owelly
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 02:36 PM |
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OBD Code Readers?
Once again, I find myself asking the the font of all knowledge......
Installed on my cronky old laptop, I have alfadiag and VAGcom. But I'm wanting something that will do generic stuff. I 'm wanting
something to read anything I poke my cable at! The lappy is old, slow and has a knackered battery so I had a word with someone who uses a bluetooth
ODB reader. This thing plugs into the OBD slot and sends the info via magic to the PC. This is it.. http://www.obdkey.com/
I've spoken to the guy at OBDKEY and he says his unit comes with software to talk to any engine management gubbins but not such stuff as ABS,
airbag etc.
Is there a better 'one size fits all' unit available? I'm not a professional and just tinker with such things so spending a shed
load of cash is not an option. The OBDKEY is under £100 including software.
Any advise will be much apreciated.
Cheers, Owelly.
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
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speedyxjs
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 02:43 PM |
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That looks pretty good. Im considering one now 
How long can i resist the temptation to drop a V8 in?
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owelly
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 02:45 PM |
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Group buy anyone??
If you speak to them say you've spoken to owelly and seen the ad in PPC Magazine!
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
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mookaloid
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 02:52 PM |
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I have an ELM 327 thingy which uses a USB cable into the Laptop. Software is free - it seems to do generic stuff on post 2001 cars but is patchy on
cars older than that.
like
this
Cheers Mark
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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stevebubs
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 04:37 PM |
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2001 is when OBD III became mandatory so odds are the above device won't read those cars either.
You probably actually have a better chance of the Elm working as there are extra bits of software to drive it.
I have an Elm327 and works fine...also about £70 cheaper....mine was about £30
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britishtrident
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 06:29 PM |
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A lot depends on which vehicles you want to read.
OBDII was standard on all vehicles sold in North America fro 1996 onwards -- in practice this means all US and all Asian vehicles + European models
exported to the USA ---- BUT just because a vehicle is sold in the USA don't assume the UK build spec is OBDII compliant it probably
won't be.
EOBD was made standard on all Petrol cars sold in Europe after 2001 and diesels after 2004
OBDII and EOBD are not precisely the same but in the real world more or less the same.
However OBDII and EOBD regulations allowed different manufacturers to use different protocols, however from ths year all manufacturers have been
forced to addopt the CAN Bus protocol which is ten times faster than the older protocols.,
When buying new diagnostic equipment it is important that it cover all protocols incliding CAN Bus.
EOBD only guarantees access to fault codes the affect emmisions, when you need more acces to systems such as air bags, ABS and air conditioning things
get more expensive especiall if you want to cover a wide range of vehicles.
The OBD Key is reckoned to be a bit hit or miss by those I have spoken to in the trade.
There are also some new budget (sub 75 pounds) hand held scanners just coming on the market that give both OBDII/EOBD access to all compliant
vehicles and VAG-Com level access to VAG group vehicles.
I have a lot of good info on various scanners and laptop interfaces and some good web site URLs
Here is a site to explore
http://www.arcadiaincar.com/
[Edited on 12/2/09 by britishtrident]
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britishtrident
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| posted on 12/2/09 at 07:24 PM |
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Here is an alternative idea to the OBDKey -- cheaper too
http://www.budgetdiagnostics.co.uk/the-launch-crecorder-black-box-for-cars-p-248.html
You will find a lot more handheld scanners and laptop interfaces here
http://www.doityourselfdiagnostics.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=5
One word of advice when buying a new hand held scanner make 100% sure it has live data & freeze frame coverage as it makes tracking down faults a
lot easier. Many sub 70 pounds scanners now have this capability I now use a Memoscan U581 which is a reaaly good bit of kit for the money. Memoscan
have a new scanner about to hit the market the U585 which is basicaly a 581 but additional almost dealer level access to VAG vehicles.
link to U585 http://www.autotec-direct.com/universal-eobdobd2-fault-code-readers-52-c.asp
For access beyond basic powertrain EOBD to Air bags, ABS and other systems on other vehicles the Autel MaxiDiag scanners are worth looking at
and offer graphing and saving to PC --- however they are more expensive at around the 175 to 250 pound mark and each scanner only covers these extra
systems a limited ranged of vehicles for example the FR704 covers Global OBD2 & EOBD p codes and in addition on Renault/Citroen/Peugeot.
air bags, transmission and ABS codes.
see http://www.talktomycar.co.uk/products/advcode/advcodereaders.htm
It goes without saying if buying off Ebay watch out for chinese & ripp off sellers pretending to be Uk based.
One ebay seller I can recommend is Alpha-bid
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/alpha-bid
[Edited on 12/2/09 by britishtrident]
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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owelly
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| posted on 14/2/09 at 09:06 PM |
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Thanks for the input guys. I spoke at a few chums who use the Snap-on generic stuff and those hand held units and decided to buy the OBDkey thingy as
it seems to do a lot more then just read the codes. I ordered it at 4pm yesterday and it arrived this morning!! So far it seems to be a good thing.
I've plugged it into my Range Rover and it's told me all sorts of things! It even told me the screen washer fluid was low. Which was nice
of it!
Unfortunately, it's highlighted the rubbish battery in my cronky old laptop. I'll be posting a thread in the wanted section soon!!
Cheers again folks!
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
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