OBDII bluetooth adapter & Readings

22290 Views 41 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Lavash, Mar 17, 2021

Solartom

Discussion Starter · Jan 13, 2019

I bought an OBDII blue tooth adapter on Ebay. I installed it in the OBD port on the left driver side below the steering wheel. I is a little hard to get under the cowling and see the port. Once it is installed, you will have to use your blue tooth setting on your phone to scan for it.

I also downloaded the Torque Lite app. Now I can pick from lots of different gauges to see more information about the car while I am driving.

I have found that the top of the blue power bar is around 70% load. I also am using the RPM, GPS Height and Speed.

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insightfully

· #2 · Jan 13, 2019

Nice find. Are you also able to select/read coolant temperature and tachometer speed? Would you mind sharing the full list of what's available/useful from the app reading of the OBD adapter?

Aware

· #3 · Jan 13, 2019

Would also like to know what additional features/options the adapter give you access to. Have a link to the exact model that you purchased?

insightfully

· #4 · Jan 16, 2019

Saw these OBD monitor recommendations by LennyR and Tylers65 in the "Things I Would Change" thread and thought they might be useful here:

tylers65 said:
I have used a ScanGauge II for years. I even made some custom programs for a couple of vehicles in it. I currently have it in our RV. I agree that it would be nice to use for the RPM and a few other items, I just can't bring myself to mount it in a newer car. It looks like 20 year old tech. If they could make it more aesthetically pleasing, I would consider it.

UltraGauge makes one that is far more pleasing on the eyes and costs a lot less as well.

Honda2019

· #5 · Mar 26, 2019

Aware said:
Would also like to know what additional features/options the adapter give you access to. Have a link to the exact model that you purchased?

Amazon had an OBD reader on sale for $5 last week (Kobra WiFi OBD Scan Tool OBD Scanner) so thought I would give it a try. Only works with Android. Installed the Torque Lite (OBD 2 & Car) app. Has lots of nice dials to choose from (see attached). Couldn't get coolant temperature dial to work though. Does show the 12v battery reading and RPMs.

Then I tried Car Scanner ELM OBD2, and it seemed to be able to read the coolant temperature (bad shot of it in the attached photos, but it was hovering around 175 degrees). It even has a hybrid battery setting (see attached photo). Not sure what that is about though.

The OBD device is rather long so sticks down a ways under the dash (need to be sure not to knock it off with your leg).

Here is a video of the Torque Lite app in use with my 2019 Insight:

Google Apps:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torquefree

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ovz.carscanner

OBD Reader:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C6CZ0SQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Honda2019

· #6 · Mar 26, 2019

5

Forgot to add the still photos...

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insightfully

· #7 · Mar 26, 2019

Honda2019 said:
Forgot to add the still photos...

Thanks for sharing! How much data gets stored and/or how far back are you able to review? Is a trend over time available, or is it primarily intended for a snapshot of the current drive/conditions?

Mobilcams

· #8 · Mar 26, 2019

I would venture to guess that engine load isn’t exactly equal to power train load. The engine can be loaded down just sitting still while it’s charging the battery. Would be curious to see what the load says when it is in ev mode.

maynyrd150

· #9 · Mar 26, 2019

Solartom said:
I bought an OBDII blue tooth adapter on Ebay. I installed it in the OBD port on the left driver side below the steering wheel. I is a little hard to get under the cowling and see the port. Once it is installed, you will have to use your blue tooth setting on your phone to scan for it.

I also downloaded the Torque Lite app. Now I can pick from lots of different gauges to see more information about the car while I am driving.

I have found that the top of the blue power bar is around 70% load. I also am using the RPM, GPS Height and Speed.

Awesome, now can someone figure out a way to install that app on the Audio Display?

Verdier

· #10 · Mar 26, 2019

maynyrd150 said:
Solartom said:

I bought an OBDII blue tooth adapter on Ebay. I installed it in the OBD port on the left driver side below the steering wheel. I is a little hard to get under the cowling and see the port. Once it is installed, you will have to use your blue tooth setting on your phone to scan for it.

I also downloaded the Torque Lite app. Now I can pick from lots of different gauges to see more information about the car while I am driving.

I have found that the top of the blue power bar is around 70% load. I also am using the RPM, GPS Height and Speed.

Click to expand...

Awesome, now can someone figure out a way to install that app on the Audio Display?

I don't know if anyone has busted into this system yet. Would like to put some apps on their ANDROID 6 (sheesh get an update guys) tablet.

Honda2019

· #11 · Mar 26, 2019

2

insightfully said:
Thanks for sharing! How much data gets stored and/or how far back are you able to review? Is a trend over time available, or is it primarily intended for a snapshot of the current drive/conditions?

Haven't had time to play with it much, but looks like one of the apps does allow for recorded data (see photo). Also included a better shot of the coolant reading.

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andrew28

· #12 · Mar 27, 2019

Verdier said:
I don't know if anyone has busted into this system yet. Would like to put some apps on their ANDROID 6 (sheesh get an update guys) tablet.

So far no hacks for the 10th gen Accord and Insight. Honda locked ours down good or nobody is willing to work on it. The Clarity and 2019 Civic still use the old Honda software UI. Even though our tablet OS is on Android 6, it's actually running the newest Honda UI, capable of software updates. The 2019 Civic & Clarity doesn't have the ability to software update over wifi.

Honda2019

· #13 · Mar 30, 2019

5

Here are some more screenshots of the OBD Android apps connected to the Insight. Will be posting a video later today of the app in action showing RMP's and Coolant temps rising (boring I know, but some of you will watch it). One screenshot show history as well.

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Mobilcams

· #14 · Mar 30, 2019

So what does the load percentage say when the car isn’t moving?

Honda2019

· #15 · Mar 31, 2019

Mobilcams said:
So what does the load percentage say when the car isn’t moving?

I'll have to check that the next time I use the app. Here is a video showing RPM's and coolant temp's as a do a seven minute drive from a cold start.

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insightfully

· #16 · Mar 31, 2019

Honda2019 said:
I'll have to check that the next time I use the app. Here is a video showing RPM's and coolant temp's as a do a seven minute drive from a cold start.

Thanks for posting! There was a 'mode' beep at ~5:10. Was that a mode shift to Sport mode to see the acceleration/engine effect? Were you in Normal mode prior to that? Not sure if it's possible to film, but would be interesting to see the OBD screen next to the Power/Charge meter on the DII. I've wondered how the RPMs look when in the 'gray' areas of the Power/Charge meter.

Honda2019

· #17 · Mar 31, 2019

insightfully said:
Thanks for posting! There was a 'mode' beep at ~5:10. Was that a mode shift to Sport mode to see the acceleration/engine effect? Were you in Normal mode prior to that? Not sure if it's possible to film, but would be interesting to see the OBD screen next to the Power/Charge meter on the DII. I've wondered how the RPMs look when in the 'gray' areas of the Power/Charge meter.

Yes, that beep was when I switched from normal driving mode to sport mode to show how the RPM's were affected when I did a hard acceleration with Sport mode (I find I get better gas mileage in normal mode as opposed to econ mode given most of my driving is at highway speed). I can probably rig up a view of the OBD screen next to the DII. Are you looking for a specific DII display, or were you looking to see both the RPM's, Power Flow, and Lithium Battery level all next to each other?

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Honda2019

· #18 · Mar 31, 2019

Reread your post Insightfully, and I think I know what you are talking about. You are referring tot he gray area of the "Range/Fuel" screen (attached photo). I'll see what I can whip up.

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insightfully

· #19 · Mar 31, 2019

Honda2019 said:
Reread your post Insightfully, and I think I know what you are talking about. You are referring tot he gray area of the "Range/Fuel" screen (attached photo). I'll see what I can whip up.

Yes, when the gas engine is in the gray areas of "direct drive" I miss the traditional indicators (rpm, temp). I STILL look at the dashboard to check for rpms out of habit, because I wonder how hard the engine is actually being pushed. Seeing a sample of OBD info while in direct drive would help decide whether to get one. Thanks!

Honda2019

· #20 · Apr 4, 2019

2

insightfully said:
Yes, when the gas engine is in the gray areas of "direct drive" I miss the traditional indicators (rpm, temp). I STILL look at the dashboard to check for rpms out of habit, because I wonder how hard the engine is actually being pushed. Seeing a sample of OBD info while in direct drive would help decide whether to get one. Thanks!

So I've been playing with a setup with a Gen2 Moto G sitting on the dash in the center of the display behind the steering wheel (a little too big but managed to keep it stable for the most part). Attempts at making a video of it with my dash cam hasn't worked (too wide of an angle). Will try with my iPhone tomorrow. Seems as though the large white tics on the display generally correspond with 1k, 2k, 3, etc RPM's. The 4k RPM setting seemed to be the most accurate with the actual RPM's hit with the ICE. Managed to hit 6,000 RPM's when flooring it in Sport mode by the time I got up to 80 mph. The app I used shows a red tick for the highest reading recorded during the current drive (see attached photo). May try to setup a windshield suction cup phone holder to the left side of the steering wheel to keep a small android phone to display RPM's and coolant levels in real time.

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