DIY Smartphone Scan Gauge - OBD Fusion (2 Viewers)

[TeCKis300]

Having spent some time messing with an OBD-II smartphone monitor app on several long road trips, I think this topic deserves its own thread. Specifically using OBD Fusion to monitor the plethora of info available on the OBD-II data port of the vehicle. I can't take credit for this, but would like to bring it to the forefront as it's buried in various towing threads. Credit to @linuxgod for putting the majority of this together. This is what I use and have done with it. Hopefully others will contribute here as well.

Not just useful as a monitor, I think this is critical as part of a basic tool kit, as a diagnostic tool. And for quick resets of things like the dreaded MOAB CEL (various emissions related CELs that crop up off-road with large elevation gains.

What:
1) Smartphone app OBD Fusion, iPhone and Android compatible
a) Toyota, Lexus, Scion PID add-on package

2) OBDLink LX OBD2 Bluetooth Scanner for Android and Windows (Apple phones may need a different MX+ variant of this dongle; there's other dongles still and hopefully some apple users can add what they use)
Amazon product ASIN B00H9S71LW
EDIT: Post #8 below has a suggestion for a good iPhone capable dongle instead of this expensive one.
Amazon product ASIN B07JFRFJG6

3) OBD Fusion dashboard .stg for import

 

[TeCKis300]

Notes on the dashboard file linked in first post

- Best to install the Toyota, Lexus, Scion PID add-on package before importing the dashboard. I believe doing it in this order will preserve the dashboard PIDs. Whereas importing the dashboard first without the add-on, will require looking up and re-adding the PIDs manually
- IIRC A/T Oil Temperature 1 is at the pan. A/T Oil Temperature 2 is the Torque Converter
- The middle floating number is the currently computed transmission gear
- The horseshoe around that number indicated torque converter lockup

 

[lx200inAR]

Good thread idea.

I use the Carista wireless interface on my iPhone with OBD Fusion. I don’t think it’s missing any features. Carista adds the benefit of being able to program TPMS (with extra in app purchase).

Dongle appears to be on sale right now for $22.50. No brainer at that cost. I purchased from Amazon, but it looks like Carista pulled their store from Amazon. It can be purchased from tuner sites as well.

I think Carista relatively cheaper because they are attempting to profit from subscription model. But as far as I can tell, if using the adapter with OBD Fusion, there is no need for a Carista subscription.

Carista

caristaapp.com

 

[bloc]

I agree, great thread idea. I’d even vote for FAQ/How-to inclusion.

But as far as I can tell, if using the adapter with OBD Fusion, there is no need for a Carista subscription.

This is correct. I’ve been using my carista in one of my vehicles this way for a couple years. Older kiwi adapter in the other. But if for some reason I’m on a trip and need to program TPMS away from home where my techstream setup is, I can pay for a temp carista pro subscription and knock it out.

I was also able to read a random SRS light & code on a roadtrip with carista adapter and app. I assume I needed pro for that but can’t remember specifically. It was really nice to be able to reset that on the fly, as SRS can run the gamut of minor to major problem. Turned out to be one of my rear seat bypass resistors wasn’t set up correctly.

 

[lx200inAR]

One neat feature of OBD Fusion is it will scale the ECUs speedometer output to adjust for different size tires.

 

[bloc]

One neat feature of OBD Fusion is it will scale the ECUs speedometer output to adjust for different size tires.

But to be clear this is only in the dashboard of the app, not on our stock gauge cluster or MFI?

Any thoughts on corrected speedo output vs just using GPS in OBDFusion for speed?

Edit: just answered my own question. Phones and tablets with GPS can do that, but some tablets like a wifi-only iPad don’t have the gps antenna.

 

[lx200inAR]

But to be clear this is only in the dashboard of the app, not on our stock gauge cluster or MFI?

Any thoughts on corrected speedo output vs just using GPS in OBDFusion for speed?

Edit: just answered my own question. Phones and tablets with GPS can do that, but some tablets like a wifi-only iPad don’t have the gps antenna.

Yes to all that.

 

[Sandroad]

Good thread. I use a Veepeak interface with OBD Fusion on my iPad Pro.

Amazon product ASIN B073XKQQQW

 

[tys4x4]

OBD Fusion is a good app. I’ve used it on all of my OBDII vehicles and it’s cool to see the different things it’ll monitor and measure from vehicle to vehicle. Haven’t used it on my new to me LX yet though.

 

[RET2]

What dongle must be used to transmit data to the phone?

 

[Sandroad]

What dongle must be used to transmit data to the phone?

Hmmm…..@teckis300 linked to 2 for Android/windows in post 1 and I linked to 1 for iOS in post 8. Nothing else is needed.

 

[RET2]

Hmmm…..@teckis300 linked to 2 for Android/windows in post 1 and I linked to 1 for iOS in post 8. Nothing else is needed.

Thank you sir , guess I got lost in the concept.

 

[radman]

What dongle must be used to transmit data to the phone?

If you have an iPhone -> open iTunes, connect phone (no need to sync), go to file transfer on the left, click on OBD Fusion and click “add files” at the bottom of the screen.

Then, open the app, click on settings, click menu at the top, click import, settings, click “from file system”, and select the files you added in iTunes.

 

[elcie200]

I've been using the vpeak and (maybe irrationally) concerned about battery drain so added

Tonsiki OBD 2 Cord 16 pin M/F Male to Female Right Angle Diagnostic Extension Cable with Power Switch to avoid battery drain Amazon product ASIN B00UR5XBMW
Makes it so I can switch power and also easier to reach the dongle.

 

[bwell]

I too have been using the veepeak device for I think almost five years.
I was not a big fan of the OBD FUSION interface originally when they first offered the Toyota/Lexus add on. Looks like they have updated it based on your screen shot.
Originally you couldn't run the Transmission temperature monitoring along with their other PID's without switching back and forth between two modes.
I will have to give it a shot again. I have been using Carista for random things but am not a fan of the new subscription based service they moved too. I mainly use it for my VAG based TDI commuter car.

 

[lx200inAR]

If you have an iPhone -> open iTunes, connect phone (no need to sync), go to file transfer on the left, click on OBD Fusion and click “add files” at the bottom of the screen.

Then, open the app, click on settings, click menu at the top, click import, settings, click “from file system”, and select the files you added in iTunes.

View attachment 2850821

Ha.. the way iPhone software moves things around, these steps will be valid for about 7 and a half hours…j/k sort of. I ended up just letting it use iCloud. Wasn’t sure why it was forcing you to do things in iTunes. With iCloud it was normal go to this folder and click type file management.

I saved the link above to my phone strait through phone browser. Then I did an export settings to iCloud from the OBD Fusion app (with only dashboard settings). This created the folder you need on iCloud Drive (sure you could do this manually). Then using “files” app navigate to the iCloud directory “OBD Fusion” where there is a subdirectory called “export” and create a new directory called “import”. Then copy the file saved from this thread to that new “import”folder and do the import settings as listed above.

We will see how long either of these instruction sets are relevant.

 

[TeCKis300]

I too have been using the veepeak device for I think almost five years.
I was not a big fan of the OBD FUSION interface originally when they first offered the Toyota/Lexus add on. Looks like they have updated it based on your screen shot.
Originally you couldn't run the Transmission temperature monitoring along with their other PID's without switching back and forth between two modes.
I will have to give it a shot again. I have been using Carista for random things but am not a fan of the new subscription based service they moved too. I mainly use it for my VAG based TDI commuter car.

The interface is okay. The dashboard implementation is completely custom and a PITA to setup. There's a few other dashboard floating around these boards from others, but figured I'd share what makes sense to me functionally and aesthetically.

I use a Pixel 6 Pro with a resolution of 3120 x 1440. I'm not completely sure this will map nicely to other phones/different resolutions as I know when I imported the @linuxgod dash, I had to spend some time moving things around before I gave up and just redid the whole thing.

 

[bwell]

The interface is okay. The dashboard implementation is completely custom and a PITA to setup. There's a few other dashboard floating around these boards from others, but figured I'd share what makes sense to me functionally and aesthetically.

I use a Pixel 6 Pro with a resolution of 3120 x 1440. I'm not completely sure this will map nicely to other phones/different resolutions as I know when I imported the @linuxgod dash, I had to spend some time moving things around before I gave up and just redid the whole thing.

I like your dashboard layout. Also good to see they continued development and revised it so you can run what they used to consider advance PID's with the standard ones. I will definitely be going back in to see what I can figure out. I try not to mess with the LX too much though.

 

[lx200inAR]

So i finally messed with this a bit more today. I loaded it a while back but hadn't actually run it on my phone while driving.

The layout @TeCKis300 posted works well on a IPhone 11 Pro Max in portrait mode. Not so great in landscape, I'm not even sure if that aspect is customizable though.

I already had the Toyota PIDs installed, but after loading the dashboard there were 4-5 PIDs that weren't reporting. I ended up selecting each monitor that wasn't working and reselecting the same PID from the menu of available PIDs and then they started working fine. A little annoying but not too bad. (After I did all that clicking, I found that in the menu of the dashboard there is a "calibrate sensors" button. I'm not sure if that would have fixed my issue, but I would try that first before "replacing" all the PIDs)

For the TC Lockup monitor, how do you modify the "horse shoe" part of that monitor? Or is that built in to that monitor for the gear display? I haven't watched it while driving enough to verify if it is working on mine and could not seem to find a place to click to select that PID.

 

[AnyMal]

Do the adapters listed here require pairing?
Im looking at this guy: Amazon product ASIN B073XKQQQW
If indeed BLE is app compatible with OBD fusion thats what i will order.
Also has 10% off.

EDIT: @Sandroad do you need to actively pair with BT or does the app pick up the background BLE communication?