Car Computer and OBDII Scanner/Reader

[thrawnis]

As a little side project, I will be building a car computer and programming a custom touch-screen interface for it. Before I program the music/video/whatever else functionality, I want to be able to read an OBD2 scanner's output.

There are a bunch of USB OBD scanners on eBay for around $10-50 (I don't want to spend more than $50 for something like this). Does anyone have any experience with these? I have no experience with these devices so I don't know what info they will read. Will they give all the basic dashboard info like RPMs, speed, engine temp, as well as service engine codes, etc? What other info can I expect from them? Any links to a good FAQ would be helpful.

Example reader from eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

Thanks in advance for any help!

[gene112601]

Originally Posted by thrawnis

As a little side project, I will be building a car computer and programming a custom touch-screen interface for it. Before I program the music/video/whatever else functionality, I want to be able to read an OBD2 scanner's output.

There are a bunch of USB OBD scanners on eBay for around $10-50 (I don't want to spend more than $50 for something like this). Does anyone have any experience with these? I have no experience with these devices so I don't know what info they will read. Will they give all the basic dashboard info like RPMs, speed, engine temp, as well as service engine codes, etc? What other info can I expect from them? Any links to a good FAQ would be helpful.

Example reader from eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370165756264&sspagenam e=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=

Thanks in advance for any help!

well if i was you im not going to buy that thing
here is my recomends

SCANGAUGE http://www.scangauge.com/

INNOVATE http://www.canobd2.com/

i personally use Innova 3120

[Dave's]

Many of the cheaper readers will only read the code and reset it.(That's to the best of my knowledge.)

[andym1978]

I bought pretty much the same thing off ebay last year. I connect it to my laptop and it works great. It continuously reads ECU data such as timing, manifold pressure, etc. I'm still in the process of writing my own software for it, but it's no easy project.

[workerant]

Originally Posted by andym1978

I bought pretty much the same thing off ebay last year. I connect it to my laptop and it works great. It continuously reads ECU data such as timing, manifold pressure, etc. I'm still in the process of writing my own software for it, but it's no easy project.

U want to make it like one of your dashboard instrument constantly displaying datas from the car CPU?

[thrawnis]

Originally Posted by TTM77

U want to make it like one of your dashboard instrument constantly displaying datas from the car CPU?

Exactly. I know there are already programs that do this, but I want to develop a complete software package that will show engine, transmission, etc. readouts, but also handle music, videos, internet, etc.