Grazing through EBay I found this little gadget and at less than a fiver was too tempted! It fits into the dashboard styling rather well and gives reassurance that Bette Bumble's battery is doing well, tells me how warm my knees are and has a USB outlet as well. If it made tea and toast it would be perfect! NEW Car Cigarette Lighter Digital Voltmeter 2.1A Thermometer USB Charger LED First photo is with ignition on. Second with engine running. I Love a good gadget!!!
Hah! I have the exact same device - I got mine for free, though. I got it because my battery kept going flat, so I wanted an easy way to see the voltage. Does your have the little thermistor lead?
Yup, the thermistor is on a short 35mm lead curled around the back of the main dial, just above knee height for me. Come on folks, you all must have some crazy fun car related gadgets in your Copens? If it plugs in, even better! Wot U Got????
I have this one, welz has one too ยป ScanGauge E This one does not plug in, but its a nice feature for your nose: California Car Scents | California Scents Of course, a pair of these: Fuzzy dice - Wikipedia
I like the capabilities of the scan guage, especially the fault diagnosis if required. I've looked at their website and on Ebay but I can only locate them in USA but the import/customs duty to Thailand are often more than the item is worth so ordering from the USA is not a viable option. Ebay has these from China at around 50 GBP, just as effective or a waste of money ? Also any photos of where you have mounted it ? I don't like the dash to look cluttered or ugly.
I have mounted it underneath my radio, as I only have a "regular" Radio there is a little "shelf space". There is a cheap one called Turbogauge, it has similar functions - fault diagnosis, gauges etc. but it is not as well made. If you can get one for cheap it would work also. Alternatively get a OBDII Bluetooth sending unit and connect your phone with it using the torque app
When it comes to scan tools / OBD tools there are 3 options: 1) Get a cheapo tool from ebay / DX / Amazon These tools are usually Chinese clones of the real ELM327 chipset, that powers most ODB-II tools. These are fine for retrieving and clearing standard ECU "codes" or issues. They aren't great if you want to do something fancy, like use the full ELM327 command set. It's unlikely you're going to need the full command set of ELM, so a cheap 5 EUR / 5 GPB scanner will do. 2) Get a proper ELM327 chip This is about 20 to 50 GPB / EUR. It is a real ELM327 chip, and not a Chinese knock off. Get this is you want the full command set and an official chip. The basic functions like reading and clearing codes are the exact same as the cheapo tool 3) Get a dealer level tool It is unlikely you'll ever need this level of equipment. The dealer level tool for the Copen is the Denso / Daihatsu DS-II, and costs about 300 GPB / USD / EUR for a Chinese clone. A "real" DS-II is about a grand in your currency of choice. This level of tool will allow you to do things like: open the boot, lower the windows, check if the AC switch is depressed, actuate the ABS, etc. It's overkill for most people. You then have the options of USB / Bluetooth / Dedicated box. Most out there are bluetooth, so apps on your phone can talk to your car. Get USB if you need a higher comms buffer and speed (you probably won't). USB is handy if you want to "sniff" data doing from a DS-II to your OBD-II port via a Y-splitter cable. You look like a moron with a laptop in your car with a USB scanner, though! The DS-II is a dedicated box, and is rather large. The OBD-II port is 12v live at all times, per the various legal specs for OBD-II (EOBD in Europe, JOBD in Japan). Be sure not to leave the OBD-II plugged into your car for extended periods of time when the engine is off, as it will drain the battery (takes ages, but possible). To get around this, some have a battery unit and will shut off from the cars 12v supply - these ones are generally real ELM327 chips and can be pricey. Personally, I have: 1x USB cheapo 2x Bluetooth cheapo 1x bluetooth "proper" 1x DS-II I got them all over the years, and mostly use the "proper" device as it supports the full command set. I needed a proper ELM327 because the cheapos didn't have some of the more esoteric commands I needed (wakeup message and set header) for Project ScootyBus. I wouldn't recommend buying the DS-II unless you are going to create a mobile app or are in the car business - dunno about the other dealer / mechanic level tools out there, they're WAYYY out of my budget.
Here is another cig socket gadget: 12V Car Dual Cigarette Lighter Plug Socket+Dual USB Port Charger+Voltmeter 4 Way
Welz, what amazingly bright speed/Rev dials you have!! Did they come as standard or have you adapted them?
Now this one is just plain weird!! BLUE Car Air Purifier Oxygen Bar+Emergancy Escape hammer Tool+ Dual USB
Wld you pls let me know which Bluetooth 'proper' you use? All I want to do I is to play the music on my iPhone back through the standard Clarion radio/CD player. Thanks.
@Toozalii Lockwood Daihatsu Copen CREAM (ST) Dial Kit 400V | eBay you ca find a thread in the forum..search for lockwood...
BarryCopen: These Bluetooth OBD transmitters are not capable of transmitting music to your radio, they are for vehicle diagnostic only. Maybe look for a Bluetooth FM Transmitter or just chuck the ugly clarion stereo out and fit a nice one that has Bluetooth built in
Thanks for all the info, having read Salieri's post about Turboguage I googled that and realised I had omitted the link from Ebay about the Chinese one I can have delivered to Thailand for around 50 GBP which is the Turboguage so I may go for that. Brand New TurboGauge IV Auto Computer Scan Tool Digital Gauge 4 in 1 | eBay. However number 6's post mentions a cheap scanner at around only 5 GBP........... Number 6 I wasn't really looking for a scanner to use in anger as I am hopeless at mechanical stuff, I just thought if I am going to buy a gadget I don't just want one that will give me the battery voltage then if something goes wrong I need to buy a scanner also. My car is quite rare over here as it's imported so not sure where to go if I have a major issue as no main dealer here so a scanner may point them in the right direction to look.
Any of the cheapos should give you voltage - it gets this voltage from the OBD-II port, as it's 12v live at all times (14v is the alternator is working). I got my cheapo from elm327 - Free Shipping - DX . If you're going down the cheapo route, get a "low profile" one like ELM327 OBDII Bluetooth Car Diagnostic Wireless Transceiver Dongle - Blue otherwise your shins will be hitting against the scanner all the time. Alternatively, you can get an extention cable and hide everything in the glovebox For what it's worth, all the dealers / mechanics should be able to pull the "standard" codes using something very similar to the cheapo tools. The "proper" scanner I have is ELM327 Bluetooth OBDII OBD2 Car Diagnostic Code Reader Scanner Tool | Total Car Diagnostics . It was a toss up between the TCD device and OBDLink MX Bluetooth Scan Tool . I like the ScanTool one as it has a FAR bigger buffer and a few extra features not in the standard ELM327 chipset.
tyke: This is the exact same turbogauge I had, it worked OK with my copen, it can even read and delete engine fault codes and give a freeze frame of the data when the error occurred. I would take this one. If you want to retrieve vehicle data/fault codes etc. via your smartphone, look at the devices number6 is talking about
