I'm using an iPhone 5, but this question applies to anyone using an android device as well.

There are several adapter options that plug to the obd port. I could use one that connects to my phone via wifi, another style connects via Bluetooth, and yet another that connects with a cable.

I'd rather not use a cable, so, my question is about the wifi versus Bluetooth. If I recall correctly, Bluetooth connections can only be made to one thing at a time. So, if I stream my music/phone calls through Bluetooth, wouldn't that prevent me from being connected to the obd adapter?

And for the wifi option, my phone always defaults to my home network, so, if I'm in my garage getting ready to leave, start the car, will my phone not connect up to the obd device unless I go into the phone settings and switch it over?

Crap, maybe the cable is better. Looking for anyone with experience to tell me how you've got yours connected and what the advantages/drawbacks are.

A little more info. The app I'll be using will be: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dash...321293183?mt=8.

The connectors I'm considering are found here: http://www.palmerperformance.com/hardware/index.php.

 

Talked to Ghozt a bit, maybe I'm wrong and a Bluetooth connection can be active with more than one device at a time. Anyone care to share their experiences with this kinda thing though?

 

with the wifi situation maybe you can set your iphone to pick the best signal wifi that way if ur in ur car it will choose you cars wifi over your homes wifi. I'm not familiar with the iphone though.. there should be an app for that though! or maybe the odb app ur getting has a wifi priority option?... check the app store for "wifi priority" there are some free apps on android relating to that.

Are you really gonna want to have the ODB connected via wifi every time you get in your car? Are you collecting some kind of statistics/performance data?

 

I'll be using it a lot especially in the beginning (while its new and fun) for sure. Ya, I'm the kinda guy who wants to record everything, and then measure the difference after new mods and such.

I'm leaning towards the Bluetooth adapter right now. Now to figure out if there is a difference between the expensive ones and the cheap ones. Gotta save some cash since the stupid app I want is $50 lol.

 

I wonder if the adapters for dash command work with the torque app as well. Let me know which one you bought and how it works. Hoping to have he same in my max

 

I used a bluetooth obd2 adapter purchased off ebay with Torque app for android with my 2006 maxima but have not tried it with my 2012. It worked great. I want to try it but can't remember the pin combination of the adapter.

 

I got the same setup, try 6789 for the PIN for those generic ELM27 OBD-II adapters.

i vaguely recall someone else telling me iphone (at the time) didnt have a comparable app to Torque and android devices. there were a bunch of wifi compatible ones though which if you setup a mobile hotspot is easy to achieve.

since bluetooth media, and bluetooth phone are different protocols your smartphone can connect and pair with both at the same time. the 09's Maximas only have bluetooth phone protocol so it's the only connection made to the car. mine plays music and if my phone rings it interrupts and uses the car speakers as well.

 

Thanks again ghozt. I think I'll buy Bluetooth. The (most) comparable app in the apple App Store is called dashcommand. That's the one with the highest reviews. I don't know what the differences are compared to torque, but I definitely know that the $50 price tag is lame. Lol. There are two options for setting it up wireless--the wifi I think would work fine even with a generic obd device, but the Bluetooth requires a specific brand's Bluetooth obd device (don't know why but everything I've read says only this one brand is able to do it).

I think the Bluetooth will be less headache in the long run because I didn't find anything about prioritizing wifi networks for my phone. Didn't research it a ton, but, just trying to think the process through I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with BT. I'll keep everyone updated after I purchase.

 

I think the questions are probably phone specific, but with my previous two phones (Motorola Droid 1 and Droid 3) and currently phone (Samsung Galaxy S3), I have no problem connecting to the OBD-II device (it's a generic Elmscan 327) via Bluetooth and maintaining a Bluetooth connection to other devices as well (my Belkin Bluetooth to aux adapter). To answer your question, all three of those phones can connect to two BT devices at the same time and there is not difference in performance of either device.

Late
Trav

 

Thanks. Ghozt. I tried every other combination but was not able to connect. 6789 worked like a charm. I have Nexus 7 in place of amber screen and it cannot be any better to monitor every detail right on that screen. Here is a pic.

http://www.cardomain.com/gallery/16147709

 

Purchased the Gopoint BT1 to connect up to my iPhone. It arrived last night. Just finished downloading the DashCommand app, excited to see how it works tomorrow!

 

Seems pricey. Let us know if you like it and/or if you think it's worth it.

 

It is kinda pricey. I guess I just like little gadgets like this. Is it worth the money? Probably not. Lol. But it's definitely cool to be able to get more engine data and log it. If you're into performance modifications, it's fun to be able to know before/after data. There are some other cool features like the skid pad which, if you have your phone or device mounted in a steady position will measure g's generated from acceleration, braking, hard turns, etc. Is that kinda info useful to a guy like me? Not really. And there are several other features that I could say the same thing about. Even still it's fun to have a readout of all of the info that's available. I use a separate app (gas cubby) to log fuel usage, so that part of dash command isn't beneficial to me, but might be to someone else. Bottom line, it's kind of a dumb thing to spend much money on, but if you're the type of person who wants to use all of the engine data available, this works very very well for that. The app is solid and full of features.