OBD-II diagnosticts custom Apps

swzine · 11-11-2003, 11:11 PM

How the hell is there no forum for OBD-II and other diagnotic hardware, and custom software apps that work with it? I'm sure half of the people here are either running it already or dreaming about it.

Altimat · 11-11-2003, 11:16 PM

Apparently only a very small percentage of the CarPC crowd is also into car performance. I think AutoTap looks best...What software are you considering?

guru_del · 11-11-2003, 11:31 PM

www.scantool.net

you can build the cable and the software is free.

frodobaggins · 11-12-2003, 12:26 AM

"How the hell" do you expect anything to come of this if this is how you request things

cproaudio · 11-12-2003, 01:42 AM

I dont think there are enough threads about OBD-II scanners to justify a seperate forum for it. AFAIK, Alex C.Peper's www.obd-2.com and www.Autotap.com use propriatary software/hardware combination. www.scantool.net uses ELM chips for their scanners and there are lots of custom softwares for those types of chips. You could probablyfind some source codes for the ELM chips and write your own custom software.

Zip-Lock · 11-12-2003, 02:05 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by swzine

How the hell is there no forum for OBD-II .....

If there was a lot of on going discussion on OBD-II then one would be created. As of now there isn’t enough activity to justify it.

Enforcer · 11-12-2003, 04:01 AM

Hmm I think I'm about to get myself in trouble again.

Now don't take this personally, but wouldn't it be a better idea to be proactive rather than reactive?

If you can see where interest might lie, and create a fourm for something, it will encourage people to post in that forum about it.

If there is no forum for it, then people will be less inclined to post about it.

I for one would be interested in knowing more about OBD-II interfacing and the like.

In fact I would like to know about all the possiblities of connecting things to a PC in a car, so the more diverse things about the more I want to know about them.

Thats what brought me to this site in the first place.

Just my British £0.02

XtReMaTriX · 11-12-2003, 08:47 AM

Arg... Does anyone know of a USB OBD-II? As many of you know the VIA M10000 only has one Serial port and I am using mine for GPS

Enforcer · 11-12-2003, 08:55 AM

you can always get a Seriel to USB adapter.

http://www.sewelldev.com/usbtoserial...connect_device

XtReMaTriX · 11-12-2003, 09:01 AM

Ah, yeah I guess that would work, thanx...

Still if anyone knows of a straight USB OBD-II that would be even better

jasonsp6 · 11-12-2003, 09:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by XtReMaTriX

Ah, yeah I guess that would work, thanx...

Still if anyone knows of a straight USB OBD-II that would be even better

I noticed you have a VW... All vw's use the ISO protocol (some googling will yeild more info on that...) which will give you access to basic things such as temperatures / O2 sensors... ect... That is all you can access in the car via a normal OBD-II scanner / software.

VW and Audi have built on the OBD-II protocol and added additional diagnostic/control capabilities... such as testing climate control, radio diagnostics, advanced engine monitoring.

To access these advanced capabilities you used to need the multi-thousand dollar 1551 or greater scan tool.

A few years ago a company called ross-tech started reverse-engineering the VAG (VW & Audi group) protocols and wrote a program that can do anything the dealer scan tool can plus more.

You can find more on it at: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/index.html

I use it all the time, and it's great... if you plan on modding your VW... I suggest you get and play with it.
If you want to take a look at it, there is a free (unactivated version) that can do almost anything except adaptations (ie: write value to the modules in your car or resest warning lights.)

They make a USB to OBD-II interface, which isn't too bad in price.

Ricky327 · 11-12-2003, 09:27 AM

Same here, I like to know more about anything that can be connected to a car PC.

Since theres nowhere to talk about and no where to read instead I end up doing my own research on another places. It doesnt bother me but I guess there may be enough people interested on it. Maybe not a whole OBDII section but a "interfacing" section migh be useful...that include alarms, relay board, OBDII and whatever.

Sh0cker · 11-12-2003, 09:32 AM

jasonsp6
how much did you pay for the kit?
I have obd1, but im guessing i'll have as much fun as dbd2 guys ;d

jasonsp6 · 11-12-2003, 10:14 AM

If you have your own serial to ODB Cable... there are plans for them on the internet... you can build your own.

You can then "register" the vag-com software for a full solution for $100 USD.

I spent more than that because I bought a interface cable from them... The cable I bought serves as a "dongle" to activate the program and has a microprocessor in it's housing to deal with timing issues... ie: I can get faster updates than with a "dumb" serial interface.

Some of you may ask why would someone spend the money for it.... For me, it's a tool I use for modding VW's. And to me is worth every penny.

jasonsp6 · 11-12-2003, 10:46 AM

It would be nice for a forum on this board, as a few of you have suggested for OBD-II interfacing. It would be cool to start collecting info on homemade OBD-II solutions and how we (us) are using them.

I know there is alot of knowledgable people on this board in regards to OBD interfacing. I think we would be more likely to talk about it/ develop new solutions if there is an appropriate are to talk about it.