Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

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Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by 04colyZQ8 »

I’m looking for a wireless elm327 that can be left plugged in all the time, great sleep mode like 1ma draw, while sleeping. Wakeup command from phone hopefully opposed to seeing obd2 port traffic.

Hopping for 100-150 feet range with wifi or Bluetooth possible?

Using iPhone 6s

Thanks :)

I found a article saying it can reach 100ft via wifi and another article
Saying high quality ones with version 2.1 can achieve 1ma draw, but can’t
Find those in any for sale!
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by Tazzi »

I can kinda comment on this with the amount of clients that I speak to with OBDX Pro.

Low power mode is 'kinda' hard thing to implement for manufactures. Just because different manufactures do different things with their communication. Some will go completely dead after "x" minutes of the car being off and locked, others still broadcast alot of traffic thus making it fairly impossible for a tool to know when the car is actually off.

Due to the above, I personally tell people to just unplug the tool when not in use, or hardwire its power to an ignition circuit instead (This applies to all scantools, not just OBDX).

As for range. Keep in mind that the quality of connection determinates, and the lag increases significantly with distance.

When playing with BLE5, it indicates it has greater speeds and a longer distance. If I walked away from the tool by a good 12-15feet, I could notice a HUGE drop in speed. I cannot image how much of a drop that x8 that value would be.

Wifi is also very dependent on a good antenna to reach long distances. I do feel 100ft would be unrealistic on any tool that does not have some pretty huge antenna built internally.
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by antus »

Wireless is a strange beast. but generally obd2 ports are lower then the door metal, so that reduces signal greatly compared to line of sight. Then it might reflect of a metal roof. And then range also has to do with whats called the Fresnel_zone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone . In the case of wifi/ble you also have reduced signal because of multpath when you get a reflection thats slightly lagged by distance coming in to the same antenna. This is why some APs have multiple antennas. Just a small location change can be a greater or worse quality signal. That said, all you need to know if Tazzi is right and chances of getting range like you want from an interface in an OBD port in a Vehicle is slim.
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by 04colyZQ8 »

Well there goes that idea then!

I was wanting to use a phone app to send signals to
A wireless elm to start, unlock, lock. Would require it to
Be left plugged in, and good range.

Guess I’ll need a adrino of pie to do then?
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by antus »

Well you could, if you want it to be fast and reliable make sure there is a Wifi AP near your shed that is working well itself so the distance from the car to the AP is reduced.
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by MudDuck514 »

antus wrote:Well you could, if you want it to be fast and reliable make sure there is a Wifi AP near your shed that is working well itself so the distance from the car to the AP is reduced.
Couldn't you try using an old, unused phone as an AP?
Then you would have a private network.

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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by antus »

You could, but your getting in to the territory of how to extend a wifi network and all the online documentation about computer networks come in to play, including about roaming (802.11k, 802.11r, 802.11v etc) . Otherwise you need to swap networks to get on to the phone one, reducing the convenience. This might be acceptable, depends on the person and cost requirements.
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by 04colyZQ8 »

MudDuck514 wrote:
antus wrote:Well you could, if you want it to be fast and reliable make sure there is a Wifi AP near your shed that is working well itself so the distance from the car to the AP is reduced.
Couldn't you try using an old, unused phone as an AP?
Then you would have a private network.

Mike
I have a few old iPhones laying around how could that work? Cohn’s the phone in the truck work with blue tooth, and I mirror my app to it! Wouldn’t the spare phone need data?
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by 04colyZQ8 »

What’s the range of a obdx pro? They look professional
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Re: Best genuine elm327 v2.1 low power mode longest range

Post by antus »

Well I think you'd put the phone in the shed where you park the car, and have it running a hotspot, and have the elm paired with that network, so it pulls up and gets on the phone network, then when your at the other end of the house you put your phone on the hotspot network and run the app that talks to the car. But it'd be manual. But all this talk probably doesnt belong in this thread thats a home wifi networking topic and could go on for pages. Tazzi might be able to give you a theoretical range of xpro, but I would guess its similar to everything else, limited by internal antenna type and install location in a car surrounded by body metal.
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