Car Scanner App Template (For Real-Time Charging, Battery and Range Telemetry)

[Henry Ford]

Are regular OBD2 adapters compatible with the Lightning? I have an old Bluetooth OBD2 adapter that won't turn on when plugged into my Lightning. I'm wondering how much time and effort I should put toward troubleshooting.

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[mr.Magoo]

Are regular OBD2 adapters compatible with the Lightning?

Theoretically any adapter should work, but there's quite a few knockoffs out there with sub-par chipsets, software emulators and whatnot, so I personally wouldn't waste much time troubleshooting as it's an "either works or it doesn't" kind of thing.

As for adapters I can highly recommend OBDLink (I've got nothing to do with them, I've just had good results).
MX+ Is the best (IMHO) wireless solution for phone/Car Scanner, Torque use
EX (USB hard wired) is better if you want to tinker with ForScan
CX+ is nice in that it does work with ABRP, BUT it's Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) so while it's easier for apps to control (because you don't need to pair with it) it's also slower than regular Bluetooth, so if you're logging a lot of stuff you might run into bottleneck issues, but for general use you're probably fine.

https://www.carscanner.info/choosing-obdii-adapter/

 

[carys98]

CX+ is nice in that it does work with ABRP, BUT it's Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) so while it's easier for apps to control (because you don't need to pair with it) it's also slower than regular Bluetooth, so if you're logging a lot of stuff you might run into bottleneck issues, but for general use you're probably fine.

https://www.carscanner.info/choosing-obdii-adapter/

Just so nobody spends time trying to find it, there is no CX+. The BlueTooth LE version is just the CX.

 

[MickeyAO]

This has worked perfectly on two different Lightnings.

 

[Maxx]

Are regular OBD2 adapters compatible with the Lightning? I have an old Bluetooth OBD2 adapter that won't turn on when plugged into my Lightning. I'm wondering how much time and effort I should put toward troubleshooting.

I got this at $27. Now showing at $32. With free car scanner app, it’s was plug and play. The app already knew Lightning. Only you can be judge of if $32 is worth your time. I didn’t even try my old OBDII since it had no interface with my phone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XKQQQW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[Henry Ford]

I got this at $27. Now showing at $32. With free car scanner app, it’s was plug and play. The app already knew Lightning. Only you can be judge of if $32 is worth your time. I didn’t even try my old OBDII since it had no interface with my phone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XKQQQW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Thanks for the recommendation. I paid $7.13 for my Chinese no-name scanner in 2018. I'll try it one more time and move on.

 

[carys98]

If you load the backup from the original post it also replaces the pairing information and you will lose connection to your ODB interface. You will need to go into settings and delete the adapter and reconnect to your adapter. After you connect your dongle you can make a new backup that will have the OPs screens and your BT info so you don’t have to do that again. I wish Car Scanner had an option to import screens without doing a complete restore.

 

[bmwhitetx]

I got this at $27. Now showing at $32. With free car scanner app, it’s was plug and play. The app already knew Lightning. Only you can be judge of if $32 is worth your time. I didn’t even try my old OBDII since it had no interface with my phone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XKQQQW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

FYI, look like they also have a BLE+ version of this that supports more commands. Unsure if CarScanner uses those commands but may be useful in the future. My Amazon is showing the BLE+ unit with a 10% off coupon so only $6 more ($37.79). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076XVQMVS

 

[Maxx]

FYI, look like they also have a BLE+ version of this that supports more commands. Unsure if CarScanner uses those commands but may be useful in the future. My Amazon is showing the BLE+ unit with a 10% off coupon so only $6 more ($37.79). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076XVQMVS

Yup. I saw that before buying. I am having a hard time figuring out all the data this one gives me.

 

[Lytning]

To bring this thread back to life, I connected my truck to this app to my Lariat ER and got the following readings using the default dashboards:

Being new to looking at this “raw” vehicle data, there are a few things I don’t know how to interpret:

1. The “Energy” reading…..I assume the current energy in the battery?
2. The “HVB SoC” vs the “HVB SoC Displayed”. Why the difference and how do they relate to the “Energy” reading

In addition to the above, to me, the math doesn’t add up given the stated 131 KWh rating of the ER battery.

I’m trying to reduce my level of ignorance….thx in advance……

Where do you find / how do you view "12V Battery SOC"? I have an OBDLink CX scanner and am using the Car Scanner ELM OBD2 Pro app. I see "Battery Voltage" in the sensor list, but nothing on SOC. I downloaded the Zip file, but it would not open.

 

[MickeyAO]

LVB State of Charge

LvbSoc

0x224028

A

0​

100​

%

Here is the PID information for the low voltage state of charge
You may have to manually input it into your program.

 

[Lytning]

LVB State of Charge

LvbSoc

0x224028

A

0​

100​

%

Here is the PID information for the low voltage state of charge
You may have to manually input it into your program.

Thanks!
I finally found it. I had a scanner firmware update and app update yesterday, and I found the LV SOC after those updates. Since I was not familiar with either the scanner or the app, I could have just missed finding it on the first attempt. I appreciate the assistance.

 

[Lytning]

Theoretically any adapter should work, but there's quite a few knockoffs out there with sub-par chipsets, software emulators and whatnot, so I personally wouldn't waste much time troubleshooting as it's an "either works or it doesn't" kind of thing.

As for adapters I can highly recommend OBDLink (I've got nothing to do with them, I've just had good results).
MX+ Is the best (IMHO) wireless solution for phone/Car Scanner, Torque use
EX (USB hard wired) is better if you want to tinker with ForScan
CX+ is nice in that it does work with ABRP, BUT it's Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) so while it's easier for apps to control (because you don't need to pair with it) it's also slower than regular Bluetooth, so if you're logging a lot of stuff you might run into bottleneck issues, but for general use you're probably fine.

https://www.carscanner.info/choosing-obdii-adapter/

How do the "Car Scanner ELM OBD2" app and the "FORScan Lite" app compare on an iPhone for reading sensor data? I am not interested in programming changes at this point.

 

[mr.Magoo]

Don't know about iPhone, but I really liked the Car scanner app for looks and simplicity over for example Torque.

 

[Lytning]

Don't know about iPhone, but I really liked the Car scanner app for looks and simplicity over for example Torque.

Thanks for the reply. I installed Car Scanner on my iPhone, and I agree with you.

FORScan Lite also runs on iPhone, but apparently requires the MX+ scanner versus the CX scanner. Has anyone compared FORScan Lite against Car Scanner?

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