OBD2 Port Scanner Instructions

This is a work in progress. If you find some new and helpful information, or possibly new free software that works with these devices, please contact me and let me know so I can pass the information on to everyone. Your feedback is appreciated.

The Software

These devices come with a mini CD that doesn't work in all CD drives. I have a new HP Pavillion pc that won't take it for instance. If you have trouble reading the CD, you can download all the data on the disk from my web site. All of the software is the same version as that on the CD, except for ScanMasterELM. The version on the CD is 1.4.0.0 while the download packages on my site include ScanMasterELM version 2.0. You can download the full software packages from the CD from the following links:

1. USB Version
2. COM Version (serial port version)

ScanMasterELM

The best of the programs in the package is ScanMasterELM. The free version you get is majorly crippled, but it will give you a good idea of what the full version can do. I also use this package because it will autodetect your OBD2 reader and give you the correct settings to use in other programs. To do this, plug in your OBD2 reader into your car and start your engine. Then start up ScanMasterELM. Go to "Options"->"Communication". Make sure it's set to auto detect your serial port. Then press the "Connect" button at the bottom. It will cycle through the serial ports that it sees, including your virtual port, and also test connections speeds. When it finds yours, it will connect. Note, that sometimes mine throws an error when it tests COM3, and I have to dismiss the error messages and press "Connect" again. Then it will ignore COM3 and go on to COM6, where my virtual com port is and connect. For me it always connects to COM6 at 9600 baud. Those are the settings I use in other programs.

If you buy the full version of ScanMasterELM, you would not use the virtual com port. In the communication options you would select "USB (FTDI Driver Only)". This will then communicate directly to the device through the USB port without using a fake com port. You can try this option with the freeware version to see how it works. But since many other programs cannot use this interface, you should still find out which serial port works as described above. Note that the FTDI option is not available in the CD version, only in the pacakges that you can download from my site.

ScanTool_Net

The software that you will actually use is scantool_net. It is freeware. You can tell it was written for Windows 3.1 or some such. But it works and will read and reset engine error codes, and give you readouts on your sensors. There's 8 pages of sensor information, and the program will display all of the sensors that the vehicle is reporting. Start up the program, and the "Configure Port" option will come up. Select the settings that you found in ScanMasterELM, and press "Save". Now you can press "Read Codes" to read and reset error codes, or "Sensor Data" to read the outputs of your sensors. These are the only 2 options that you will use to interract with your vehicle's computers. Note, that I tried to upgrade this software to a version later than 1.13. However, the later versions were made to not work with generic OBD2 readers such as ours. I've tried versions 1.14 and 1.15 and they both stated they wouldn't work with our reader. This is an effort by some OEM to make you buy their (probably more expensive) reader.

Updated Software Disc

We now have an updated software disc that ships with our OBD2 readers.  If you purchased your OBD2 reader before Mar 2011, or you have lost your software disc, you can download it here:  OBD2 Software Link.

Other Software

There are many people working on free OBD2 software programs on the internet. I have yet to find one that out performs ScanTool_net. But it won't be long before we'll see some good free software become availble. Our scanners are based on the ELM327 chip, so if you google on that chip, you'll find the software thats designed to use it. The USB version of our scanners, uses the FTDI interface which stands for "Future Technology Devices International Ltd.", which is a company that makes USB to RS232 interfaces. Some programs can talk directly to the FTDI chip, without using a virtual COM port. But if they can't, just use the virtual COM port. The software doesn't need to know anything about USB.

You can find some other programs that you must pay for, but will work with these scanners. I have one called ScanXL and came with its own OBD2 reader for about $300. It works with our readers, and allows you to create virtual gauges on your screen for any sensor data you want. But while its nicer than ScanTool_net, I don't particularly think its worth the money.

I've also tried TouchScan, and it works with our scanners. It was actually designed for touch screen devices, but works fine on a laptop. It costs $25. It's a nicer interface and you can get your sensor data displaying on one page. But it is really a bare bones software package. I wanted to see if the gauges it has are configurable, and they aren't. The main reason I like this program, is that you can turn on the sensor information you want to monitor and see it all display on one page. This would be valuable for tuning activities.

I've downloaded the demo version of DashCommand, which allows you to make up any configuration of gauges you want. They claim this program won't work with generic OBD2 readers, but it connected to mine just fine. However, the demo version only showed my tachometer. With the full version you can configure a gauge for any sensor, and they will run in real time. It's on special for $25. I wouldn't pay more for it because you can't read and reset engine codes with it.

More Software

As we find and try more new software, we will update this page. If you find some gems we haven't covered here, please let me know so I can get the information out to others.