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Problems with the OBD-II feature (some of these fixed in v0.96 beta)

gavmessgavmess
edited June 2008 in Older versions of RaceChrono
Hi, as you have a TT on your webpage am i correct in assuming it can read VW/AUDI obd measured values? i have access and can pair my 6110 navigator phone to the genuine obd connector, my GPS signals are good but it will only show speed, direction, altitude, ets (only gps readings) on the live timer - is there another area to go to or does the program not work with this unit?
Cheers

Comments

  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    edited June 2008
    What kind of OBD-II reader (brand?) and car do you have?

    The feature uses the standard OBD-II protocol and should therefore support all the cars that support OBD-II (all cars after 2001, and some before). So it is not limited to any car model. But it is tested only with the Car-pal and Obd-key readers, others probably won't work.

    I'm not sure if it's possible to have problems with other cars than the models we have tested, due to the fact that the protocol is a standard. It might be that in some older cars have more limited set of channels to monitor, and none of the channels that are defined in RaceChrono, are supported.

    I admit the OBD feature does not provide the user with enough information of the status of the OBD-II reader. There really is no way to know what is going wrong if there is a problem. This is something that I should improve on future versions.
  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    edited June 2008
    Also when you say pairing works, did you also change the OBD-II type to "ELM or compatible" from RaceChrono settings? The pairing is not necessary but RaceChrono settings need to be changed in order to connect to the reader.

    Also enable all channels in the settings, to test if any of them works.
  • takahashitakahashi
    Will car with OBD CAN system like Mazda RX-8 or Nissan 350Z work? OBD key supports OBD CAN bus I think
  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    It should work all right, as the protocol is essentially the same. But keep in mind the feature development is in early stages ie. not tested with too many cars yet :-)
  • takahashitakahashi
    Haha. I am shopping for a new car soon. I may use that and email you which car is working and which one is not.
  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    edited July 2008
    It seems many people have problems with the OBD-II feature. I will try to sort these problems out, ASAP. Meanwhile it would be very helpful if the current OBD-II users would report the model of their car, and if the feature worked on it.
  • takahashitakahashi
    Is there anyway to test the OBD features without doing 0-100kmh or around a circle?
  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    edited July 2008
    Sure, there is "data logging" mode that can be used for this. It just saves the GPS and OBD data, which then can be viewed in graphs. I'm also working currently on some new OBD features.
  • takahashitakahashi
    edited July 2008
    Thanks

    I can log the OBD data (mine is Mazda RX-8), and the high priority data are able to plot on the graph.

    Have not seen teh gauges on the screen yet, and just realise I have to press the right key or something. Maybe that is what i have not done.

    EDIT:
    Check it again, Right button works.
    Info: The new BMW 135i = I cannot get RPM logging!

    Now we are doing some performance 0-100km test from OBD. We did a 4.95 and we are so happy. Until I saw the graph saying that the GPS speed at the time is still at 89kph! and we actually just did a 5.7! :(.

    So can we have an OBD to detect start and GPS to record speed? Would that be the most accurate?
  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    edited July 2008
    1) About the RPM and 135i, it might be that you tried with "Use OBD speed" setting (when starting a performance testing session), which causes only the speed to be logged. This due accuracy reasons, since the OBD-II bandwidth is shared between the logged channels, so for one channel you get around 4 Hz and for two only 2 Hz.

    2) About the false 0-100 kph reading, it might be closer to the truth you think, since it might be that OBD and GPS speeds were bit "unsynced". Does the GPS speed graph start later when compared to the OBD speed? It is true that OBD-II lies a bit, on my car 100 kph in OBD is 97 kph in GPS. Might be that the car did 0-96 kph in 5 seconds, not 89 kph.

    I think there should be "OBD speed calibration" feature which would adjust the OBD-II reading with GPS speed. Also better timing sync between OBD and GPS, but that is already hard to do.

    BTW: Be sure to join the beta group, you'll get updates to the OBD-II sooner that way. :-)
  • takahashitakahashi
    1) Understand that fully.

    2) Yes the GPS lags a bit. What does that mean? Does it just mean the GPS take time to activate? ... I got what you mean. So we just have to determine what the GPS speed is in constant OBD = 100 kph. You are a smart man!

    Back to the drawing board.
  • aol_of_RaceChronoaol_of_RaceChrono
    edited August 2008
    All right, the v0.96 beta has some fixes for the previous OBD-II problems. Let me know if they help.

    Following features are coming but did not make to the beta version:
    * OBD-II speed calibration with GPS (more accurate 0-100 kph with OBD)
    * OBD-II sync with GPS (time difference) (more accurate 1/4 mile with OBD)
    * List of all OBD-II channels that are supported / currently being logged.
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