Using clone ELM327 Bluetooth OBDII adapter with Leaf

[davewill]

Some of the GidMeter guys installed 3 position switches that switched between always on, hard off, and on with ignition.

 

[rickbecker]

I am very anxious to see how your Kindle works for this app. I was under the impression (but do not really know) that the Kindle Fire was not able to access Google Play. :?:

True, but the Kindle Fire allows you to side-load .apk app files. So as long as I have access to the .apk file, I can get it on there without any problems. I've side-loaded Roboform along with several other apps and so far, haven't had any problems with them.

Thank you for teaching me about my Kindle Fire!

 

[GlennD]

If you want to switch power the Leaf makes it easy. You have pin 16 with contentious 12V and pin 8 with switched 12V,

On my lincomatic SOC with a OLED display I normally use switched 12V. The power drain is so low cont 12 would be fine but I do not a glowing display showing in an otherwise locked car.

 

[garygid]

... snip

So for version 0.09 I will be adding the 12 volt battery reading at the time you connect to the ELM327. It displays below the app version number and ELM327 version ID. To be accurate it needs to be calibrated so there will be some new controls added to the settings menu. You will need a DC volt meter to read the battery first then enter this number into the settings menu. At least to start with, it will only be read from the ELM327 at program startup. You will need to exit app and restart to get another update. The car does not need to be ON to get this reading.

... snip

Question please,
Does the ELM327 have an AT command to read the voltage on pin 16?
Thanks
I do not recall reading about it, but I will read now.

 

[DaveEV]

This morning my wife came to tell me the Leaf would not start. Turns out the 12v battery was down below 9 volts.

Anyone able to measure the power draw of the small blue ELM327 1.5 units? It's easy to mod the larger ELM327s to include a power switch - one could wire the switch up to a relay so the ELM327 is only powered up when the car is on. Do the bigger ELM327s get in the way? I like the fact that the small ones would be completely inobtrusive.

That said, I do like the fact that the LEAFcan's power draw is basically negligible w/the backlight off and wakes up when the EV-CANbus is sending data - nice to see info without having to turn the car on.

Hmmm... I may need a OBDII splitter so I can plug both in at the same time. Anyone have a phone mount they like? And can you make bluetooth calls in the car while remaining paired up with the ELM327? (Still waiting for my ELM327 to arrive).

 

[cwerdna]

Seriously, it's not hard to plug and unplug it at all. The connector is just under the dash and just left of the steering column. The only real reason to want to leave it plugged in is a vague fear that one could wear out the ODBII connector if one plugged and unplugged enough, but I'm not overly concerned. Link up is pretty automatic, too.

I personally would be concerned about disconnect/connect cycles on OBDII connectors. I have no idea what the typical # of mating cycles is those connectors are typically rated at.

When I used a VW solar panel on my Prius (to keep the 12 volt topped off), I ended up buying a splitter that I mentioned at http://priuschat.com/threads/solar-chargers-vw-obd2-port-chargers-obd2-disconnect-reconnect-cycles.91212/#post-1299617" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; as I didn't want to wear out the connector.

I just stumbled across http://store.intrepidcs.com/neoNub-Blue-p/neonub-blue.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; mentioning limited # of cycles.

Re: OBD2 port being switched or not, on my Prius, it definitely is powered even when the car was totally off. You could push buttons on the ScanGauge II and it would light up and work w/the car off.

 

[RegGuheert]

True, but the Kindle Fire allows you to side-load .apk app files. So as long as I have access to the .apk file, I can get it on there without any problems. I've side-loaded Roboform along with several other apps and so far, haven't had any problems with them.

But the first two generations of Kindle Fire do not have Bluetooth. I think you need the Kindle Fire HD or higher for Bluetooth.

 

[vrwl]

True, but the Kindle Fire allows you to side-load .apk app files. So as long as I have access to the .apk file, I can get it on there without any problems. I've side-loaded Roboform along with several other apps and so far, haven't had any problems with them.

But the first two generations of Kindle Fire do not have Bluetooth. I think you need the Kindle Fire HD or higher for Bluetooth.

Yep, I've actually got both. The original Kindle Fire and the new HD 9" version. The HD version will be the one I use to test this app.

 

[Bassman]

Version 8 seems to work on my HTC Evo 3D running Android 4.0.3. However, I had to power up the ELM 327 first and it wouldn't connect until I turned the car on, even though the red power light was on on the ELM 327. Now the AHr on the top kept showing 55.4AmpHrs and 83.37% even though I was charged to 100%. SOC indicated 90.88%, so it appears my battery capacity is down roughly 9%. Is the top display showing what the charge timers are set for? Because I do have it set for an 80% charge only.

 

[garygid]

SOC is a measure of how full the fuel tank is.
The Capacity is a measure of how much the tank will hold.
A shrinking tank gradually holds less, even when full.

Charging to full (called 100%) the SOC goes to about 95% under
normal temperature conditions. Charging "to 80%", the SOC
usually goes to about 80% before changing stops.

The Amp-hours number is (we think) an indicator of
how much the tank can hold, somewhere around 66 to 67 Ah
when new, and decreasing gradually. A 55.4 Ah capacity would
be around 83% of initial the initial capacity.

Presumably, your car should have lost one of the very small
Capacity Bars.

The tank, no matter its size will "always" fill to 12 fullness bars.
What looks like a fuel gauge of 12 big bars, is not. It is just
a tank fullness gauge.

 

[Turbo3]

Gary,
Thanks for handling the CAP/SOC question.

Since everyones "tank" starts out with a little different size when new (66-67+) the user can adjust the 100% Capacity size on the settings screen.

The ELM327 supports reading the 12 volt battery voltage using the AT RV command and calibrating it with the AT CV command. Both those features will be used in the up coming Version 0.09.

Here is a screen shot of V0.09 with the battery voltage of 11.3V shown below the Version number. I don't have the calibration code in yet so this read is done using the defalut calibation setting so it does not match the actual battery voltage (close).

 

[vrwl]

I've got the latest version 0.09 installed on my Kindle Fire, and it appears to be working without any trouble. My issue is with the new ELM327 I just received from Amazon. I plug it into the car, and my Kindle says its incompatible after I typed in 1234 trying to pair it. Just for grins, I tried to find it with my iPhone and my phone doesn't find it at all. I've tried turning the car on, unplugging and plugging in the device again, to no avail. The little red light is lit on it. Can someone post the sequence of steps you use to make the ELM327 discoverable by any receiving device?

Edit: It came with a little mini CD but I didn't plug that into my computer. Do I need to use that disc for any reason?

 

[vrwl]

I found this after a bit of searching. Does this mean I'm SOL using this with the Kindle Fire?

Kindle Fire HD supports the following Bluetooth profiles:

A2DP Streams audio to compatible Bluetooth speakers, headphones, and many car audio systems.
AVRCP Receives basic media commands, such as play/pause and increase/decrease volume from compatible devices.
HID Connects to compatible Bluetooth keyboards.
OPP Enables users to push data from compatible computers or phones.

 

[garygid]

I suspect that you need to have a device that will
support the SSP profile... but I do not know if that
is the right designation for the simple serial connection
that I am assuming the ELM327 (most likely) uses.

 

[davewill]

I found this after a bit of searching. Does this mean I'm SOL using this with the Kindle Fire?

It looks like it unless you're willing to root it and do some work. This link talks about getting a bluetooth GPS to work, but it should use the same serial protocol that the ELM327 does: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2019571" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now write on the blackboard 1,000 times: I will never buy a closed platform again.

 

[vrwl]

Probably easier and less of a headache to go buy one of those disposable phones that were mentioned earlier.

 

[Turbo3]

Yes, your device needs to support SPP and not be an Apple product to Link to the ELM327. To run my app it needs to be an android device that supports SPP which is the basic serial protocol.

If you can't connect an external Bluetooth GPS device than you won't be able to connect to the ELM327. Same basic protocol (serial text strings).

I don't think you are running version 0.09 but 0.08.

 

[braineo]

Turbo3, at the rate you are going with upgrades and revisions, this is turning to be a fantastic project.

This is almost as powerful as a black box if we could integrate picture or video taking when the brakes are applied which I bet there is a CAN code going on - and probably trip video on /off with the phone's accelerometer.

Just saying....

 

[kubel]

just confirming v0.08 supports cm10 jelly bean. thanks!

 

[vrwl]

I don't think you are running version 0.09 but 0.08.

Sorry, you're right, I had version 0.08 loaded onto my Kindle Fire. It DOES work fine on the KF HD, it's just the bluetooth that's the issue. I'm gonna chat with the technical support team for Kindle to see if there's any resolution to the issue. Will post an update once I'm done.