OBDeleven Long Coding options disagree with physical configuration? (I know, I should just step AWAY from the toys...)

[JayLibove]

It would probably have been better to have never ordered the OBDeleven  but it's hard to separate a boy (or girl) from the toys he (or she) can buy... Ahem.

So, 2020 Octavia MkIII Scout, bought new in October 2020. Just got an OBDeleven.

Looked through pages and pages (and pages) of Long Coding settings to get an idea of what's in there.

Found several things that seem to disagree with the physical configuration of my car (that is, I found bits in Long Coding which have names provided by OBDeleven and which are set e.g. yes/no, active/not-installed in a way which is different than what's really in my car).

Just curious if others have found these disagreements, and whether any of them are worth playing with (since the features DO work as delivered from the factory).

 

Under the Control Unit: Air conditioning, where it lists various aspects of the car (For example, it's a diesel 4x4 wagon, all good), the "Roof" item says "Standard". But, my car has a powered panoramic roof.

 

(I forget in which other Control Unit) Tire Pressure Monitoring is set to "no" (although, right after that is the setting Tire Pressure Monitoring Display, set to yes); my car as a Tire Pressure Monitoring System reset command in the head unit (though I don't see anything at all about tire pressure anywhere else except for the "reset", in other words "tell the car that the tires, as they are now, are good"). I guess it's an "idiot light" sort of thing? .. where it's completely invisible unless/until it detects that a tire's pressure has changed?

Anyone see anything ever about tire pressure monitoring other than the reset page in the head unit settings? It would be nice to be able to see that it was working... (I guess I could stop at an air pump and manually let some pressure out of a tire and slowly drive around the parking lot to see if the car alerts me, but it seems like the sort of thing that ought to have a status page somewhere...)

 

(I forget in which other Control Unit) Collision warning is set to "no", but I know my car has collision warning, because I occasionally get that spurious red "radar" image (accompanied by the piercing shriek) as described in this other thread: 

 

 

(Again I forget in which other Control Unit, sorry...) Pedestrian Protection,BAP distance is set to "no", but I'm pretty sure that my car has pedestrian detection (i.e. it'll detect if someone is about to walk behind me when I'm in reverse gear to back out of a parking space).

 

So, what does it mean, that there are these various Long Coding settings which seem to disagree with things that I know are actually intalled in the car, and which are working (Well, in the case of tire pressure monitoring, which I assume is working)?

 

thanks!

 

[brettikivi]

you can break lots. 

 

Be careful. Very careful.

 

Your tyre pressure is a good example: the system does not work the way it might - it uses the rotational speed difference from one wheel to another to detect pressure loss. Unlike, say, the system in the wife's SX4, which states clearly "210kPa". 

 

You are also working with a facelift Octy and they are not the same as pre-facelift ones in terms of electronics. 

 

Take a backup before you change anything. 

 

 

[varaderoguy]

oooohhh - be SUPER SUPER careful - and especially if you have ODBEleven (because it has been known to mess things up).

 

Sorry to say that if you are going to start serious modding, then you really need a minimum of a VCDS system from Ross-tech.com  With VCDS you can perform a full status backup of all of the settings for each module (or the whole car).  You then have a template to go back to if you mess things up (and its too easy). 

 

That's the thing about the labels for software functions in VW Group cars - they are half in German, half in English.  The FL cars also got a whole load of GEN2 characteristics and labels (some which replaced GEN1 and some that brought in new functionality).

You GEN2 functions will be different to any other vehicle and I know that @langers2k would be super-keen to hear from you when you have a scan as he seems to be the arbitor of knowledge of difference between the various different car years and their functions and what you can do to each car.  The labels describe functions that are technical, so even a German->English translation tool canny always help.  You Scout is the last of the MK3's - a superbe car....keep it and cherish it, because the MK4's are protected and cannot be modified in the same manner as the MK3's.

[langers2k]

Yeah, I'd agree with the above, don't start messing with things until you have:

- made a backup (long coding + adaptions)

- understand how to compare the current coding/adaptions to the backup

- find the history of changes

- are happy you're able to revert things

 

I've never used OBDeleven so I can't give any specifics. If you can figure it out, it might be worth making a short guide? Something like 'OBDeleven first steps before you change anything'

 

 

 

If you're new to coding (which it seems like you are), l'd very much suggest looking at some of the common tweaks and seeing which, if any, you'd like and trying those first. You'll soon release there are a great many options, some of which may seem almost identical in both German and may miss certain nuances when translated to English.

[JayLibove]

Thanks everyone. I guess I should have prefaced - I'm a computer/software engineer (focused >20 years in security/privacy), so although I am new to Long Coding, nothing that I've encountered in how all of this works (the basic engineering of modules, buses, configurations, software that knows some things about something, less/bit-coding about other things, and probably gets some things completely wrong because, hey, the software is crowd-sourced and the manufacturer really doesn't worry about keeping their constantly-"improved" stuff compatible with whatever we tinkerers may have [thought we have] found over time ... heh).

So, yes, backups first, records of everything I do, and no tinkering with things that I expect might be able to "click here to kill everyone" by interacting too badly with a physical system.

 

I have looked at many of the known tweaks, and for example have successfully enabled Traffic Sign Recognition, Refuel volume estimate, and Show blower speed when on Auto.

I'm trying to get mirrors-dip-in-reverse to work; from something I read by the inestimable @SashaGrace I understand that a particular mirror assembly part# is needed - looking at what OBDeleven finds of my mirrors, I would seem to have a just slightly newer version of that part number series, but I haven't yet succeded in getting the mirrors to dip..

So, yes, lessons taken, thanks.

 

What in particular has OBDeleven been known to mess up, by the way?

 

@langers2k I'd be more than happy to supply you with whatever information I can to contribute to tribal knowledge! Drop me a private message and I'll do my best. I hugely appreciate this community; waaaay back in the early Internet days I did this sort of thing for computers, operating systems, network stacks, etc to help others. Now I'm older and lazier and mostly consume, but will happily contribute as I can!

 

Oh, about writing an OBDeleven coding how-to guide, actually I've had zero difficulty taking VCDS instructions and doing the same tasks in OBDeleven, and there are OBDeleven how-to guides out there in other fora, so anything I might create (other than specific knowledge about "on this year-model-feature car, X worked, Y didn't") would just be duplicate and probably not as well done as things already available...

 

So, any thoughts on the specific apparent mismatches I've found? (I'll add another - my car does have front fog lights - the headlight control dial has two pull-out positions; but one of the Long Coding items, for front fog lights, is set to not-installed.) I assume it's just that there's so much detritus from years and generations of software, that the bits I've found that talk about e.g. "front fog lights" relate to some older car models and technology, and simply aren't where _my_ car's software goes looking for information about _the_ front fog lights that _it_ has... 😅

 

cheers,

-Jay

 

[langers2k]

3 hours ago, JayLibove said:

What in particular has OBDeleven been known to mess up, by the way?

 

My opinion (having never used it) is that as OBDeleven is cheaper and has a nice friendly app, it either attracts people that are less technical or lures people into not checking things.

 

This is especially true with some of the 'one-touch' apps, they appear to have been tested against a single model year so messes up when applied to cars with slightly different configs. Ideally OBDeleven should do more checking to avoid this. The other issue is that it doesn't seem to lend itself to backing up configs or showing what changes have happened which makes helping people after the fact harder, even more so if they aren't able to share they current config apart from in random screenshots!

 

Obviously it could just be user error but it seems common enough that OBDeleven should make changes to avoid it. As with most things, In the right hands, it can be a powerful and useful tool

 

3 hours ago, JayLibove said:

I'd be more than happy to supply you with whatever information I can to contribute to tribal knowledge!

 

Thank you for the offer! If I need anything from a 2020 Octavia I'll drop you a message

 

It'll mostly be if I'm trying to find a stock set of settings to help restore someone's car or if I want to know when a feature changed.

[JayLibove]

@langers2k I agree - it's an easy tool with which to do damage.

The first thing I did before editing anything was to take a full backup. So, if we can figure out how to export that in a usable format, there's your 2020 Octavia MkIII (Scout) default config (for my car's options, anyway...)

Also, OBDeleven automatically keeps history. It's not the most user friendly thing in the world to walk back through it, but it's possible.

(It's straightforward to export the History. I'm struggling to figure out where OBDeleven stored the Backup files; and I know that OBDeleven does not offer a "restore" option; the backups are for manual comparison in case of a need to [manually] restore individual settings. But, at least it's there. I've posted to the OBDeleven forums asking where the Backup files are stored).

 

[langers2k]

It's things like the backup, where to find/share it and traversing the history which would make a useful guide.

 

When you've worked it out, a few screenshots in a thread would be a great resource to direct other OBDeleven users at

 

It often feels like I get a virtual blank stare when I ask OBDeleven users for them 

[SC03OTT]

Just dipping in to make a quick point in defence of OBDeleven. I would say all of the people I’ve seen have issues, used the one touch apps. The trouble is coming about because people won’t take the time to learn how to make changes properly. It’s a perfectly safe tool if you learn how to use it. Just like VCDS. 
 

That’s all I have to offer. Juts felt compelled to defend it a bit 

[ahenners]

If stuff is working then it seems like a bad idea to change the coding to what you think it should be. Isn't some of the stuff set by adaptations rather than long coding, so whilst something might not be set there, there may be an adaptation on that module where it is set instead.

[ScoutCJB]

12 hours ago, ahenners said:

If stuff is working then it seems like a bad idea to change the coding to what you think it should be. Isn't some of the stuff set by adaptations rather than long coding, so whilst something might not be set there, there may be an adaptation on that module where it is set instead.

 

+1

[JayLibove]

Hi @langers2k,

On the subject of OBDeleven how-tos and especially backups, today I found this very complete treatment of the subject:

http://cupra280.co.uk/obd11.html

-Jay

 

  

On 09/02/2021 at 19:03, langers2k said:

It's things like the backup, where to find/share it and traversing the history which would make a useful guide.

 

When you've worked it out, a few screenshots in a thread would be a great resource to direct other OBDeleven users at

 

It often feels like I get a virtual blank stare when I ask OBDeleven users for them