ELM327-type OBD Bluetooth devices for Android Apps

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The best OBDII Bluetooth device I have yet to find is the OBDLink LX. It is compatible with everything I have tried, very configurable, extremely fast, and the firmware is upgradable from their app. It is also the most expensive as well but well worth it... Amazon, among others, has it...
 
I have the ancestor of that version and I tried Leaf Spy Lite with it and cannot get it to fully connect (I get NO_DATA errors or timeouts, see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=14285&p=458500#p458500), I noticed that the Lite version is 0.30.22 whereas the PRO is 0.38.80 and the standard Leaf Spy is 0.34.42
Apart from the features/screens added between the versions, are there differences in how they handle the ELM connection?
Could you try your OBDLink LX with the Lite version and let me know if it works ok?
Thanks.
 
I've paired the 'mini' ELM327 v1. 5 with my Samsung Galaxy S6 & it appears in the list of paired devices but I can't get it to connect to the phone. I turn off the connection with the car. When I run LeafSpy Lite I get the blue 'offline' bottom right of the screen. How do I turn it on? The car was in 'run' mode.
Pls help.
 
WillW said:
I've paired the 'mini' ELM327 v1. 5 with my Samsung Galaxy S6 & it appears in the list of paired devices but I can't get it to connect to the phone. I turn off the connection with the car. When I run LeafSpy Lite I get the blue 'offline' bottom right of the screen. How do I turn it on? The car was in 'run' mode.
Pls help.
Offline normally means that LeafSpy has not been told which Bluetooth device it should use. Just pairing with Android is only the first step. On starting up LeafSpy you need to bring up the Menu and then use the Select OBDII function to connect LeafSpy to the paired device.

An additional problem for this user is that the S6 has no dedicated Menu key and tapping the upper right three dashed lines did not bring up the menu. In this case a reboot of the device normally fixes that problem
 
Thanks. After the reboot of the S6 I could access the menu & selected the right ELM device. Unfortunately, although I'd bought a V1.5 (advertised) device, LeafSpy says it's a V2.1 :-# so back to Ebay,
 
I have an ELM327 and it worked well for almost a year.

When LeafSpy Pro updated to version 0.39.97 it dropped the connection and I went through the process you described to get bluetooth connecting again.

Now it works with the car on, but during charging, the SOC opdates when the EVSE is first plugged in but stops after a few seconds. The Gids update fine. So on the chart the red (SOC) line stays flat while the Magenta (%GIDs) line rises with charge.

How can I fix this?

Thanks,
Dan
 
Danl said:
I have an ELM327 and it worked well for almost a year.

When LeafSpy Pro updated to version 0.39.97 it dropped the connection and I went through the process you described to get bluetooth connecting again.

Now it works with the car on, but during charging, the SOC opdates when the EVSE is first plugged in but stops after a few seconds. The Gids update fine. So on the chart the red (SOC) line stays flat while the Magenta (%GIDs) line rises with charge.

How can I fix this?

Thanks,
Dan
Try the latest test version 0.39.98 and see if it fixes this problem.
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.Turbo3.Leaf_Spy_Pro
 
Hi Turbo,
The about screen still says 0.39.97 But it worked OK today. also seems that the Bluetooth is connecting better.

Thanks,
Dan
 
FWIW, on 9/5/2017 I ordered the Foseal Bluetooth OBD2 Scanner from Foseal and it worked without issue. Reported by LeafSpy as ELM327 v1.5. Was $12.59 on Amazon w/free one-day prime shipping. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T5G53ZM/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
TomT said:
The best OBDII Bluetooth device I have yet to find is the OBDLink LX. It is compatible with everything I have tried, very configurable, extremely fast, and the firmware is upgradable from their app. It is also the most expensive as well but well worth it... Amazon, among others, has it...

Does OBDLink LX works? as their site says it does not work with hybrid and EV https://www.scantool.net/obdlink-lxbt/
 
Which Bluetooth 4.x and with low energy can I use with Leaf spy? I have read the recommended LELink brand is unreliable and it's expensive.
 
dibun said:
TomT said:
The best OBDII Bluetooth device I have yet to find is the OBDLink LX. It is compatible with everything I have tried, very configurable, extremely fast, and the firmware is upgradable from their app. It is also the most expensive as well but well worth it... Amazon, among others, has it...

Does OBDLink LX works? as their site says it does not work with hybrid and EV https://www.scantool.net/obdlink-lxbt/
Yes, LX and MX work with the Leaf if you have an Android device.
 
MrOtto said:
Which Bluetooth 4.x and with low energy can I use with Leaf spy? I have read the recommended LELink brand is unreliable and it's expensive.
LELink is the recommended adapter for iOS. For Android you can also use the PLX Kiwi 3 but that is even more expensive.

There is no reason the LELink should be unreliable. But like any other electronic item things happen. Just buy the LELink from them directly or Amazon where you can get it replaced.

There was one issue with 2018 Leafs which do not work with the special LELink low power mode. An early test version of LeafSpy Pro enabled that feature before learning it did not work. That caused the LELink to look like it was dead. Released versions of LeafSpy Pro never turned that feature on. If you had that problem you just needed to plug the LELink into any other car but a 2018 Leaf and run the released version of LeafSpy Pro to clear the problem.
 
Turbo3 said:
MrOtto said:
Which Bluetooth 4.x and with low energy can I use with Leaf spy? I have read the recommended LELink brand is unreliable and it's expensive.
LELink is the recommended adapter for iOS. For Android you can also use the PLX Kiwi 3 but that is even more expensive.

There is no reason the LELink should be unreliable. But like any other electronic item things happen. Just buy the LELink from them directly or Amazon where you can get it replaced.

There was one issue with 2018 Leafs which do not work with the special LELink low power mode. An early test version of LeafSpy Pro enabled that feature before learning it did not work. That caused the LELink to look like it was dead. Released versions of LeafSpy Pro never turned that feature on. If you had that problem you just needed to plug the LELink into any other car but a 2018 Leaf and run the released version of LeafSpy Pro to clear the problem.

I ordered the Veepeak BLE adapter. Stated it supports Leaf Spy on their homepage. Doesn't say standby current, but since it's BLE it should be very low. http://www.veepeak.com/obdcheck-ble/
 
MrOtto said:
Turbo3 said:
MrOtto said:
Which Bluetooth 4.x and with low energy can I use with Leaf spy? I have read the recommended LELink brand is unreliable and it's expensive.
LELink is the recommended adapter for iOS. For Android you can also use the PLX Kiwi 3 but that is even more expensive.

There is no reason the LELink should be unreliable. But like any other electronic item things happen. Just buy the LELink from them directly or Amazon where you can get it replaced.

There was one issue with 2018 Leafs which do not work with the special LELink low power mode. An early test version of LeafSpy Pro enabled that feature before learning it did not work. That caused the LELink to look like it was dead. Released versions of LeafSpy Pro never turned that feature on. If you had that problem you just needed to plug the LELink into any other car but a 2018 Leaf and run the released version of LeafSpy Pro to clear the problem.

I ordered the Veepeak BLE adapter. Stated it supports Leaf Spy on their homepage. Doesn't say standby current, but since it's BLE it should be very low. http://www.veepeak.com/obdcheck-ble/
For Android only the LELink and Kiwi 3 operate in BLE mode.

The veepeak you pointed to is BLE for iOS but when connecting to an Android device it operates as a standard Bluetooth adapter requiring pairing and not in BLE mode.
 
MrOtto said:
If they used BLE for Android they would stop being compatible with all the old apps. Only new apps that know about BLE would be able to see the Veepeak on an Android device. They want to support the maximum number of apps so for iOS they use BLE and Android they use normal Bluetooth. Most BLE adapters I have seen work this way. Only LELink and the PLX Kiwi 3 are full BLE adapters (iOS and Android) from the ones I have tested and also work with the Leaf protocol.

There is nothing wrong with using this adapter. It is just not BLE with Android so you will need to pair it with your Android device and then select it in LeafSpy when you start LeafSpy up.
 
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