OBD2 breakout box

[AJHD]

I've been wanting to pick up an OBD2 breakout box for a long time. The OTC box is around $300 and the Power Probe box is around $200.

I'd prefer a cheaper option, but beyond those two, the rest of them seem to be no name China brands. Maybe worth a damn, maybe not.

If you have one, which do you have and what's your opinion of it? Anything I should know about using it/them?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I bought a cheap no-name like Amazon and Ebay sell. DO NOT DO THIS! I eventually had a resistance issue. It's fine for being an extension for power/ground or the OBDII plug, but I would never trust it to voltage drop or referencing. I tossed it.

AES LineSPI (Smarter DLC BOB)

www.aeswave.com

Now I have this AESwave unit. Frankly I don't use a break out box that often.

 

[Wrench97]

I have the AES Wave unit also, no complaints.

 

[richfinn]

I've got the PICO version, it's very well made, but annoyingly you can't use shrouded 4 mm banana plugs so you need some unshrouded adapters, it's also massive compared to newer designs. I keep mine in a waterproof box so as not to mess it up (cost a small fortune).

 

[AJHD]

I bought a cheap no-name like Amazon and Ebay sell. DO NOT DO THIS! I eventually had a resistance issue. It's fine for being an extension for power/ground or the OBDII plug, but I would never trust it to voltage drop or referencing. I tossed it.

AES LineSPI (Smarter DLC BOB)

www.aeswave.com

Now I have this AESwave unit. Frankly I don't use a break out box that often.

Yeah, I don't want to risk a cheap knock-off. I don't trust anything that could damage a module/the CAN network.

I have the AES Wave unit also, no complaints.

The AES unit is sadly also $200, although I would probably buy it over the Power Probe version because of the banana plug ports.

 

[N8sToolz]

Amazon.com

I ran this one for a long time and it did everything I needed. Basic.

I upgraded to the Aeswave one, and then eventually ended up with the godiag when I ordered a cloning tool. The godiag has a bunch of features that make bench programming very nice. No complaints with any of them, except I have more money ******* in breakout boxes that I honestly don't use as often as I should.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Amazon.com

I ran this one for a long time and it did everything I needed. Basic.

I upgraded to the Aeswave one, and then eventually ended up with the godiag when I ordered a cloning tool. The godiag has a bunch of features that make bench programming very nice. No complaints with any of them, except I have more money ******* in breakout boxes that I honestly don't use as often as I should.

That's the cheapo style I bought that burnt me on an internal resistance issue.

 

[Wamsutta]

You need a 4-channel Pico Scope and an IBM Thinkpad.

 

[Schurkey]

Curious: Why do you want a breakout box instead of getting your info from a decent scan tool?

I don't understand the advantage of a breakout box.

 

[AJHD]

You need a 4-channel Pico Scope and an IBM Thinkpad.

I feel like that's out of both my experience and price range, and something that would come later as a result.

I've owned and used an actual bench top oscilloscope in the past during my brief electronics engineering days, but not sure if I'm ready to head down that path for automotive use. I'm not on that level.

Anyway... I also feel like a breakout box would/could be used to interface with/connect to the CAN network using an oscilloscope.

 

[AJHD]

Curious: Why do you want a breakout box instead of getting your info from a decent scan tool?

I don't understand the advantage of a breakout box.

Just another tool in the arsenal, so to speak. Eric 'O had a video recently I think serves as a great example...

Several modules were not communicating, and therefore could not communicate with his scan tool. He used a breakout box to essentially just confirm the wiring was still good before proceeding down his troubleshooting path.

Are there other ways to do it or accomplish the same result? Sure. But again, it's a tool and I think it could be useful.

 

[N8sToolz]

That's the cheapo style I bought that burnt me on an internal resistance issue.

That's frustrating to hear. I've seen a few of these in the wild, I've had mine for quite a while now. It was my workhorse while I was doing mobile work.

 

[N8sToolz]

Curious: Why do you want a breakout box instead of getting your info from a decent scan tool?

I don't understand the advantage of a breakout box.

It's just an interface that allows you to tap into the communication lines. It can serve a couple purposes. Usually so you can hook an oscilloscope to observe, if you have a short or a module doing some wire things you will see it that way. When chasing shorts I can disconnect the network and use test leads to go directly to the module I want to talk to, bypassing the vehicle harness. It's also a great power port to for under dash testing. I've also had worn out obd plugs and needed to bypass the the plug itself into the vehicle harness, or power up and module for bench programming.

 

[AJHD]

It's just an interface that allows you to tap into the communication lines. It can serve a couple purposes. Usually so you can hook an oscilloscope to observe, if you have a short or a module doing some wire things you will see it that way. When chasing shorts I can disconnect the network and use test leads to go directly to the module I want to talk to, bypassing the vehicle harness. It's also a great power port to for under dash testing. I've also had worn out obd plugs and needed to bypass the the plug itself into the vehicle harness, or power up and module for bench programming.

All good examples.

 

[richfinn]

This is mine, so many different uses from checking powers/grounds (no comm) to testing the physical layer of the network to protecting your scan tool from DIY infotainment hacks.

Note the unshrouded adapters

 

[AJHD]

This is mine, so many different uses from checking powers/grounds (no comm) to testing the physical layer of the network to protecting your scan tool from DIY infotainment hacks.

Note the unshrouded adapters

I thought that looked familiar...

CAN test box

Pico CAN test box (PP619)

www.aeswave.com

That is yet another option, but at $300 it's a bit much for what this little box actually is/does.

At about $200 I'm likely going with the AESWave version when the time comes. It appears a safe cheaper alternative doesn't really exist.

AES LineSPI (Smarter DLC BOB)

www.aeswave.com

That said, in the meantime I will be buying this... It gives me access to the most common 4 ports and should help me determine through use if I need an actual full 16-port box.

Mini Break Out Box — Jarhead Diagnostics

When it comes to diagnosing an issue from the drivers seat, sometimes less is more! We would like to introduce our mini break out box. This will give you access to the following pins on the OBD2 DLC: Pin 4- Gives you access to a known good chassis ground. Pin 6- Gives you access to CAN High

www.jarheaddiag.com

 

[f121]

I also feel like a breakout box would/could be used to interface with/connect to the CAN network using an oscilloscope.

Backprobe pins into the can lines on a module, or regular probes on the odb2 plug? I usually backprobe it.

Don’t see there’s much to mess up with a odb2 breakout box, literally just extension wire, nothing active? Only way it would mess up the can is if it added resistance across the can lines?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Curious: Why do you want a breakout box instead of getting your info from a decent scan tool?

I don't understand the advantage of a breakout box.

Break out box is just for ease of interfacing with the DLC. Rather than probing directly, you have these nice banana jacks. This can be for measuring network activity, resistance, easy access to B+/ground for interior work, etc.

I don't find front probing the DLC gives a great connection and some are not easy to access.

Unless you have a tool with a built in oscilloscope test for CAN, like Autel through their VCI dongle, the break out box or the scan tool cannot deliver any of the information the other can.

 

[richfinn]

I thought that looked familiar...

CAN test box

Pico CAN test box (PP619)

www.aeswave.com

That is yet another option, but at $300 it's a bit much for what this little box actually is/does.

At about $200 I'm likely going with the AESWave version when the time comes. It appears a safe cheaper alternative doesn't really exist.

AES LineSPI (Smarter DLC BOB)

www.aeswave.com

That said, in the meantime I will be buying this... It gives me access to the most common 4 ports and should help me determine through use if I need an actual full 16-port box.

Mini Break Out Box — Jarhead Diagnostics

When it comes to diagnosing an issue from the drivers seat, sometimes less is more! We would like to introduce our mini break out box. This will give you access to the following pins on the OBD2 DLC: Pin 4- Gives you access to a known good chassis ground. Pin 6- Gives you access to CAN High

www.jarheaddiag.com

I bought it used from a guy with "All the gear and No Idea" for about £100 (there's lots of these guys selling unused stuff on ebay), I bagged an unused PICO automotive scope for £350 last year.

I just go on the pics and if they look brand new and the right is price, I take the risk

 

[Wrench97]

I bought it used from a guy with "All the gear and No Idea" for about £100 (there's lots of these guys selling unused stuff on ebay), I bagged an unused PICO automotive scope for £350 last year.

I just go on the pics and if they look brand new and the right is price, I take the risk

Every Pico scope on Ebay over here gets run up in price so high you might as well buy a new one...

 

[spinellib]

I chose the "Tooldom" unit. Seems good. I haven't used it yet for CAN, but I did use it once to monitor voltage while my alternator was acting up. You guys probably know more about the Tooldom brand than me, but their BOB looked identical to the Power Probe BOB at half the price. The ebay item number is 195077800895, in case anyone wants to look at it.