November 17, 200520 yr I've been looking at the OBDII readers, and seeing the laptop versions. On ebay there is one that plugs into the OBDII port that is uglier then sin and way too much money for what it is. I know that the travel puters pull this information right off the ECU and all they are is just the display for the raw data. Has anyone ever thought of building one of these wo use as a trip puter in the car. I know form the ebay one there is a ton of info you can pul up off it in real time. Just a thought .. i may have too much time on my hands. nipper
November 18, 200520 yr How about this one? It's pretty cheap, comparatively, and the software actually gets updated every once in a while. Plus, the whole spec is open, so you can, if you're properly trained/want to learn write your own stuff for it.
November 18, 200520 yr How about this one? It's pretty cheap, comparatively, and the software actually gets updated every once in a while. Plus, the whole spec is open, so you can, if you're properly trained/want to learn write your own stuff for it. Al_SemC, Curious if you have had any experience with this scan tool? Looks pretty thorough for the money but would like to get some feedback from an owner/user. Thanks.
November 18, 200520 yr Author How about this one? It's pretty cheap, comparatively, and the software actually gets updated every once in a while. Plus, the whole spec is open, so you can, if you're properly trained/want to learn write your own stuff for it. That looks interesting nipper
November 18, 200520 yr does 94 legacy use OBD II??? i might purchase You can use the instructions on my site for the codes. You can use this as a scan tool for OBD1 on the first gen legacies http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/bcbfscan/
November 18, 200520 yr I've had this one since 1998, when Bonnie had the BR1 version(BR stands for Bonnie Rodman who researched, builds and keeps up that site). At that time it was $59 postage paid. I have used it extensively and can highly recommend it for any OBDII vehicle. The software supports all 4 protocols for FREE. At $99 it's still a steal. Used it on Subarus, Toyotas, Mopars, Fords, BMWs, GMs.....always been good to me...Best $59 tool I bought in years...and got my $$$ worth out of it since. Have an old IBM thinkpad...486 version and use it with a Cigarette adapter right in the car. Only thing I use that old laptop for these days. Track sensors (up to 4) on a large display as I drive and test a vehicle. Makes diagnosing a bad O2 sensor or MAF much easier than just guessing. Plus it does all the other good stuff like looking at the Freeze frame date when an error occurred, which Driving cycles are completed and reseting the Ck engine light. Far better than just a 'code' reader.......end of my $.02
November 18, 200520 yr I was planning on throwing together a system together to play my mp3's on, gather data via the OBDII port, maybe provide GPS too. I've got a fairly recent laptop that has a suspect IDE (hard drive) controller on it, along with a trashed keyboard. Display's still good though, along with the USB ports and the optical drive. I figured I'd slap it up on the dash somehow, and use it with a trackball to control the sound and display the data provided by the OBDII port. Like ferret, it ought to make diagnosing problems easier. I could see how easy it'd be to rig up an alert system, too... if any of the data exceeds a safety value, the laptop gives a warning through the car's speakers. Sounded like a good idea, but I still haven't gotten into it much... had too many other projects, and I still haven't gotten my OBW back from its engine swap. You might want to check out www.mp3car.com. They had quite a bit of good information on their forums.
November 18, 200520 yr ferret, Thanks for the info and now I know why I kept that old Dell laptop, just have to let the wife know what she is buying me for Christmas.
November 18, 200520 yr You can use the instructions on my site for the codes. You can use this as a scan tool for OBD1 on the first gen legacies http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/bcbfscan/ i'm going to be building one of these very soon, i'll report back on how it works...
November 18, 200520 yr i'm going to be building one of these very soon, i'll report back on how it works... It works quite well for displaying realtime info, but I couldn't get it to display CEL codes. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46407&page=1&pp=10
November 18, 200520 yr Author Basically what i wanted to do was get a small LCD display to be able to show real time data, not to pull up codes. nipper
November 18, 200520 yr This will pull up realtime data; I haven't been able to pull up codes with it. Basically what i wanted to do was get a small LCD display to be able to show real time data, not to pull up codes. nipper
November 19, 200520 yr Author i'm going to be building one of these very soon, i'll report back on how it works... WOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man you just gave me lots and lots of ideas.... im going to have brush up on my non existant electronic skills thank:drunk: you much nipper
November 21, 200520 yr RE: BR-3 OBD-II One more vote on the BR-3. Works great. One of very few OBD2 readers that can read Subaru's A/F ratio sensor (in 2000+ subarus). BR sent me a beta software with MPG capabilities. Customer service second to none!
November 22, 200520 yr friendly_jacek, Well your response did it, I Paypal'ed the purchase price last night. I can't wait and will update the forum on my experience. Yippee a new toy.
November 22, 200520 yr Ask BR to send you his "experimental" software version 3.2 for MPG beta testing. In my experience, the air flow-based MPG calculation is right on money (more or less).
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