Friday, May 31, 2019 at 13:53
Barry - The Kogan OBD diagnostic tool is cheap and limited in what you can do with it.
For $59 you don't get too much by way of diagnostic tool capabilities.
A 2" screen is giving you limited viewing capabilities.
These
tools are properly known as CAN bus data loggers, they retrieve
information logged by the vehicles CAN bus system.
They only give you the ability to find out what various fault codes mean - they often give you the ability to reset the ECU to remove the fault warning - but they rarely give you full ECU
information, the ability to trace faults, or the ability to alter settings and parameters.
The other potential problems with these cheap Chinese OBD tools, are whether the tool is "buggy" (faulty programming with errors), or whether it covers your precise model of vehicle, exactly and thoroughly.
Often the model coverage is "generic", meaning that the model coverage is incomplete, when it comes to specific models or features, that are specific to a country.
It's important to ensure that the OBD device you purchase is compatible with ADR/ANZ OBD protocols.
Then you can also have the problem of deciphering instructions that are written in English - by someone who has another language besides English as their primary language - resulting in instructions that are difficult to understand, and sometimes incomplete.
To get a good quality OBD tool requires the expenditure of around $300 at least, and up to $1000 if you want a professional product with good capabilities, exact model coverage, and comprehensive, readable instructions for use.
These units often, but not always, connect to your laptop to enable you to get "the full picture", to enable logging and re-coding, and to edit ECU programming and parameters.
Some of the mid-range OBD
tools can connect to your smartphone to provide more
information.
In essence, the bigger the screen you have to work with, the more
information can be provided and displayed by the OBD tool.
A lot depends on how much repair work you want to carry out on your vehicle. Airbags and airbag faults are an area requiring specialist expertise.
The important thing is to get the technical
information that outlines how your vehicles electrical and computerisation systems are built, and how they interact, and what can create faults.
The CAN bus system is installed in every vehicle manufactured today, and this system allows the multiple ECU's fitted to vehicles to gather
information from sensors, and to "talk" to each other, to control the various vehicle systems.
There are multiple CAN bus systems in todays vehicles.
One of the problems with todays vehicles is that many of the ECU's have a hand in controlling safety-related items, and you need to understand what you are doing when dealing with ECU programming and settings, so that safety systems are not compromised.
Here's a good website that explains CAN bus systems and OBD's in laymans terms.
CAN bus systems explained in simple terms
Cheers, Ron.
AnswerID:
625890