Using clone ELM327 Bluetooth OBDII adapter with Leaf

[Stoaty]

If you don't need to monitor during charging while the car is off, it would be easy to switch the power connection from the battery to the switched accessory power.

I don't understand this. Can you explain in a bit more detail?

 

[LEAFfan]

Thanks Jim for reposting your Dropbox. He has it up and running now and he is really excited and thankful for your App and assistance in posting it. People will only need the Dropbox link the first time unless they want to dl an unzip file for their phone.
Just a side note: I had been leaving the OBDC plugged in for several nights, but my battery dropped to 8V by morning so had to jump it. Looks like a switch to Power off is going to be necessary now because TickTock said we could damage the car's OBDC by constant plugging and unplugging. He said they're made for about 20 connections for the life of the car.

I think they are good for more than 20 (did I really say that?) but they are not designed for daily insertion/extraction. Already mine is feeling a little loose just from periodic unplug for debug. If you don't need to monitor during charging while the car is off, it would be easy to switch the power connection from the battery to the switched accessory power.

Lol, yes and usually it wouldn't be used for more than that. If it had a power switch, and the car is 'On' (after charging starts), I could still monitor with the App while charging, right?

 

[garygid]

My OBD connector has had over 20 connections in the last week
or two, and probably more like (at least) 100 over two years.

The genuine ELM327 chip has a low power mode that the app
could set, but it is not clear if the firmware-emulated clone
has any low-power mode at all.

Without measuring the current draw, I have not left the dongle
connected for very long when the car is not on, just to be safe.

To convert the "stubby" dongle to operate off of the switched
12v power, rather than always on, just:

0. Fully test the unmodified dongle first.

1. Cut out or remove the label to expose the 4 screws.
I cut out 4 small disks of the label, one over each screw,
as is shown on the first post of this thread.

2. Remove the 4 screws with a medium Philips screwdriver.
Clean the extra plastic out of each screw's threads.

3. Lift the lid straight up and off the bottom. Removing the
OBD connector from the bottom might make the next step easier.
I usually unplug the wire's connector from the board.

4. Carefully un-solder the wire from pin 16, and solder it to pin 8.
Inspect your work.

5. Reassemble. Replace the OBD connector (if removed), making sure
that the wires are well clear of the Bluetooth antenna.

6. Replace the top, and the 4 screws, turning the screw counterclockwise
until it clicks, and then clockwise to screw it in (not too tight).

7. Mark or label the dongle to indicate what modification you made.

8. Test the modified dongle, and mark it as tested.

 

[nogajim]

I am thinking of buying a short extension OBD cord. I can plug into this until it breaks, then buy another. It should also be possible to rewire it.

 

[Turbo3]

Version 0.18t is up on dropbox.

Change:
* made the switch from Gids to %Gids a Button on screen 3. Before it was just tapping the Gids label but you had to know that tapping that label would do the switch between the two.

 

[LEAFfan]

My OBD connector has had over 20 connections in the last week
or two, and probably more like (at least) 100 over two years.

The genuine ELM327 chip has a low power mode that the app
could set, but it is not clear if the firmware-emulated clone
has any low-power mode at all.

Without measuring the current draw, I have not left the dongle
connected for very long when the car is not on, just to be safe.

To convert the "stubby" dongle to operate off of the switched
12v power, rather than always on, just:

0. Fully test the unmodified dongle first.

1. Cut out or remove the label to expose the 4 screws.
I currently out 4 small disks of the label, one over each screw,
as is shown on the first post of this thread.

2. Remove the 4 screws with a medium Philips screwdriver.
Clean the extra plastic out of each screw's threads.

3. Lift the lid straight up and off the bottom. Removing the
OBD connector from the bottom might make the next step easier.

4. Carefully un-solder the wire from pin 16, and solder it to pin 8.
Inspect your work.

5. Reassemble. Replace the OBD connector (if removed), make sure
that the wires are well clear of the Bluetooth antenna.

6. Replace the top, and the 4 screws, turning the screw counterclockwise
until it clicks, and then clockwise to screw it in (not too tight).

7. Mark or label the dongle to indicate what modification you made.

8. Test the modified dongle, and mark it as tested.

Thanks Gary! Now, could you give details on how to install a switch to go from EV CAN to CAR CAN using this OBDC? TIA!

 

[Stoaty]

Version 0.18t is up on dropbox.

Change:
* made the switch from Gids to %Gids a Button on screen 3. Before it was just tapping the Gids label but you had to know that tapping that label would do the switch between the two.

A good change, but I would find it easier to read if the button was confined to the part in parentheses (although it may be a different size button for Gids and % Gids). As it is, the button is too large and distracting, and shouldn't cover part of the current reading. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[garygid]

With a 2 pole double throw switch, possibly a slide switch
because it typically has a much lower profile inside the case,
try to figure where to mount it so that it does not block the
Bluetooth antenna, and is clear of the inside circuitry.
It should also be located where you can operate it while
it is plugged in.

That is the hard part.
From me, finding where I put my slide switches is a problem.

Each side of the double throw switch has pin 1, a common (pin 2) , and pin 3.
Call the two sides of the switch A and B.

The wire going to pin 14 should be disconnected from pin 14 and connected to A2.
The wire going to pin 6 should be disconnected from pin 6 and connected to B2.

Connect A1 to pin 14, and then connect A3 to pin 12.
Connect B1 to pin 6, and then connect B3 to pin 13.

 

[LEAFfan]

With a 2 pole double throw switch, possibly a slide switch
because it typically has a much lower profile inside the case,
try to figure where to mount it so that it does not block the
Bluetooth antenna, and is clear of the inside circuitry.
It should also be located where you can operate it while
it is plugged in.

That is the hard part.
From me, finding where I put my slide switches is a problem.

Each side of the double throw switch has pin 1, a common (pin 2) , and pin 3.
Call the two sides of the switch A and B.

The wire going to pin 14 should be disconnected from pin 14 and connected to A2.
The wire going to pin 6 should be disconnected from pin 6 and connected to B2.

Connect A1 to pin 14, and then connect A3 to pin 12.
Connect B1 to pin 6, and then connect B3 to pin 13.

Got it! Thanks again! Would I get one of those sliders at RS or do you have a better place??

 

[Turbo3]

How about this?

 

[Stoaty]

How about this?

Works for me! Thanks.

 

[vrwl]

Thanks Jim for reposting your Dropbox. He has it up and running now and he is really excited and thankful for your App and assistance in posting it. People will only need the Dropbox link the first time unless they want to dl an unzip file for their phone.
Just a side note: I had been leaving the OBDC plugged in for several nights, but my battery dropped to 8V by morning so had to jump it. Looks like a switch to Power off is going to be necessary now because TickTock said we could damage the car's OBDC by constant plugging and unplugging. He said they're made for about 20 connections for the life of the car.

I think they are good for more than 20 (did I really say that?) but they are not designed for daily insertion/extraction. Already mine is feeling a little loose just from periodic unplug for debug. If you don't need to monitor during charging while the car is off, it would be easy to switch the power connection from the battery to the switched accessory power.

I found this ELM327 OBDCII device which has a power on/off button. It costs about twice as much as what most of us have been paying for these things, but maybe it's worth it for those of us who are "soldering deficient".

 

[electronit]

just discovered this thread, and installed the app. brilliant! Thanks!

I'm using an older noname adapter from ebay (€OBD/OBD it says) and android tablet. The only thing I noticed is that there seem to be large amounts of failed reads - in fact only 15% succesful. Is there any way to reduce the frequency of reads?

Thanks for the metric units too

95.5% cap after almost 2 years and 26k km.... no bad

 

[LEAFfan]

Thanks Jim for reposting your Dropbox. He has it up and running now and he is really excited and thankful for your App and assistance in posting it. People will only need the Dropbox link the first time unless they want to dl an unzip file for their phone.
Just a side note: I had been leaving the OBDC plugged in for several nights, but my battery dropped to 8V by morning so had to jump it. Looks like a switch to Power off is going to be necessary now because TickTock said we could damage the car's OBDC by constant plugging and unplugging. He said they're made for about 20 connections for the life of the car.

I think they are good for more than 20 (did I really say that?) but they are not designed for daily insertion/extraction. Already mine is feeling a little loose just from periodic unplug for debug. If you don't need to monitor during charging while the car is off, it would be easy to switch the power connection from the battery to the switched accessory power.

I found this ELM327 OBDCII device which has a power on/off button. It costs about twice as much as what most of us have been paying for these things, but maybe it's worth it for those of us who are "soldering deficient".

Great! Can you post the link Vicki? I hope it can be taken apart like the 4-screw one.

 

[garygid]

I used the frozen-axis histogram on a short drive.
Great!

Thanks, it works nicely, and will even slide off the screen.

Apparently the BMS samples the voltages over some modest
period of time, because I occasionally get two groups of voltages
when accelerating. One group is probably some of the cells
that got sampled earlier, then the remaining cells got sampled
later, in the next round of sampling. So, apparently we do not get
a snapshot of the voltages, but can get some data from one
sampling pass, and some other data from a subsequent pass.

Nothing startling, just interesting.

 

[Turbo3]

Gary,
Sounds like you were using the older version 0.17t not the released version 0.18. Is that correct?

Frozen has been replaced with auto lock so there is no user selection. It is always active and should not slide off the screen.

 

[Stoaty]

Frozen has been replaced with auto lock so there is no user selection. It is always active and should not slide off the screen.

What exactly is auto lock?

 

[vrwl]

I think they are good for more than 20 (did I really say that?) but they are not designed for daily insertion/extraction. Already mine is feeling a little loose just from periodic unplug for debug. If you don't need to monitor during charging while the car is off, it would be easy to switch the power connection from the battery to the switched accessory power.

I found this ELM327 OBDCII device which has a power on/off button. It costs about twice as much as what most of us have been paying for these things, but maybe it's worth it for those of us who are "soldering deficient".

Great! Can you post the link Vicki? I hope it can be taken apart like the 4-screw one.

Sorry, my bad. Meant to do that on the previous post... Here you go: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1GK0R67120" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[garygid]

Gary,
Sounds like you were using the older version 0.17t not the released version 0.18. Is that correct?

Frozen has been replaced with auto lock so there is no user selection.
It is always active and should not slide off the screen.

Yes, I was using one of the 17t versions, I thought the "latest" one.

Does the auto-lock let the data slide until it hits the edge, but then adjusts
the axis to keep all the data showing (near the edge that it bumped against?

With Auto-Center mode (now gone?) keeping the Average in the center,
it was easier to study the spread of the group, I think.

But, if I had to keep just one mode, I would keep the Sliding Auto-Lock.
I will have to try it. Cheers.

 

[oakwcj]

I found this ELM327 OBDCII device which has a power on/off button. It costs about twice as much as what most of us have been paying for these things, but maybe it's worth it for those of us who are "soldering deficient". http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1GK0R67120" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This item is actually sold by TomTop, a Newegg affiliated seller. I bought my clone from them. They're in Southern California and ship very promptly. They have their own website at http://www.tomtop.com.