Category: OBD2 interfaces

The mnost common OBD2 adapter used with Toyota techstream is a $20 clone of the XHORSE brand adapter

This adapter is slow to say the least, So i will be comparing it to the Godiag adapter in terms of speed and functionality since they both can work on techstream, and they are priced almost the same.

In linux, the adapter has the IDs (0403:6001), which is naturally the UART side of the adapter, the complete lsusb line is

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 Serial (UART) IC

To pass this to virtual machines, a file needs to be made , so create the file ““/etc/libvirt/qemu/usb/xhorseclone.xml”

<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='yes'>
    <source>
        <vendor id='0x0403'/>
        <product id='0x6001'/>
    </source>
</hostdev>

This way, we can attach and detach this device to the virtual machine with the commands

virsh attach-device toyota --file /etc/libvirt/qemu/usb/xhorseclone.xml --current
virsh detach-device toyota --file /etc/libvirt/qemu/usb/xhorseclone.xml --current

My $25 GoDiag GD101 Nano showed up in the mail yesterday, Acording to the seller, it has functionality similar to Tactrix Openport 2.0, but we are yet to test this theory

Planning to test the tool with a bunch of software and post results here

Since the tool makes no claim about being compatible with Mercedes xentry passthrough, I will be starting there (Verified, Works well with Xentry/DAS, Speed is not bad, no special setup required besides installing the driver)

as soon as I plug in the godiag USB, windows 10 Added USB Serial Device (COM 3) at 9600bps, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit, while Linux (lsusb) returned “Bus 003 Device 005: ID e327:2534 NATIONS N32G43x Port”, again, this is probably just the UART adapter, and has nothing to do with what to expect in terms of functionality

To begin with, I will be installing everything in a KVM machine, and passing the godiag device to it with the following file “/etc/libvirt/qemu/usb/godiag.xml”

<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='yes'>
    <source>
        <vendor id='0xe327'/>
        <product id='0x2534'/>
    </source>
</hostdev>

Then, I can attach/detach the device with

virsh attach-device mercedes --file /etc/libvirt/qemu/usb/godiag.xml --current
virsh detach-device mercedes --file /etc/libvirt/qemu/usb/godiag.xml --current

First, If you are here to research before you buy, the post explaining everything not specific, but applies to VW is here.

VW- group cars include Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, MAN, Lamborghini, and Bugatti, all those vehicles use the same VW diagnostics software.

The software for VW cars is called ODIS and comes in 2 flavors, Service and Engineering (ODIS-S, and ODIS-E)

You don’t need all of the hardware to run the ODIS system as any windows based machine should replace most parts of the station, What you will need is a VCI pass-thru device.

In fact, you don’t need the original hardware at all for that purpose, Your laptop and a cheap passthrough device should do, for example, the GODIAG GD101 is a $20 passthrough piece that works with VWs own software

Legend:
Red = Complete system
Green = VCI passthrough plug

• VAS5052A (Computer)
• VAS5054 (VAS5052A) (VCI, OKI Chip, Bluetooth)
• VAS5054A (VAS5052A) (VCI, OKI Chip, Bluetooth)
• VAS6150B
• VAS 6154A (Like B but different wifi chip)
• VAS 6154B (VCI, ODIS-S 23.0.0 and newer only)
• VAS6160A (VAS 6160 (Newer vehicles), VAS 5051 (Older vehicles), VAS 5052 (non-brand vehicles), VAS 5052A)
• VAS6160C
• VAS6150E-NV
• VAS6150F (VAS6154B)
• VAS6150F-NV

This special CAN BUS hardware (https://cantact.io/cantact/users-guide.html) is very nice in the sense that it lends itself to many possibilities, and this is why I am creating this separate post about it.

An alternative board is the https://canable.io/ board, but I will stick to the board I own for this post

The standard firmware for my Cantact is candlelight available at linklayer/candleLight_fw, And there is a firmware here (https://github.com/HubertD/candleLight), the official users manual page is here (https://cantact.io/) and here (https://github.com/linklayer/cantact-book)

Linklayer also provides some very nice tools such as (https://github.com/linklayer/cantact-app)

Now, with that out of the way, let us take a look at the board itself

microcontroller

etching reads…

stm32f
042CbTb
GH238 93
CHN 708

Which tells us that the microcontroller is an STM32, A great choice for such a device (See the wikipedia article linked)

On linux, can-utils is a great tool for this thing

I actually made a 3D model casing that fits the board perfectly, I will post it here when i find it

This is a list of software and hardware that are relevant to repairing and parts of cars and trucks

Terms and concepts

Obviously, all of this is missing many details that are mostly irrelevant to why you are reading this post, You are probably here to figure out what tools you will need, and that is what I will focus on.

• PID: Parameter IDs: The test software sends IDs and expects error codes or information in return, Some IDs are mandated by the state, other IDs are specific to a manufacturer.
• response (Ex: Error) codes: Just like the PIDs (The questions- sent by the testing instruments), some responses are mandatory standards and others are manufacturer or car specific.
• J1979: A standard set of PID/Response codes of which many are mandatory for all vehicles mostly for emissions regulations purposes
• J1962: A standard for the hardware connector plug you can see under your instrument panel (Under your dash, in the footwell), formally named The DLC (Data link connector), Starting 1996, the OBD-II (OBD2) connector with both its variants (OBDII-A for 12V and OBDII-B for 24V) should be available for all cars sold in the US. Although it is now universal, some cars in other parts of the world didn’t get them until a few years later.
• ELM327 command protocol:
• J2534: THE TOOL, A tool that supports the J2534 standard should be able to speak to the vehicle in all of the following protocols (ISO9141, ISO14230 (KWP2000), J1850, CAN (ISO11898), ISO15765, SAE J2610, and J1939 (2005+))

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