If
you're having trouble pairing your phone with the OBD2 Bluetooth adapter there
are several things you can check.
Make sure that:
The diagnostic port is usually under the dashboard.
Sometimes it has a protective cover that might hide it.
Check this link to help you find the diagnostic port on your vehicle.
Make
sure your phone is paired with the OBD2 Bluetooth adapter.
Check that the adapter is firmly plugged into the vehicle's diagnostic port -
you will usually see lights on in the adapter even when the engine is not
running.
The TruLog LiveDrive screen will show yellow or green
in the status box when the phone is in range of a paired OBD2 Bluetooth
adapter. The LiveDrive status will show green when
the engine is running.
If you have successfully paired your phone with the OBD2 Bluetooth Adapter but
the Phone is not connecting with the adapter when it's in range, i.e. the LiveDrive status box shows red, check the following.
Check that any other phones or devices that the adapter may be paired with are
not also in range of the adapter. Move there other
devices out of range, power them off, or unpair the adapter from these devices.
Some phones require you to check a box in the Bluetooth menu to allow the phone
to connect automatically with the adapter. If so, you should check this box.
You can reset the OBD2 Bluetooth adapter by unplugging it and replugging it into the diagnostic port.
You can reset the phone's Bluetooth system by clearing its cache in the
Settings/All Applications/Bluetooth screen. You should restart the phone after
you do this.
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On some phone models the phone will "go to sleep"
to conserve battery life. This is normal and can happen when you haven't used
your phone in a while. If your phone is asleep when you are driving it can miss
some or all of your drive.
Make sure your phone is awake before you start driving by pushing the power
button, swiping the lock screen and entering the password if necessary. On some
phone models just pushing the power button or swiping the lock screen will not
fully wake the phone up - the screen will momentarily turn on, but when the
screen turns off a few seconds later the phone goes right back to sleep. So,
make sure your phone is fully awake before driving.
On some phones the battery monitor function will turn off an
app like TruLog that has been running for a long time - the theory being that
such long-running apps may be using excessive battery power. In fact, TruLog uses
very little battery power because it “sleeps”
more than 85% of the time when it’s not collecting drive data.
If this is a problem, you can tell the Battery Monitor to
not turn TruLog off in the Settings menu by putting TruLog on a “whitelist.”
Some OBD2 Bluetooth adapters cannot read the vehicle
identification number (VIN) from your vehicle's ECU because the manufacturer
cut corners to save costs. The VIN, having 17 characters, needs more chip
capabilities than what is needed for shorter data components like speed and
RPMs.
The solution is to get an OBD2 Bluetooth adapter from a reputable retailer such
as Amazon.com or WalMart.com
that impose quality controls on the manufacturers and have good returns
policies.
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TruLog tries very hard to get the starting and ending point
latitude and longitude coordinates of your drive. Sometimes, however, the
phone's GPS can have trouble getting a satellite fix in time. This can happen
especially if the phone cannot "see" the sky, such as if the vehicle
is in a tunnel or the phone is under or in an obstruction such as the glove
box. Make sure the phone is in an open location in the vehicle when driving.
Also, if it takes too long before the phone gets a GPS fix at the beginning of
the drive the starting point can be missed.
Make sure that the location capability or GPS is enabled on your phone.
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Some smart-phone models require the user to turn on
"Location high accuracy" in Settings to use GPS. Without this the
phone only uses triangulation based on cell sites or available WiFi to estimate its location; this can have large errors
resulting in wrong or inaccurate map coordinates. The phone's location high accuracy
mode may be turned off as the default to improve battery life on some phone
models.
Go to the location mode screen in Settings to turn on GPS and enable the high
accuracy mode.
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TruLog
takes a few seconds or more to reflect current vehicle and engine conditions
because it has a "heartbeat" every 10-15 seconds so that the screen
information can only be updated on a heartbeat. This can make TruLog seem slow
in reflecting what's going on in the vehicle - engine status, changing speeds
and vehicle conditions while being driven. Be assured that underneath TruLog is
capturing your drive data very accurately, it's only the updating of screens
that can seem slightly delayed.
When the engine is off or the phone is away from the
vehicle TruLog will periodically check if the phone is in the vehicle and if
the engine is running. The time between checks can sometimes extend to about a
minute or so if the phone has been away from the vehicle for a while.
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