I’ve started a crowdfunding campaign on CrowdSupply to build a new batch of MeatPi CAN adapters. I also released a new variant based on USB-CAN form factor, it supports Serial/USB, WiFi and BLE. And it can be powered of the screw terminal connector and supports up to 36V.
I’m also working on new features such as integration with Home Assistant and supporting ELM327 protocol and Realdash protocol simultaneously.
Received my adaptor and ordered another 4. Tested, all seemed to work great until I tried using buttons to activate things on the ECU.
The standard wired usb can adaptor works perfectly, over WiFi it doesn’t work, not tested over Bluetooth.
Have I missed something?
Hi Meatpi, I am currently using a Vgate iCar pro BT OBD2 adapter in my BMW 320d F30 LCI. I just got to know today that I can use multiple data sources in RD.
I want to buy the WiCAN-USB adapter. I am assuming it can connect to my USB port in the glove box. I currently use an 8" Android Tablet. If I connect the tablet using Wifi to the WiCAN-USB adapter, will my Wifi be blocked for other uses like connecting to my phone for hotspot or can both of them be used simultaneously?
If not, I will have to buy the WiCAN-OBD adapter for BLE and replace my Vgate adapter. I presume either WiCAN-OBD or WiCAN-USB will capture more accurate readings from the CAN bus and will also be faster than my Vgate.
Do I need to know how to configure, choose the baud rates, etc specific to my car while configuring using Web-CAN or will it work with default settings? I am not that tech savvy.
I live in India. Your crowd supply website says WiCAN-OBD is in stock and WiCAN-USB will ship by May 15th.
Pls tell me which one will be better for my requirement so that I can order immediately.
I want to buy the WiCAN-USB adapter. I am assuming it can connect to my USB port in the glove box. I currently use an 8" Android Tablet. If I connect the tablet using Wifi to the WiCAN-USB adapter, will my Wifi be blocked for other uses like connecting to my phone for hotspot or can both of them be used simultaneously?
If you connect to USB port there’s no need to use WiFi, WiCAN-USB works with WiFi, BLE and USB interface. You can power WiCAN-USB directly from the battery or USB port if you want.
So if you connect you tablet to WiCAN hotspot then you won’t be able to use the WiFi on you tablet for anything else. The better way to connect WiFI is to use WiFi station mode, which means that WiCAN connects to your WiFi AP, but this won’t work with Phone hotspot because the phone gives a different IP address every time.
If not, I will have to buy the WiCAN-OBD adapter for BLE and replace my Vgate adapter. I presume either WiCAN-OBD or WiCAN-USB will capture more accurate readings from the CAN bus and will also be faster than my Vgate.
Few thing you should know, there’s 2 type of communication between the car and realdash. The first type is OBD2 protocol, and the second type is raw CAN. The Vgate adapter is OBD2 based only, WiCAN supports CAN raw and has limited support for OBD2 protocol. I said limited support because there are some features are not yet supported such as multi-PID requests, which make Vgate adapter technically faster in this mode. Also WiCAN ONLY supports CAN and NO other OBD2 protocols such as SAE J1850 PWM or SAE J1850 VPW.
Reading CAN raw messages is faster and the update rate is much faster than OBD2. Since OBD2 has very limited throughput. However the issue with reading raw CAN messages, is that you need a channel description file specific for your car or ECU. Or if you can find a CAN DBC file also specific to your car, you can write your own channel description file. Also you should note that some cars don’t expose the internal CAN bus messages on the OBD2 connector.
I suggest that you keep using Vgate adapter unless you’re interested in experimenting/learning and getting your hands dirty
Wow, thanks for that candid reply @Meatpi. I will continue with Vgate as per your suggestion since it’s giving me all the basic readings and I don’t have the technical capability to experiment.
Just a follow up question…Since BMW doesn’t expose the internal CAN bus messages via OBD2, the OBDLink MX+ also wouldn’t be too different from the Vgate, right?
I don’t know much about Vgate, but I know OBDLink MX+ is a good adapter. If Vgate supports Multi-PID request and has a stable connection then I reckon you won’t see much difference.
