OBD2 scanners (Carly?)

ShiWarrior said:
i think ive found the best one

App called "Car Scanner ELM OBD2" which is free, pay 5 quid to unlock it to PRO version

and use the dongle "VeePeak"

Car Scanner App ELM: Best Free OBD2 app? – Iamcarhacker

www.iamcarhacker.com www.iamcarhacker.com
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Looks the same as torque, which is pretty much what most use. It'll allow you to read codes and see graphs etc. My nephew likes watching the boost on mine.

It still won't have the same options as forscan though. Which will allow stuff like being able to do a bleed using the abs module or reprogramming wing mirrors etc. If you wanted to retrofit cruise control (or whatever) you'd need forscan.
 
OBD11 is useful for VAG cars and cheaper than VAGCOM. i have used it on my 2016 octavia for a whole host of things including enabling high beam assist and cornering foglights which would have cost hundreds if specced at the time I bought the car. Other stuff i have tweaked includes turning off the seatbelt bongs for the front passenger seat, activated 2nd foglight at the rear and clearing of codes if they pop up
 
I have Carly, it's currently working for free but no doubt will stop working soon. I had a lifetime license in the past when I used the app via a K-line cable (universal with switches), thein in 2021 bought the official Carly universal dongle from them as I could leave it plugged in all the time and it was on offer... Little realising that when you do so, and connect to your account, that you automatically are put on a subscription service where they annually take £100 or whatever with no notice whatsoever.

So colour me confused a year later.

I opened up a refund request, they declined stating that German retail laws don't say they have to notify you before taking payment and that by buying the adapter, you automatically accept the subscription (at the time this was not marketed well or made obvious, basically some small print somewhere at the bottom which is easy to miss).

Anyway I opened up a chargeback through Curve because Carly's support people were inept and patronising/passive aggressive in responses and basically said "good luck getting your money back.

Well yes, good luck indeed because as of yesterday, Curve have rejected their reason for declining a refund as Curve found no reasonable evidence to support their rejection. I'll have my money back thanks.

The app itself is good. If you have a wired OBD adapter (about £30), then the app itself works without a subscription and is a one time purchase (or was) - It allows you to do coding via toggles on various modules on the car allowing tweaking of various cool features. The diagnostics side of things isn't bad either and has helped me pinpoint various ECU codes over the years to specific sensors and whatnot.

The company however are shady and will not deliver satisfactory customer support when they're found to be in the wrong. Once Curve complete the chargeback process I will reply to Carly's last email where they said good luck with a meme of a dickbutt or something just because it will be highly amusing to me.

I will likely revert back to my old wired OBD cable but you can use a number of other apps with the Amazon dongles costing £30 or so which are Bluetooth LE/WiFi and allow full support for diag/coding combo apps like bimmer-code and bimmer-tool - I assume there are versions of these for VAG group cars too. DeeoOBD gets mentioned often too.

I just liked the wireless dongles because they can be left plugged in and less faff, but it's simple enough to plug in a wired cable when you need to run a diagnostic anyway too and the wired cable works with any app generally.

Edit* I think I will get this dongle, Veepeak's higher end model for under 330: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Veepeak-OB...qid=1690244205&sprefix=elm+327,aps,99&sr=8-29

Got Car Scanner app set up, it does some coding too so that satisfies my uses really.
 
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mrk said:
I have Carly, it's currently working for free but no doubt will stop working soon. I had a lifetime license in the past when I used the app via a K-line cable (universal with switches), thein in 2021 bought the official Carly universal dongle from them as I could leave it plugged in all the time and it was on offer... Little realising that when you do so, and connect to your account, that you automatically are put on a subscription service where they annually take £100 or whatever with no notice whatsoever.

So colour me confused a year later.

I opened up a refund request, they declined stating that German retail laws don't say they have to notify you before taking payment and that by buying the adapter, you automatically accept the subscription (at the time this was not marketed well or made obvious, basically some small print somewhere at the bottom which is easy to miss).

Anyway I opened up a chargeback through Curve because Carly's support people were inept and patronising/passive aggressive in responses and basically said "good luck getting your money back.

Well yes, good luck indeed because as of yesterday, Curve have rejected their reason for declining a refund as Curve found no reasonable evidence to support their rejection. I'll have my money back thanks.

The app itself is good. If you have a wired OBD adapter (about £30), then the app itself works without a subscription and is a one time purchase (or was) - It allows you to do coding via toggles on various modules on the car allowing tweaking of various cool features. The diagnostics side of things isn't bad either and has helped me pinpoint various ECU codes over the years to specific sensors and whatnot.

The company however are shady and will not deliver satisfactory customer support when they're found to be in the wrong. Once Curve complete the chargeback process I will reply to Carly's last email where they said good luck with a meme of a dickbutt or something just because it will be highly amusing to me.

I will likely revert back to my old wired OBD cable but you can use a number of other apps with the Amazon dongles costing £30 or so which are Bluetooth LE/WiFi and allow full support for diag/coding combo apps like bimmer-code and bimmer-tool - I assume there are versions of these for VAG group cars too. DeeoOBD gets mentioned often too.

I just liked the wireless dongles because they can be left plugged in and less faff, but it's simple enough to plug in a wired cable when you need to run a diagnostic anyway too and the wired cable works with any app generally.

Edit* I think I will get this dongle, Veepeak's higher end model for under 330: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Veepeak-OBDCheck-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Supports/dp/B073XKQQQW/ref=sr_1_29?crid=UAP02FT3DYAR&keywords=elm+327&qid=1690244205&sprefix=elm+327,aps,99&sr=8-29

Got Car Scanner app set up, it does some coding too so that satisfies my uses really.
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I looked at that veepeak one, but don't know the difference between that one and the cheaper one
 
mrk said:
There's some info here: https://ljmcardiagnostics.co.uk/blogs/news/so-what-does-the-veepeak-obdcheck-ble-offer-over-the-ble

Essentially newer revision, same core protocols support but the BLE+ supports the full ELM 327 spec so better support for realtime dashboard readings if that's important.
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this ine is the one i thought of getting
10 cheaper than the BLU and BLE+ models
but do you need to buy one of the BLE models ?
 
It should work fine but I read some of the advanced features aren't available with that one of you use bimmercode etc.

Worth a try I guess as Amazon returns are super easy either way.
 
Bit of a necro here, but what are realistic solutions for fiddling with car settings (BMW & Audi)?

Probably the easiest way for fiddle with settings on a BMW is to buy Bimmercode and a suitable bluetooth adapter like the Veepeak BLE+ ?
 
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For Audi its VCDS by a mile BUT, as always, genuine versions/leads are expensive but worth it. I've been using it for almost a decade and the range of "tweaking" you can do to the cars coding, plus maintenance etc on top of the more generic OBD2 style bits it also has is fantastic.
 
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Has anyone used the Car Scanner ELM OBD2 app? Apparently for $5 you can actually code some stuff. Cheaper than the $50 for bimmer code..
 
mjt said:
Has anyone used the Car Scanner ELM OBD2 app? Apparently for $5 you can actually code some stuff. Cheaper than the $50 for bimmer code..
Click to expand...
Yes but I only use it for viewing info.
The only bug I get is it thinks I'm driving at 158mph, constantly.
 
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Another vote against Carly, when I signed up for a year sub there was small print that basically said that they will recharge me on the anniversary date but give no indication that they were doing so.

Technically? My fault. But shady business practice, I contacted them to refund but they were having none of it, even though they'd charged me literally on that day.
 
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i have this one under 40 quid on ebay and used it on many occasions in the short time I have had it.
It tends to show codes in the vag mode that it doesn't pick up in obd11
if i stay in the vag group vcds is my no brainer upgrade

Screenshot-2024-05-17-16-28-47-11-99c04817c0de5652397fc8b56c3b3817.jpg
 
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