White elephant?

[Cavcraft]

https://shop.super-obd.com/products/super-mini-bluetooth-car-scanner

 

 

'Requirements:

• Petrol vehicles manufactured after 2001, 12v Diesel after 2004 Doesn't support Vans/trucks or Hybrid
• Iphone/Android/PC or Window smartphone

This device hasn't been tested on all cars, use at your own risk.

NOTE: This Device works on 12v Petrol and Diesel Cars not Vans or lorries'

 

 

  That 'hasn't been tested on all cars' sounds a bit iffy, and I know you can obviously buy a 'proper' fault code reader, but seems like a good idea. Opinions?  

 

[SiC]

Very expensive for a WiFi elm327.

[Dead_E23]

Not sure why you would pay £20 for one of those.  I had to return a couple of cheap ones before I got one that worked, but ended up with this type which seems ok for £7.

[dave21478]

Aye, I got the sub 8 quid bluetooth ELM327 thing and its fine. 

 

In a thread yesterday I think, Cobblers put up a link to knock-off Delphi units for under 40 quid. They will do much more than this style of thing ever will, including airbag and abs stuff, although you need a laptop to use it, and preferably an older one still running XP or Win7.

[clayts450]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OBD2-ELM327-V1-5-Bluetooth-Wireless-Car-Scanner-Android-Torque-Auto-Scan-Tool-35/152274230867?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 for £4.86

[dave21478]

This is what Cobblers linked to....quite tempted for one myself.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-SHIP-Car-Diagnostic-Tool-Scanner-Tester-Kit-VCI-D-OBDII-for-Auto-Cars-Trucks-/172478488500?

 

 

EDIT - fuck it, I have just bought one of those. Will update when it arrives.

[Dave_Q]

Yeah it was me that asked the Q in the stupid Q thread, I have ordered this cheap Bluetooth effort in the interim, but I am still keen on the idea of a DS150, so let us know how you get on please Dave_numbers.

[Aston Martin]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OBD2-ELM327-V1-5-Bluetooth-Wireless-Car-Scanner-Android-Torque-Auto-Scan-Tool-35/152274230867?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 for £4.86

I thought these plus Torque Pro on android was the cheapest and best OBD reader?

[Dave_Q]

SiC posted in t'other thread that Piston is better than Torque, have downloaded it and will report back when my thing turns up.

[SiC]

DS150e is excellent. I've used mine far more than I ever expected to.

 

Doesn't quite do everything dealer tools do, but do far more enough for fixing the majority of the important bits.

[Dave_Q]

Yeah it was me that asked the Q in the stupid Q thread, I have ordered this cheap Bluetooth effort in the interim, but I am still keen on the idea of a DS150, so let us know how you get on please Dave_numbers.

Right I'm back, this thing doesn't work with any of the cars I have handy.

 

2002 Berlingo: Fair enough, may not be OBD compliant.

 

2005 Alfa 147: No dice. The thing connects to the phone on Bluetooth but will not connect to the car. Have tried different apps (piston, OBD car doctor, AlfaOBD) but none will connect.

 

Somewhat worryingly the dashboard displays flicked off a few times while it was trying to connect, suggesting a wiring problem in the adaptor.

 

Not sure if this is Alfa specific but there's a thread on the multiecuscan forum saying that many of these cheap elm things have a resistor that shorts out the CAN lines, you can desolder the resistor easily enough on the bigger ones but the board on this is tiny so I wouldn't like to try.

 

 

I have asked for my £3.85 back.

[angle]

On SiC's recommendation I also got a knock-off DS150 - this one in fact, for a bit less than £30 off AliExpress:

 

http://s.aliexpress.com/fyYJfYZR

 

It took a few hours of messing about to get to work, particularly as the old laptop I had lying around was Windows 8 and needed downgrading and the installation instructions were a bit Chinglish, but all working eventually and seems to cover most things I might need it for.

[SiC]

Right I'm back, this thing doesn't work with any of the cars I have handy.

 

2002 Berlingo: Fair enough, may not be OBD compliant.

 

2005 Alfa 147: No dice. The thing connects to the phone on Bluetooth but will not connect to the car. Have tried different apps (piston, OBD car doctor, AlfaOBD) but none will connect.

 

Somewhat worryingly the dashboard displays flicked off a few times while it was trying to connect, suggesting a wiring problem in the adaptor.

 

Not sure if this is Alfa specific but there's a thread on the multiecuscan forum saying that many of these cheap elm things have a resistor that shorts out the CAN lines, you can desolder the resistor easily enough on the bigger ones but the board on this is tiny so I wouldn't like to try.

 

 

I have asked for my £3.85 back.

Sounds like another shit Chinese ELM327. Vast majority now are unfortunately junk.

 

The worst, which yours sounds like, shorts out the CAN lines and send the car into a fit of dash lights.

[tooSavvy]

Hmmmm....

 

Should I sell ToMM© and 'put an OBD port in my life'?

 

.... decided!

 

 

 

TS

[dave21478]

My thingy is supposed to be delivered tomorrow according to the tracking information. 

 

I hope its not like the Chinese knock off Lexia I have, which for some reason took literally hours to install, despite the software having the apparent complexity of a dozen Ceefax pages.

[Kiltox]

My thingy is supposed to be delivered tomorrow according to the tracking information.

 

I hope its not like the Chinese knock off Lexia I have, which for some reason took literally hours to install, despite the software having the apparent complexity of a dozen Ceefax pages.

Lexia / Diagbox is like computer AIDS

 

I bet the genuine version is just as hard to install!! (I work in IT and fucking struggled!)

[Guest]

If you get Delphi. get the 2015 version, which has fault descriptions. I upgraded to 2016 and it just gives a code.. Wurth WOW is very similar, works with the Delphi DS150 and gives code decriptions. Used them for years now and it's never let me down- Even made a few quid the other day sorting an airbag issue on a Great Wall

[cobblers]

The DS150 I have was easy enough to install, just came with a DVD with installer EXE and then a crack to replace a couple of DLLs and an exe once it's done, no loaders or dongle emulators etc.

 

Damn site easier than the genuine 6 grand Texa thing we got to replace it which took two whole fucking days to get working.

[HH-R]

It will take two minutes to install Lexia and the other 58 to install the spyware, trojans, backdoors, adware, viruses etc.

[artdjones]

I've got a DS150 Clone with WoW.It took about an hour to install on Windows7.I "upgraded" to Windows 10 and it still works.I forgot I had it installed on that laptop before upgrading ,so I was a bit worried but all ok.Couldnt get the Delphi software to install but I used WoW in work for years and it's fine.

[SiC]

Not sure I'd want to have any of this knock-off software installed on a machine that I use for anything serious. Certainly not for anything I connect to the internet and enter a password on. Its likely full of malware and other nasties.

[andy18s]

Not sure I'd want to have any of this knock-off software installed on a machine that I use for anything serious. Certainly not for anything I connect to the internet and enter a password on. Its likely full of malware and other nasties.

Think you're pretty safe with an MG...

[Kiltox]

Seriously folks - if you're using any of this stuff knock off from China, buy a cheap ex lease laptop on eBay to dump it on and use it for nothing else.

 

It is riddled. My DS150 came with some lovely banking malware which I have visions of a naive garage owner installing on the same laptop he does the banking on

[dave21478]

Will give it a spin over the weekend.

 

[Heidel_Kakao]

I love how the knock off Chinese stuff always comes with stickers that you have to apply yourself.

[Dave_Q]

^Maybe it's a tiny nod to anti-counterfeiting laws, if they don't put Delphi stickers on it themselves but they happen to fall into the box, maybe they're 1% less illegal or something.

 

The knock off Chinese phones are similar, if you order a Landwind S8 or whatever it comes unbranded but you can put in a code in a menu somewhere and it turns into a full Samsung clone, with branding on the back or whatever hidden under stickers.

 

Do any of the current DS150 users have an alternative source for software from a car tech forum or something? I have an old XP laptop I can chuck it on but there must be less malware riddled versions on the internet somewhere.

[Kiltox]

I just had a dirty box (oo er) to put it on

[dave21478]

Installation was easy enough compared to Lexia.

I have an old netbook I keep in the garage for tunes and occasional diagnostics that I dont use for anything else so no trojan worries.

 

Run the disc, when it wants to activate, press no to save the activation file to the desktop, run the keygen program on the disc which alters the saved file, then re-run the activation with the modified activation file.

It wouldnt connect to the laptop but there is a USB driver on the disc which sorted that out.

 

Seems to work fine. I am temporarily out of stock of electrically broken cars, so cant do much, but it connects to stuff I have and reads and clears old codes etc....it seems pretty intuitive to use. For under 40 sheets I reckon its fine.

 

 

 

[eddyramrod]

White elephant, you say?  THIS is a White Elephant!

http://autoshite.com/topic/22739-1989-rover-213se-project-out-of-my-hair/

Sorry for the hijack but it had to be done!

[cobblers]

Depending on the ECU you'll be able to change settings with the delphi jobbie. EG Merc truck ECUs I can change what type of oil pressure/level sensor is fitted, what temp the fans kick in at etc etc. On body control modules you'll be able to turn features off, probably.