Recommend= an Inexpensive obd2 scanner to use with dr prius

Here's buyer's guide: Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus

 

Dr Prius seems to be very picky.
I haven't seen a single app and car which wouldn't work with my ELS27 adapter (original, not a cheap knockoff) but Dr. Prius won't even connect to the car.
Hybrid Assistant works perfectly with this adapter.

 

Are you using Android of Apple?

Dr. Prius is essential if you get warning lights and want to read hybrid subcodes without using Toyota Techstream and a Mini-VCI dongle. And these OBD2 devices are in-expensive, well worth having one that functions with all Prius apps.

 

Is everyone using the Carista which I guess is also subscription $ ? Wifi or BT?

I tried my Elm27 and no go with DrP like previously mentioned.

My Vxdiag with TS I bought in 2014 is being difficult to update the software. One patch after another still wont load its TS launcher. May have to buy a new one but there Support is non existent.

 

I bought a Carista once my Veepeak stopped working on Hybrid Assistant... I didn't use Carrista software subscription, it didn't offer anything that I couldn't get for free elsewhere.

 

Carista seems to work fine for me for Dr. Prius, but not so much with Hybrid Assistant. HA accesses some stuff that the Carista can't get to and the generic ELM27 can't come close to. HA needs OBD Link LX or one of its siblings. It's one of the pricier readers out there, but it's probably the best and it's considerably less than a single trip to the dealer.

 

The strange thing is that the ELS27 is one of the most compatible adapters out there and it has some extra features that Toyota doesn't use (auto switching between MS-CAN and HS-CAN). It is completely compatible with the ELM327 spec.
It almost looks like Dr Prius doesn't want to use this adapter.

 

hey jerry was that the blue tooth or wifi carista? Im iphone too.

Thanks

 

I got the bluetooth version. Works fine with my iPhone. I haven't tested it with the OLD Android phone I use solely for Hybrid Assistant.

Edit to add: I now have the old generic wi-fi ELM27 ($15?) that was OK for basic stuff. And the Carista that was $30. And the OBD Link that was $60. I should have started with the $60 device and not thrown away money trying to save money. I know better than that and did it anyway.

 

If you are using an ios device, Carista is the way to go. It connects to both Android and iPhone and talks to dr. Prius just fine. Also costs under $30

A far as I know Carista is bluetooth only (I may be wrong) and as far as I know there is no iOS version of hybrid assistant. The developer states so on their website.

I have a basfx (or some such) reader that will not connect to iPhone, but runs dr. Prius and hybrid assistant very well on Android. It cost $27 and is a blue tooth device.

Carista works on both Android and iPhone and runs Dr. Prius and hybrid assistant on Android just fine and Dr. Prius on Apple just fine. It cost me $20 on sale. I do not use their subscription software. I bought it strictly for hardware.

 

Thanks!!

 

Ditto. Except that using the Carista adapter with Hybrid Assistant on my Prime misses quite a few functions. Those areas of the screen just say, "Bad OBD."


According to the HA website, the Carista handles HSD2 and HSD3 fine, but not the HSD4 found in the 4th Gen Prius. Also, according to HA's website, the Carista is only half as fast as the OBDLink. So, I'd say the Carista is fine for the older Prii, but isn't future proof if you plan to upgrade.

Even with three OBD adapters, I'm about to connect Techstream to my wife's "new" 2017 Prius we got this week. HA and OBD Fusion won't customize anything. Dr Prius will fix the backup beep, but not the number of turn signal blinks after tapping the signal stalk. So, the laptop is charging up so I can use the big gun without having to rent the Carista app.

 

Jerry, good to know! Mine is a gen 2, so Carista is fine for me. I really don't expect any electronic gadget, especially one that costs under $30 to be future proof

I have heard of BlueDriver, which is more like a $100 gadget and comes with a (supposedly) very comprehensive software to read everything on every car. Not sure if anyone tried here. It is more $$, but as you stated before, one will always loose money by tryingt o save money. I am fine with the two gadgets I have right now. The Basfx (or whatever) was working very well for me until I switched to iPhone. I still have my old Android phone and may go back to Android after this iPhone, but when I got the iPhone I looked around and one of the few Bluetooth devices that could connect to iPhone in the sub-$50 range was Carista. It works well enough for me for now and I recommend it for folks that have iPhones as I think there still isn't that much choice for iPhone in the bluetooth arena out there under $50. I am not surprised that Carista lacks features and performance. It is after all a very inexpensive device.

 

Update, I just checked Dr. Prius again with my ELS27 adapter and it is working now.

 

It almost looks like you didn't even read the article that Dr. Prius provided to make your life easier... The story of ELM327 spec is that it's the most popular counterfeit one built so there's way more faulty devices with those specs because people who don't care about quality make them. I had to buy four different OBD2 readers, as well as return them to finally get one that worked.

 

The ELS27 isn't a counterfeit adapter. It is actually more advanced than the standard ELM327 adapters. It is fully compliant to the ELM327 spec in addition to the specific functionality of the ELS27.

But it is working now with Dr. Prius, perhaps it was an update to the app or my phone that fixed it.

The ELS27 is originally designed for Ford/Mazda vehicles because ELM327 adapters do not support MS-CAN/HS-CAN switching which is necessary for Ford vehicles. You can modify a ELM327 with a physical switch but having a purpose built adapter is easier. The CAN network of the Toyota vehicles is surprisingly less complex than what Ford uses, it gives less functionality as well in terms of modifications.

There are however a lot of fake ELS27 adapters out there as well, I ordered mine from the original design team.

 

Hey Jerry, got some help from some of your posts, thought I'd respond with a note about the Carista adpaper that it only support ELM327 v1.4... I just bought the TONWON pro4 OBD2 adapter recommended from the buyer's guide above which is supposed to be ELM327 2.1 so hopefully something like that would give someone more details (I wanted something that would work for iOS and Android)... hoping I didn't misunderstand you .

I got a new notification of "Check Hybrid System" today that I hope to be able to diagnose in a couple days :/

 

Thanks, and welcome. Hope it read everything you need. I wound up getting the OBD LX, which is the one recommended on the Hybrid Assistant website.

Works flawlessly on my iPhone and with the old Android phone I use for HA.