midiwall

Hi all;

So, in my wanderings about my "Check engine light" issues (see associated thread if you're interested) I started surfing around to edu-ma-kate myself on just what the OBD codes are and what I can do to read and reset them on my own.

I tripped over a couple of readers and in talking with Dr. Z offline, he suggested I post to the world. All of the units below will read and reset the ECU codes.

NOTE: I'm new to this world, so I'm just passing on what I thought were unique units. I don't know any history about these companies or the products. I know that there are a LOT more testers out there, but these seemed to be the most talked about.

• The BR-1 from obddiagnostics.com
  
  http://obddiagnostics.com/
  
  It's an $85 interface with DOS and Windows software that will handle all of the OBD II codes.
  
  Check out the screen shots from the Windows download page. The author has done a good bit of work on this box. Tie this up to a laptop and go for a drive.
  
  For the hardware/software hacks out there, they also provide a partial-kit of hard-to-find parts so that you can roll your own.
  
  
  
• The Equus 3100:
  
  http://www.iequus.com/3100.asp?catshort=3100
  
  From all that I've read, this seems to be the most popular of the hand-helds. The LCD display gives a good indication of activity of the various sensors and in general you get more information than fromt he simple LED readers. Checking eBay, it looks like they're running about $130.
  
  
  
• The CJ-II, from AES Wave:
  
  http://www.aeswave.com/Palm/CJ2/
  
  For the Palm/Visor folks, this seems to be _the_ unit out there. It's pricey though (US $330), and not a lot of folks are selling them. I didn't see any on eBay.
  
  
  
• Actron CP9135:
  
  http://www.actron.com/cp9135.htm
  
  This is Actron's answer to the Equus 3100. I can't find a lot of words online about this box, so I can't pass on opinions.
  
  
  
• Actron CP9035:
  
  http://www.actron.com/cp9035.htm
  
  This is probably the simplest of readers that will reset. Note that these are on eBay for a lot less than the $199 asking price from the Actron site.

Hope that helps some folks...


As a side note... For you Mac heads out there, I couldn't find a serial based unit that runs under Mac native. But, I'm actively talking with the obddiagnostics.com folks about getting a unit to test under OS X and Virtual PC. It's a long (and expensive) way around the issue, but it may help some folks.

I'll post back as to what happens with that.

Dr. Zhivago

Thanks for posting this Mark. I like the BR-1 the best out of all of the models that you posted. I am seriously considering buying one. I've already downloaded the software and checked it out. It's pretty cool.

I think it's awesome that you are going to do some development work on the MAC side of things. Way to go!

Peace.
Dr. Z

midiwall

Whoa! Hold on there...

Like we talked about offline, I'm a programming geek but my forte' is Windows and embedded systems - not Mac. I've written code for Mac's, but not to this scale of things.

My hope for getting the BR-1 to work on my Powerbook is to use Virtual PC which is a slick piece of software that emulates an Intel processor on a Mac. It supports running a full install of Windows (98, 2000 and XP) and will support a serial port, so in _theory_ the BR-1 may be able to run with that.

I've had mixed results with Windows apps on VPC, and we'll see how this one works out. It's also kindofa pricey solution; a Mac user will require a copy of VPC along with a USB->9 Pin serial connector.

Dr. Zhivago

Well, I don't own a MAC Anything, so I really don't care. I just thought it cool that they were open to you doing some things and were willing to send you hardware.

I'm jealous that you get free stuff! :cry:

Hehe
Dr. Z

midiwall

I dunno about "free" yet - we're still talking. I don't mind paying for it if I can get it to work, but I don't want to get stuck with it if I can't. The hold up is that they're not too keen on the "try before you buy" edge to my proposal to them.

We'll see!

Mark

trangk

Hey just wanted to chime in on this since I recently purchased an OBD interface also. I opted to go with the interface from www.scantool.net after checking the many offerings out there.

The unit is nice, very affordable ($65) and easy to program for since it uses a chip that calculates the packet header and checksum needed for OBD communication.

I have just finished a DLL to interface with the OBD system and have started working on the actual frontend. If interested, please let me know

I'm interested in what you will be doing with the interface -- I have yet to see OBD software for the Mac.



Some other OBD interfaces to check out

Alex Peper's interface: www.obd-2.com

Dan Harrison's interface (uses a similar chip as scantool.net's interface): www.ghg.net/dharrison/obdscan.html

Auterra (Palm based application): www.auterraweb.com

Autotap (sponsors a very informative forum at www.obdii.com): www.autotap.com

bamayote

you mentioned in some of the posts on the other thread that you'd found a dtc chart. can you direct us to the site?
i may have misunderstood.
thanx
brad

midiwall

Sure!

This is the one that was mentioned in the other thread:

http://www.obdii.com/codes.html

There are others around, but since the list is standard across the industry, the information is the same in all of them.

midiwall

I looked at the scantool system, but it struck me that the author may have taken more time in picking designer colors and coming up with that car image for the background than creating more meaningful and useful displays.

But, I get the feeling that you're using his hardware, and rolling your own software. In that regard, I would agree that at $65 it's a great value.


Ahh... a good move in my opinion. one of the things that drew me to the BR-1 was the abilty to write a log file (and later "play it back"), and the larger 4 panel customizable monitoring window. These are both things that I plan to make use of.


Well, like I tried to clarify above, I'm really not looking to write native Mac support. I have the tools, the low-level side of the skills (and access to a GUI guy!), but I really don't have the time.

I'm not a GUI developer by any means. I've written low-level code for over two decades, and while I can look at something and say that it "doesn't work" as a good UI, it doesn't hold my interest to do it myself.


I've spent the last few hours getting a virgin install of Windows 98SE to run on my Powerbook under Virtual PC _and_ be able to access a Keyspan USB->Serial adapter as COM 3. So, I have all the plumbing in place to get the BR-1 to run on my machine, now I just need a box to give it a shot!


Thank you for these!

I love watching a thread load up with reams of information to munch on!

Dr. Zhivago

So, I just sent a PayPal payment to these guys. I should be getting the BR-2 interface in a few days. After the day I had today, I deserve a treat.

Thanks again to Mark for finding this little gem!

Dr. Z

midiwall

! Gotta ' treat yourself man!

I fired off a PayPal to them on Tuesday, and it shipped today. They ship on M-W-F, so yours should ship on Friday. They're in Tennesse and ship USPS Priority, so with any luck I'll have mine on Friday, maybe Saturday.


Awwwwwww.... 'twas nothin'. Google and I just get along REALLY well.

This box should be a blast... I can't wait to go for a drive with the laptop logging away and then be able to play it back at home.

Dr. Zhivago

I'm a Googlefile too. But have never been THAT interested in OBDII Scanners... Until this little beauty was brought to my attention.

Truth be told, my Brother in Law and I are going halvsies on it. So, I'm only out $42.50!

Peace!
Dr. Z

Jay

Or you could get real serious and get one of these.

Jay

Dr. Zhivago

Hey Jay,

Is that similar to the $7K piece you guys have in the shop? It sure looke like it. I think this is a bit out of my price range. But thanks for the info.

Dr. Z

midiwall

I got my BR-2 interface today... and ...

It's WAY COOL!

A whole bunch of babble is here:

http://www.midiwall.com/4Runner/obd.html

YAYAYYAY!

Dr. Zhivago

SCHU-WEEEET Dude! Mine should be here Monday or Tuesday as it shipped on Friday.

/me Excited!

Dr. Z

Dr. Zhivago

My BR-2 came in the mail today.

I'll get to play with it on Wednesday.

Peace!
Dr. Z

Wolfin

I am thinking about building a car PC for my '97 4Runner SR5 and ran into this guys page for his car PC (http://unycgp.clubgp.com/ScottB/gp.html).

He is using AutoTap (http://www.autotap.com) on his car PC for live information.

As I too am having problems with my check engine light. I figured what the hell, it's under a $100 maybe I can kill two birds with one stone (having live diognostics and getting real information on why my check engine light is on).

Long story short, it looks like i'm not the only computer geek in this forum so does anyone have any recommendations on which way to go? I will look at some of the links you all have provided however as it seems some of you have already bought the scanner i'd like your input on if you think it would work on a Win2k machine.

Thanks,
Dave

midiwall

I think there're a few people on the forum that have bought the BR-2 from OBDDiagnostics. And yeah, there're a couple of computer folks around.

From what I see of the Autotap (in demo mode) it's a lot fanicer in terms of display and configuration. The BR-2 can be a bit brash in some areas at times.

But, AutoTap is WAY complex for setting all this up. This is a common side-effect of having a lot of power in a piece of software, it's very hard to create a UI that lets you have access to the power easily. e.g, you can define a ton of gauges, but there's also a ton of options to go along with the gauges. And graphs, and tables. wow.

If there was one thing I'd have to point at to like about AutoTap it's the ability to overlay multiple graphs, that makes it easier to correlate data.

Gut feel? For about 1/3 the price, I'm really happy with the BR-2. The AutoTap software is more advanced, but I think it may be over-the-top for what most folks are doing.


Oh... Win2k wise... Yes, the BR-2 will run under Win2k. I also have it running under a PC emulator on Mac OSX.

ravencr

My BR-3 is on the way. I can't wait to get it since I'm having all this trouble with the SMT-6 installation. I can't wait to see why my check engine light is on.

Chris