[tharian]

A query,

I am using the Torque android app on my Figo 1.2 and have a read out for Boost which is basically meant for turbo engines. It still works on my car , but shows readings in negative.

If anyone knows what it means or how to decipher that reading or even if it is a valid reading on a NA engine, it would be great.

Regards

[hemanth.anand]

The OBDII ELM327 bluetooth connector That I had ordered on ebay a few weeks back finally arrived!
I Connected it to my colleague's Punto 1.3 Active.
Installed "Torque Lite" and "fun2drive" apps on my Galaxy Note.
The pairing through both the apps took hardly 30 seconds.
We checked for engine RPM, speed, acceleration, throttle position, fuel level, fuel efficiency, engine load, air intake temperature, Coolant temperature, Fuel pressure etc...
Both of the apps gave all the information without any hitch.

It was really cool seeing all the information on the "Smart"phone

After this, I also connected it to another colleague's i10 and here it gave only a few information like engine RPM and speed. Fuel level indicator and acceleration and others didn't respond.

In the evening I'll connect it to my Punto 1.2 and hope to get the same response. Will update if something comes up.

I paid 40.96$ including shipping for 3 pieces.
Shown below is the picture of the device.



It got hot pretty fast..it was a translucent plastic housing and I didn't see any heatsinks inside. I might put some holes on it to dissipate heat

[Desmosedici]

I got my ELM327 V2.1 from Ebay.in for 1500 bucks. Tried connecting it on my Gypsy which is a 2010 model and hence should be supported. Both Torque Lite and Fun2Drive were able to connect to the ECU but no readings could be seen. I even took the vehicle out for a drive to check but still the same, zilch.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

... Both Torque Lite and Fun2Drive were able to connect to the ECU but no readings could be seen. ...

The software only connects to the ELM327 device, i.e. it has paired with the OBD reader.

What makes you think the ELM327 was able to read the CAN Bus data? That depends on what protocol the ECU is putting out, and *your* ELM may not be capturing the stream.

Not all "ELM327"s do the same thing. "ELM327" is only the generic OBD reader name - after the first and most popular one. It is *not* a standardized module. What one buys on eBay is usually a clone with the same name and a sketchy manual. What one doesn't realize is that the hardware implementation *within* the OBD reader differs slightly among the various "ELM327" modules from different vendors.

The difference is usually in OBD protocol handling (there are a dozen or more variants), and may not include that in your car's model. If you look closely at the files that came in the CD, you will realize that many of them date back to Win 3.11 and Win95 days. Go figure!

[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

The software only connects to the ELM327 device, i.e. it has paired with the OBD reader.

What makes you think the ELM327 was able to read the CAN Bus data? That depends on what protocol the ECU is putting out, and *your* ELM may not be capturing the stream.

Not all "ELM327"s do the same thing. "ELM327" is only the generic OBD reader name - after the first and most popular one. It is *not* a standardized module. What one buys on eBay is usually a clone with the same name and a sketchy manual. What one doesn't realize is that the hardware implementation *within* the OBD reader differs slightly among the various "ELM327" modules from different vendors.

The difference is usually in OBD protocol handling (there are a dozen or more variants), and may not include that in your car's model. If you look closely at the files that came in the CD, you will realize that many of them date back to Win 3.11 and Win95 days. Go figure!

Thanks for the details. I didnt even bother to go through that CD. Anyways, i guess this will work on some and wont work on some.

So is there a good device that you can suggest that you might have used to get the data.

Cheers.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

In the evening I'll connect it to my Punto 1.2 and hope to get the same response. Will update if something comes up.

Bad news...the OBD scanner is not able to read any data in my punto 1.2 :(

When I plugged the connector and switched on the key, the torque app paired with the device, identified the ECUs and displayed a message "ECU connected OK".
That's it. After than no dials display any information.

Very sad considering it worked like a gem in a punto 1.3 and an i10

[Arun.K]

I tried connecting Vgate ELM 327 Bluetooth to my 2009 Vista QJet. It gets paired with Android and Symbian phones. “Torque Lite” app tries to read a stream of data and throws an error message not connected to ECU, “fun2drive” too fails in connecting with ECU. But when tried in my cousin’s 2011 Vista, scanner gets connected to ECU in jiffy and both the apps work fine. Is it something to do with the ECU firmware or the hardware itself? TASC guys say all Vista’s are OBDII compliant and use the same diagnostic software for all the models.

[ArchitBadola]

Hi,
I am not any expert on OBD but since I have bought a few of them lemmy give some input.

What is the use of OBD device??
Ans:

• It gives you real time information eg. Engine load, temp, speed, rpm
• It Will give you freeze frame data(The ecu stores the data at which any fault occurs this is called freeze frame data)
• Most Imp: you can find out if there are any faults or errors (Basically it will tell you why there is error light on your dashboard)
• Remove service light or check light.
• The information depends on numbers of sensors your car have

Cost:
Starting from 13 dollars to 3000 dollars.

Feature difference:
Some upper end models have ecu reprogramming feature(I don't know much about this)

Now for details:
First of all this is not a repair tool it is just an information tool, if something is wrong with your car it will help you to identify the fault but that fault has to be repaired the check light or error light will keep on coming even if you remove it as actual fault is still there. Once actual fault is identified and repaired then you can remove the error.

Which cars support it?
Technically all cars after 1996 are OBD II compliant but in India its not like that.
So don't buy one just because you have car manufactured after 1996. Check thoroughly as it is also device dependent.

Cars I know which work nicely:
Honda all,
Toyota all,
Skoda all,
Maruti Diesel cars only
Accent
Verna
Other cars I have not checked.

Best Solution IMO:
Get a Bluetooth OBD II device for aroun 13 $ and use your android phone with it. ( Cheap and Best)

Archit

[interc00led]

Originally Posted by tharian

A query,

I am using the Torque android app on my Figo 1.2 and have a read out for Boost which is basically meant for turbo engines. It still works on my car , but shows readings in negative.

If anyone knows what it means or how to decipher that reading or even if it is a valid reading on a NA engine, it would be great.

Regards

In Naturally aspirated engine,the manifold pressure will always be negative when the throttle is not open fully.
As the throttle opens,the pressure inside the manifold increases (or you can say vacuum decreases) and the reading becomes less negative. At Wide-open throttle,the manifold pressure becomes almost same as the atmospheric pressure.

[Jeroen]

I suppose this solution reads only the generic OBD codes?
That's a good start. It will give you quite a bit of information.

My experience is that if you want to get the Manufacturere specific codes you will need to invest in the relatively high end OBD code readers or programs such as autoenginuity. See http://www.autoenginuity.com

This will give you all generic OBD codes and for each manufacturer/model they have specific modules available.

It will also give you a tremendous amount of live data readings as well. From switch positions to engine sensor performance.

Jeroen

[nitnab]

*Cars I know which work nicely:
Honda all,
Toyota all,
Skoda all,
Maruti Diesel cars only
Accent
Verna
Other cars I have not checked.*

I think Maruti petrols with K10 series engines do work with all these ELM327 clones. My Estilo with K10 engine does give a readout of a large number of parameters but my friend's earlier version Estilo gives out only the battery voltage on the Torque App. Another problem that I found was that the Clones from different suppliers had different current consumptions. Of the 3 that I tried, 2 worked without problem. But one of them would not allow the engine to start if left connected to the OBD socket because it seemed to load the ECU circuit. However this unit worked without problem if it was plugged into the socket after the engine was started.

[Catalyst_delhi]

Originally Posted by nitnab

*Cars I know which work nicely:
Honda all,
Toyota all,
Skoda all,
Maruti Diesel cars only
Accent
Verna
Other cars I have not checked.*

I think Maruti petrols with K10 series engines do work with all these ELM327 clones. My Estilo with K10 engine does give a readout of a large number of parameters but my friend's earlier version Estilo gives out only the battery voltage on the Torque App. Another problem that I found was that the Clones from different suppliers had different current consumptions. Of the 3 that I tried, 2 worked without problem. But one of them would not allow the engine to start if left connected to the OBD socket because it seemed to load the ECU circuit. However this unit worked without problem if it was plugged into the socket after the engine was started.

Works on Ford ikon as well. Ford Figo required a different software.

[sushantr5]

Originally Posted by Arun.K

I tried connecting Vgate ELM 327 Bluetooth to my 2009 Vista QJet. It gets paired with Android and Symbian phones. “Torque Lite” app tries to read a stream of data and throws an error message not connected to ECU, “fun2drive” too fails in connecting with ECU. But when tried in my cousin’s 2011 Vista, scanner gets connected to ECU in jiffy and both the apps work fine. Is it something to do with the ECU firmware or the hardware itself? TASC guys say all Vista’s are OBDII compliant and use the same diagnostic software for all the models.

I also want to know whether it works with 2009 Vista QJet. It is good that it works with 2011 vista so it should work with 2009 as well. Could you please check it up with other 2009 Vista?

[Arun.K]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

I also want to know whether it works with 2009 Vista QJet. It is good that it works with 2011 vista so it should work with 2009 as well. Could you please check it up with other 2009 Vista?

I had checked up in my sister's 2009 Vista too. It couldn't connect with the ECU. TASC guys were saying all Vistas were OBDII compliant until I raised the doubt. Now they say Vista "refresh" models have an upgraded version of ECU.

[amit_arya]

Originally Posted by Arun.K

I tried connecting Vgate ELM 327 Bluetooth to my 2009 Vista QJet. It gets paired with Android and Symbian phones. “Torque Lite” app tries to read a stream of data and throws an error message not connected to ECU, “fun2drive” too fails in connecting with ECU. But when tried in my cousin’s 2011 Vista, scanner gets connected to ECU in jiffy and both the apps work fine. Is it something to do with the ECU firmware or the hardware itself? TASC guys say all Vista’s are OBDII compliant and use the same diagnostic software for all the models.

AFAIK only BS4 versions of Manza and Vista are compatible with the protocol the older ones use some propitiatory codes / encoding. Ps I remember reading this somewhere but i am not sure. Hope this helps. Even my Vista 2008 does not read any data where as manza 2011 does.