iPhone OBD-II scanners - any thoughts?

[Tom Steele]

Hey everyone, I have found a couple of iPhone scanner apps that look interesting and I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with them? Here are the links to the two that I've found so far... http://www.devtoaster.com/products/rev/ and http://www.palmerperformance.com/pro...hone/index.php I'd prefer to save and get a hard wired interface rather than the $150 Kiwi Wifi device, but I'm open to either. http://www.amazon.com/PLX-Devices-23...sr=8-1-catcorr

[SilverBullet7]

That makes two of us - would love to find the right choice and do it right from the start but I'm getting different answers from everyone I've talked to.

[seevi]

I’ve spent a lot of time looking for a way to hardwire my iPhone to use with either Rev or Palmers software. I have a copy PCMSCAN and HPTuners Pro and I’m sure I would be disappointed using iPhone apps after using full features laptop apps considering the sizable performance and capacity differences between a laptop and an iPhone.

I have a couple of iPhone dyno apps; dynolicious and pocket dyno. I have tried both of them at the drags and at spring mountain. The information I get from these apps is almost comical! 60 feet times are so far off they cannot be used. Top speeds are in the ballpark but unreliable.

Since the iPhone apps only log data, it would make more financial and common sense to speed the money on a good windows app than on a wifi obdII. There are two economical obdii programs on shareware.com (one is Palmer) for under $100.00. An OBDii interface (ELM327) will cost about $15-25 on eBay. Wha La you’re done!

[SilverBullet7]

Thanks for the info - the thing about using the iphone (for me) is that I can play all of my music from the built in mp3 or from the Internet - I have an '07 with the six disc changer and XM satellite but no NAV and GM's telling me their PALkit doesn't work with the iphone, just ther first generation ipod and only with the C6 stereos that have the NAV system. Any ideas would be appreciated - everyone I've asked looks at me as if I just asked the impossible -

[seevi]

My suggestion would be to go to a high-end car audio shop. A couple of years ago, I took my son’s Tahoe to Ed & Al’s in Pasadena, California. They installed a wiring harness that connected to the factory Bose system which enabled him to connect either his iPod or portable XMRadio. They offered to mount a receiver for those units on the consol, but he opted to have it out of sight in the glove compartment. It worked really well.

[seevi]

Originally Posted by Tom Steele

Hey everyone,

I have found a couple of iPhone scanner apps that look interesting and I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with them?

Here are the links to the two that I've found so far...

http://www.devtoaster.com/products/rev/

and

http://www.palmerperformance.com/pro...hone/index.php

I'd prefer to save and get a hard wired interface rather than the $150 Kiwi Wifi device, but I'm open to either.

http://www.amazon.com/PLX-Devices-23...sr=8-1-catcorr

Looking for a cable to connect your iPhone to OBDII diags: here's the link for the cable; http://gopointtech.com/blog/products/

[foff667]

Wow, $150 just for the cable.

[seevi]

Originally Posted by foff667

Wow, $150 just for the cable.

I just go one of these for 27.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBD-2...item45ef8a5982

[beav626]

Originally Posted by seevi

I just go one of these for 27.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBD-2...item45ef8a5982

Looks like the price went up a bit from $27. Have you used this? do you like it?

[ian@thetuningschool]

Check out Innovates OBD-II/CAN interface. If i had a I-Phone i would get this.

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/products/ot2.php

Ian

[seevi]

You can buy several wifi connectors for $129 - $149 for the iPhone, and, use proven software from either Rev, Palmer or Fuzzy cheaper than the Innovative package. I don't have any experience with Innovative, but, from all the posts i've read about them and comments from tuners, I've stayed clear of their products. I don't know anyone personally that uses Innovative products, and in their defense I'm sure they have hundreds of satisfied customers.

I've been experimenting with the apps I mentioned above using a jail broken 3G iPhone and a bluetooth connection. I've been doing a lot of MAS work and temperature logging and the iPhone is easier, and safer to use in the real time environment than a laptop sitting on the front seat. Apple has been slow to respond to opening up their Bluetooth connection module, so I've been using "SweetTooth" and it works just fine. However, using an unbroken iPhone is more desirable than the complications of breaking the phone for the faint at heart.

I'd love to beta a wifi unit to compare it to bluetooth response times and range.

I also have an AT&T 8252 (a Windows Mobile phone) running some very impressive "off shore" software via the bluetooth connection. This Windows version is much smoother than the iPhone and has greater data logging capabilities. I hope to be beta testing a new version of the software that has flash capabilities.