HowTo: use OBD-II and CarScanner to see Power Output/Regen/Charging and other data

[dtbaker61]

One of the first things I asked @Ford Motor Company for to enhance the dashboard/instrument information is real-time display of Power Output/Regen/Charging in kW, and Battery Energy remaining in kWhr.

No response of course.... so I went in search of the easiest and most cost effective way to display 'custom' information. Turns out that it is pretty easy, and not very expensive. All you need is:
- a free phone App
- a OBD-II reader
- (optional) phone holder to position phone somewhere near your line of sight

1. get the phone app to display scan data
from Android PlayStore or iOS, download/install 'Car Scanner ELM OBD2'
some addl documentation is available online at
https://www.carscanner.info/
There are other choices available now, but CarScanner does what I wanted. Basic App is free, but I paid $6 to upgrade to 'pro' version to support the developer.

2. buy an OBD2 adapter with full ELM protocol support
CarScanner developer recommends 'quality' ODB2 with full ELM protocol support
such as: Viecar Bluetooth 4
$25 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MTKSCEJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?


3. first-time config of CarScanner
download app, install app
plug OBD2 into port, turn car 'on'
pair phone to OBD2 device
open CarScan app, select paired device, 'connect'
configure app
- create a 'vehicle', etc
- create a Dashboard to display desired sensors

4. Then, to use
plug OBD2 into Port, turn car 'on'
open CarScan app, 'connect', which can take 30 seconds...
Settings-> pick what you want to do
- Dashboard to show selected sensor datastreams
- display/export DTC for error codes recorded
- record Accelleration for accurate performance testing
etc, some of which are for ICE cars only

It is pretty simple to create your own dashboard to display whatever sensor data you want. This is a sample layout that I find useful:

and I found a very affordable phone holder from @AOSK that I modified a little to hold the phone where I wanted AND block the sun from cooking the back of my center display. https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...display-all-phone-apps-like-carscanner.20913/

I find this combination very useful to display actual Output/Regen/Charging power, and actual battery capacity remaining as well as battery temp


[update 1/20/24 to add some step-by-step info on setup, and my current config file.cbz] --------------------------------------

- open CanScanner app on phone

- click 'settings' ,
- set up connection profile for Ford Mustang Mach-e
- 'backup' config file once you have it set up, or import .cbz
- ....back

- click lower-right 'demo' button to enable setting up y dashboard

- click 'dashboard' to display 1/16 possible layouts. each layout allows you to put whatever sensor you want in the box. I like layout 4/16. you can scroll thru possible layouts by touching upper left of screen, and << or >> to different layouts.

- dble-touch any gauge area to edit what data goes in the area.

...attaching my .cbz with .txt extension, you'll have to rename to remove the .txt if you want to import it to CarScanner

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[dtbaker61]

I thought I'd put this up for people that are trying to figure out whether or not they have a L1/L2 charging issue with PowerUp 6.x bug in cold temps. You can easily verify how much power is making it into the battery regardless of whether you are charging L1, L2, or L3 DCFC.

It's also very useful when on a roadtrip.... looking at recent 'this trip' average consumption miles/kWhr, and actual kWhr remaining is way more useful that the stupid GOM range estimate and battery % bar on instrument display.

 

[Nikos]

One of the first things I asked @Ford Motor Company for to enhance the dashboard/instrument information is real-time display of Power Output/Regen/Charging in kW, and Battery Energy remaining in kWhr.

No response of course.... so I went in search of the easiest and most cost effective way to display 'custom' information. Turns out that it is pretty easy, and not very expensive. All you need is:
- a free phone App
- a OBD-II reader
- (optional) phone holder to position phone somewhere near your line of sight

1. get the phone app to display scan data
from Android PlayStore or iOS, download/install 'Car Scanner ELM OBD2'
some addl documentation is available online at
https://www.carscanner.info/
There are other choices available now, but CarScanner does what I wanted. Basic App is free, but I paid $6 to upgrade to 'pro' version to support the developer.

2. buy an OBD2 adapter with full ELM protocol support
CarScanner developer recommends 'quality' ODB2 with full ELM protocol support
such as: Viecar Bluetooth 4
$25 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MTKSCEJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?


3. first-time config of CarScanner
download app, install app
plug OBD2 into port, turn car 'on'
pair phone to OBD2 device
open CarScan app, select paired device, 'connect'
configure app
- create a 'vehicle', etc
- create a Dashboard to display desired sensors

4. Then, to use
plug OBD2 into Port, turn car 'on'
open CarScan app, 'connect', which can take 30 seconds...
Settings-> pick what you want to do
- Dashboard to show selected sensor datastreams
- display/export DTC for error codes recorded
- record Accelleration for accurate performance testing
etc, some of which are for ICE cars only

It is pretty simple to create your own dashboard to display whatever sensor data you want. This is a sample layout that I find useful:

and I found a very affordable phone holder from @AOSK that I modified a little to hold the phone where I wanted AND block the sun from cooking the back of my center display. https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...display-all-phone-apps-like-carscanner.20913/

I find this combination very useful to display actual Output/Regen/Charging power, and actual battery capacity remaining as well as battery temp

I have all the parts at hand.
Time to put them into use.
Thanks for the detailed info.
Looking forward to use it in my next long trip. Driving in the spring on the Blue Ridge Parkway, up and down the mountains, will be a cool way to see what exactly is going on with my beloved vehicles, MME and Lightning.

 

[dtbaker61]

I have all the parts at hand.
Time to put them into use.
Thanks for the detailed info.
Looking forward to use it in my next long trip. Driving in the spring on the Blue Ridge Parkway, up and down the mountains, will be a cool way to see what exactly is going on with my beloved vehicles, MME and Lightning.

it can be quite educational to see real-time Power in kW to understand your output and regen.

On a long trip I find that if I reset Trip1 at the beginning of the trip, and keep an eye on the average miles/kWh, and the actual remaining kWhr in battery it gives me a much better range estimate than the GOM.... very comforting when you combine with miles to the next charge showing on your Navigation map

 

[worachj]

HvbAve, HvbMinT, HvbMaxT:

Can anyone help and tell me the length of time used for the average, high, low temperature readings for the Hvb? I always have readings when I plug in and check them immediately.

Thanks!

 

[dtbaker61]

HvbAve, HvbMinT, HvbMaxT:

Can anyone help and tell me the length of time used for the average, high, low temperature readings for the Hvb? I always have readings when I plug in and check them immediately.

Thanks!

I am assuming the values seen in CarScanner are taken only during the period CarScanner is 'connected' .... you can reset min/max/avg values by disconnecting/reconnecting CarScanner app

 

[worachj]

I am assuming the values seen in CarScanner are taken only during the period CarScanner is 'connected' .... you can reset min/max/avg values by disconnecting/reconnecting CarScanner app

That was my thought at first, but I get a min and max reading that can be 10 or more degrees different when I plug in and check immediately.

 

[worachj]

Here is an example. I set a departure time and when it was ready I plugged in and check right away and got these readings.

 

[superdave80]

Thanks for this write-up, I've been wanting to get a reader/app to start viewing the info for some time.

Shame on you, @Ford Motor Company for not just putting this info on our screen and forcing us to jump through these hops to get the info.. You guys are really dropping the ball on this.

 

[dtbaker61]

Here is an example. I set a departure time and when it was ready I plugged in and check right away and got these readings.

I have no idea , but am guessing that in the first few moments there is some lag in data capture and averaging.

It would be interesting to see what min/max/avg would be if you turn your car on, auto-off disabled, use your usual departure time settings, and connect to CarScanner while your car sits all night.

 

[SWO]

Is the app supported by Carplay and/or Android Auto? I thought I saw someone else projecting it on their screen, which would be a nice alternative to a separate phone.

 

[dtbaker61]

Is the app supported by Carplay and/or Android Auto? I thought I saw someone else projecting it on their screen, which would be a nice alternative to a separate phone.

CarScanner is NOT supported directly by CarPlay or AndroidAuto unfortunately. There are a couple members that have added third party stuff to display unsupported apps, but it requires some extra equipment costing several hundred dollars..... not worth it to me, but it would be nice to display on the big screen.

Maybe we can encourage @Ford Motor Company to work a deal out with the CarScanner development team and pre-install a version of CarScanner in the base software selectable to display on center screen. .... and tied into the ODB2 data without even requiring a device.... THAT would be super cool to have a customizable data display for any/all sensor data

 

[VindictivePantz]

Thanks for this write-up, I've been wanting to get a reader/app to start viewing the info for some time.

Shame on you, @Ford Motor Company for not just putting this info on our screen and forcing us to jump through these hops to get the info.. You guys are really dropping the ball on this.

A debug-type mode would be nice. Runs the risk of people driving dealers crazy with information (think Dr. Google for healthcare ,) but if the key combinations/access method is steep enough, only the geeks would use it.

 

[Mach-Lee]

HvbAve, HvbMinT, HvbMaxT:

Can anyone help and tell me the length of time used for the average, high, low temperature readings for the Hvb? I always have readings when I plug in and check them immediately.

Thanks!

Average is the average cell temperature, not a time average. There are like 8 temp sensors in the battery, so that parameter averages all of them. High is the highest reading in the pack, low is the lowest reading in the pack.

The regular HVBtemp is the one you should focus on.

 

[dtbaker61]

Average is the average cell temperature, not a time average. There are like 8 temp sensors in the battery, so that parameter averages all of them. High is the highest reading in the pack, low is the lowest reading in the pack.

The regular HVBtemp is the one you should focus on.

I see HvbT in the list of possible data in CarScanner, label is HVB Temperature

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