Bogus OBD2 car tuners.
Added 2019-01-27 04:07:15 +0000 UTCI've featured one of these before, but this time I'm wiser to the stuff going on with the OBD2 port in cars. (You should find yours. They're great.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx8fywphQp0
So the first attempt at ordering one of each colour "just because" didn't end well with non-delivery from China of anything from that order after over 2 months, resulting in an eBay refund.
Second attempt was paying a bit more to get them from a Chinese "UK" listing that took long enough to be not UK at all, but did actually arrive.
These things are a technical delight. They promise so much that is so unprovable that people are probably driving around with them right now thinking that their car has been turbocharged. In reality it's just a lightshow that may or may not be triggered by activity on the car's busses to imply interaction while the vehicle is active. I've still to test that bit.
The case is nice. The concept is naughty. You can buy them for less than $3 making them desireable just for their naughtiness.
This is also an opportunity to connect with YouTubes "garage department". YouTube has distinct departments like the electrical/electronic department where EEVblog, Electroboom, me and the other electrical channels exist. Then there's the engineering department where AvE, abom79 and Steve Summers exist. But it also has a garage department where the mechanics hang out. There's a bond between all these technical departments that is worth mentioning. My current favourite garage department is South Main Auto. Eric is super-geeky and films everything. Even when it goes wrong. Which is always good.
Comments
It does have one actually. In the US they need to by law.
2019-02-02 22:13:19 +0000 UTCI had noticed the same thing and then noticed that a lot of the chip leads on both of the models don't look to be soldered at all. Any confirmation BigClive?
2019-01-29 03:47:35 +0000 UTCHand Puppets In Electronics. Hmmmm.... Yea, I Like It.
2019-01-28 16:27:09 +0000 UTCIf for nothing else, I wonder if the case and pins might be useful if you could fit something like a RasPi Zero Wireless into the case and use it as "donor" case for experimenting with CanBus?
2019-01-28 14:55:38 +0000 UTCReeeeally interesting. Excellent post. Thanks BC. “Initiate disco show”. Love it.
2019-01-28 13:21:13 +0000 UTCText on red blister packaging: "DIESEL CARS" Text on red OBD2 unit: "BENZINE CARS" No wonder it doesn't work ;-)
2019-01-28 12:25:17 +0000 UTCJust looking at the photograph of the second unit, the CANBUS pin is connected to the 10K resistor but then it looks like the line to the chip isn't even soldered to the contact pad.
2019-01-28 11:48:30 +0000 UTCAnd if you have a Tesla EV, they continuously push out updates and add features over the air. My wife's Model 3 has had so many features added since she got it that she named it "Spooky." It does not have an OBD port but can be accessed using wifi and cellular. If you are in Park, you can play Atari games on it!
George Cohn
2019-01-28 02:53:54 +0000 UTCLCC means Layout Command Control which is what's used to signal and monitor layout points and signals. Also lighting and station announcements. They claim it's because CAN BUS is so robust, but I suspect it's because they license CAN BUS interfaces at > $100.
Mike Bird
2019-01-27 23:14:04 +0000 UTCThe U.S. National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) which sets standards for interconnectivity of model railroads in the country, has specified using CAN BUS for it's NMRA LCC
Mike Bird
2019-01-27 23:11:57 +0000 UTCSouth Main Auto is great :)
Jonas Otter
2019-01-27 21:56:43 +0000 UTCGreat to see another bunking video. I recently had a suspect bogus radon monitor (model RD 35 with no branding, cost €160), which appeared to work fine, only to discover it always gave a 31 Bq/m3 average reading after its battery went flat. After resetting, it sometimes gave very high readings even when I had it in my car parked outside, which is not possible. The 1 and 7 day readings jumped all over the place from 10 to 100, changing every hour. I replaced it and it acted the same, so decided to buy an Airthings model, figuring I could send it back if it behaved the same. Sure enough, it behaves very different, with the reading varying depending on its location and the weather, e.g. wind leads to lower readings.
Seán Byrne
2019-01-27 15:42:53 +0000 UTCNeeds a shiny crystal as an indicator and some arcane runes etched into the PCB.
Trevor
2019-01-27 15:22:52 +0000 UTCwe use can-open in our plcc's
God 420
2019-01-27 15:14:41 +0000 UTCIt is just a 100uF 6V SMD electrolytic cap at 5:00.
Trevor
2019-01-27 13:48:03 +0000 UTCMaybe they detoxify your fuel using new energy forces from the universe? There must be a version out the which cleans the power in your car by reducing the DC frequency thereby saving you fuel? I just don't think you are giving the over unity world a fair crack Clive, btw, have you tried my bottled air yet? Guaranteed to reduce the CO2 levels in your blood and they're in 100% reused containers! 🤣
The Tinkering Shed
2019-01-27 11:12:34 +0000 UTCThey make OBD2 splitters/Y-cables so I wonder if I could connect more than one so I could not only get fuel economy but race car like performance as well??? :)
Lostngone
2019-01-27 09:22:50 +0000 UTCThey are. It seems like it's happened really fast.
Big Clive
2019-01-27 07:12:19 +0000 UTCHey Clive, your YouTube subs are closing in on 500k. Congratulations mate.
Wim
2019-01-27 07:05:26 +0000 UTC
