. Tell you what I'll do, I'll burn it to a CD, and put it in a box for you. Then I'll charge you £60 for the software.

[ShinyAndy]

No no.. not you Gary.. for making me *need* to spend more money

[garyk220]

Blame cyberman. He found it first A few of these would be great for Bruntingthorpe, to find out what speed everyone really does through 120L

Edited by garyk220, 06 April 2005 - 11:11 AM.

[ShinyAndy]

Lee.. are you thinking what I'm thinking ? Blue backlit ?

[Bengie]

*shhh* I need to pay you back before I think of any more toys...

[ShinyAndy]

Well if there's a group buy on this count me in

[Thorney]

thinking about these.....looks interesting. At Pi tomorrow for something different so will see what they say.

[ShinyAndy]

*shhh*

I need to pay you back before I think of any more toys...

I'll buy the kit.. you write the software and design/build/incorporate the hardware

[JimH]

Well if there's a group buy on this count me in

Me too. I can live without shoes for a month.

[garyk220]

thinking about these.....looks interesting.

At Pi tomorrow for something different so will see what they say.

John, it won't replace the full functionality you'll get from a Pi data logging system. I bought it for the sensor display and Tech 2 type functionality. I see the basic data logging is a useful bonus, without going to the expense of a pukka system.

Here's a quick mock up of the type of info available, produced from a sample CSV file supplied by Sinclair. My car is logging at around 0.5 second time step, rather than the 6 second time step on this sample file.

The plan is to overlay speeds and engine parameters from several runs, to help improve my

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•  data_logging.jpg   114.25KB   0 downloads

[Dave]

Ive got a Sony Clie with Hot sync and a Mio digi Walker with Acti Sync. No blue tooth built in either Can I get a cable to link to the obd-ii port for either of these. Not tech' minded so I dont know the type of connection on either but its not one of those small serial ones. As I'm a bit tight I thought a cable would be cheaper than this bluefangdandotooth stuff. Any idears

Edited by Dave, 06 April 2005 - 01:30 PM.

[garyk220]

Quick update on the OBD-II display after a decent run with it at the weekend. The intake air temp was the most interesting one. Temps ran at 12 degrees C after starting the engine, and on a steady cruise with no boost ran at 17 degrees. I had a chance to do a couple of hard acceleration runs from traffic lights and the temp climbed very rapidly, up to a peak of 48 degrees after 10 seconds or so of accelerating through the gears. The temp fell back again almost as quickly as it shot up and settled around 32 degrees. Back on the motorway and cruising at 70 and the temp settled down around 22 degrees. The standard IC certainly seems more than up to the job of cooling the air quickly during road use. The acid test will be monitoring temps after 10-15 minutes of hard driving on track, to see how effective it is at keeping intake temperature in check. Cruising along at 70 the throttle position was at 7-10% of maximum which goes some way to explaining the awesome (by Imprezza and Evo standards anyway) fuel economy on normal driving. I can't beleive how efficient these engines are at 2500-3000rpm PS 2nd gen BT is supposed to have a range of up to 10 metres, but I managed to get a signal from 25 metres away from my car - although I can't think why you'd want to be standing so far away from the car with the engine running

Edited by garyk220, 11 April 2005 - 10:56 AM.

[garyk220]

Managed to record some sensor readings on track at Knockhill yesterday morning. The weather was absolutely awful, and the track was actually greasier than the first couple of hours at Anglesey last September (those there will know what I mean). We were sharing the track with a 360M and GT3, also racing this weekend. Not as quick as the Scuderia team, but in a completely different league from the road cars. I had a couple of side by side blasts up the hill from the hairpin with a white 360 GT car, and while it was obviously quicker than mine, he had to work pretty hard to get past before the braking point There was also a 360CS with a £7k exhaust system. We were absolutely even in terms of acceleration out of the hairpin from 30mph to just a shade over 100mph... provided I didn't get any wheelspin in 2nd. With wheelspin I lost a car length. The Ferrari was very slightly holding me up on the twisty bit, but with extra weight and traction control, it looked like a breeze to drive compared with mine, locking up under braking, squirming through the corners and wheelspinning on the kerbs. I even managed to slide the back end changing from 3rd to 4th at 90mph, when really pushing to try to find a way past Anyway, back to the OBD reader. I recorded the sensor readings to a CSV file during two 30 minutes sessions... speed, revs, throttle position and intake temp. The lap times were around 73 seconds. I can do 61-62 sec laps in the dry, so that'll give an idea of how bad it was. To put it in perspective, the Scuderia Ecosse team were also running 30 minute sessions in preparation for the GT race this weekend. Andrew Kirkcaldy's pit crew were showing 56.4-56.7 on their pit boards Absolutely stunning cars, and I could not believe the straight line speeds and corner speeds in the conditions. They will be awesome in the dry!! Firstly, a comparison of speed over 3 consecutive laps. The dip on the 2nd last straight of lap 2 (red line) was me braking to let the GT3 through Notice that the brake and acceleration lines are almost exactly the same slope, demonstrating how slippy the track was under braking. It is only logging at once a second, but the data is still pretty useful.

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•  KH_Lap_Time_Comparison.jpg   34.26KB   0 downloads

[garyk220]

And the important one (well for remapped turbo owners anyway)... intake temp. I've not seen more than 55 degrees C on the road, but on track, even in very wet, cool conditions it rarely dipped below 50 degrees. It fluctuated in the 50-70 range all session. Either demonstrating that the IC is just about doing it's job, or that the ECU was backing off slightly to keep the temps down. Either way, I must be losing a bit of power by the end of each straight. This is over the same 3 consectuive laps. The temp peaks correlate with the hard acceleration runs at the end of the 3 straights.

Attached Files

•  KH_Intake_Temps.jpg   28.21KB   0 downloads

Edited by garyk220, 20 May 2005 - 09:25 AM.