The Wahyudiharto's Blog

Did you know that Volkswagen introduces the first on-board computer system with scanning capability in their fuel injected Type 3 models in 1969? In IT world, this is what it called as embedded system. The purposed was to monitoring how the car engine reactions to fuel widely. But it was only for limited consumers such as repair technicians or official automotive garages.

Recently, the OBD system has been standardized and used for several automotive companies. The Electronic Control Unit (ECU) plays an important role for this vehicle diagnostic interface. Let say, that this ECU is a processor in a CPU. ECU as logger and read any sensor that available on each vehicle. Some of major indicators are displayed in vehicle dashboard, such as speed, RPM state, fuel condition, engine temperature, etc. Nowadays, this self diagnostic system - as known as On Board Diagnostic (OBD) system - are open to end users - at least with kits and software. So what we can't see from dashboard, we can see from this OBD scanner - from it's connector that supplied from vehicle.


The OBD system now evolving to digital communication port and using Bluetooth stack to provide real-time data for various vehicle sub-system. So we can use various digital devices as OBD log reader, such as laptop, mobile phone, gadgets, etc. As much as OBD software reader available for some operating system (Windows, Linux, Mac OS), DashCommand for iOS Apple and Torque for Android based gadget, on this current article I reviewed about OBD software reader for Symbian and Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) based (legacy :) gadget. But first, provide an ELM 327 interface (with Bluetooth), a car with OBD II compliant (I used my 2010 Picanto Cosmo - KIA Morning) and Symbian or Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) - I particularly using Nokia E7 and HP iPAQ Pocket PC. Make sure that your ELM 327 is in good condition by plugged-in to OBD connector in your vehicle and do some pairing from your Symbian or Pocket PC gadget.

SYMBIAN
Unfortunately, I just found a single OBD software for Symbian. OBDScope is an OBD diagnostic software built for Symbian OS platform.


After a simple pairing via Bluetooth (mine with Nokia E7), you can found that OBDScope has been connected to OBD II interface.


It has quite complete 27 gauges available to use.


There are:

Calculated Load
Engine Coolant Temperature
Short Term Fuel Trim B1
Long Term Fuel Trim B1
Intake Manifold Pressure
Engine RPM
Vehicle Speed
Timing Advance
Intake Air Temperature
Absolute Throttle Position
O2 Sensor B1S1
O2 Sensor B1S2
Time Since Engine Start
Distance with MIL
Commanded Evaporative Purge
# Of Warm-ups Since DTCs Cleared
Distance Since DTCs Cleared
Catalyst Temperature B1S1
Absolute Load Value
Commanded Equivalence Ratio
Relative Throttle Position
Ambient Air Temperature
Momentary Fuel Economy
Fuel System
OBD Port Voltage
Location
GPS Speed

We can attach the gadget to any space available from dashboard and simply monitoring any gauges while the vehicle is running.


The most I like from OBDScope software is it CSV logging capability. So we can analyze later from Excel and define anything what's happened while we're on board.


WINDOWS MOBILE (POCKET PC)
There're some OBD software available on Windows Mobile market, but I found a simple software to use. It called as OBDKey. OBDKey also support for Windows OS and Palm legacy gadget.


There's no big difference between Torque, DashCommand, OBDScope and OBDKey. It's only a graphical interface to mention the gauges. DashView is an intuitive display for OBDKey, a similar display to Torque (in Android or iOS Apple based gadget)


CONCLUSION
Who does not know Torque? It's a big player in OBD software that runs on Android (or DashCommand in iOS). But, if we still have a legacy gadget and are not willing to buy Android or iPhone for OBD scanner software, why we don't try to optimize device we have? This above article is dedicated to you who have Nokia or Pocket PC device and want to make it as a OBD II scanner for your own vehicle. Thank's for reading and have a nice OBD monitoring!

Labels: Bluetooth, Gadget, Google Android, Nokia, Review

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