Checkelec

[elektrolux]

Hello Paul

If you have BMS protocol, does that mean you can change overcharging times, service intervals and lov voltage shutdown?

[Helge]

Finally I have tested Checkelec and by my opinion the app is already quite useful. Not at least for seeing "the 100 V limit" when driving if you have the phone in a holder on the dashboard. We have "Robometer" in two of our PSA Electric's but in the third one we do not see when voltage is close to drop below 100 V so charge lamps will light up and the car will "slow down". Now we do with Checkelec

I do however have two challenges:
1. In the documentation for the OBDII unit it says that when you leave the car the OBDII unit goes to sleep after 30 minutes and you can only push its "power button" to wake it so the phone will get contact again. This do not seem to work in my car. I need to unplug - plug     I bought this unit: https://www.24hshop.no/hjem-fritid/biltilbehor/bildiagnostikk/mini-vgate-icar-elm327-obd2-bl
2. Two times so far I have experienced that the phone have lost contact with the OBDII unit during driving.


A few inputs (possible options) in addition to reading/clearing faults/codes
1. User selectable display of current & voltage
    a. As today with A & V in same graph
    b. A & V in an upper and lower (separate) graph
2. Would be nice if A & V trace do not delete/refresh when you rotate/tilt phone and also sometimes without rotating phone.

[Steens]

Thanks for your feedback.
I worked on the communication losses. In the next version there will be fewer losses and the reconnection will be faster.
For the power button, I have a vgate model like yours but never try to wake it up after half an hour. I will try and let you know if I have the same problem.
The graphical traces loss is also a problem I expect to fix for the next version.

[Helge]

One more "input": Two times, including one yesterday, Checkelec have simply stopped with an Android OS message stating that Checkelec have stopped. After that it is impossible to get Checkelec to get contact with the OBDII unit unless I use an app like Advanced Task Killer or simply "settings - manage apps" to completely stop Checkelec ("forced stop"). Starting Checkelec after that and it immediately connects to the OBDII unit.

[Steens]

Interesting . I don't have these types of crashes. Do you know if it happened after a specific action (entering a menu item, or clicking on a button, leaving the app, ...) or when doing nothing particular ?

If you activate the crash report option in Android and if a new crash occurs again, I will get a report (mainly the error stack) allowing me to identify which component of the app caused the crash.

Regarding the way to force the application closure, there is also a shorter way : you can click on the overview button to deploy the list of active apps and just swipe the app thumbnail on the side and it will close. The overview button is generally on the left of the home button. On older smartphones there is no overview button but you can access overview by keeping the home button pressed.

[Elmo]

Regarding the way to force the application closure, there is also a shorter way : you can click on the overview button to deploy the list of active apps and just swipe the app thumbnail on the side and it will close.

I don't think you are right there Steens.
At least on my Samsung S5 if I do that to any APP I only "loose" the fast-link. And then when I do as Helge explained I still get the "force close" option - prooving that the APP is still running. 

[Helge]

I also have Samsung Galaxy S5 ( but Active-version) as Elmo and experience the same as Elmo.

What I can report is however that it is not always when Checkelec stops that it doesn't manage to connect to the OBDII unit. In fact I have done some efforts to test Checkelec as much as possibly the last two days and most of the times Checkelec stops it actually manages to reconnect to the OBDII unit. But both Wednesday evening, yesterday and today Checkelec HAVE stopped. What I have done when driving is having the telephone sitting in a dashbord phone holder with Checkelec "Monitoring" on. So when Checkelec stops it is usually "for no reason" since I have not done any input to the phone - not touching the screen nor pushing any of the fixed buttons.

BTW: I have doublechecked the small "instruction manual" following the OBDII unit and it clearly states that even when the unit goes to sleep about 30 minutes after you leave the car it can be awakened by pushing the units powerbutton. When I do that Checkelec do however not manage to connect to the OBDII unit. I need to unplug and reconnect the OBDII unit again for Checkelec to connect. I do not know if the problem is with the OBDII unit or Checkelec... I believe you wrote you have such a plug that I do - if so please try this with your OBDII unit.

[Helge]

A few screenshots of Checkelec from my phone 

It seems that the current maximum scaling (150 A) currently are the borderline between yellow and red in the ECOmeter - at least in both my Saxo's. Is that correct?

[Steens]

At least on my Samsung S5 if I do that to any APP I only "loose" the fast-link. And then when I do as Helge explained I still get the "force close" option - prooving that the APP is still running.

Yes you are right. I believed that swiping the thumbnail was equivalent to forcing app closure but apparently not. However, when you swipe the thumbnail, there is some app reset (maybe only the graphical interface) because you never retrieve your app in the same state. But it probably lets many things in memory. So the best way is to force the app closure in the application manager.

So when Checkelec stops it is usually "for no reason" since I have not done any input to the phone - not touching the screen nor pushing any of the fixed buttons.

Then probably an error due to the Bluetooth connection. A crash report would help if you want to activate the reporting option as indicated (at least until the next crash). If you don't want because of privacy I understand. However, google will never send private data through these reports, only technical data (For example the name of the functions that caused the crash).

I believe you wrote you have such a plug that I do - if so please try this with your OBDII unit.

Yes I was using the Prodiag every day but following your question I tried the Vgate (same as yours) today. And I discovered that effectively, it shuts down after half an hour. But when I pressed the button... it woke up ! Well ! Useful function you made me discover ! However, I have the feeling to have more PSA disconnection with the Vgate. I will try it more in the next days.

It seems that the current maximum scaling (150 A) currently are the borderline between yellow and red in the ECOmeter - at least in both my Saxo's. Is that correct?

Yes : 0A <green> 100A <orange> 150A <red> ~200A
It is generally advised to stay in the green band as much as possible to preserve the motor brushes and its copper collector.

[terjeeri]

Hi all. Thanks to Steens for an excellent effort bringing this app for free use.
I have also bought the Vgate, same as Helge and Elexrolux. I have a Peugeot 2001 and connects with at S8 Samsung.
In my experience it works fine, but with some minor issues:

1. The bluetooth connection seems to halt quite often, but I see on the phone that immeadeately conneciton is lost, the phone/app are searching for OBD connection, and it always connects again within 3-5 sec. I dont suspect the app is the problem. Ihave my phone mounted on the dashboard close to the window.

2. The Vgate is online as long as I am driving, but unfortunately it does not power up automatically when i start the car again. Pressing the power button does not help, I have to unplug the Vgate to get it powered. I think the problem is in the Vgate , not the app.

However I am quite happy with the app showing online voltage reading, and I have also tried the balancing program triggered from the app, and it works fine.

Looking forward to further improvements. great work 

[Helge]

2. The Vgate is online as long as I am driving, but unfortunately it does not power up automatically when i start the car again. Pressing the power button does not help, I have to unplug the Vgate to get it powered. I think the problem is in the Vgate , not the app.

Exactly as i have described about my OBDII unit! ...and yes, it is tempting to suspect the OBDII unit but on the other hand I find it VERY strange since what is written in the small instruction manual that came with the OBDII unit is PRECISELY that you do NOT need to unplug and reconnect the unit. You only do need to push the power button... Still it do not seem to work?

[Elmo]

Exactly as i have described about my OBDII unit! ...and yes, it is tempting to suspect the OBDII unit . . .

I have three OBD units at my disposal. Two that are my own and that do not work at all with the PSA/Chackelec (the two to the left). The third one (on the rigth) that I have borrowed from a friend is working very well.
It does not have the problems Helge i facing with his Vgate. I can leave the car for hours, and when I return I can open the Checkelec APP and get communacation with the can right away.

So there are obeviously many different OBDII devices. The maybe strangest thing here is that to me the device in the middle (that does not work at all), and the one onthe right (that works very good) looks identical.

[Elmo]

Now that I have seen the APP working I realize that my translation to Norwegian can be perfected. I will send you a new/better Norwegian file that you can deplay whenever you have other updates Steens.

I did the translation from English to Norwegian just seeing a textfile.
Now that I see live values in the APP I think some info in the middle below are a kind of strange:
1. "Overlading" = 110 Ah
2. "Vannfyllingsteller" = 0 Ah.
3. "Terskelverdi Vannfylling" = 450 Ah.
I have not yet had time to conneced my Lexia3 to the same car to see, but here are my preliminay thoughts.
Normally we say that the "Vannfyllingsteller" (2) is the one that shows "overlading" (1), so then I wonder which of the two is the right one, and what the other really is.
The "Terskelverdi Vannfylling" show 450Ah og this can. I have never ever seen this value be anythin else than 860Ah, so then I wonder is that Checkelec is reading another value or if this can for some reason actually have a different value.

[Elmo]

@Steens. I would like to suggest some small improvements that I think are easy.
I would like to see the Battery voltage and Current in the info-screen (same values that are displayed in the "Overvåking" screen. And I would also like to see the SOC (ie. charging %) in the info screen.

[Steens]

You only do need to push the power button... Still it do not seem to work?

Maybe you didn't see my previous answer as it was lost in the flow of replies but on my Vgate, it works perfectly ! The OBD goes sleeping after 30min and when I push the button it turns on again ! The pictures of my Vgate below. In any case the problem is a hardware problem with the OBD and not with the app.

I can leave the car for hours, and when I return I can open the Checkelec APP and get communacation with the can right away.

Yes but you don't have this hardware function on your OBD device. So it remains active all day long.

The maybe strangest thing here is that to me the device in the middle (that does not work at all), and the one onthe right (that works very good) looks identical.

These are all chinese copies of the OBD. There are copies of the plastic box, copies of the electronics inside. So you can have the same box with a different electronics inside.

Now that I see live values in the APP I think some info in the middle below are a kind of strange:
1. "Overlading" = 110 Ah
2. "Vannfyllingsteller" = 0 Ah.
3. "Terskelverdi Vannfylling" = 450 Ah.

Actually I haven't studied this data, I just displayed it in the app as it was in the Lexia software. I might have inverted some of them, so it could be a good thing to check these values with the Lexia but I think it is correct.
Not that theses values are transmitted by the ECU in tenth of Ah (the last zero is added at display), that 's why they always finish with a zero !
It is strange that your "Utlading" and "Vannfyllingsteller" displays are both zero. Let me know if this changes with future drivings. I have the feeling that these values only change at each charge but are not updated in real time. But I'm not sure.
I'm also not sure but I would say that when the value of "Vannfyllingsteller" is equal or above the value of "Terskelverdi vannfylling" the water refill is requested (warning light on).

I would like to see the Battery voltage and Current in the info-screen (same values that are displayed in the "Overvåking" screen. And I would also like to see the SOC (ie. charging %) in the info screen.

This can easily be added. Some other people requested the 12V battery voltage to be displayed. I will add this in the future version.