A wee something to look at...

[STP]

Will do mate, getting on with the development so shouldn't be too long.

[dialer]

Amazing work.
Id certainly purchase a unit. When might you have a link ?

[STP]

Still working on the finishing bits, now added miles since last regeneration, regen running indicator and DPF ash levels with lifespan used, next I have to do the scan routine for adaptors and save to SD card for reconnect (so other adaptors can be used as I currently have it hard coded to mine by Mac address) so won't be long now. Really useful gadget. I'll post a pic up this morning of the new screen display when I get to work.

[Bones_94]

Very good idea and great work! I'd love one if you decide to sell them!

[stu_b]

Sounds like your packing a lot more inside
Can u ship overseas

[STP]

Stu, I'm sure I can mate, wouldn't be a problem. Buyer pays the shipping anyway so I don't see an issue!

[STP]

Very good idea and great work! I'd love one if you decide to sell them!

I will be soon mate, getting to the polished stage now.

[STP]

Latest version: (screen protector is still on the LCD of the prototype) - I've added a few more features people asked for.

The green block under regen status, changes to red when a regen is running.

The oil ash levels show the amount in the DPF and the percentage is how full it is. 70g is the max for the TDI DPF and when it hits 100%, it will need cleaned out.

[sipep]

fab idea, wish we didnt need third party tools.

[Javito]

fab idea, wish we didnt need third party tools.

You mean you wish we didn't have control issues and OCD?

Cause if you think about it, it works. Most of the times I'll manage to regenerate and if you interrupt it long enough you'll get a light on your dash and the user manual will tell you to get on the motorway and drive until the light goes off.

Most people don't care about dpf's and regens, oil level or if there's enough coolant. They put petrol in and drive. That additional information would cause more headaches than good.

I'm always amazed at how engines can take so much abuse with so little maintenance. Yesterday I service the car of a mate who didn't actually know engine oil needed to be replaced regularly. He's in his 30's. I was speechless.

[STP]

People who want to know, will want to know. If you interrupt enough regens you will find fuel contamination in the engine oil, high oil levels due to this and potential engine problems after a while. Better to know. Plus it highlights issues with the smart alternator, and tells you when the dreaded no-start condition is approaching, not having to wait until you're stranded and it won't start due to a dpf full of ash.

If some folk want to bury their head in the sand and wait to see what happens, yeah they are welcome to make that choice!

[maintaps]

Great idea, how is it going with the development?

[STP]

Going well, been using mine for a while now but having issues with scanning for a new Bluetooth adaptor without already knowing it's Mac address, this is a limitation I have to overcome to reduce the faff for the user when they first run the device. I'm working on that, could be resolved soon. I can get round that but some folk would find it awkward. So I have to make that easy.

[The_Evil]

Nice!
My Caddy is CNG, thus no DPF, but I'm very curious to know what's the process behind developing something like this.
Did you use raw data coming from CAN Bus and guessed what they where?
Which hardware do you use to receive from the OBD adapter? ESP32?

[STP]

It's a CYD module, which has a standard esp32 S1 inside so it can speak standard Bluetooth, the later S2 and S3 can only do BLE which most OBD adaptors don't use. It has the benefit of a colour touch screen too. It's programmed in C++ just like the standard esp32 modules.

First I built another CYD into a replica of the vans ECU (OBD emulator ) and captured the commands sent to it by other scan tools which were already able to get that data, then decoded the responses to the correct values by doing one at a time, looking at the returned hex data from the real ECU and the actual values in decimal.

The scan tools now actually think they are connected to a real 1.6 TDI van and identification is even sent by my emulator on the engine model, ECU software level and all the stuff they expect to read. Once I had the emulator working perfectly, it was a case of programming the guage version to use all of the same commands and critical timing required to get the ecu to tell me all the values I wanted.

The dpf guage version CYD speaks to the Bluetooth adaptor and sends the correct commands to be executed over the canbus by that adaptor. I could have used raw canbus directly but the adaptor is easy to hide behind the fuse box plastics after I relocated the OBD socket - that way my fusebox can be closed properly while still plugged in. The vgate adaptor has sleep mode so can be left plugged in indefinitely.

I did do a lot of canbus work on previous Citroen Berlingo vans as I use canbus at work for a lot of specialist laser metrology equipment so I am familiar with it but I wanted it to be wireless. I could have built an OBD adaptor from another canbus enabled esp32 but the existing adaptors are cheap and easy to get.

Decoding the hex data was the tough part as it isn't documented anywhere in the internet for the 1.6 TDI. The existing extended-mode OBD codes for other engine types don't work on the 1.6.