Leaf spy dongle

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Oh, gotcha. Well, that can be a positive thing sometimes too.

Do I need an extension cable? Amazon is recommending a "Veepeak OBD-II Flat Ribbon" one. I don't even know what you would use this for. To protect the OBD port in case you want to plug/unplug often? To create more space/comfort for the driver while driving? Sorry for all the questions..,
 
Kieran973 said:
Oh, gotcha. Well, that can be a positive thing sometimes too.

Do I need an extension cable? Amazon is recommending a "Veepeak OBD-II Flat Ribbon" one. I don't even know what you would use this for. To protect the OBD port in case you want to plug/unplug often? To create more space/comfort for the driver while driving? Sorry for all the questions..,

I got one of the flat ribbon extensions with a right angle plug, and it either worked just once or twice, or not at all - I forget. At any rate it didn't work this year. I also have the thick kind, which I think still works. I mainly use the OBDII port directly - CAREFULLY. They are kind of fragile, but not unusably so. I have written on the reader box "Reader label faces driver's door" to make it easier to plug in. But verify that. You also need to wiggle the reader side to side as you plug it in, to firmly seat the plug.
 
Kieran973 said:
Do I need an extension cable? Amazon is recommending a "Veepeak OBD-II Flat Ribbon" one. I don't even know what you would use this for. To protect the OBD port in case you want to plug/unplug often? To create more space/comfort for the driver while driving? Sorry for all the questions..,
I personally use
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ZN0JKG
(I confirmed this in my Amazon order history) as it was suggested at
Code:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170720205851/http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/?title=Leaf_Spy_Pro&redirect=no#Extension_Cable_or_Splitter_Cable
. (I've had to wrap these in CODE blocks otherwise this forums screws up the links.)

My main purpose is to reduce the amount of wear and tear on the OBD2 connector on the car. Who knows many cycles they're rated for? In probably 90%+ of Leafs and probably 90+% of ICEVs, the port is only used at the factory and by a service department each time the car's taken in for service. It not likely designed for many/an order of magnitude or more mating cycles over the expected amount from that. I'd rather wear out the port on a cheap cable and dongle than on the car.

Also, it prevents you from accidentally knocking loose or breaking the dongle and port. Someone on a Leaf FB group who was doing the silliness of introducing ice around the service plug access panel to cool the battery (probably fooling the sensors and doing little to cool) had for the longest time no means of even monitoring battery temp because she said she'd "broken" her OBD2 dongle, I believe via her feet/legs.
 
I think that those doing monthly readings or using LeafSpy as a driving aid should use an extension. Those doing it one to three times a year (like me, from now on) just need to be careful and not leave the dongle in the port while driving. I was just reporting what happened with the thin, flat cable I bought. I'll check the brand if I can find it now.
 
Great, thanks to both of you for that info. I'm also about to start using this thing called Smart Charge NY (they're run by Fleet Carma and they partner with my utility) where I have to leave their "C2 device" permanently plugged into the OBD port. They're sending me a y-cable so I can run Leaf Spy and their program at the same time. I'm not sure if this y-cable makes an extension cable redundant, or whether I also still need that too. The purpose of Smart Charge NY is to study EV charging behavior, driving efficiency/habits, battery capacity/health, etc. They pay you in either Amazon or Target gift cards to participate in their program and they give you access to all the data they collect from your car. It's a little weird, but you end up offsetting a good portion of your electricity costs every year. So anyway, I guess I'll wait for the y-cable to arrive and then see whether I need this plus an extension cable or not....
 
It's 10 cents/kWh according to their website. Plus, from what I can tell, you can get an extra $165 back a year for charging during certain times (overnight). Combine this with Con Ed's time of use 10 cent/kWh delivery rate reduction and my annual electric bill to drive 15,000 miles a year could actually be around negative one hundred dollars. Again, this money comes in the form of gift cards - which I admit, sounds a little like a pyramid scheme - but I buy stuff at Target/on Amazon all the time. As long as you charge in Con Edison's territory once a month (New York City and Westchester County), you're eligible, which is pretty crazy, considering our average electricity costs right now are around 23 cents/kWh without this program....

https://www.fleetcarma.com/smartchargenewyork/setup/
 
Back
Top