[SOLVED] OBD WLAN dropping. Using w/Jailbroken ...

[ben]

First, the setup:

Harry's Laptimer v14.1
iPhone 4
Jailbroken with 4.3.3 and original 1.59.00 baseband
Qstarz BT-Q818XT 10hz GPS
OBDKey WLAN (just got it, smaller design than original)
RoqyBT4 providing GPS connectivity to the Qstarz

The problem:
About once a minute or every few minutes OBDII data via the OBDKEY will drop for several seconds.

At one point, it dropped completely. Even trying to use another OBDII app iRev it couldn't even see the device.

I've tried setting the phone to airplane mode (which you can still enable wifi in) to no avail. I tried specifying an IP Gateway for the OBDKey WLAN ad-hoc wireless network which I read was something to try, no luck either.

GPS data comes in perfectly every time.

When the OBDKEY is working, the update rate is through the roof. Usually 10hz, just like the GPS, sometimes even a little more:



I'm going to check with the OBDKey folks to see if they have any input, I really want to try and find a remedy soon.

I may try using an iPad I have but I bumped it to iOS 5 beta 7 and I've had some stability issues with it.

I can also try using another iPhone 4, non-jailbroken on 4.3.5. The problem there is I won't be able to use my wonderful 10hz GPS.

The OBDkey cost a pretty penny for me being in the US. I am crossing my fingers for some yet-to-be-announced firmware update I can apply or perhaps a method to change it's wireless settings since I've heard about problems with interference messing it up.

[Harry]

Hi Ben,

This seems to be a common problem with the ad hoc wifi connection between iPhones and WLAN OBD dongles. Exactly this issue is discussed on PCX's forum frequently. I had an OBDLink here for testing - same issue. And obviously it is there for the OBDKey too. I was in contact with the OBDLink people, they are not aware of this issue. Probably because with usual using patterns (reading the error codes), you will not realize the connection dropping.

Contacting OBDKey is a good idea, please let me know what the outcome is.

The good news is that the line stability increases a lot once you are out of town with a small number of wifi networks around.

- Harald

[ben]

Hi Ben,

This seems to be a common problem with the ad hoc wifi connection between iPhones and WLAN OBD dongles. Exactly this issue is discussed on PCX's forum frequently. I had an OBDLink here for testing - same issue. And obviously it is there for the OBDKey too. I was in contact with the OBDLink people, they are not aware of this issue. Probably because with usual using patterns (reading the error codes), you will not realize the connection dropping.

Contacting OBDKey is a good idea, please let me know what the outcome is.

The good news is that the line stability increases a lot once you are out of town with a small number of wifi networks around.

- Harald

Thanks for chiming in, I saw you'd mentioned connectivity issues before. The place I'm going is in the middle of nowhere just about:) There is wifi in the paddock but that's it.

A friend picked up the Kiwi wifi and said it worked well for him. I'll have to see if he really scrutinized his data to find if he was missing RPMs/Throttle/etc from his CSV files.

I just checked the OBDKEY Site, it is supposed to be configurable to be joined to an access point

Wireless LAN Specifications

IEEE 802.11 g b Wireless LAN
2.4GHz WLAN
Secure Encryption available (default none but WEP, WPA and WPA2 - user configurable)
Internet Protocols: TCP, IP
Frequency Band: 2.412 to 2.472 GHz “WiFi” ISM band
Channels: 1-11 USA, 1-13 Europe (user configurable)
Supports ad-hoc Wireless LAN networks (default)
Supports infrastructure Wireless LAN networks (user configurable)
User configurable IP address
Interface for user configuration

There is no way to actually configure it for infrastructure mode based on the documentation I was sent... not one mention of it.

Perhaps there is a way to telnet to the device and configure it -- it definitely doesn't have any kind of web interface, and the software that comes with it doesn't seem to have any configuration options available once it connects.

[ben]

I ordered and received a PLX Kiwi to try.

The OBDKEY folks responded about my question of configuring the OBDKEY Wifi for an access point and stated it wasn't yet supported.

[ben]

The PLX Kiwi drops too.

About every 30 seconds or so it loses connectivity for 5-10 seconds. It has a light to indicate "LINK" with the device and it will actually blink when it drops.

I am really really hoping getting out to the track in the middle of nowhere will clear this up if the issue is in fact caused by interference from other 802.11 access points.

[ben]

Well, I have some news to report....

Jailbroken iPad 1 running 4.3.5 (tethered jailbreak w/redsn0w) works *PERFECTLY* with the PLX Kiwi.

20 minute drive and not a single drop.

Switch to iPhone and it's back to 10 second drops every 30 seconds.

Exact same setup (airplane mode / same ip / subnet)...

Going to restore my iPhone and do the jailbreak again with 4.3.3. I won't do 4.3.5 because there isn't an untethered jailbreak for it. I'm only going to add the bare minimum apps I need to get LapTimer working (not even adding mywifi or my3g).

[Harry]

Hi Ben,

so dropping connections depend on the iPhone (vs. iPad) and not the iOS?

- Harry

[ben]

Hi Ben,

so dropping connections depend on the iPhone (vs. iPad) and not the iOS?

- Harry

Well my iPad did have ios 4.3.5 and my iPhone is 4.3.3... the iPad as freshly restored/jailbroken with nothing but the things needed for Laptimer.

This was an interesting find:

http://www.hackint0sh.org/f204/77384.htm

Instability caused by ultrasn0w for both cell and wifi signals... the posts are old but maybe that is the cause. I'm doing my jailbreak again on my iPhone and will try it without ultrasn0w if I can (it is needed for carrier unlock which I dont actually need).

I'm also going to "borrow" the gf's iPhone, 4.3.5 with no jailbreak, and try it out.

Too late to do that tonight though. Bedtime

[Harry]

As the drops appear for non-jailbroken devices too, I'd assume it is not related to jailbreak / non-jailbreak.

- Harry

[ben]

I know, I'm grabbing for straws here