Been asked MANY times before, OBD2 connection

[mihalyn90]

Soooooooooo

Buy cheap buy twice... I see... if i got a solid well known original kinda expensive (not 10 bucks but 30) should work... if not... the connector is the problem

with cheap china made things, kinda 2 works out of 3... on the same car... and 1 out of 10 works perhaps 1 car form 20

 

[JAC]

Just to update on the parasitic draw of the OBD2 connector (the USB version), there is no difference that my meter can tell with it plugged in or not, both time I got a reading of 48mah.

 

[Frank]

Just to update on the parasitic draw of the OBD2 connector (the USB version), there is no difference that my meter can tell with it plugged in or not, both time I got a reading of 48mah.

Yeah, that would make sense, the USB version would be using the same pins as the original house brick sized readers and would have no reason to draw on that live pin, which was probably left live in case anything unexpected ever popped up.

I reckon what popped up was Bluetooth using that and any draw/drain is the first part of its handshake (aka 'Hello, is anybody there?') as often seen, drain-wise, on phones etc. To sum up - USB = no drain or security risk.

Even with Bluetooth, I think there's very little/nil security risk, as my research shows that the CAN (controller area network) Bus connector wasn't added to standard OBDII ports until the mid 2000's and it really is the combination of the two that presents the risk.

Finally, here's an amusing 'proof-of-concept' vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt1xrRL9ULc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

{from our chums in S. Korea, which is why you're seeing squares instead of text)

 

[The Arch Bishop]

I've traditionally had a lot of bother with these on the Puma and have bought three - none of which worked. I've come to the conclusion that it's the ODB socket on the car that is damaged (probably due to water ingress - Puma's are pretty leaky through that bulkhead). I suspect that a few others that have had problems may find the same.

One of my jobs for next year is to test the actual socket. I found this guide for testing whether it has a problem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e-9_FuMWzI

 

[Frank]

I've traditionally had a lot of bother with these on the Puma and have bought three - none of which worked.

I have to take the blame for one of those, I reckon. Hmm, where's the Road Runner smilie when you need it? I'm off! ...........


Btw - good vid, nice find.