Lenovo Tablet not reading ECU data

Hi,

Does anyone know do some tablets not read USB data?

I have a Lenovo E7 and I have activated USB debugging and set the baud rate etc correctly for my Vipec ECU. I plugged in my phone (Google Pixel 9 pro) in and it read some data and connected to ECU. So I believe the issue to be the tablet.

When i go to USB connections on the tablet it is greyed out and says not connected.

Appreciate any help.

Thank you!
Adam

Android device must have USB OTG support. Pretty much all of them do, so it would be first for us if your Lenovo tablet has no OTG support.

I’m not sure what you mean by this, could you give some more details?

Thank you for your speedy reply!

I will get a photo of it when I am home. But when i go to Connected Devices in the settings, the USB option says not connected and is greyed out.

Also not sure if its relevant but tried and OTG checker app and it said not supported? Don’t know if I trust it or what it means though.

I might reset the tablet to factory settings and try it.

I really want to use this tablet as it is the smallest one I could find to fit into my bezel in my car.

I don’t think that would be necessary if tablet is otherwise working fine (won’t hurt though).

99% of the time these issues are related to Android USB usage permissions, somewhere deep in Android settings there are list of applications that are permitted to use USB with certain apps. Now, with RealDash closed completely (also ‘swiped off’ from running apps), when you plug-in the USB with ECU powered on, do you get Android system message asking if you would like to use USB device with RealDash?

I will try that thanks!

I never seen any message pop up at any time while plugging in.

I should also mention the cable im using is a dual cable so I can also charge the tablet at the same time.

However, Ive tried unplugging the charging port completely and no difference.

It may be worth a shot to try simple USB-OTG adapter with single ends.

UPDATE:

I have tried another cable and I am still no closer to resolving this.

Next course of action unfortunately is to purchase another tablet and try that.

This would indicate that you have not given RealDash a permission to use USB on your device.

Checked all permissions in the Lenovo settings and everything is ticked. Unless its hidden elsewhere. Didnt need any of this on my Google Pixel 9

Yes, you typically do not need unless you have accidently answered ‘No’ to some device permission request.

But who knows, maybe USB OTG is just not working on that particular device.

Have you tried to use a USB hub/doc? I have one on a cheap Samsung tab a8 that I use to modify experiment with new dashboard assets when I’m on the go. It has USB keyboard and mouse.

I also tried it on my pixel 3xl and my pixel 6 pro (as of recently they just ulocked it on the pixel 6 pro, months ago it didn’t work)

However I have no idea nor have I tried to connect directly to my phone with a can reader, as all the USB ones I own do not interface with realdash.

It maybe the tablet itself honestly.

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FINAL UPDATE:

Hey guys, so in the end I just bought a Google Nexus 7 and it connected straight away using the same cable. Success!

However, now I am receiving data but not charging with the Y cable splitter. The last tablet charged but did not receive data (strange). So now I am thinking the USB hub route.

Has anyone any recommendations? It is very confusing, I know only some hubs support charging. I see some need a certain amount of wattage to charge. I would think the 5V from the car USB cable is not enough.

Thanks!

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Some tablets don’t support charging and data transfer at the same time. But a lot of the “Y” splitters won’t work on anything. One thing I would try is a USB-C Hub with a dedicated USB-PD port. Such as this one (I’m in Canada, link may not work). https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/belkin-4-port-usb-c-hub-with-power-delivery-avc018btbk/18145603

I used this on a Lenovo M8 Gen 4 tablet and it worked great.

FYI you can build your own USB cable. Just learned that recently. You can go to adafruit website and they have USB ends. I’d get on YouTube and learn about diy usb. I glanced over it a while back but can’t remember details. I’m far away from buying hardware. I’m doing ui designs and planning before I get to that point.