obo on phone

glenn property of pam · Apr 23, 2013

i was looking at OBDII Reader Bluetooth Wireless OBD 2 (ELM-327-BLTH) : Amazon.com : Automotive and Elm327 Bluetooth obd2 Andorid Torque | Elm327 bluetooth and i know we have a few network and car experts so i was wondering if this would be safe to try in my mini cooper s as i have no way to read temp, oil pressure, turbo boost unless i tap into the obo port. The software is capable of making changes and has some bugs from what i have read on the web page so im not sure i should plug this into the car or is there a write protection system on the obo port that will stop that happening

bruceb58 · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

I use the ODBII scanner for my laptop from these guys:

AutoEnginuity

Not inexpensive and you will pay extra for enhanced capabilities depending on what car you have.

I have the enhanced package for Toyota so I can control various subsystems on my Lexus.

Personally, I would not be changing any setting put in by the manufacturer and I am against using so called tuners.

I actually bought one of those cheap OBDII readers once...they are a piece of junk.

MTboatguy · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

I have tuned both of my diesel trucks with chips, made a big difference in performance, I have also used my laptop to peak some of the specs on my Explorer and it did improve the MPG by about 20%. Take into account Bruce lives in California, where they are REALLY picky about things, I don't have any emissions testing I have to go through, so if you have to go through emissions testing, it is not adviasable to play around to much.

matt167 · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

Just look into a scan gauge if you want the data on your dashboard.. However that $20 bluetooth should work. It won't flash changes beyond the ability to reset the CEL and clear codes.. FWIW, I would not trust the $20 port adapter. ScanTool.net LLC - Scan Tools, PC, iPhone, & Android based OBD-II (OBD2) Interfaces, OBD diagnostic software products are very good. I have there OBD Link SX USB adapter, and with the OBD Wiz software it comes with, it makes a great scanner.. Their products are cheaper on Ebay and Amazon than directly off their site.

bruceb58 · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

MTboatguy said:
I have tuned both of my diesel trucks with chips, made a big difference in performance, I have also used my laptop to peak some of the specs on my Explorer and it did improve the MPG by about 20%. Take into account Bruce lives in California, where they are REALLY picky about things, I don't have any emissions testing I have to go through, so if you have to go through emissions testing, it is not adviasable to play around to much.

I used to work for Delco Electronics and worked for awhile at the GM proving grounds in AZ. According to the engineers that program the ECUs, there is no way an aftermarket programmer knows the ramifications of their tweaks.

glenn property of pam · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

im not going to change my ecu and i want to make sure that what ever i use can not change the ecu. From what ive seen i was thinking of adding a screen be it a phone or ipad type of device then having it display the data on the screen. I know theres a lot of talk about opening up what ever obd to blue tooth device i buy and installing a switch on pin 16 so its not pulling power when the car is not running or changing the input power to pin 16 on the device so it gets ignition power only. I just dont want the phone to accidently corrupt any settings on the ecu

MTboatguy · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

bruceb58 said:
I used to work for Delco Electronics and worked for awhile at the GM proving grounds in AZ. According to the engineers that program the ECUs, there is no way an aftermarket programmer knows the ramifications of their tweaks.

Ok Bruce, you win, I will continue with my stuff and you work with your stuff, currently I am consulting with Ford Motors on some of their new technology drive trains, kind of been a hobby of mine since I retired, fortunately I my retirement from the Military lets me purchase just about anything I have a desire to play with. As long as what you are doing works for you, then great, I know what I do works for me.

MTboatguy · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

glenn property of pam said:
im not going to change my ecu and i want to make sure that what ever i use can not change the ecu. From what ive seen i was thinking of adding a screen be it a phone or ipad type of device then having it display the data on the screen. I know theres a lot of talk about opening up what ever obd to blue tooth device i buy and installing a switch on pin 16 so its not pulling power when the car is not running or changing the input power to pin 16 on the device so it gets ignition power only. I just dont want the phone to accidently corrupt any settings on the ecu

Glen, you should not have a problem with your phone corrupting your settings in the ECU.

rockyrude · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

Not trying to a smart a** but I work with those types of engineers also. To listen to them, they are the only ones who know how to put the magic smoke INTO things.

glenn property of pam · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

MTboatguy said:
Glen, you should not have a problem with your phone corrupting your settings in the ECU.

thanks thats what i was concerned about. i will look for a quality brand as i plan to leave it installed as a extra. Its kinda dumb to me that i have the upgraded stereo that plays video, syncs to a phone, has office software, appointments and tells me all the crap i do not need to know about the car and its systems yet it will not tell me the basics like water temp, oil pressure and turbo boost and i realy dont want to add old school gauges so a lcd seems my best option.

MTboatguy · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

rockyrude said:
Not trying to a smart a** but I work with those types of engineers also. To listen to them, they are the only ones who know how to put the magic smoke INTO things.

As Bill Cosby Said....................."RIGHT"!

MTboatguy · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

glenn property of pam said:
thanks thats what i was concerned about. i will look for a quality brand as i plan to leave it installed as a extra. Its kinda dumb to me that i have the upgraded stereo that plays video, syncs to a phone, has office software, appointments and tells me all the crap i do not need to know about the car and its systems yet it will not tell me the basics like water temp, oil pressure and turbo boost and i realy dont want to add old school gauges so a lcd seems my best option.

The question is, can the average person corrupt one....Yes, is it likely to happen? No, there are actually some pretty good safeguards built into the current generation of ECU's being used in cars.

bruceb58 · Apr 23, 2013

Re: obo on phone

rockyrude said:
Not trying to a smart a** but I work with those types of engineers also. To listen to them, they are the only ones who know how to put the magic smoke INTO things.

I have worked with the engine ECUs myself. When you make changes, you are basically only writing over calibration/constant tables. The problem is that when the ECUs are flashed, the underlying operating code can use these tables in different ways. If you don't know the underlying operating code(operating system) you are screwed.

I guess the main question, is can you actually improve upon what the intentions of the original code was. There are some parameters that are set to limit emissions obviously but there are others that were set because of thousands of hours of testing done on the proving grounds to maximize reliability. Based on what I saw first hand in the development environment, I wouldn't touch anything.

bruceb58 · Apr 25, 2013

Re: obo on phone

rockyrude said:
Not trying to a smart a** but I work with those types of engineers also. To listen to them, they are the only ones who know how to put the magic smoke INTO things.

I always laugh when I hear people say these things that have no idea what's involved with the development and inner workings of the designs.

rockyrude · Apr 25, 2013

Re: obo on phone

A lot of assumptions being made here.

bruceb58 · Apr 25, 2013

Re: obo on phone

rockyrude said:
A lot of assumptions being made here.

My point exactly.

obo on phone

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