Do most cars have an Onboard Diagnostics Port or is this more so in newer cars only? I wish there was some information about what cars this is expected to work with.
It says on the page "It works with just about any car sold in the United States since 1996." It's been mandatory for all car manufacturers in the US since 1996.
Any car with a OBD II port should work with the device... just Google your car. As noted, it's basically anything after 96 save for Hondas and a few other models.
How does that work? There's 11 counties in Wisconsin where you cannot register your car unless you pass a biannual smog check which for any post '96 car involves the OBD-II check for codes and readiness indicators. So no ODB-II port means no wisconsin license plate with very few exceptions (mainly antique cars and electric cars)
Search the Google Play store for OBD-II. You'll find a number of apps that allow you to get at the data in various forms using a <$10 Bluetooth adapter.
edit: the advantage of Automatic is that it's an all in one solution for the mass market, rather than the DIY/car enthusiast nature of the existing apps and hardware.
"The technical implementation of EOBD is essentially the same as OBD-II, with the same SAE J1962 diagnostic link connector and signal protocols being used."
So it likely will work with European cars. (I'm not associated with Automatic, but I have done research into OBD-II previously).
Yes, it is the OBD II port, and is typically used for on board diagnostics and connects directly to the ECU. The bluetooth "dongles" have been around for a number of years.
Very good concept overall, I like the idea A LOT. One thing that surprised me:
>> Speeding doesn't save as much time as you might think, but driving 10 MPH over the speed limit reduces fuel efficiency by 12-15%.
How's my fuel efficiency related to the speed limit set by local authorities?
Obviously it varies by car but the the theory is that most engines are less fuel efficient at higher speeds. So driving the speed limit is more fuel efficient than driving over the speed limit.
The highest gear's most efficient peak of most "consumer" cars maximizes efficiency around 65mph. The NHTSA considered efficiency along with safety when making their recommendation so many years ago.
Hey isalmon, fuel efficiency is not related to the speed limit. We just use that as a frame of reference. The actual numbers are that fuel efficiency drops by 12-15% for every 10 mph above 50 mph. Here's an article which talks about that - http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/01/thomas-20130117.html
That data includes cars going back to 1984. From what I have heard (and have no citation for this), newer cars remain efficient at higher speeds than 50 mph. Do you know if that's true?
Some day when you are on a freeway without many other cars around, shift into neutral. Depending on your car model, you will lose 1-2 mph every second until you get to around 50 mph, when you will lose speed much more slowly. On a flat road it might take you a whole minute to drop the next 10 mph.
(Make sure you are in the right hand land before doing stuff like this. Also be aware that driving too slow can be as dangerous as driving too fast.)
I wonder if some wing tech were possible to be used on vehicle body as an aftermarket option to increase laminar flow (or delay separation, I'm not sure, not an AE) to reduce air resistance.
I've seen hypermilers put aeroshells (don't know the proper name) on the backs of their cars to reduce air friction. It's pretty simple to do, but it looks very trashy.
More: What is my gas mileage? How long can I go without refilling (can I make it to my destination)? How has my (friend/significant other/child) been driving when they're in my car? What can I do to be improving my driving habits or fuel economy? How far did I drive and what did it cost me (anyone who travels for work)?
I'm sure I paid more than this for BMW Assist in my car (I think like $100-$300, can't remember). I was in an accident a couple years ago; it wasn't a terrible accident, but if it had been, the service it provided would have been well worth the price tag (notifying all the right people, making sure I'm okay, tracking my location for me, etc). If the functionality is similar, this is easily worth the $65 price tag on that alone. If I'm a parent with a first-time driver, you can bet I'd pick one up for my kid.
I have OnStar for similar reasons -- primarily as a safety device -- however it retains three rather large benefits-
1) OnStar is a hardened part of the vehicle, built specifically to endure a high speed collision. Someone's smartphone in the center console would likely be ejected or demolished by the same.
2) The two way voice phase before initiating emergency services gives comfort that there aren't false emergency calls that can get you in legal or financial troubles.
3) Via the antenna on the car (raised, on the outside of the vehicle, large), I can confidently say that OnStar has given me connectivity in many cases where my smartphone has none.
I'm not trying to be an ad for OnStar, but based upon those facts I can't make the economic decision that this is a replacement for that. For someone who doesn't have OnStar as an option this would likely be fine, but just thought it was worth mentioning that.
I'm with you. Pay $70 for an app that tells me how much money I spent on gas? If I cared that much about my money I wouldn't pay that much for an app when I have paper and pencil.
How about I just make an app that uses GPS to check your speed and flash "SLOW THE FUCK DOWN" on quick acceleration, repetitive deceleration or anything over 65mph? Do it over a weekend, charge $5. You'll make more with lots of fish than a handful of whales.
Very cool. I'm still waiting for a phone version of the Tactrix open port though. Would love to be able to do in-depth data-logging of my car and ECU flashing from my phone... the market for that is significantly smaller though I'm sure.
I'm just hoping there's a way to turn it off without losing any other functionality. I really don't want to be hit with the bill from an accidental 911 call, I'll take my chances that if there's an accident someone around (or I) will be able to call 911 without a $70 app deciding it for me.
I would also be concerned (this seems to be an extreme edge case) that off-roading may trip the sensor. I try not to break my equipment, but I've seen some guys running their daily driver pretty hard, and it's not uncommon to have some extreme jarring going on if you hit a jump wrong or run over a log going a bit too fast. I can see a good deal of this functionality from the device being applicable even off the road, but having 911 pay you a visit down in a mud pit because your tire hit a rock and bounced off doesn't seem like a positive.
The privacy policy implies that there might be a way to turn it off ("...If you use..."):
"If you use Crash Alert, in the event you are in a crash, we may share your location and personally identifiable information with emergency responders and your emergency contacts."[1]
Even if it accessed some 911 api (I don't know if such a thing exists), if emergency responders came to you it would still be a "call". The fine is for taking emergency crews away from potentially more serious calls.
Does it send the alert straight away or do you get a chance to stop it if it triggers accidentally or the accident isn't so bad that you need an ambulance?
It's shocking to me how much better the automatic web design is. They tell a similar story but I leave automatic's site with a much clearer understanding of the features, price and value proposition.
I've had one of these cheap Bluetooth OBD-II adapters for quite a while now, however, the tight integration that this solution shows in the demo is enough to get me to preorder. There was just too much fiddling with the other apps. Maybe the gamification of maximizing my MPG will keep me off the pedal...
I've seen these before. There are several companies working on similar products (and things like HUDs you can get off of eBay which show you OBD-II information).
The main problem with these (all of them!) is that the OBD II was never designed to be used like this. It will run the device 24/7 even when the car is turned off. So it will run down your battery in a similar way to leaving the cabin light on would do...
Nothing dramatic but if you're a "city driver" (i.e. no high-speed driving to recharge your battery) then you could get yourself into a situation where you need to be jump-started.
So as I said, great concept, however until the OBD-II port is "fixed" so it can be switched on and off I wouldn't get one for my car. Too high a chance that I wouldn't use my car for a weekend and then find it wouldn't start on Monday.
It could, but keep in mind many OBD-II ports are out of reach. The one shown in the marketing is real, but many are located on the passenger side or a lot deeper on the driver's side.
OBD-II might be a standard, but as I said it was designed to be used while the car is in a garage, never while it is being driven. So there is no "standard" for manufacturers to position it.
I bet it could. But how would it ever turn its self back on? I mean if it is receiving OBD-II information then it knows when the car is running, but if it isn't (which it wouldn't be if it is "off") then it couldn't know to switch its self on.
If the device has its own battery power, it could probably use a transistor to just disconnect from the battery voltage completely and go into a low power mode where it just checks for ODB2 information periodically, or even just turns itself on when your phone is in range.
The phrase you need to google for is "battery isolator". Unfortunately most are rated at like 40 amps for RVs and you want a 40 milliamp one. Many ham radio guys know all about little boxes that connect when the voltage rises above 13.7 volts and disconnect when the voltage applied drops below 13 volts or so. Traditionally you don't use a microprocessor for this, its a beefy FET and two resistors in a voltage divider and not much else. That can be kinda drifty and imprecise depending on resistor and FET tolerance.
Another way is the car squirts ODB-II "stuff" at the port when its on, so little more than a diode/cap/FET combined properly will more or less work.
The strangest way I ever saw relied on what amounts to "hearing" alternator whine over the DC bus. If the alternator isn't spinning while the engine's running, you've got issues. Any source of KHz range noise would activate them, including unfortunately high powered CB radios.
One reason to own a scan tool is to debug anti-lock brake sensors by driving around and noticing which wheel always reports zero... then replace that one sensor. This is far superior to random shotgun troubleshooting. Also while I had a thermostat problem I drove around quite awhile with my scan tool watching the thermostat misregulate my cooling system which is what led to failed readiness indicators because the engine never warmed up all the way only 99% of the way, etc etc. ODB-II is very old, like a college freshman, whereas this is a new iphone app. The equivalent for android, a program called Torque, is old. There are almost certainly HN posters younger than the standard ODB-II port. I bought a bluetooth ODB-II reader for my android/torque phone probably two years ago? It does apparently everything this new app does. My now antique orange physical scan tool appliance that cost me about $150 is about ten years old and obsolete, although it does still work. It is much tougher construction that my phone, which cost a lot more than $150...
One of the nicest Torque features is being able to reconfigure the gauge display. No point in being distracted by the oil pressure gauge when you're driving around if all you care about is a graph of the coolant temp vs time or peak coolant temp or whatever it was.
We're paranoid about not running your car's battery down. When the ignition is off, we consume less than 1 mA. By itself, the Automatic Link would take 3-4 years to drain even a cheap battery.
I'm glad you replied to this criticism. I'm very excited about your product, and I'm hoping that you are planning on a third party API so folks can build apps for your customers..... maybe that was written somewhere and I missed it??
We'd love to build an API. It's on a long list of things we want to build. The Automatic Link supports OTA updates (through the phone). So, our users can expect improvements. In fact, we think of ourselves as a software company. We built a hardware device because that was the only way we could achieve the user experience we wanted to deliver.
I think it's better to break this down, because this myth of 'running out of battery' is really exaggerated
Let's say your average battery has 40AH. That means it can provide 1A for 40h (or better, the product time(h) x current(A) = 40 for a charged battery) @ 12v
If your lamps consume 24W (I'm guessing), that's 2A, it means it would go from fully charget to nothing in 20h. But of course, your battery is usually not 100% and you need a certain battery capacity to start the engine.
Even if the consumption of this device is 1W while idle (which is really an exaggerated value), the device uses around 0.084A and the battery would take 480h to go from 100% to 0% (or about 20 days)
My guess is that an unpowered car uses more than that by itself, so this dongle is not an issue, unless you're leaving it unattended, you can unplug it but will probably run out of battery nonetheless.
I wouldn't call it a myth people have reported issues with similar port adapters, particularly bluetooth ones. If the issue doesn't apply here then great but in general people should pay attention.
My cheap chinese bluetooth obd2 device caused my battery to drain when I was ill for a week and didn't use my car over the christmas holidays. On the plus side now I know how to jump start it.
Thanks, this is good to know since I have one too. I'll have to start unplugging mine (also cheap and probably Chinese, though I got it on Amazon). But I've left it in for several months without issue, I guess maybe I just drive regularly enough that it's not an issue.
I'm not saying a cheap chinese adaptor won't drain your battery, but from what's shown I hope they thought of an energy saving system
It's possible to build it to not use excess energy.
Personal anecdote: Last year I would not use my car for long stretches (between 2 and 3 weeks), as I was traveling. 2 weeks is doable, 3 weeks I'll be certain to have a dead battery on arrival.
Car batteries don't die after sitting idle for three weeks, not in a normal car with a working battery.
At 1mA of current draw, this device is definitely not a problem. But the idea that an unpowered car uses enough power to drain the battery in less than a month is clearly ridiculous.
Weather is a factor, especially for those living in harsh winter climates. The first "C" in a battery's CCA rating is "Cold." i.e., how much current the battery can provide for 30 seconds of cranking continuously at 0F when brand new. That current rating drops significantly below zero Fahrenheit - http://www.pacificpowerbatteries.com/aboutbatts/car%20batter...
In a climate where 32F may be the highest temperature seen for months, a car sitting idle for two weeks can definitely be in danger of not starting due to the battery not being able to crank the engine after being cold-soaked at -20F all night.
Grew up in Wisconsin. Definitely an issue. I had an old Ford Aerostar that would only give you one chance to start if it was below -10F and if it started, you didn't dare let it stop for a while. :)
Well, when was the last time you left your car without powering it for a while?
If the battery is showing some age, and/or didn't go to 100%, less than a month is typical (depending on the accessories as well: alarm, stereo - some uses standby power, etc)
A few years ago, when I was traveling for about a month. Had no trouble starting the car afterwards.
An older battery surely won't do as well, but then it'll do even less well with an extra 1W draw hooked up. No matter how you slice it, a load that will drain a car battery in good condition in 20 days is a pretty big load.
The current budget for an unpowered car is on the order of 20mA, and they're specced to leave the factory such that they can be left in that state and started after a month.
If you switch the alarm on, that budget increases to something like 120mA, but you'll kill the car inside a fortnight.
That's very good to hear, the reason why I didn't make talking to the obd port a regular hobby is because my wifi connector would eat the battery up in a few days.
Drop an amp meter between the ground cable and your battery's negative terminal (after disconnecting that connection, of course), and you'll probably see and existing, full time current draw (while the vehicle is off and parked) in any modern vehicle well above what an odb dongle will use.
Oh really, I didn't realize this was the case. I have a cheap ODB2 reader and I use Torque to estimate my gas mileage, and I just leave it plugged in but in the settings it has an option to remind you to unplug it but I didn't know why. Now I know. I have to say though that I've left it plugged in for a good few months or so and haven't had any problems.
It is my understanding that engine codes are not public and car manufacturers consider them copyrighted information, requiring a license. I wonder if Automatic reverse engineered the codes or licensed them from the manufacturers.
The check engine light is only used to indicate problems with the car's emission system. It is unlikely to provide anything actionable unless you're planning to get your car smogged soon.
Most of the in-depth codes are proprietary, but at the same time, things like mass airflow sensor info and throttle position sensors are under the standard specs for OBD-II info. So even without paying the many thousands of dollars to Ford, etc for the info, you can usually get a good idea of what's going on.
Also, the check engine light is something that can display things that people would only consider tangentially related to the car's emissions system. Things like misfires, or even occasionally transmission problems, can also trigger this light.
As I understand it, no. ODBII is a read-only data port that surfaces information about the state of your car. I don't believe it lets you enter commands.
That being said, there have been man vulnerabilities in car software which is all proprietary and hasn't undergone any public review, so I guess it is possible.
They can but they are usually pre-programmed commands set by the manufacturer. Most electronic elements to a vehicle can be controlled with the correct manufacturer equipment and software that most branded dealerships have.
I mean at the very least it is used to control car keys. I know that because MANY cars are being stolen locally via the keys being reset using the OBD-II port.
They target particular models of a car. They drive around, find that car/model, then use a slim jim to open the door, plug into the OBD-II port, and reset the key to one in their possession - then they can just drive the car away as if it was their own.
(Apparently it is particularly straightforward on recentish BMWs, because the alarm has a dead area that allows a thief to gain access to the OBD port undetected.)
The Automatic Link includes a built-in accelerometer that can detect many types of crashes. Automatic uses your phone's data connection to immediately report the crash to 911 with your name, location, and vehicle description.
Now this fascinates me. I wonder what parameters are required to trigger the automatic emergency notification.
Ford Sync and OnStar somehow already do this. I'm just guessing, but it probably just makes a phone call like "Air bags deployed at xxx lat yyy long location. This has been an automated call."
Does the onboard computer report that the airbags have deployed?
Yes the ECU has a state that detects airbag deployment but even the airbags can have a false deploy (see the most recent episode of Top Gear for a prime example).
Honestly, any airbag deploy should be a call to 911. I think it's how OnStar works.
Airbags are dangerous. Not as dangerous as not having one when you are in a car crash, so don't go taking yours out. I'm related to an engineer who worked on deployment, and the manufacturers worried a lot about only doing it in cases of true crashes. They aren't perfect but nothing is.
I would label this as "Mint.com for your Car". And along with that, I'm sure your data will be collected, analyzed, and sold. I imagine they'll eventually partner with insurance companies too and these stats will influence your rates. Companies like Progressive are already doing this.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying any of this is wrong or bad. I'm just trying to imagine what the bigger picture here is for them.
(Edit) From their Privacy Policy:
In an ongoing effort to better understand and serve our users, we often conduct research on our customer demographics, interests, and behavior based on the Personal Data and other information provided to us. This research may be compiled and analyzed on an aggregate basis, and we may share this aggregate data with our affiliates, agents and business partners. This aggregate information does not identify you personally. We may also disclose aggregated user statistics in order to describe Automatic to current and prospective business partners, and to other third parties for other lawful purposes.
As we develop our business, we might sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar event, Personal Data may be part of the transferred assets; in this event, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership, as well as any choices you may have regarding your Personal Data. We may also share your information with our subsidiaries and affiliates, if any.
If the service turns out to actually be usefil, I hope they will consider charging money for it in lieu of spiriting away my personal information as you suggest.
You could argue that the device costs $70, but the service is "free". What seems to be the plea is to have the device cost something and have the service cost an amount of money, rather than an amount of information.
Well from what I have seen, you buy that device and then you install an app on your phone. Surely you could use a firewall on your phone to block outside contact as the connection between the device and your phone is over a closed bluetooth network.
I'm just assuming here that the phone app doesn't self destruct when there is no internet connection.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 270 ms ] threadHow does that work? There's 11 counties in Wisconsin where you cannot register your car unless you pass a biannual smog check which for any post '96 car involves the OBD-II check for codes and readiness indicators. So no ODB-II port means no wisconsin license plate with very few exceptions (mainly antique cars and electric cars)
iPhone accessory manufacturer had a smartphone-OBD-II product called CarTrip which they discontinued:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/blog/new/cartrip-and-cleand...
As others have noted, you can buy the hardware yourself for pretty cheap: http://dx.com/p/obdii-bluetooth-car-diagnostic-cable-black-b...
Combine it with an app like Torque...: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torq...
...or Rev and you've got some of the functionality already: http://www.devtoaster.com/products/rev/
edit: the advantage of Automatic is that it's an all in one solution for the mass market, rather than the DIY/car enthusiast nature of the existing apps and hardware.
This may have changed, so for now the conventional ELM### devices are Android/Jailbreak only.
As an iOS user, this alone makes me interested in Automatic's product.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics#EOBD
"The technical implementation of EOBD is essentially the same as OBD-II, with the same SAE J1962 diagnostic link connector and signal protocols being used."
So it likely will work with European cars. (I'm not associated with Automatic, but I have done research into OBD-II previously).
The downside of course is much more immediate guilt about my fast accel/deceleration habits.
Doesn't say on the site, but is there an expected ship date?
Ah says in the email:
> You’ll only be charged once your Automatic Link ships in May (for iPhone) and Fall (for Android).
i'm a car guy and i've never heard of this before. source?
So if your car is newer than 1996 then you're good to go. Just assume you have it. If it is any older then check.
How's my fuel efficiency related to the speed limit set by local authorities?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuel_economy_vs_speed_1997...
Some day when you are on a freeway without many other cars around, shift into neutral. Depending on your car model, you will lose 1-2 mph every second until you get to around 50 mph, when you will lose speed much more slowly. On a flat road it might take you a whole minute to drop the next 10 mph.
(Make sure you are in the right hand land before doing stuff like this. Also be aware that driving too slow can be as dangerous as driving too fast.)
How the hell much did that domain cost?
1) OnStar is a hardened part of the vehicle, built specifically to endure a high speed collision. Someone's smartphone in the center console would likely be ejected or demolished by the same.
2) The two way voice phase before initiating emergency services gives comfort that there aren't false emergency calls that can get you in legal or financial troubles.
3) Via the antenna on the car (raised, on the outside of the vehicle, large), I can confidently say that OnStar has given me connectivity in many cases where my smartphone has none.
I'm not trying to be an ad for OnStar, but based upon those facts I can't make the economic decision that this is a replacement for that. For someone who doesn't have OnStar as an option this would likely be fine, but just thought it was worth mentioning that.
How about I just make an app that uses GPS to check your speed and flash "SLOW THE FUCK DOWN" on quick acceleration, repetitive deceleration or anything over 65mph? Do it over a weekend, charge $5. You'll make more with lots of fish than a handful of whales.
I would also be concerned (this seems to be an extreme edge case) that off-roading may trip the sensor. I try not to break my equipment, but I've seen some guys running their daily driver pretty hard, and it's not uncommon to have some extreme jarring going on if you hit a jump wrong or run over a log going a bit too fast. I can see a good deal of this functionality from the device being applicable even off the road, but having 911 pay you a visit down in a mud pit because your tire hit a rock and bounced off doesn't seem like a positive.
"If you use Crash Alert, in the event you are in a crash, we may share your location and personally identifiable information with emergency responders and your emergency contacts."[1]
[1] https://www.automatic.com/legal#privacy
> Automatic uses your phone's data connection to immediately report the crash to 911 with your name, location, and vehicle description.
I am looking forward to the competition (and innovation) in this space.
The main problem with these (all of them!) is that the OBD II was never designed to be used like this. It will run the device 24/7 even when the car is turned off. So it will run down your battery in a similar way to leaving the cabin light on would do...
Nothing dramatic but if you're a "city driver" (i.e. no high-speed driving to recharge your battery) then you could get yourself into a situation where you need to be jump-started.
So as I said, great concept, however until the OBD-II port is "fixed" so it can be switched on and off I wouldn't get one for my car. Too high a chance that I wouldn't use my car for a weekend and then find it wouldn't start on Monday.
OBD-II might be a standard, but as I said it was designed to be used while the car is in a garage, never while it is being driven. So there is no "standard" for manufacturers to position it.
I bet it could. But how would it ever turn its self back on? I mean if it is receiving OBD-II information then it knows when the car is running, but if it isn't (which it wouldn't be if it is "off") then it couldn't know to switch its self on.
Kind of a chick/egg problem.
You could run something like this for months/years on a car battery.
The company rep said in a previous reply that it consumes < 1 mA when the ignition is off, that's good enough.
The phrase you need to google for is "battery isolator". Unfortunately most are rated at like 40 amps for RVs and you want a 40 milliamp one. Many ham radio guys know all about little boxes that connect when the voltage rises above 13.7 volts and disconnect when the voltage applied drops below 13 volts or so. Traditionally you don't use a microprocessor for this, its a beefy FET and two resistors in a voltage divider and not much else. That can be kinda drifty and imprecise depending on resistor and FET tolerance.
Another way is the car squirts ODB-II "stuff" at the port when its on, so little more than a diode/cap/FET combined properly will more or less work.
The strangest way I ever saw relied on what amounts to "hearing" alternator whine over the DC bus. If the alternator isn't spinning while the engine's running, you've got issues. Any source of KHz range noise would activate them, including unfortunately high powered CB radios.
Some as wonderful as being literally right in the centre console, to being as horrible as under a mat in the passenger side.
Where is the connector located?
The connector must be located within three feet of the driver and must not require any tools to be revealed. Look under the dash and behind ashtrays.
One reason to own a scan tool is to debug anti-lock brake sensors by driving around and noticing which wheel always reports zero... then replace that one sensor. This is far superior to random shotgun troubleshooting. Also while I had a thermostat problem I drove around quite awhile with my scan tool watching the thermostat misregulate my cooling system which is what led to failed readiness indicators because the engine never warmed up all the way only 99% of the way, etc etc. ODB-II is very old, like a college freshman, whereas this is a new iphone app. The equivalent for android, a program called Torque, is old. There are almost certainly HN posters younger than the standard ODB-II port. I bought a bluetooth ODB-II reader for my android/torque phone probably two years ago? It does apparently everything this new app does. My now antique orange physical scan tool appliance that cost me about $150 is about ten years old and obsolete, although it does still work. It is much tougher construction that my phone, which cost a lot more than $150...
One of the nicest Torque features is being able to reconfigure the gauge display. No point in being distracted by the oil pressure gauge when you're driving around if all you care about is a graph of the coolant temp vs time or peak coolant temp or whatever it was.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controller_Area_Network
Most other electronic components are sub-100uA
Let's say your average battery has 40AH. That means it can provide 1A for 40h (or better, the product time(h) x current(A) = 40 for a charged battery) @ 12v
If your lamps consume 24W (I'm guessing), that's 2A, it means it would go from fully charget to nothing in 20h. But of course, your battery is usually not 100% and you need a certain battery capacity to start the engine.
Even if the consumption of this device is 1W while idle (which is really an exaggerated value), the device uses around 0.084A and the battery would take 480h to go from 100% to 0% (or about 20 days)
My guess is that an unpowered car uses more than that by itself, so this dongle is not an issue, unless you're leaving it unattended, you can unplug it but will probably run out of battery nonetheless.
I don't think most car batteries are dead after twenty days of not driving, and, as you said, most batteries aren't always fully topped up.
It's possible to build it to not use excess energy.
Personal anecdote: Last year I would not use my car for long stretches (between 2 and 3 weeks), as I was traveling. 2 weeks is doable, 3 weeks I'll be certain to have a dead battery on arrival.
At 1mA of current draw, this device is definitely not a problem. But the idea that an unpowered car uses enough power to drain the battery in less than a month is clearly ridiculous.
In a climate where 32F may be the highest temperature seen for months, a car sitting idle for two weeks can definitely be in danger of not starting due to the battery not being able to crank the engine after being cold-soaked at -20F all night.
If the battery is showing some age, and/or didn't go to 100%, less than a month is typical (depending on the accessories as well: alarm, stereo - some uses standby power, etc)
An older battery surely won't do as well, but then it'll do even less well with an extra 1W draw hooked up. No matter how you slice it, a load that will drain a car battery in good condition in 20 days is a pretty big load.
If you switch the alarm on, that budget increases to something like 120mA, but you'll kill the car inside a fortnight.
The check engine light is only used to indicate problems with the car's emission system. It is unlikely to provide anything actionable unless you're planning to get your car smogged soon.
Also, the check engine light is something that can display things that people would only consider tangentially related to the car's emissions system. Things like misfires, or even occasionally transmission problems, can also trigger this light.
That being said, there have been man vulnerabilities in car software which is all proprietary and hasn't undergone any public review, so I guess it is possible.
They can but they are usually pre-programmed commands set by the manufacturer. Most electronic elements to a vehicle can be controlled with the correct manufacturer equipment and software that most branded dealerships have.
I mean at the very least it is used to control car keys. I know that because MANY cars are being stolen locally via the keys being reset using the OBD-II port.
They target particular models of a car. They drive around, find that car/model, then use a slim jim to open the door, plug into the OBD-II port, and reset the key to one in their possession - then they can just drive the car away as if it was their own.
(Apparently it is particularly straightforward on recentish BMWs, because the alarm has a dead area that allows a thief to gain access to the OBD port undetected.)
Now this fascinates me. I wonder what parameters are required to trigger the automatic emergency notification.
Sudden deceleration + airbag deploy = 911?
Yes the ECU has a state that detects airbag deployment but even the airbags can have a false deploy (see the most recent episode of Top Gear for a prime example).
Airbags are dangerous. Not as dangerous as not having one when you are in a car crash, so don't go taking yours out. I'm related to an engineer who worked on deployment, and the manufacturers worried a lot about only doing it in cases of true crashes. They aren't perfect but nothing is.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying any of this is wrong or bad. I'm just trying to imagine what the bigger picture here is for them.
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I'm just assuming here that the phone app doesn't self destruct when there is no internet connection.