Bluetooth OBDII scanner

I found a new piece of technology recently that I predict will help me out greatly in the future, and it already has. With a little patience, I am sure others reading this could also put it to use.

Things needed:

• Bluetooth capable Android device (sorry no Apple based apps could be found) 
• Torque app (free/lite or paid/Pro)
• OBDII bluetooth scanner 

I recently purchased a bluetooth OBDII scanner, listed on the Amazon store as "Yongtek ELM 327 Bluetooth Obdii Obd2 Diagnostic Scanner, Elm327 Wireless OBD 2 Scan Tool Check Engine Light CAR Code Reader". It can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0076KBPNI/
The price as of today (without shipping) was around $15 which is a great deal. At this price if it dies or breaks after a short time, I am not out much money, unlike other code readers which tend to start out around $100.

I already have an Android tablet (Viewsonic 7") with Wifi and bluetooth capability so I hoped it would work properly. The only other thing needed is the Android app called "Torque". There is a free version called "Torque Lite" and a paid version "Torque Pro". These apps can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=torque and http://www.1mobile.com/torque-lite-obd2--car-96634.html
My tablet cannot use the Google Play Store so I had to get the Lite version from 1mobile which is included on my tablet (as is Amazon Marketplace, but they do not have the app available there).

 One big downside is the documentation that comes with the OBDII device. It comes with a mini CD which is actually a mini CD-R that whomever is selling this included whatever the original documentation was on this burnable disc. It includes some Windows programs that are at best sketchy. It needs key generators or paid licenses (from the official sites) for the programs to work properly. For now we will ignore this, but if anyone is planning to use (or using) a laptop with bluetooth, you are better off using legal programs, like the open source OpenOBD (available for Windows and Linux here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/openobd/ ) which states it works with ELM237 devices. If you have a garage/shop with a desktop PC, you should be able to just get a simple USB based bluetooth adapter (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-USB-Micro-Adapter-Dongle/dp/B001EBE1LI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1353108550&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+bluetooth ), and be able to connect to any vehicle in the shop where the scanner is plugged in (within 20-30 feet or so).

 First I will state the instructions needed to get this working for me since it is a bit annoying getting everything talking to each other, but worth it once it is.

1) Plug in scanner device; I knew that code readers tend to work best if you plug it in, then turn key to ON/ACC (but do not start the vehicle right now), so I did this. (After everything was working I was able to start the vehicles and get good readings through the torque app).

 2) Enable bluetooth, scan, pair with code 6789; I enabled bluetooth on my tablet, pressed scan and found the device listed as "CHX". When I attempted to pair, it stated "try codes 1234 or 0000" yet every time I did this (either code) it refused to pair over and over. Finally I went inside and I put the included mini-CD in my PC. I looked at all the (VERY POOR and bad English) documentation, and one line in one file I found said "pairing code: 6789". When I went back out and used that code, it paired first try (said "paired but not connected" but I hoped that was up to the program/app, and I was right).

3) Open Torque app I knew I needed an app to read it properly so I had previously installed the Torque Lite (free) app from 1mobile (also available on Google Play store, but my tablet cannot use the Google store or apps). After I ordered the device but before it arrived, I played around and learned a little about the app and its settings so I would hopefully be ready when the scanner got here (I was right, it did help).

 4) Tell Torque which bluetooth device to use In the Torque app, I had to open the options and find the setting for "Bluetooth Preferences - Device" and chose the CHX which I had already paired. After that the app started reading, the green lights started flashing on this device, I added the gauges and items I wanted in the app (long hold on the main screen, then Add Widget) and it all works nicely. Different vehicles will have different information it passes along via OBDII, typically older vehicles with fewer sensors have less to display/read, and newer vehicles will have a lot more information.

 I used this on 2 different vehicles without a problem (once I figured everything out):

1) 2004 Dodge Durango (Limited, 5.7L Hemi). Torque allowed me access to at least 2 dozen different "gauges" or widgets, including any active or previous codes (it had none).

2) 2000 Nissan Frontier. The Torque app pulled a code from the Nissan (P0235 knock sensor), and it also has the option to clear it after it is fixed (I ordered the part today to replace the sensor first). The number of widgets available here was about half as many as the Durango, but still enough to get some information on how the engine is running.

Second, I figured I would place some of the information from the text files, exactly how they appear on the mini-CD. The main file is "softwareinstruction.txt"
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we suggest that you can use "scantool_net113win",if you think that this software isn't easy to use, you can free to choose following software:EasyOBDII,OBD2Spy,ScanMaster-ELM.But them require lisence. Bluetooth pairing code for: 6789
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Once I found this, it helped with pairing my tablet to the device... and yes I am a guy and rarely get directions first.

There are also these folders:
 EasyOBDII
OBD2Spy
ScanMaster-ELM
scantool_net113win
USB Driver (likely for Windows 2000 and older computers since they would need a USB based bluetooth adapter like the one linked above)

Overall it would have been nice to have a simple piece of paper with the pairing code and the documentation with better info, but for cheap stuff from the orient, this has come to be expected.