Challenge to developers: I'd pay for this application

[yiannis]

Can someone write an application that downloads and displays car codes and data from the car's computer's using the obdii connection?

Currently we have to pay $170 for the more decent Scangauge II

 

[Chugworth]

I'm not sure if it would be possible to use a Bluetooth OBDII interface due to the DROID's limited Bluetooth profiles, but it should certainly be possible to use a WiFi OBDII interface (like this one).

In fact, look what it says at the very bottom of their page:

Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, WebOS(Palm Pre) Developers Wanted. Please email paul@plxdevices.com

It looks like they may have an Android application planned.

 

[yiannis]

I'm not sure if it would be possible to use a Bluetooth OBDII interface due to the DROID's limited Bluetooth profiles, but it should certainly be possible to use a WiFi OBDII interface (like this one).

In fact, look what it says at the very bottom of their page:

Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, WebOS(Palm Pre) Developers Wanted. Please email paul@plxdevices.com

It looks like they may have an Android application planned.

I am more looking for an application on the phone that would read the codes directly from the car's computer, via a simple cable and will report RPM, coolant temps etc. I am not looking for an intermediate device or anything...

 

[DSCRACING]

Now we are talking, My three top loves are girls, cars, and now Droid and if we can get two of the three to play nice together I'm.. :icon_ banana:

 

[Chugworth]

I am more looking for an application on the phone that would read the codes directly from the car's computer, via a simple cable and will report RPM, coolant temps etc. I am not looking for an intermediate device or anything...

You simply can't do it without an OBDII device, and a WiFi-based one would be by far the easiest (and probably cheapest) way to do it. If your idea is to connect an OBDII device directly to the phone's USB connection, then you're going to need some sort of customized OBDII device, and an application which requires ROOT access (if such a method is even possible).

If you want to use your DROID to read OBDII information, then WiFi is clearly the way to go.

 

[PHiZ]

Yeah, this is an unreasonable request, and evidences a lack of understanding of what a complex topic this is. It is certainly possible to have an android application that does this, but it would require a serious investment of development resources.

That being said, there are some open source OBD2 tools, that because they are under free licenses, could be incorporated into a free(beer) application.

http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=obd2

 

[DSCRACING]

On OBDII cars you can cycle the key to give you the code, And making a app. to tell what the code stands for is not unreasonable. Although I agree hooking the phone directly to port is.

 

[yiannis]

On OBDII cars you can cycle the key to give you the code, And making a app. to tell what the code stands for is not unreasonable. Although I agree hooking the phone directly to port is.

It's not so much about hooking it up directly -if that is a major problem- it's more about having an app that reads what's going on in real life and gives you some car parameters live, like scangauge does..

 

[BillTheCat]

I also posted a query about this the other day. AND, I e-mailed the fine folks at PLX and received a response telling me that they are not currently supporting Android, but they believe some other developers are working on software for this very purpose.

PLX also sells the WiFi OBDII dongle that would enable any of these potential apps to work properly.

 

[Trever1t]

turn the phone into a scan gauge? hmm, shouldn't be too difficult I'd think. Plenty of software apps (for Windows) to read and controll PCM settings. I use HPT to reprogram and scan settings but it'd be interesting to have that kind of capability on the phone, including uploading bin. files?