I started posting about my use of OBD2 wireless adapter in 4 other threads, and realized the info is now scattered about and hard to find. I thought I'd try to consolidate things.
Also, since it's known that there are dodgy OBD2 adapters out there, this thread might serve as a place for people to post their experience with specific adapters over time - whether they work or not, durability, best price for value, etc.
Table Of Contents:
1. Background: What is OBD2, and what’s this all about anyway?
2. Where’s the OBD2 port?
3. Do I choose a bluetooth or wifi adapter?
4. Android+Torque Setup Instructions
5. iPhone+DashCommand Setup Instructions
6. List of known good OBD2 adapters
7. List of known bad OBD2 adapters
8. Screenshots
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• Background:
OBD2 (On-Board Diagnostics, Version 2) is a hardware diagnostic & sensor protocol for communicating your car’s sensor & error data to an external scanner or monitor. In the early days, scanners were expensive pieces of standalone equipment costing many hundreds (thousdands?) of dollars.
A few years ago someone got the bright idea to make a wireless adapter to stream the data but not do any data interpretation itself. Instead you buy the software separately.
I think the whole thing is brilliant, in that you can get world class monitoring and diagnostics for around $20 (not including the cost of the phone, of course).
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• Where does it go?
The OBD2 port on your F22 is located on the drivers side just under the dash a couple inches from the hood release handle. The OBD2 adapter draws power from the port. Just plug it in and forget about it.
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• Do I choose a bluetooth or wifi adapter?
There are both bluetooth and wifi adapters available.
The wifi adapter is kinda interesting in that the OBD2 adapter *is* the wifi network. You bring up networks in settings on your phone and connect to the OBD2 wifi network that it’s broadcasting.
• Android:
If you have an Android phone, you can go with either option, but I recommend bluetooth since you won’t have to switch wifi networks on your phone every time you get in your car. With bluetooth it’ll just connect every time you get in and you don’t have to think about it. Note that this point is moot if you choose to put an old dedicated phone in your car that's just always stays connected to the OBD2 adapter.
• iPhone:
Now, if you have an iPhone, you don’t have much choice (***) but to go with the wifi route, since Apple is very particular what companies and devices that they let pair to an iPhone.
(***) Well, I fibbed here a bit: there IS an iPhone bluetooth solution out there called BlueDriver, but it’s expensive and I don’t care much for the interface. I think it's around $99, but for some reason I can't get to their website right now (as of 01/24/2015).
http://www.lemurmonitors.com
https://www.facebook.com/BlueDriver.net
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• Android+Torque Setup Instructions
1. Order a bluetooth obd2 adapter. See below.
2. Plug it into your OBD2 port, under the dash on the left.
3. Download and install Torque Pro
here. Cost: $5
Note that there's a
free version with limited options if you just want to try out the basics
4. Pair the OBD2 adapter with your phone
You can now start setting up the gauges, monitors, etc that you want. The defaults are pretty good, actually - so worth just playing with those at first. Note that you can set up and flip through several pages - so you could set up, for instance, a page with dials you commonly use while driving, a page for when you want to track/race you car (lap times, etc), and a page for deeper diagnostics - it even has widgets for doing a full emissions check.
Note that pressing on a gauge/control and holding for a second or so will bring up the settings for that gauge. There you can change the dial type (needly, number, both), size of the gauge, set the min & max values, whether you want a warning when a value goes to high, etc.
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• iPhone+DashCommand Setup Instructions
1. Order a wifi obd2 adapter. See below.
2. Plug into your OBD2 port under the dash on the left
3. Download and install DashCommand
here on your iPhone.
4. In iPhone settings, switch the wifi network to the OBD2 adapter (it should just show up).
5. Start DashCommand, and it should automatically start showing data.
NOTE: scottomfg also recommends checking out the
OBD Fusion app - says it works great.
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• List of known OBD2 adapters that work with the F22
(Note: both adapters that I purchased came with a CD-ROM with some software -- I did not need to use either, tossed 'em in the trash)
Bluetooth:
iSaddle: $15
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KLZCVGU
Used successfully by: Monoblock
ScanTool 427201 OBDLink LX Bluetooth
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H9S71LW
Used successfully by: tke743
WiFi:
ieGeek: $14.50
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B3K2X4M
Used successfully by: Monoblock
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• List of known OBD2 adapters that do NOT work with the F22
Some people are having problems with the iSaddle (which is working for Monoblock as per above).
One report that oil temp isn't working.
One report that it's not connecting to the ECU at all.
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Screenshots - Torque Pro
The display I normally have showing when I’m just driving around. This is on a 6 year old Google Nexus One that I was no longer using. I’ve turned off wifi and pulled the sim card - it’s a dedicated OBD2 monitor now:
Some other people’s setups. A bigger screen = more dials. Some people are even using $100 cheapo tablets you can find on ebay.
Screenshots: DashCommand:
