tablet with Vag-Com

General Discussion
#1

Just a quick inquiry…

Does anyone use a tablet with Vag-Com in their cars? Anyone have a semi-permanent setup?

I’m interested in having something that continuously monitors the car while I’m driving and that is safely secured and can be easily manipulated while cruising along. A mounted touch screen with Vag-Com seems to me like it would be one way to do it…

#2

Depending on what you want to monitor you can maybe grab a Bluetooth obdii adapter and use an android tablet with torque installed. It’ll let you view/clear the standard codes too.

Rosstech was going to be releasing a Bluetooth adapter soon too.

#3

Where did you hear this?

#4

It’s on their website dude…I believe they are already beta testing. It will work on any device with WIFI capability.

#5

Saw it on another vagcom post either here or on AZ. Let me see if I can dig it up.

#6

OK my mistake. It might not be Bluetooth but it seems wireless (hex net?)

http://ross-tech.com/vcds-mobile/index.html

#7

bluetooth…wifi…same concept, don’t worry about it. Thing is it’s not iOS, android, or windows based…so they decided to compromise and make everyone happy. I’m excited to see how well it works especially for logging.

#8

get a windows “tablet”

http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-CA

[quote]Surface with Windows RT is incredibly thin, but still features a full-size USB port, microSD card slot, and HD video out port1. Easily transfer files or use compatible accessories2. Charge up, plug in, and show off.
[/quote]
http://pocketnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/microsoft-surface-top630.jpg

#9

Just don’t expect a Windows RT tablet to run any applications written for Win7/Vista/XP. Only Windows RT apps will run on RT. So VCDS will not run on an RT tablet in its current form.

Microsoft made it a bit confusing with Windows RT and Windows 8 looking pretty similar. RT is to 8 as iOS is to Mac OS X and as Android is to Linux. /nerd.

#10

Have portable logging capabilities would be ideal…I don’t need a full VCDS suite on a phone/tablet.

Strangely, I didn’t see a function to log/save the measuring block data in the videos. It looked like it was all just realtime. Obviously a beta program but I can’t imagine this feature being left out.

#11

Torque has logging the last time I took a look. You can save to csv files on your device or it will even upload it on the fly to their servers (or even your own if you’re handy with writing scripts to handle that). You can also do stuff like map out the data since it records the GPS position with each data point which is kinda neat. Their own web interface to your data has map and plotting stuff built in.

It’ll track anything that’s OBDII standard. I don’t think you can pick “blocks” like you can in vcds though. It does have hp/tq, timing, temps, throttle position and a whole bunch of others.

For the adapter I just picked up a cheap bluetooth elm327 adapter from dealextreme. I’m sure ebay has them for ~$10 as well.

#12

Thanks for all the info guys!

#13

I remember someone mentioning that oil temp wasn’t available to them in torque for their S4. I thought that was strange. Maybe it was a B6 instead of a B7.

#14

i think the only way to do this is with something like vmware wsx. your tablet would redirect its usb and view a vm on your desktop with vcds running.

#15

But then I would need some kind of networking right? I suppose I could hook up a wireless router in the trunk or something, but that is way more effort than I was hoping for.

Or could you set up a computer to computer deal using bluetooth and have the same functionality?

#16

Late here…

I use a PLX kiwi, it’s only like $100 but you can get it to display 20 or so important blocks, and read and clear codes instantly. works on the iPhone, it makes it’s own wifi network, and you can just leave it plugged in all the time. Open the app you need to read things when you want to (there’s a few).

I’m not sure why you can’t see all of the blocks, if it’s a limit of the software I’m using or the Kiwi itself. I only got it so I can display the parameters i want on the video capture of TrackAddict and Harry’s Lap timer.

#17

Thanks, I’ll add that to the research list. I’m assuming you can choose the 20 blocks or are those pre-set?

#18

There are Intel based Win8 tablets with an Atom processor for sale now. Acer, ASUS, and Samsung have some out now. I believe Lenovo was coming out with one too, but I’m not sure if it’s for sale yet or not.

I was just given an ASUS one, but it doesn’t have a dedicated USB port. I can use a converter to the power adapter that turns it into a USB port, but I don’t know whether the OBDII port will provide power to it through the VAG-COM cable. It does have a keyboard base though with dedicated USB ports that can be used with the tablet.

I have the Samsung one at work and know it has a dedicated USB port. Microsoft will be coming out with Intel Core based tablets in a month or two. Those will definitely run the VCDS software.

I’ll go test it on my ASUS one and if it works, then you can buy any of the Atom based tablets and it will work on any of them since they all have the same CPU and were all created based on the same reference design from Intel.

-Skid

#19

The first time I tried to install VCDS in desktop mode, it said it didn’t support NT 6.2 or something to that effect, but a windows box popped up offering some sort of compatibility mode. I clicked it and everything installed.

The app appeared to run well and I was able to do a complete Auto Scan of the car.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/rev_martin4/Audi/IMG_2021_zps2fe58eac.jpg

Then I tried logging. I chose two fields, throttle valve position and Engine speed. I gave it varying gas for a few seconds and then had it stop logging. It created a log file with no issues and appears to have valid data. I don’t know how many fields it will be able to log at once with this low power CPU, but I didn’t see any problems with two.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/rev_martin4/Audi/IMG_2025_zps8918a108.jpg

The buttons for all the features were large and worked will with a touch screen. However selecting the fields to log with the check boxes were a little less touch friendly.

If you can get a mount for a tablet like this installed in your car and route your vag-com cable and the power cable for it, then I think this could work well for you for logging at any random time.

-Skid

#20

Thanks!! This is the kind of experience I was hoping someone had. I’m thinking to incorporate a touch screen into a motorized display housing that I can hide away with a little push of a button. Maybe have it set up by the center console of the passenger seat with a nice carbon fiber housing.