OBDLink - interesting gadget on KS

Another great idea

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obdsol/obdlink-mx-wifi-a-wireless-gateway-to-vehicle-obd?ref=home_popular

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Like that they have GM & Ford extended libraries to use.

I wonder how it helps to “Improve your gas mileage” ? Perhaps by showing the data, you would adjust your driving habits. Otherwise it would have to mess with the ECU, which I didn’t think was possible with just a OBD connection.

I think that too. You can improve your driving habits by analyzing the logs. The software might have some automatic tips as well. I don’t know for sure. You can always ask in the comments section.

Neat, but is it worth $110 (after KS, $40 during KS) to have it be WiFi instead of bluetooth? These things are available for <$10 in bluetooth versions with free shipping on eBay.

I use one while towing my big trailer to monitor things like manifold temperature and engine load.

My car can show me the current and the average mileage (I think most cars built in the last 10 years can do this).
This is all I need to optimize my driving/gas consumption.

Tip:
Find out the optimal mileage for different speeds on a flat road by setting cruise control and look at the current mileage value.
If you’re not sure if the road goes slightly up or down do it in both directions and take the average.

I have one of these coming. My understanding is that the WifI connection gives much faster data rates and therefore can update displays much more frequently. I am looking forward to seeing what it will really do.

That is a big plus. Strong support from the company behind the gadget and the forming community is another big plus.

I wonder what the data rate coming from the ECU is? Is the wireless link’s data rate really the limiting factor? Bluetooth 2.0’s 2.1mbps should be enough, given that the CAN bus operates at 1mbps or less?

Since they offer the option to honk the horn from an app, to me that signals a Find My Car application.

So does WiFi give greater range for this?

Also it removes the Bluetooth version issues with different devices

  • they use BT 2.1, then iPhones won’t work
  • they use 4.0, then older Androids won’t work

Maybe it was more cost effective to do WiFi than have 2 different BT chipsets

It’s much more rewarding to do the comms with the vehicle yourself.

So far with my Cerb Bee I’ve hacked mine and my wife’s cars, on the CAN line of the ODB port, and my GSXR600 on the k-line of the SDS port! 8)

These ODB port devices are cheating! I might get one to reverse engineer some of the car control stuff though. :stuck_out_tongue:

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OBD OBD … lol, everyone seems to be on it

1.My insurance company sent me a device that plugs-in to my OBD port, it sends my driving time, distances, fast acceleration, hard braking data to a central server and I can view my driving pattern on a map. Good driving may give me a discount on renewal.

2.Emission tests in Ontario Canada are OBD based. They read the values and give you a pass / fail.

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