OBDII G-Force and Connection Dropouts

[mattvandyk]

Setup:
Audi RS3
TrackAddict
iPhone 6S+ running latest iOS
GoPro Hero6 via wi-fi
XGPS160
Carista (although more on that in a minute)


Two completely unrelated questions.

1. My car has a G-Force Meter built into it. Can this be set up to draw that g-force data from OBDII instead of the g-force data on the phone? If so, how? If not, then how do I calibrate this so that it is properly recording the g-force data from my phone (it always seems to be off a bit).

2. I sometimes have trouble maintaining a connection to my OBDII BT dongle (Carista). I've read elsewhere that if I "Disable Auto Protocol" and "Disable Advanced Features" that the connection will be more stable and less likely to disconnect. I'm okay with doing that, but I'd like to know what I'm giving up by disabling these two items. Also, am I just better off getting a different dongle for this? What I'm looking for is the most reliable connection I can find here, so if a different dongle is the answer, I'll do that. If so, is Kiwi3 the recommendation? Your Add-On page says Kiwi3 is the recommended iOS dongle, but I always thought GoPoint BT1A was the "go to" for this. I just want to make sure I get whatever is going to be most reliable and deliver the best data. To the extent it matters, note that I'll be running an XGPS160 (via BT) and a GoPRo (via wifi) simultaneously.

Thanks!!

[Weston@HPTuners]

1. My car has a G-Force Meter built into it. Can this be set up to draw that g-force data from OBDII instead of the g-force data on the phone? If so, how? If not, then how do I calibrate this so that it is properly recording the g-force data from my phone (it always seems to be off a bit).

We presently don't have a way to get the car's G-Force data via OBD-II (it's not part of the OBD-II Mode 01 standard), but TrackAddict will automatically calibrate its accelerometers so that you can get reasonable G-force data from your phone. This will happen the first time that it gets a good GPS signal while the vehicle is stopped. It will also do it again when you go to the Record screen, before it actually starts recording (when there's a good GPS signal while you are stopped). So, to make this successful, the easiest thing to do is to securely mount your phone to the vehicle, and then just start TrackAddict and wait for its GPS indicator to turn green. If you start the app, or especially if you start recording, before the phone is secure, then it may calibrate based on an incorrect position.

2. I sometimes have trouble maintaining a connection to my OBDII BT dongle (Carista). I've read elsewhere that if I "Disable Auto Protocol" and "Disable Advanced Features" that the connection will be more stable and less likely to disconnect. I'm okay with doing that, but I'd like to know what I'm giving up by disabling these two items. Also, am I just better off getting a different dongle for this? What I'm looking for is the most reliable connection I can find here, so if a different dongle is the answer, I'll do that. If so, is Kiwi3 the recommendation? Your Add-On page says Kiwi3 is the recommended iOS dongle, but I always thought GoPoint BT1A was the "go to" for this. I just want to make sure I get whatever is going to be most reliable and deliver the best data. To the extent it matters, note that I'll be running an XGPS160 (via BT) and a GoPRo (via wifi) simultaneously.

Thanks!!

"Disable Auto Protocol" is meant for some cars that typically wouldn't get an initial connection at all (or only sometimes), due to the vehicle having multiple different protocol wires active... the chip inside the OBD device would sometimes auto-connect to via protocol that doesn't actually offer OBD services. It's a somewhat obsolete option, because we implement our own protocol search & connection test now.

"Disable Advanced Features" disables the use of certain options and commands that have been known to be problematic with some ELM327 clones. When in use, the app may no longer attempt to decode the VIN, access certain additional parameters, performance may be a little slower, etc., but the primary OBD functionality remains. Using this option might be problematic for vehicles that have multiple systems (ie engine, transmission, chassis, etc) responding to our data requests, because we wouldn't be requesting the raw data that we'd normally use to help filter those responses.

I would typically suspect that the connection issues you're experiencing are related to the strength of the BLE signal versus how far away your phone is, and/or if there are other interference sources (Bluetooth, WiFi, or other 2.4 GHz devices could impact this). Unfortunately, although BLE is the easiest option to setup and get going for iOS users, and it works great for many, it also has a weaker signal than traditional Bluetooth and may not fair as well under some conditions. The PLX Kiwi 3 is usually my go-to for iOS because of the simplicity, but it also utilizes BLE, so it might have similar results in this case. The GoPoint BT1 / BT1A uses traditional Bluetooth and should theoretically have a stronger signal. In any case, the first thing I'd try is to move the phone closer to where the OBD device is.