Tech Pack OBD temp gauge - cheap

I have been looking for a low cost temperature gauge that reads the OBD port on an iPad/iPhone to calibrate readings to the physical gauge that I installed on the transmission. With the help from KevDog and inspiration from a few others on this forum, I have a cheap and easy solution. I’ll post the details to save others from the trial and error I had to work through.

First I got the OBD Fusion app from the App Store. I did purchase the Enhanced Ford 2016 Diagnostics package for 9.99, but I don’t think you need that adder for this to work.
This App supports a number of OBD2 adapters that vary in price from $13 to $99, I picked a mid-level adapter.

I bought an LE Link OBD2 adapter on Amazon for $35.



Connect to your GT350 and let the system read your car.
Learning the app and programming the PID was most of the work, here are the procedure and settings:
• Start the app hit the upper left menu bar and pick “Settings”
• Go to User-Defined PIDs
• Go to the menu bar in the upper right and pick “New”
• Build the PID to the following;
o Name will display on the gauge, description and category can be anything you want to add.
o English Units = F
o Min Value = -20 (range is your pick)
o Max Value = 280 (range is your pick)
o Metric to English Scale Factor = 1
o Metric to English Offset = 0 (I think these last 2 settings could be used to reduce the equation)
These are important settings:
• Module/Header = ALL
• OBD Mode = 22
• PID Number = 1E1C
• Priority = can be Low or Medium (no need for High)
* Equation = ((((A)*256)+B)*(9/8)+320)/10

Hit "Test" at the bottom to confirm that data is sent back.



Customize the size and look of the gauge and you are ready to go.

Thx Dave, very much appreciated. Thx also for answering my PM.

Will be at it tomorrow first thing.

Dan

Any reason you went with -20 and 280 for values?

Another thing to try.

barstowpo said:

Any reason you went with -20 and 280 for values?

Click to expand...

Because I CAN . . . . . No really, that is the range plus a cushion that I expect to see as I use my car on the street. The nice thing about this setup, you can reset the display range easily, it takes about 20 seconds. When I go to the track I will probably set it to display a range of 120 - 280.

Is that on a iPad how fast does it refresh?

firestarter2 said:

Is that on a iPad how fast does it refresh?

Click to expand...

It works on any iOS device, the refresh is dependent on the priority setting that you apply. I am using my iPhone to monitor transmission temperature. For a category like the transmission temperature the priority can be set low because the data does not change that fast. A gauge like a tach would need a priority of high.

I just figured you might want the max temp a little higher and the low temp a little higher as well.

Don't know if i'm doing something wrong, but the Trans Temp PID i created just won't show up anywhere on the dashboards.

I did hit test at the bottom and got a "succedeed" with a number right next to it.

What am i missing here ! :shrug:

montreal ponies said:

Don't know if i'm doing something wrong, but the Trans Temp PID i created just won't show up anywhere on the dashboards.

I did hit test at the bottom and got a "succedeed" with a number right next to it.

What am i missing here ! :shrug:

Click to expand...

If your equation is correct, the number that comes back when you hit test is your value for the gauge.
To have the gauge display, do the following from one of the gauge display pages . . .
Go to the upper right menu - pick "Add Display"
When the new generic gauge appears, point and hold on the gauge until the Edit Display menu comes up.
Go to Display Configuration
Go to PID
Go to user Defined PIDs
Pick your gauge from the list (there should only be one)
It should display properly,
Then you can edit the look, size and position using the "Edit Display" menu

There should be 3 pages of displays, I cleared all the displays on the last page and am using that page alone for the transmission temp gauge.
You have a lot of flexibility to do whatever you want with this app as far as a display and the range of gauges available, the more I use it the more I like it.

Montreal,

Click "Menu" in Dashboard. Click "Add Display". Choose radial or digital. Hit "Back". Press and hold the new display. It will bring up 7 choices. Choose "Display Configuration". Click "PID". Click "User Defined PIDs". Click "PID (Generic)". Click "Done". Hit "Back" a couple of times to get back to Dashboard. That should get u up and running.

Beat me to it GT Dave.

Thx guys, i finally got it to work. Now if i could just get rid of the two warning honks when leaving the car for a second with key inside !!!!:frusty:

GT_Dave said:

Connect to your GT350 and let the system read your car.
Learning the app and programming the PID was most of the work, here are the procedure and settings:
• Start the app hit the upper left menu bar and pick “Settings”
• Go to User-Defined PIDs
• Go to the menu bar in the upper right and pick “New”
• Build the PID to the following;
o Name will display on the gauge, description and category can be anything you want to add.
o English Units = F
o Min Value = -20 (range is your pick)
o Max Value = 280 (range is your pick)
o Metric to English Scale Factor = 1
o Metric to English Offset = 0 (I think these last 2 settings could be used to reduce the equation)
These are important settings:
• Module/Header = ALL
• OBD Mode = 22
• PID Number = 1E1C
• Priority = can be Low or Medium (no need for High)
* Equation = ((((A)*256)+B)*(9/8)+320)/10

Click to expand...

This is GREAT Dave!!! I tried this a few months ago, but I've never been very good with equations. :doh:

I got this to work using my OBDLink LX and Torque app on my old Android touchpad 5 minutes ago! Works great! Setup was a little different for Torque:

• 
  Settings

• 
  Manage extra PIDS

• 
  Transmission Fluid Temp (I modified Method 2)

• 
  OBD2 Mode = 221e1c

• 
  Scale factor = x1

• 
  Equation = same as yours, thanks for letting me cheat off your homework.

I added some graphs to my Dial...

icormba said:

This is GREAT Dave!!! I tried this a few months ago, but I've never been very good with equations. :doh:

I got this to work using my OBDLink LX and Torque app on my old Android touchpad 5 minutes ago! Works great! Setup was a little different for Torque:

• 
  Settings

• 
  Manage extra PIDS

• 
  Transmission Fluid Temp (I modified Method 2)

• 
  OBD2 Mode = 221e1c

• 
  Scale factor = x1

• 
  Equation = same as yours, thanks for letting me cheat off your homework.

I added some graphs to my Dial...

Click to expand...

Just to add one more thing on here if you are using Torque App:

You need to change the OBD Header from TCM to AUTO.

Or at least I needed to, to get it to work, took a few try's but it works now.

Thanks guys! This will keep me going till I get the MX OBDII reader and mess around with Forscan.