$20 USB OBD2 adapter (Pics)

[zhanx]

ordering mine to play while i am over here in korea

 

[jah81592]

I would be interested in a SRS and ABs scanner.

 

[MustangP51]

Status

Well This has taken a lot more time to do then I expected.

The board went together easily I used a 15 watt soldering iron and followed the very confusing directions on the website. No instructions what so ever was included in the bag of parts. Heres the board going together.

First I soldered on the socket for the micro processor. It is a good thing to hone your soldering skill since it takes a lot more heat to damage it then the components you will be soldering on later.

This next step is the most difficult in the entire project. Find the contacts on the soldering side of the board.

Solder the micro controller to the contacts with the white dot on the chip pointing towards the serial connection

The easiest method to solder the components on is to slide the leads through the board then bend them outward slightly to hold it on the board. Then solder.

Solder on the 4 resistors and diode. R5 gets the same ohm resistor as R4 but was missing from the kit. Resistors are NOT polarity sensitive(NPS), but the diode IS polarity sensitive(PS). The black bar on the diode should be pointing towards the top of the board.

Next solder on the capacitors(PS), the crystal(NPS), and LEDs(PS) match the flat spot on the LED to the drawing on the board.

Click this link to see a High Resolution picture to use as a guide.

Now I am stuck. I got the OBDII to Serial Cable today. But I am having trouble with programing the the microprocessor. I can send the firmware to the board, or figure out how to install the windows driver. The updated total for the project is now $42 this include the kit and the OBDII cable. More to come when I figure out the software/firmware problem.

 

[96XLTRanger]

42$ and all that headache//Time. Time is money...

Still a fun idea, and it's good that idiots can't do it; hacking shouldn't be easy

 

[MustangP51]

Well, this is the first project that I have done that I wouldn't recommended anyone doing, I have been loosing sleep and pulling my hair out over this for some time now and I still cannot get the chip to communicate with the vehicles computer. I got the laptop drivers installed, which makes the blue LED on the chip come on, I got the firmware installed on the chip ( I think, because that made the red LED blink. But I cant get the damn yellow LED to do anything, which meant that it is not connected to the computer. If anyone does figure this out please let me know, otherwise (See below)

My verdict. Go with a commercial product. Avoid this.

 

[m4dc0w]

I'd admit the software looks good and all, but obd2 scanners are $75 here at the local shop.

Was it worth all the time, and effort?

-mc

 

[Turdle]

www.scantool.net

Why mess around?

 

[m4dc0w]

^^^^^ cool idea

The X can talk to us from the outside too...


-mc

 

[trucku]

did you double check your obdII cable and make sure your pins are correct?

Good Luck with this subscribing.