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Thread: BT connection only after "torque" connects

  1. #1
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    Question BT connection only after "torque" connects

    I have trouble connected to my ODB dongle when using Track Addict. I think it's a "Veek" ? brand of dongle.

    If I start tract addict, it will try connecting to dongle but fail (status turns red).

    If I then exit track addict, start "torque", and wait for it to connect, then exit "torque" and start track addict, then track addict will find the dongle and status goes green.
    Sometimes when "torque" is connecting, it will say "no response from device", but it usually then connects after a few seconds.

    Is there some way to get track addict to be more robust in connecting to the dongle?
    Any other debug info you need?

    Thanks for the awesome app. Other than the BT connection, it's been great.

  2. #2
    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Quite likely, Torque is running in the background and preventing TrackAddict (and other apps) from connecting to the Bluetooth device, and it's only after you go into Torque and specifically tell it to exit that it frees up that connection for other apps to use.

    We've seen this happen many times before, and even had some detection for it in the app, but unfortunately Android has changed over the past few years to no longer let us detect which other apps are running, so that assistance no longer works for most users.

  3. #3
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    Thanks for the response.

    Unfortunately it's only this app that is having trouble connecting to the dongle.

    I even uninstalled torque and rebooted the device (android headunit) and then track addict would not connect at all. I had to reinstall torque, have it connect to the dongle, then quit and open track addict. Then track addict could connect to the dongle.

    Also, another lap timer app (I didn't want to mention it) had no trouble connecting to the dongle.

    The only other thing I noticed is that there is an ODB icon in the status bar. It starts out as an outline after reboot, then after torque (or the other lap timer) connects, it changes to a solid (filled in) icon.

    I'd like to get this resolved as I like the track addict interface.

  4. #4
    HPT Employee Weston@HPTuners's Avatar
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    Interesting... Would you happen to have GPS or NBP set to Bluetooth as well? There is a situation with Android where if you have multiple devices set to Bluetooth, and it's not able to connect to one of them (such as if the device is turned off), that can sometimes interfere with our attempt to connect to the other one. We do stagger the timing of our connection attempts, and use other methods, to try to mitigate this, but the success of that can vary be device. Android supports multiple Bluetooth device connections at the same time, but apparently not multiple initial connection attempts at the same time. In any case, the best solution for this situation is to go into the app's Options screen and turn off the option for any Bluetooth devices that you are not presently using.

    Other than that, I would suspect something with the communication between the OBD dongle and/or vehicle... You might try tapping on the little 'i' gear icon under the OBD section on the Options screen, and selecting "Disable Advanced Features". Some vehicles may also do better with "Disable Auto Protocol" set. After an unsuccessful connection attempt (ie OBD indicator goes from red to yellow, but then back to red), the "Show Connection Info" option on that same menu can provide some useful info for me to see what's happening.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by wobbletop View Post
    I have trouble connected to my ODB dongle when using Track Addict. I think it's a "Veek" ? brand of dongle.

    If I start tract addict, it will try connecting to dongle but fail (status turns red).

    If I then exit track addict, start "torque", and wait for it to connect, then exit "torque" and start track addict, then track addict will find the dongle and status goes green.
    Sometimes when "torque" is connecting, it will say "no response from device", but it usually then connects after a few seconds.

    Is there some way to get track addict to be more robust in connecting to the dongle?
    Any other debug info you need?

    Thanks for the awesome app. Other than the BT connection, it's been great.
    Do you try with another device as bluetooth obd2 scanner? I have just reviewed it on Autoguysland. It is the great one and easy to use. It can be used for both android and apple vehicles. You can visit there to see if it works with you or not,
    Have you got any solution for this issue yet?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by harveyspecter View Post
    Have you got any solution for this issue yet?
    I have not. I've since switched to a Focus RS. Track Addict connects much better with the RS than it did the STI. I haven't had to do the Torque workaround.

    But the OBD2 update speeds on the RS are MUCH slower than the STI (1Hz vs about 4-5Hz).