Torque OBD2 Bluetooth Android App?

[FF1077]

I was goofing around with my Android phone when I discovered a app called "Torque".

I guess if you get a OBD2 Bluetooth adapter you can plug it into the OBD2 port and have all the data sent to your phone.

Has anyone used this? Does it work? Can you recommend a Bluetooth adapter?


The website is here-
http://torque-bhp.com/

Thanks.

[babbage]

I was goofing around with my Android phone when I discovered a app called "Torque".

I guess if you get a OBD2 Bluetooth adapter you can plug it into the OBD2 port and have all the data sent to your phone.

Has anyone used this? Does it work? Can you recommend a Bluetooth adapter?


The website is here-
http://torque-bhp.com/

Thanks.

I'd look at that site link you posted. Very small (expensive) screen. Forget about actually using your cell phone when its running that app. Scangage II is better and cheaper. Click the rotating banner up top.

[SID210SA]

MrBluGruv has that app....dont know if he has used it yet.

[FF1077]

Ultimetly I want to go dual Aeroforce Interceptors in my 3 Pod Pillar.
Im just waiting for them to go back in stock, which I hope is soon. I need to move my boost gauge from where it is in the picture up to the pillar. Then I can install a oil pressure guage for my prelubbing system next to the factory (modded) oil pressure gauge. I want to do it all at once, but with the crummy weather in Washington im not in that great of a hurry. Im not able to reallly get into the boost that often on wet pavement.

I downloaded the free Torque app and it does provide data logging, so I am thinking that you could connect everything, go about your drive, and then look at it later when youre bored.

For $50 I can get the app, the bluetooth and a suction cup mount for my phone. You can also set up the bluetooth so you can get data via your Laptop, but that may require more hardware, depending on your laptop.

There are certainly better options, but for the price and the novelty I think its worth trying. I really have no idea what I would be looking at as this is the first OBD (let alone OBD2) car I have owned.

[MrBluGruv]

I have it and the PLX KIWI OBD2-BlueTooth device.

Pros: reads a TON of data, reads and clears trouble codes (maybe in full version or somewhere I haven't found it in the free version though...), data logs, customizable interface to a degree.

Cons: Not amazingly responsive (you can see lag in some readouts probably over 100ms, which isn't fantastic for live monitoring.), sometimes it is picky on whether it wants to connect or not, the free version screen layout is weird: it uses pages to maintain the layout of multiple gauges, but if the program is disrupted or the orientation is switched back and forth, the page division is all wrong, possibly fixed in an update or full version.



Full version can read stuff like HP and TQ based on acceleration, engine size and vehicle weight,and 1/4 mile time readings too.

Phone functionality is not diminished at all while using it, if a call comes in you just switch over like any other app. In fact, I wish it WASN'T so invasive because then you have to play with the orientation to get the gauges to display correctly again after the call or text.


Honestly, if the bluetooth dongle will transmit at 2.1 EDR speeds, you'll probably be performing just as well as the PLX Kiwi for $100, and some of those cheaper ones that do that are between $20 and $30. Can't really go WRONG if you already have the droid phone, but it'd be a no-brainer if the lag wasn't there.

There are a number of other apps that do similar things as well that I haven't tried yet: Voyager and OBDroid are two that come to mind right now.

[Fosters]

I myself am looking at the cheaper bluetooth obd2 dongles; the ELM-327 keeps coming up in searches. If anything, worst case scenario, it'll be a 35 dollar code reader - where the lag doesn't really matter. Bluetooth isn't really fast enough to stream data... I know they have USB ones too, but those have to be hooked up to a laptop, so unless you want to look like the fast and the furious with a laptop next to you, probably best to keep with the bluetooth ones.

[SID210SA]

Chris, If you put your phone on airplane mode will it still work the bluetooth for the app? Will the app still work....just thinking out loud.

[FF1077]

So I got my adapter and paid the few dollars for the full app and have been goofing around with it. I have no clue what I am looking at though. LOL. Syncing the adapter to my phone was super easy. The app did it for me really.

This is my first car with a real computer. What I can tell is that this app logs an impressive amount of stuff. Other than the sensor date, it will tell me my 0-60MPH time, my 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, HP and Torque. You have to tell it your engine size and weight of the car. (I guessed at how much all my stuff in the trunk weighs).

The main display shows 6 readouts, but you can change the number of displays, what they display and the size/format of the displays (dial/graph). There are a few different windows that are easily accessible with a swipe of the finger, and each of those windows you can change as well.

The app allowed me to view any codes that were in the computer (I had none) as well as any pending codes (I had none). One interesting thing I found was a satellite image of the freeway I was on, as well as all the roads around me. Maybe a 3 mile radius. Each road was color coded to indicate its current traffic. I knew that because my freeway was read and the streets next to the freeway were green and yellow. Those side streets had visibly light traffic. If I can figure out how I got to that screen, I will be using it again!

For the data logging you have to choose what you want to log. There must be 30 different things you can monitor. I originally selected just a few things and then once I got to work I emailed myself the log. It’s an Excel CSV format. I have chosen a bunch more stuff to log and will see how that goes. If I can, I will try and upload my log so people can see what I am talking about. There are also some audible alarms that you can set according to the setting screen. I haven’t really looked into that section yet.

Is it the best option out there? No, but this one will allow me to view the data away from the car and share it with others if I wish. Most out there will probably get way more use out of this than I will since they probably know what they are looking at. I think that its worth the $ I have into it.

[FF1077]

Chris, If you put your phone on airplane mode will it still work the bluetooth for the app? Will the app still work....just thinking out loud.

I tried it today and when it goes into airplane mode, it cuts the connection with the bluetooth.

[FF1077]

Here is the log from the app.
I deleted 1500 rows of data to make it so it could be uploaded.

[Fosters]

I finally got mine too... Lets just say I'm lucky to be alive after driving in today... I should have my gf drive one day so I can monkey around with all the dials and graphs in Torque.

What I found kind of odd, is the load on the engine being around 72-75% with cruise control on at 65mph... I thought that was pretty high. The lowest I've seen the load drop is high 20s while coasting. The MPG figures were not all that great... the instant mpg display is interesting, helps when you want to hypermile the vehicle... :)

This was in my v10 4x4 excursion.

[Fosters]

Ok, there's a slight problem with Torque I think...

This is my V10 excursion, only mod is a 91 octane tune:

http://i54.tinypic.com/2urqolw.jpg

:D

[MrBluGruv]

Yeh, honestly some of the data really doesn't read well. MPG figures seem to be WAAAY off, almost all the time. Also, I don't know if you guys have the same issue, but the time lag is pretty bad on my phone with it, it may be the bluetooth radio on my phone but I don't know. It makes things like load and RPM almost useless, I can't even imagine how guys would use this to measure boost if it has lag like this.

What is the response time you guys are seeing with it on your phone? is it instantaneous or like a half-second lag like mine?

[Fosters]

Mine is pretty instantaneous, no complaints there. Samsung Epic. The one thing that bums me out is the transmission temperature stuff doesn't work.

[MrBluGruv]

must be the bluetooth stack on my phone, like I said it is somewhere in the league of like half a second of lag...

I will be updating the ROM image on my phone soon though, I'll take it for a spin then. Also, I presume you are running the paid version, not the freeware/adware version of Torque?

[N40GL]

I wonder whether this'll work with the CarPal - the Bluetooth OBD plug that came with some Windows Mobile software about 6 or so years ago?

[Fosters]

Yeah, I ended up buying it because the paid version came with a "Ford" preset list of PIDs, and supposedly that had transmission temperature. Still doesn't work tho. Oh well, at the very least it's a nifty code reader.