Anyone ever use one of those little obd 2 scanners that connect to your android on a 5th gen Accord? I'll put a couple links below. I'm looking at picking up a scanner and figure if one of these little guys works well it might be nice to be able to leave it in the car to get some instant diag while it's running or driving around.

 

I have a bluetooth OBDII plug and bought torque pro for my android phone. The code reader works fine. It even will provide live data from certain sensors. I haven't played around with it enough for something like data logging, etc.

 

Is yours one of the cheap little $15 ones,or did you spring for a more expensive one?

 

I got the BAFX one for ~$25 as a xmas gift.

 

Here's the one I ordered: . It's supposed to be delivered today, so hopefully I'll get to play with it this weekend.

Thanks for the tips!
Jake

 

Jake, how is your bluetooth scanner working out?

Anyone else out there want to share on their experiences?

I would like to pick up one or more for the cars. My concerns on getting a cheap Chinese knockoff for under $10 vs a brand name for several times the cost are:

* sample rate -- the Chinese knockoffs have been reported to be very slow, 2+ sec sample interview
* auto shutoff -- so you don't drain the car battery if the unit is left plugged in.

Thanks. john

 

It's been great so far. You have to get an app for your phone in order to connect to it, though. I paid for Torque Pro which is much better than the free version. I haven't had any problems with the scanner so far.

Jake

 

Thanks for the update Jake. Question -- do you leave the unit plugged into your car? If so, any issues with battery drain?

Thanks. John

 

Hey John,

I have not left it plugged into the car, so I can't say how it affects battery life.

Jake

 

Fyi I picked up a cheapo ELM327 Mini unit this past week ... They're going for ~$3 from Hong Kong, but I bit the bullet and paid $6 to get it from a US seller

It actually works fine ... hooked it up to Torque Lite (free) for now ... the app is a bit clunky so I may buy the Pro version which seems to have gotten very good reviews. *** UPDATE -- turns out the mini-CD that came with this unit has Torque Pro on it already ... so I'm all set for now ***

In any case, The ELM seems to be working fine for the price. It's a stubby little thing and is hard to pull out of the Accord OBD2 port down in the ashtray pocket, so I made a handle out of packing tape so I can pull it out easily when I leave the car.



I don't think this thing turns off ... the red light goes on and stays on when I plug it in (power?), and if my phone is near, one or two green lights also light up (communication?)

But, for getting all of the basic OBD2 metrics from this car, it's all I need. If there are more Honda-specific metrics that can be retrieved from a '96 accord EX using a different adapter, I would be interested to know.

Thanks. John