20 May 2016

Photos: Thinkstock & Carista

By Sam Bell

Smartphones have found a place in nearly every facet of our daily lives. With the addition of some low-cost accomplices, they can even become useful diagnostic tools.

DONGLES!

21May 2016

I got a smartphone for the first time about a year ago. Mostly, I was looking for a convenient way to take pictures without having to car-ry around a bulky and fragile cam-era. But I was soon seduced into the world of apps. Some of my customers had already been mentioning OBD II code reading apps, and it didn’t take long until I yielded.

There are, it turns out, a pleth-ora of apps available, with a range of features. There also are a lot of hardware “dongles” that plug into the DLC and work with one or more of these apps. Some are WiFi-enabled, some are Bluetoothed and a few are both. Similarly, some apps work only with Android systems, some with Windows, some with iOS and some with all or most.

Many apps, several dozen at least, fall into the fleet management field, but most are aimed at the DIY (do-it-yourself) market. Only a few seem to be geared toward the needs of pro-fessional automotive technicians, and virtually all of them have significant limitations compared to a top-lev-el professional scan tool. Neverthe-less, there are a few that seem to me worth knowing about, and one of these has recently become my favor-ite “first-look” tool.

Beyond the DIY market, fleet management or semipro providers, there are also some relatively new major players in the DIFM (do-it-for-me) market. These include Automat-ic, Hum and Vinli, among others in an increasingly crowded field. These products are monthly subscriptions or one-time purchases directed squarely at the consumer market and offering many of the same code-reading fea-

tures (and in some cases a few more, such as telematics and roadside assis-tance) along the lines of OnStar lite.

The first order of business should be to define some of those terms I’ve been throwing around, so here goes:

App – the software used to access or control the dongle.

Dongle – a hardware device used as an interface with a computerized system. For the purposes of this ar-ticle, it’s a device with no external cables, designed to be plugged into the OBD II DLC.

Bluetooth – a communica-tions standard originally designed to eliminate the need for RS-232 standard cables. It facilitates the creation of a Personal Area Net-

work (PAN) of devices. PANs are the precursors and enablers of the Internet of Things (IoT), connect-ing everything from headphones to household thermostats to—you guessed it!—vehicles.

In-app purchases – offers of upgraded access or functionality available to users of an app for an additional fee.

Platform – the combination of end-user device and operating system designed to deliver information and commands to or from the dongle. These may include personal data as-sistants (PDAs) such as the Palm Pi-lot, smartphones and tablets, usually using iOS (Apple), Android (Google) or other operating systems, such as Windows.

Telematics – data and services de-rived from and including remote te-lemetry of diagnostic codes, location, accidents, etc., possibly coupled with “concierge” services such as remote

unlocking, driving directions or simi-lar services. GM’s OnStar is the most well-known, but many manufacturers offer their own similar services, as do several third-party enterprises.

WiFi – a wireless networking tech-

If OBD II is the best thing since sliced bread, what does that make wireless OBD II? A: Easy, cheap

and perhaps just a little bit danger-ous. Hook me up!

Q:

Here a few of the many OBD II dongles designed for use with a smartphone (l. to r.): a Bluetooth dongle, the Carista dongle and a generic ELM327 dongle.

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22 May 2016

Dongles!

e-mail from the insurer to your cus-tomer, so if you’re asked, just answer candidly that you needed the port for other diagnostic purposes. In fact, the best practice might be to prepare your customer for that eventuality by mentioning it during the drop-off.

After a brief overview of common features, we’ll look at a bit of history. Let me be clear at the outset: With very few exceptions (detailed later), these devices are essentially generic code readers. The majority of these dongles themselves can, when paired with the right software app, read cur-rent and pending PCM codes, read freeze frame data, report on moni-tor completion status and clear PCM codes. Most will give access to some data, although specific data cover-age is highly variable. A few provide access to Mode $06 data, usually in raw form only; most do not report

such data at all. Likewise, a few can interface with other nonpowertrain systems, such as ABS or SRS, but such coverage is highly variable by app and by manufacturer, year and model. Some dongles are proprietary; they’re designed to work only with one particular app. Others are more ecumenical and will work with any of several common apps. The same is true of the apps themselves. Some work only with certain designated dongles, while others will work with any of many.

Consumer TelematicsTo understand the current state of play, we need to start with consum-er telematics systems. GM’s OnStar system is the archetype of OEM con-sumer telematics. It and similar sys-tems from other manufacturers are designed to keep drivers coming back

nology standard that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed in-ternet and network connections in accordance with IEEE 802.11x. In general, most platforms can connect to only one WiFi network at a time.

Starting UpFor some time now we’ve become used to unplugging insurance com-pany dongles from our customers’ vehicles as needed to allow access to the OBD II diagnostic connector. Contrary to popular opinion, most of these insurance dongles are more concerned with monitoring the rates of acceleration and deceleration, and less with actual speed or location. So do your customers a favor and unplug them if your test drive will involve any wide-open throttle (WOT) oper-ation or panic stops. In some cases, unplugging the device will trigger an

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23May 2016

Dongles!

to the dealership for repairs, even long after the warranty period has ex-pired. These services are designed in and fully integrated with the vehicle’s circuitry, so the DLC port remains free for other uses. And make no mis-take, telematics systems and devices have done a lot to help dealership service departments retain their new-car customers. Sending a customer a text alert or a dashboard message in response to a pending code can go a long way toward cementing a lasting relationship with the manu-facturer and its local dealership. Sim-ilarly, GPS location of a stolen car, remote vehicle unlocking, summon-ing emergency help after an accident or supplying a variety of “concierge services” are all aimed squarely at dealership customer retention. Bot-tom line: OEM telematics are a gun pointed squarely at your heart. (But

keep reading; there may be better news ahead!)

Aftermarket suppliers like Auto-matic, Hum, Vinli and Voyomotive offer services similar to OnStar’s but require use of the DLC port. Such aftermarket telematics providers will likewise undoubtedly exert some pull toward their own chosen ser-vice providers. Voyomotive plans to

offer add-on start-stop technology and some additional features as well for certain supported vehicles. There may be some possibility of synergy for certain shops.

Let’s look at another aftermarket telematics example. Hum starts at $14.99/mo. for a single vehicle. It offers a wireless hands-free speak-er, a code reader, text maintenance

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Telematics and remote diag-nostics combine with GPS and other information to

enable fleet managers (possibly including parents of teenagers) to track individual driver behav-iors. Dongles for some apps start at $4, with monthly service fees as low as $15 for a single vehicle and lower per-unit rates for larger

fleets. For vehicles without VSC and its built-in inertial sensors, special dongles sporting integrat-ed accelerometers are available.

Fleet management systems and devices are designed for remote access and monitoring. Unplugging a dongle generally results in an im-mediate text message to the re-mote monitoring center or parent.

Fleet Management

from all modules in response to your customer’s request. It allows access to datastream and pending or active DTCs, and is typically configured to cover nonpowertrain systems such as ABS, SRS, VSC, etc., as well. It com-municates via Bluetooth to your cus-tomer’s cell phone (Android or iOS) and then to you over their cell phone.

Despite its many capabilities, the GOLO system deliberately excludes bidirectional controls beyond clearing codes. (The company rightly thinks there are too many potential liabili-ty issues in remote execution.) The dongle costs you as a shop about $75 with a suggested list price of about $150. The app itself is free, but de-signed to work in conjunction with your (required) Launch device on an Android platform. (There are a va-riety of these devices from which to

24 May 2016

Dongles!

reminders and alerts and limited roadside service, along with the ability to ask a technician for advice (“Can I keep going or do I need to have it towed?”) based on cur-rent codes or perfor-mance.

Could your shop be the one that fields customer questions, provides advice or gets those repair referrals from one of the af-termarket telematics providers? While ma-ny geographical areas are already spoken for, with (usually) ex-clusive contracts in place, some areas are still wide open, and new players are vying to enter what many see as a growing market. Requirements vary by supplier. Most require some sort of weekend hours, and all prefer around-the-clock operations, at least for the “ask a technician” function. You won’t be selected if you don’t apply, that much is certain!

If all of this sounds like an attempt to horn in on your relationship with your customers and steal away some of your market share, you’re abso-lutely correct. But there is some hope. Some of the more established suppliers to the aftermarket repair industry, such as Launch, are offer-ing a slightly different approach to telematics. Launch’s GOLO appli-cation consists of a dongle designed to be left in your customer’s vehicle permanently. After appropriate con-figuration (the VIN is burned in using Mode $09) and with your customer’s permission and cooperation, it allows your shop to remotely view scan data

choose.) It seems like this application could be particularly useful in helping to diagnose intermittent faults that are hard to reproduce, or in providing an extra layer of peace of mind for nervous customers. I’m told that some shops are installing the device for free and banking on a warmer customer relationship (and the system’s remote text-messaging capabilities to deliver personally tailored marketing and pro-motional messages) to pay for itself. Depending on local market competi-tion and other factors, that approach might well work for some shops.

Speaking of mobile, according to one of my local mobile tool truck dealers, he and many of his colleagues have been asking about the possibil-ity of some sort of pro-level WiFi or Bluetooth dongle to interface with their customers’ smartphones. While

Both of these screen captures are from the Android-based Torque dongle (not available to iOS users).

a “universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter,” or UART, which pro-vides a convenient interface and command set to allow OBD to PC, smartphone or tablet translation. The current version is 2.1; past versions include 1.0, 1.3a, and 1.4b. There are

26 May 2016

Dongles!

there’s some speculation that such products are in the major tool manu-facturers’ development pipelines, the current advice is that you shouldn’t exactly be holding your breath.

Probably the most popular don-gles are based on the ELM327 chip,

several UART “clones” claiming to be Elm devices, but most are based on the somewhat buggy early version 1.0, which did not feature copy pro-tection, but may be labeled as if con-taining another version. If buying an Elm device, make sure you know the vendor’s return policy and beware of cheap knockoffs, particularly those featuring fictional versions such as 1.5. Elm Electronics itself produces integrated chips only, so all legiti-mate “Elm products” are manufac-tured by one or another third party who is solely responsible for the final design. UART dongle prices range from under $10 for generic knockoffs to around $150 for some of the more highly specialized dongles custom-ized to work with high-end apps.

Most dongles can safely be left plugged into the OBD II DLC with-out draining the vehicle battery. There are, however, some which con-tinue to draw more than a few mil-liamps of current whenever they’re connected and which may result in a dead battery overnight. Judging from online forum posts and reviews, ma-ny DIYers/enthusiasts use their apps mostly for custom gauges. Several apps even support “mirroring” gaug-es (a mirror image) to allow them to be projected on the windshield as a head-up display (HUD) element at night when the user’s phone or tablet is placed on the dash. A few may even be bright enough for HUD use during the day. While I never advocate watching datastream from behind the wheel of a moving vehi-cle, this might be less dangerous than most of the alternatives if you confine yourself to no more than one or two parameters. As always, it’s far safer to have an assistant drive while you monitor datastream.

Another word of caution: Both the app and dongle markets are expand-ing continuously, so be sure to check current versions, features, availability and compatibility before making a

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decision. Even during the period of time in which I was researching this article, new products appeared on the market while some others disap-peared. Here’s a representative sam-ple of the apps currently available:

Torque. Free, Android only. Compatible with ELM327 and simi-lar UART devices. In-app purchase: Torque Pro $5. The Torque family of apps is probably the most popular with the general public, although it’s not available to iOS users. In addition to generic OBD II data, these apps uti-lize an Android-based cell phone’s in-ternal accelerometer and its high-res-olution GPS to provide calculated data such as horsepower, 0-to-60 or quar-ter-mile times and direct data such as G-forces on WOT acceleration.

OBD Car Doctor. Free, iOS and Android. Works with ELM327. This is a basic code reader.

Engine Link. $6. Works with An-droid via WiFi and with iOS via Blue-tooth on any ELM327-compatible dongle with an appropriate commu-nications capability. Offers a compati-ble dongle at $35.

iobd2. Free. Offers compatible dongles starting around $20. Com-patible with Android and iOS. In-app purchases for iOS users: $150 upgrade to allow access to all BMW modules, including service remind-er indicator (SRI) reset. Includes a required new dongle. (A previous-ly available in-app purchase for An-droid or iOS users to allow access to all Volkswagen Auto Group [VAG] modules including SRI reset, also required a new dongle. During the time I researched this article, the VAG dongle has been discontinued and superseded by a relatively cheap [$110] VAG 401 stand-alone cabled scan tool clone which purports to al-low all standard VAG functions, in-cluding coding and SRI reset.)

Carista. Free. Works with ge-neric ELM327 version 1.4 or later via Bluetooth for Android or WiFi

for iOS. Does not support live data in generic mode. Offers proprietary dongle with Bluetooth for $40 com-patible with iOS or Android. Of-fers in-app purchases allowing code reading and clearing from additional modules and allowing easy access to customer preference settings for sup-

ported models from BMW, MINI, VAG, Toyota/Lexus/Scion and the Subaru BRZ. Most of the supported preference settings are things like remote door lock/unlock behaviors, interior light and warning functions, etc., which are generally user-config-urable by those with enough patience

Dongles!

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Functionally, the differences between these two technol-ogies may appear minimal.

However, most smartphones can connect to only one wireless net-work at a time. This means that any additional data sharing over internet connections, for example, would have to be accomplished using the generally more expen-sive cellular data plan bandwidth.

By contrast, Bluetooth pairing between smartphone and dongle

leaves open the option of WiFi data transmission without having to choose between dongle and network. Many apps carry inter-nal links to internet resources such as code descriptions, silver bullet fixes, etc. Using a WiFi-only dongle with such apps will re-quire frequent switching between the dongle and your shop’s reg-ular WiFi network, unless you al-ready have a very liberal cellular data plan.

WiFi or Bluetooth?

get to spend a lot of time in Reverse waiting for a break in traffic. From my point of view, that beeper is more of a bug than a feature. Carista lets me switch it to a single short warning beep when Reverse is first selected. I offer my customers the choice to return to the default setting.)

28 May 2016

Dongles!

to work through the appropriate sec-tions of the owner’s manual. I find it worthwhile if only for quick access to the third-generation Prius Reverse beeper, a backup alarm audible only inside the car. (My shop’s long alley-way entrance/exit situated across the street from a high school means I

Blue Driver. Free, but requires proprietary Bluetooth dongle ($100). Android- or iOS-compatible. Offers generic codes and data, including Mode $06. Freeze frame data is also reported. Offers enhanced codes for Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota/Lexus/Scion, plus VIN-based “Repair Re-ports” featuring the most common causes of a particular code. In one instance involving a very sick 2006 Prius, it was the only tool in my stable (including both the Vetronix Mas-terTech and a factory TIS interface!) able to establish communication with any module, and, in fact, retrieved a cornucopia of codes from a slew of modules, ultimately helping me achieve a satisfactory diagnostic and repair resolution. (A “Communica-tions Stop” order had been issued by the TCM.)

Why did Blue Driver work when the other tools did not? I don’t know, but I was impressed. In fact, this app and dongle have become my first quick-look choice for retrieving codes and giving me a set of clearly graphed data from my initial MIL-on test drives. Unfortunately, for almost all vehicles, this device requires that the engine be running, although in the case of hybrids, it’s enough that it be powered on (in some instances)

The left screen capture above, from the Carista app, displays stored and pending DTCs. The app does not support live data in generic mode. The right screen capture, from the Blue Driver dongle, shows the “Repair Reports” feature, which lists commonly reported fixes.

Class one Bluetooth devices communicate readily over distances of 200 ft. or more,

and newer off-the-shelf devices with modified or added antennas may be rated for three times that range. Similarly, using direction-al antennas and other specialized equipment, some WiFi devices can function over distances measured in miles, not feet. Depending on the details of year, make, model and encryption, that could, at least in theory, render a dongle vulner-able to a remote hacking attack. Even though the dangers seem

more speculative than practical at present, there’s a growing body of evidence emerging from security researchers documenting signifi-cant vulnerabilities from designs as seemingly benign and widespread as basic insurance company dongles or the simplest code readers.

In any event, as Chrysler’s recent recall of 1.4 million Uconnect cellu-lar-equipped vehicles makes clear, there are many potentially hackable entry ports in modern automobiles. No reason to inadvertently add an-other one. In general, the safest course of action would be simply to

unplug any dongle when not in use, although, as a practical matter, the risk of a successful attack via such a dongle in most environments is somewhere between slim and none at the present time. (A few don-gles and apps utilize very high-lev-el encryption algorithms, but most are relatively insecure against a de-termined and resourceful hacker.) If you do use a password-protect-ed device, the strong advice is to change the password at your earli-est opportunity. A default password setting like 1234 is not exactly hard to ferret out!

Dangers Ahead?

show the freeze frame data associated with a DTC; rather, it freezes cur-rent data to allow the user to share it via e-mail or otherwise. It’s designed to remember up to ten vehicles at a time, making it handy for quick post-repair verification without the need to reenter vehicle identification. The app requires many permissions (us-ername and e-mail address, GPS lo-cation, even phone numbers), which may be more intrusive than many users are comfortable with.

While the small size of most don-gles makes them easy to keep in a pocket, it also makes them easy to accidentally leave in a customer’s ve-hicle. A neon-colored tie wrap or two, even a shoelace or string dangling down under the dash can help you remember to reclaim your tool before your customer drives away.

SummaryFor not too much money you can get a generic code reader that lets you quickly retrieve powertrain-related

30 May 2016

Dongles!

or READY (in others). In my mind, the running requirement is this de-vice’s biggest drawback, as it does not enable a look at datastream for a no-start, cranking data or prestartup data after a cold soak or a hot soak. On the other hand, it offers a very strong graphing program, and the Repair Reports feature has been both gener-ally accurate and moderately useful.

Wells TA5005 GoTech. Free, but requires proprietary Bluetooth dongle. List price $120, though of-ten on sale at various online e-tailers. Android- and iOS-compatible. (Yes, this is the same Wells that supplies a wide range of vehicle electronics, such as ignition coils and crank po-sition sensors.) This dongle and app combo provides the ability to read codes and data. It also lists TSB and recall titles, though not full text. In-cluded are code definitions and basic step-by-step troubleshooting instruc-tions aimed at the DIY market. A somewhat confusingly titled “Freeze Frame” function does not, in fact,

DTCs without tying up a profession-al-level scan tool. While these capa-bilities are limited, you can use the information you gain to help soothe customer worries, or to prioritize scheduling of truly urgent work.

Devices and platforms that offer access to monitor readiness status as well as codes and pending codes are especially useful as adjunct compo-nents of your prepurchase inspection services or in conjunction with trip checks, again without having to pull the heavy artillery away from a more complex diagnostic or repair job. For about $100 to $175, you can get a dongle and app combination that al-lows you access to more modules and more functions. Will these displace your professional-level scan tools? Of course not, but they may make your life just a bit easier, as they have made mine.

This article can be found online at www.motormagazine.com.

Some apps allow Mode $06 access, some do not. The data is usually in raw form only, when it's available.