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Hi
Thanks for your replies. A couple of points so far:
- Some people would have no interest in such a device. Fair enough - but I am an Engineer and on long trips when/if my car starts playing up I would like to know the cause and whether it is critical needing early attention or could be left until I return to "civilisation".
- I have looked at two "dongle" devices where power requirements are mentioned. One said 1 watt which at 12 volts is equivalent to 0.083amps and another which quoted 0.045 amps. Neither has a turn off switch but if such continuous currents drain my battery the message is "get a new battery!". I notice that with the Subaru XV there are a couple of flashing lights and monitoring alarms that operate when the ignition is off - I wonder how much current they drag?
-No I would not look at the output whilst driving but pull over and first check the list of possible faults and if any, have a look to see what they are.
-When I open up the bonnet of my car I see a mass of gear and wiring such that little else could be squeezed in. Have I the capability now of fixing a lot of these? - probably not. But I would be confident in fixing some of the minor problems that appear rather than spending the money and inconvenience of having a "real" mechanic to do the work.
I am still looking at devices. I see that an Australian ebay supplier is offering the ELM 327 wireless device for about $A25 delivered and an app for IPhone costs about $10.
AND why an I doing this? Not because it is hard but because it is FUN!
Cheers Peter
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