What's new

Scangauge II Review

nodrogs

Members
Messages
338
Reaction score
8
Location
N. Ireland
Car
Honda Accord 2.2
The Scangauge II is an onboard computer that connects directly into the OBDII port on your car. The Scangauge has 3 main features: Diagnostics, Real Time Gauge readouts and a Trip Computer.



The device is very easy to set up. Just plug it into the OBDII port and turn the ignition on. The device automatically turns on and off as necessary.

DSC_0288.jpg


Installation

The Gauge comes with the necessary connection cable and also some good old Velcro. I fitted mine on top of the dash as shown on the photo, just using the Velcro so I can remove it when I need to. I then took the side trim off in the footwell and also the rubber seal along the edge of the door/dash. The cable is far too long for this particular location so I decided to roll up the excess and “store” it behind the side trim. This allowed me to run the cable neatly up behind the dash and out at the joint between the A Pillar and top of the dash. I was a bit worried about the idea of a cable plugged into my cars computer chaffing on something so I wrapped the cable in that flexible cable conduit bought of ebay.

They also sell a rear view mirror mount but it’s a bit pricey and am sure there are cheaper solutions out there.


Initial Set-up

Obviously the device needs to be set-up before it can be used. This includes configuring it to your actual car, the measurement units you want to use and other bits and pieces. For example, the backlight colour can be changed to many different shades to suit the car dash lights or whatever you want.

With regards the car setup, you need to tell the device the type of fuel, fuel tank size and also the engine capacity. What I found was setting the engine size to 2.2l gave rubbish mpg estimates (although remember the device hasn’t been calibrated yet, more on this later). I found that setting the device to engine size of around 1.3l gave more reasonable mpg figures. I changed it back to 2.2l before I calibrated it. Another necessity is to change the speedo configuration to exactly match the readout from the car dash (especially important for the odometer). I found +3% gives very good agreement but will obviously depend on wheel/tyre sizes.

The device can allow you to change the units; litres, gallons, miles, kilometres etc. One little annoyance is that the fuel consumption figures are given in whatever system you are using. So it will either be mpg or mpl. If you’re using mpg then you have to input all your data in gallons (for example when you fill up).


Calibration

Initially, the Scangauge has very little information to work with. It knows the size of engine, fuel type and fuel tank size but that’s about it. So it has a stab at calculating the fuel flow and it gets ridiculous values (which was why I changed the engine size and thus default values). Also, unfortunately the device can’t read the fuel tank sensor so can’t use that as a reference.

So, all you need to do is fill the tank and tell the device that you’ve filled the tank. Then drive as normal until the tank is about ¾ empty or less. Then refill, using the same pump. Tell the device you’ve filled up again and enter the number of litres you’ve put in (or if you’re using mpg then convert to gallons first). Now Scangauge is able to calibrate itself. Its recorded the number of miles you’ve covered since the first fill and now knows how much fuel the car has used. Now you’ll get more realistic figures, and of course repeating this process several times will allow it to get even more accurate.


Diagnostics

The Diagnostics tool, accessed through the “SCAN” function, is probably as useful as any of the generic OBDII scan tools on the market at this price. I bought my Scangauge just before getting the Accord, partially because I knew the car I’d buy wouldn’t have a fuel computer and also to clear a fault code of my old car. Unfortunately, the particular fault code that my car had (related to the fuel pump) wasn’t read by the Scangauge and it just kept saying no faults found. Having said that, it did pick up the fault code when I disconnected the EGR and cleared the fault and turned the EML light off. My last car was built very early 2004 and so may not have been fully OBDII compliant, which may have been a reason for the Scangauge not finding the fault. But the same thing might happen if there are any Honda specific codes. Thankfully I haven’t had any fault lights on yet so I haven’t been able to test this function on the Accord.

A couple of other things to point out about the Diagnostics. Firstly, the device will only work with normal engine/emissions faults. It doesn’t work with airbag or ABS faults. Secondly, you only get a fault code (P0234 for example) but that just means you have to use internet to find the actual fault.


Gauges

The gauge function is very useful, displaying all sorts of engine information in real time. From water temperature to voltage to RPM, can be displayed. 4 different values can be displayed at one time. Not all of the options work on the Accord, although the manual will tell you this as well (some are very car specific). For example, the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) didn’t work for me, but I do think it worked on my last car. When initially setup, the gauge only displays the real time mpg, but I found it far too sensitive to make any real sense. But I’ll discuss later how you can get around this.


Trip Computer

The Trip Computer records and stores data for 4 different types of “trip”. You can look at Tank, Current Trip, Today and Yesterday. The today/yesterday ones I hardly use because they’re a bit rubbish. There’s no actual real time clock in the system so “todays” values get shoved into “yesterdays” values after the gauge has been turned off for 8-9 hours.

The Trip computer will record various bits of data, such as time travelled, max rpm, max speed, average speed etc and of course average mpg, and if in the Tank setting, distance and time until the tank is empty.

What is important is that for the tank trip data, it requires that you fully fill up each time you’re at the pump. So you can’t just throw in £20 and tell it how many litres you’ve put in. This may not suit everyone, but I’ve always filled up every week anyway so it works perfectly for me.


XGauges

To get the best out of the Scangauge I’ve found that you need to investigate the XGauge function. The Xgauge allows you to create your own “custom” gauges, for use in the Gauge function that displays 4 gauges at once. It’s a bit complicated to use but the manual gives you all the information and complicated codes that you need for the main ones. Its this function that gets around two problems I had initially with the scangauge; the real time mpg gauge is far too sensitive and using the trip function only allows you to display a single reading at a time. Using the XGauge, I was able to setup custom fuel economy gauges to display along side the other gauges such as voltage, water temp etc.

If you look at the photo, you’ll see what I mean. AVT is the average tank mpg. AV2 is the current trip fuel economy. D2E is the distance to empty. And obviously the final one is for the coolant temperature. All the fuel economy data I need in one place ;)
 
How much does this bit of kit cost? Excellent write up BTW
 
Its currently £125 from ukobd. Am sure if you shop around you might get it a bit cheaper.
 
Great review!
It does require some patience to configure and to process all the information it gives. I was tempted to buy one, but now I don't think I will.
 
Great write up.

One question though. Does that mean that you've constantly got something plugged into the OBD port? That would worry me slightly.
 
Shouldn't worry you at all Si, as long as the device is only reading and not writing.

Stephen excellent review - in fact that's now the benchmark for all further reviews ;)
 
Thanks for the positive comments guys ;)

Nuno, maybe I've made it sound a bit complicated. The device would take 5 mins at the absolute max to initially setup. Calibrating isn't difficult either and its all very well explained in the manual. If you can work a mobile phone there should be no problem with this device!

Simon, as Fahad has said, they should be totally safe to use. I had the same concerns and did a good bit of research online before I did anything. It only "writes" when its clearing fault codes and I think you can set up fancy "commands" to send to the car but thats a fairly advanced feature. I read of one or two people having problems with the car going into safe home mode but that was because they were fiddling with the refresh rates and things that you don't need to touch. Mines been connected permanently now for 4 months with no problems at all.
 
Here is a webpage on the Scangauge website giving the error codes. Includes a page for Honda codes

Error Codes

Also a few pics showing the mirror mount.

http://www.scangauge.net/***ets/mnt/install_4.jpg

http://www.scangauge.net/***ets/mnt/case_1.JPG
 
Very nice review.
 
The rear view mirror seems a very nice solution. The worst part is connecting the device from there.
 
i take it you attended review class 101? Perfect review buddy, im definately gonna add one to my list as i was thinking about getting one before :thumbsup:
 
Nice write up. One Q: anyone know if a '99 6gen Accord is ODB2-compliant?

Would be nice to have a decent trip computer instead of just outside temp...
 
i missed this one some how excellent write up and review i miss having a trip computer in this car might have to look into this
 
Just ordered a ScanGauge II. :)
While I was searching for info about it, I found out that Turbogauge is a chinese "copy" of Scangauge. But it does have a nice function that SG doesn't have. It stores info that you can download to your PC. But didn't like the idea of buying a clone that costs the same.
 
Top