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[Kevin Wood]

Well, I got fed up with having to borrow the "Golden Laptop" from work every time I need to use my cheapo Tech 2 (quite often with a 3.2!) so I thought I'd investigate another possibility.

Got myself one of these, which arrived today: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250208955409

What turned up was actually slightly different to the picture, and had a USB rather than serial interface but it's a very nicely made unit. For the price, I'm impressed.

The first thing to say is that these only work on OBDII vehicles, so 2.2/2.6/3.2. However, they aren't specific to Vauxhall and should work with most OBDII and CAN vehicles. Without paying for more software they will only read the engine ECU too. However, since that is what normally gives grief I decided it would be useful.

Got it out of the box, installed the software on a laptop and set out to discover the reason for my emissions light being on (as if I didn't know!). It worked absolutely first time, reported things in english and is clearly much more stable and less fussy than a cheapo tech 2. P0420 and P0430 were showing (usual cat efficiency problem on a 3.2). The codes could be cleared no problem.

The supplied free software (scantool.net) http://www.scantool.net/ can do basic code reading and clearing from the engine ECU and also reports live data including all main parameters likely to be of interest.

I will probably investigate a few more software packages available in due course but, in my opinion, this is a good alternative to a cheapo Tech 2 for anyone who has a later Omega, for similar money. It took a lot less messing about to get it working!

Kevin

[markey mark]

sounds good kevin !!

[TheBoy]

KW - I have a rather naff Dell that is yours if you want it.  Needs new HDD (nicked it for another Dell for a mate).

CPi PII around 350Mhz as a guess, 128Mb RAM, no HDD.

[VXL V6]

P0420 and P0430 were showing (usual cat efficiency problem on a 3.2). The codes could be cleared no problem.

Reminds me, must get some of that Cataclean!

[Pitchfork]

Would it be any good for my Traktor?

[Golfbuddy]

And this worked with the USB connection straight out of the box?

[Kevin Wood]

KW - I have a rather naff Dell that is yours if you want it.  Needs new HDD (nicked it for another Dell for a mate).

CPi PII around 350Mhz as a guess, 128Mb RAM, no HDD.

Thanks very much for the offer. Is that powerful enough for a cheapo Tech 2? I have tried it on a circa 300 MHz machine with real serial port and it didn't play - perhaps for other reasons though. Will bear in mind. I have a couple of laptop HDDs kicking around...

I also have it in mind to try a PCMCIA serial card containing a real 16550 UART with the cheapo too.

One of the other reasons for getting this lead was to get to live fuel trim data for when I LPG it, and I can see that along with throttle position, load, rpm, speed, lambda voltagesx4, temperatures, etc.

I've also spotted this:

http://www.enginecheck.co.uk/vauxcheck/

Which appears to access some other VX ECUs via an ELM interface. Only does code reading at the moment but fills in some of the cheapo functionality. I'm not about to rush out and buy it but I will keep an eye on it in case it's developed further.

I think P0430 and P0440 should be renamed: "Owner thought about buying cataclean and then thought no, f**k it"

Kevin

[VXL V6]

Would it be any good for my Traktor?

No, only work on OBDII/CAN equipped vehicles. These are generally post 2K Vauxhalls with drive by wire throttles.
  

[Kevin Wood]

Would it be any good for my Traktor?

No. Unfortunately they only supported the OBDII standards on later vehicles.

And this worked with the USB connection straight out of the box?

Yep. From discovering it on my doorstep to reading codes in 10 minutes, at a guess.

Because the time critical processing is farmed out to a chip in the interface the connection to the PC is much less critical.

Kevin

[VXL V6]

I also have it in mind to try a PCMCIA serial card containing a real 16550 UART with the cheapo too.

Still don't think they will work as the IRQ of a PCMCIA card isn't the same as a genuine serial interface but willing to be proven wrong!

I think P0430 and P0440 should be renamed: "Owner thought about buying cataclean and then thought no, f**k it"

I think there is a jumper in the ecu that the dealer fits after it's first service - enables the logic rule 'If miles equal greater than 100 since last code reset then enable Emissions Lamp'

[VXL V6]

The OpelScanner I have is equipped with a USB connector and works fine. I think it's just the cheapo techII's that have a big problem.

[Golfbuddy]

Would it be any good for my Traktor?

No. Unfortunately they only supported the OBDII standards on later vehicles.

And this worked with the USB connection straight out of the box?

Yep. From discovering it on my doorstep to reading codes in 10 minutes, at a guess.

Because the time critical processing is farmed out to a chip in the interface the connection to the PC is much less critical.

Kevin

That sounds like real progress on the code reader front then.

From what I can gather you ordered one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250208955409


And they sent you one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250211239648&ih=015&category=30921


The USB one is advertised for £22 plus £6 postage. Have I got it right?

Martin

[markey mark]

what would min spec of laptop to work one of these ?? and would it work on 98 mv6 ?? :-/

[VXL V6]

what would min spec of laptop to work one of these ?? and would it work on 98 mv6 ?? :-/

Unlikely. Only 3.2 / 2.6 / 2.2

Resets don't need a fantastic laptop but live data needs something reasonable.

I run OpelScanner on a Centrino with 1.5Gb RAM and it's OK. Live data / graphs seem to work OK. Have yet to try it on my work laptop which is much more up to date.

[Kevin Wood]

Would it be any good for my Traktor?

No. Unfortunately they only supported the OBDII standards on later vehicles.

And this worked with the USB connection straight out of the box?

Yep. From discovering it on my doorstep to reading codes in 10 minutes, at a guess.

Because the time critical processing is farmed out to a chip in the interface the connection to the PC is much less critical.

Kevin

That sounds like real progress on the code reader front then.

From what I can gather you ordered one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250208955409


And they sent you one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250211239648&ih=015&category=30921


The USB one is advertised for £22 plus £6 postage. Have I got it right?

Martin

What actually turned up looks identical to this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110217069895

.. and I paid 29.95 + 6.00

The second link you posted is based on the ELM323 not the ELM327. I think the ELM 323 doesn't do CAN. I went for the 327 because it will cover the maximum number of cars, and figured I might as well. A 323 would likely work OK on the Omega but I figured for a few quid extra...

Unfortunately it will only work on 2.2/2.6/3.2 (I have seen reference to it working on 2.0 Vauxhalls as well, so maybe... :-/) It won't work on a 2.5 / 3.0 though.

Kevin