I was looking at some boost gauges in the market and spending over $300 on a simple boost gauge did not make much sense to me. I remember seeing MAF, Throttle position as options in Ross Tech Software and looked on the internet id any wireless/bluetooth devices can do the same. To my surprise, I found whole bunch of them for under $50.
I bought ELM27 bluetooth dongle made by BAFX from Amazon for $29.67 and plugged it into my OBD port. I paired my Android Phone(Samsung Galaxy S2) in couple of minutes and fired up paid version of Torque($5). Torque lite works just fine too and its free but has few limitations.
I added vaccum as one of the dials and it started working right away. I had a CEL from HFC and cleared it though APR option and reread the car for codes using this software. It showed CEL as a history item and I cleared it using this software once again just to make sure. I reread once again and it didnot show up after that.
There are atleast 30 other values which are read real time including MAF, Tem Sensors, O2 sensor reading, 0-60 times, HP calculator(its approximate), G-Sensor, 1/4 mile time.
It uses phones G sensor(accelerometer) to calculate G values though. 0-60 is calculated using GPS/Car. 1/4 uses GPS.
For $30 I could ask for more. I will be posting a video review but for now this should tease you a bit..
2011 A4 P+, Titanium, P. Black, Nav, B&O
TD1, APR Stage 2+, HFC, Carbonio, LED I/L, VAG-COM, Hoen Xenon, Llumar 35%, 19x9.5 40F/35R AG M310 M.Black (Winter)
Almost forgot, I did research for IOS too for a fellow member and looks like WIFI is the best way to go for Iphone users. Apple has some restrictions about the allowed bluetooth devices that can connect and interact. WIFI are a bit more expensive though. IOS softwares were a bit pricey too ranging from 19.99 to 99.00.
2011 A4 P+, Titanium, P. Black, Nav, B&O
TD1, APR Stage 2+, HFC, Carbonio, LED I/L, VAG-COM, Hoen Xenon, Llumar 35%, 19x9.5 40F/35R AG M310 M.Black (Winter)
Honestly I'm not aware of any specific stories, although I also haven't done any research. It's just appeared to me as a big red flag. Buying a cheap ass eBay spoiler is one thing but plugging a crapy piece of electronics into the brain of my car is another. It may turn-out to be a wonderful product that works for years but you just never know. :)
cool find! totally agree on not wanting to spend $300 just to see boost. I wish Audi would have worked it in to the low res monitor I have on my premium. also, with regards to trusting this cheap device--I recently used the Progressive Insurance snapshot for my wife's car (hey, I'm not entirely stupid). That thing was ridiculously cheap looking, though they'd charge you $50 if you didn't return. I think it's pretty much standardized/off shelf. I'll give this a go unless APR finally comes out with their app (in the next few weeks).
'10 BB B8 Premium no option 6MT, APR Stage II with Eurocode HFC / HFIP / Intercooler hose kit, 034 silicone turbo inlet, K&N drop in filter, ECS tuning magnetic drain plug (ah yeah, bitches!), member of the stock SUV ride height
Yup, I had the progressive snapshot device too. Looked very cheap and it was sucking power from the car.
Too many high accelerations and sudden brakes were recorded. If you accelerate more than 7miles/second it raises a flag and you are not supposed to drive between 1 and 4 and thats my club return time ! Got rid of it in a week.
2011 A4 P+, Titanium, P. Black, Nav, B&O
TD1, APR Stage 2+, HFC, Carbonio, LED I/L, VAG-COM, Hoen Xenon, Llumar 35%, 19x9.5 40F/35R AG M310 M.Black (Winter)
So what do you think of the boost/vacuum gauge on Torque? Do the numbers make sense? Last time I looked into the Torque app it still wasn't that accurate, but that was at least a year ago.
So what do you think of the boost/vacuum gauge on Torque? Do the numbers make sense? Last time I looked into the Torque app it still wasn't that accurate, but that was at least a year ago.
I think the numbers didnot make sense cos Torque measures boost in 'in/hg'. When you convert them to PSI it makes perfect sense.
I got a maximum of 30inHG spike and it translates to 14.7 PSI
2011 A4 P+, Titanium, P. Black, Nav, B&O
TD1, APR Stage 2+, HFC, Carbonio, LED I/L, VAG-COM, Hoen Xenon, Llumar 35%, 19x9.5 40F/35R AG M310 M.Black (Winter)
I would be leery of plugging an inexpensive off-shore OBD2 device into your car....buyer beware.
Sorry to say but your warning is deceiving, you are creating fear where there isn't. There is no way an OBD plug could mess anything up, an OBD II connector works the same way in all cars, there's a positive in the 16th pin negative on the 4th pin, k-line on the 7th and 6th, 14th for CAN high and low, even the cheap ones work the same.
To the OP congrats on your find, I'd really like to see those gauges in the center MMI screen with some help of an xcarlink interface maybe?
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Originally Posted by cory_can
It may turn-out to be a wonderful product that works for years but you just never know. :)
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