Fuelly Forums - ScanGauge II info, tips, and tricks

Here's a few tips and tricks I've come up with:

1. Right-angle cable:
I want a right-angle cable that rises from my dash and only sticks out 3/4", just high enough to plug into the SGII. Instead of buying an expensive one which may not do exactly what I want, I'm making my own. My GM uses the VPW protocol and only needs 3 wires, so that's all I'll use; I'll bend a piece of coat-hanger wire to exactly the shape that my dash will hold in place and use heat-shrink wrap to package it nicely with the wires. I could crimp my own cable using only 3 wires, or I could strip the jacket off a normal patch cable and cut off the other wires at the connector. All together it will mount my SG without needing adhesive, velcro, etc. I'll post pictures once it's done.

2. Powering the SG outside of the vehicle:
I don't want to have to sit in the vehicle while tediously entering XGauge codes. I have comfortable vehicles but I'd still rather be indoors on the couch. So, why not just give it power from a 12v source? I could use a common 12v DC wall wart, but even easier is to use my portable jumpstarter. Someone on another forum even uses a common 9v battery, though another person tried it and the SG was unstable on 9v. Anyway, to do so, all I need to do is cut the end off of a common ethernet cable (or crimp my own with only one end), and send power to the appropriate pins.

For both my indoor power cable and my 3-wire right-angle VPW cable, I can use this diagram:
From https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-te...auge-ii-6.html

Code:

Vehicle jack:

----------------------------

\  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  /

 \ 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 /

   ----------------------



ScanGauge II RJ45 plug:

(contacts up & plastic lock tab down)

------------

| |||||||| |

| |||||||| |

| 12345678 |

|          |

|          |

-----  -----

    |  |

    |  |



{Note from theholycow: That representation is of

the bottom of the connector, NOT the end of the

connector. The narrow piece visible at the bottom

is the cable, not the clip.)



OBD2                                RJ45    wire

pins        signal name                pins    color

-----------------------------------------------

  2        Bus positive SAE-J1850        4        blu

 4,5        Signal ground                1        wht/org

 16        +12v battery                8        org

A complete pinout, which you'll need for PWM, ISO, or CAN vehicles is at:
https://www.verboom.net/projects/spee...016/index.html