My local and independent auto repair shop is literally a Ma and Pa operation with their son doing the hi-tech work now. As you walk in, they have a big glass jar labeled "Fake Fuel Savers" that's filling up rapidly with OBD scam boxes they find plugged into customers OBD ports. A few of them have been found guilty of causing the engine to misfire until removed. The jar is a good way to get people talking about scam boxes.
That's pretty disappointing to be able to tangibly realize just how many alleged suckers are birthed and how many fools and finances are parted.... 2022!!!
Keeping up the Star Trek tradition. In the original series when characters opened access ports for theatrical messing with magic smoke and sparks, there were pipes that bore the official looking stencils ‘GNDN’. The set designer later said these stood for ‘goes nowhere, does nothing’.
I can just imagine those set designers having a laugh at our expense as we tried to believe the trek universe even though being told it does nothing and goes nowhere.
You are doing an important job Clive. Thank you! How come UA-cam is concientious enough to remove certain conspiracy theorists and 'adult' channels (sometimes even incorrectly taking down perfectly legitimate channels) but not conscientious enough to remove adverts for products like this that are blatantly lying? - Obviously, the answer is that the advertisers pay them but this sort of thing really needs to be stamped on.
What about the adverts telling you to put toothpaste, water and fizzy cola into your petrol tank? They don't get deleted. . . . . I'm off to put some iron filings in mine and video an advertisement .
Do you guys really think YT ads are being independently verified like some kind of Consumer Reports testing lab...? C’mon... You pay your money, don’t obviously violate a TOS contract, and it’s 100% caveat emptor from there.
@@samholdsworth420 this is what happens when uneducated people believe everything they see and are gullible enough to think a plastic box is going to save on fuel. Just plug it in and save money. PLEASE
i've never a seen a bi-stable circuit done like that before! its kind of incredible considering it skirts the problem of stolen code from a stolen design. the ingenuity of thieves is always impressive
This video just inadvertently made me realize an error I’ve been making and now everything actually makes sense. For WEEKS I’ve been thinking that CAN-Hi is 500k and CAN-low is 250k… when I was working out the circuitry of the “fuel saver” I came across my issue! I’ve been using it in my schematics and now I know this is what has been screwing up my troubleshooting! Who would’ve thought that a scam OBD2 plug thing would’ve turned into someone’s lightbulb moment.
There are several versions of CAN, the most common are 125Kb, 250Kb, 500Kb, 1Mb. The CAN Low and Can High simply provide signal reliability, as they are twisted it is very difficult to disturb the signal.
@@SrWolf90 Almost got it... Canbus is differential balanced line signalling. When one line goes high, the other goes low. When the wires are twisted, each doing the opposite simultaneously will prevent EMI. Any other noise encountered will effect both lines simultaneously, which won't change the difference in voltage between each line after you subtract out the "common" voltage. Since canbus is non clocked, you can make whatever bitrate you desire. When you get a MCP2515 or similar canbus controller, you've gotta set the sampling times (bit timings, google mcp2515 bit time calculator) based off the controller's clock rate. In effect, there's no "different versions" canbus till you get into CAN-FD.
Not sure now, but in the 2000s it was common to have a high-speed (500kb) CAN bus for mission critical functions (related to engine management, etc.) and low- speed (say 125kb) for less-critical functions. Unless the manufacturer cheaped-out and put everything on one bus.
Redraw the two NPN transistors as a simple flip-flop, which will simplify the schematic so that your eyes don't cross. In my distant past, I have used this same circuit, but using TTL logic, to make a toggle on-off switch. The key to making it work is that the value of the resistor in the RC network be at least 10x higher than the impedance of the flip flop output that it connects to. The C debounces the switch.
I plugged one of these into the previously disconnected SU carburetor heater circuit in my 948cc Austin Healey Sprite to automatically clean the cassette player heads whenever I play a Bee Gees cassette. It does this perfectly and I don't believe a word you are saying !
Oh! I love it when you go on mini-deep dives in a subject. A string of similar but different tear-downs really cements something in my memory quite well.
Gotta give them some credit, they had a chance to really mess up the car's computer using this interface, but were decent enough to resist the urge....
My guess is that a previous version did have extra components and connections, but it killed certain models of engines, and you can trick people into thinking you're saving them gas if their car won't start. So they axed bits with the minimum amount of work necessary.
Those of us of A Certain Age will remember the small glass phials with spark gaps that were sold in street markets. You put this in your HT lead from the coil and the improvement in performance was demonstrated on the stall with a much bigger, brighter spark. I never saw the Secret Switch they had under the table though . . . .
Yeah the donuts that fell for that didn't understand that a bright blue spark in open air is not the same as what you get in a fuel/air mixture under compression...
honestly my guess is it was wired to an oil burner transformer 10,000v-14,000v output makes a nice blue spark that can jump a wide gap, you can build those Frankenstein movie style Jacob's Ladders with these things. Or a Neon sign transformer, they are similar voltages to the oil burner ignition ones. Either way I mention both of those because for a scammer on the street there is another important factor, both are cheap.
Given the odd design, they may have designed it to work using cheap E-Waste components they could get from recyclers, rather than using new and far more expensive sourced components. Not many reputable companies want to use questionable reclaimed components in their products, and disposal is expensive. But if they could stick them in fake product lines they don't need to maintain, there is profit to be made.
They went to the trouble of adding these elaborate traces to nowhere, probably the initial version had all the resistors populated as well, just to give the impression that the device is actually connected to the bus in case someone opens it up. But then they thought "oh f** it, no one's gonna do that anyway, let's save that half a cent per unit" 😂
Although it doesn't make any difference. Even if there were traces, resistors, and a CAN transceiver and microcontroller. Then the product would still not save fuel, and would still be fraudulent. So leaving out as much electronics at least reduces some e-waste.
@@graealex you know what would help e-waste? If these products didn't exist at all but something tells me the people behind this aren't all too concerned lol
Society itself is one huge scam. You literally can't trust a single person any more, not even your own family because they would sooner serve the system.
@@Shaun.Stephens but still more expensive than just using the microcontroller's interrupts to achieve the same purpose in software. There's no need to control the power to the whole microcontroller, just turn off the LEDs and drop into a low power mode. Power to the microcontroller is automatically turned off every time the car is turned off.
Hey big Clive. Just wanted to say thank you. I got my first job after graduation from university as electrical engineer and your videos helped me very much.
I wonder if perhaps this hadn't started out, at least in the initial design brief, as a single-purpose service reminder reset unit. The example I'm familiar with is certain BMW models where shorting two pins in the classic "Pacman" connector via a certain resistance for a few seconds resets the oil change interval counter. I believe some later models moved that function to the OBD2 connector.
Someone in comments mentioned this cost about 10 pounds? If so, wound nit the next step in the scam be to price it more around the 50 pounds Serling or even a bit more? Usually hood tech costs? Either way, hope not too many folks get scammed out of their hard earned money. Great video and explanations as always, Clive!
The low price is there to filter out smarter buyers. Just like scam mails with obvious spelling mistakes. Also if the made this more expensive, the poor souls who actually notice they where scammed would be more inclined to ask for a refund, potentially getting the seller banned.
@@davidwaldo9180 Ouch! It was a pretty thought out scam. Also to a non electronics person like me, if I opened it up to see inside, I honestly would think it is legit!
In a previous life I got quite experienced with CAN Bus and wrote a software stack for interfacing with the protocol (supporting multiple devices through their own device driver). It was quite entertaining when I applied my CAB scan and detect code to a car and found, naturally, that I had access to all the functionality that a car manufacturer kept for main dealers and prevented independent garages from accessing. In theory, it is quite possible to have something on the car's CAN network that would impact vehicle efficiency. Likely not well advised, and it is also very likely the that vehicle's EMU (Engine Management Unit) will do a far better job.
@@JordyValentine Yep. The despicable attempts the auto manufacturers made to maintain a monopoly on overpriced "servicing" of their engines/EMUs was really bad. A well behaved CAN Bus tap was invisible to any devices. While adevice scan was necessarily interactive (it's impossible not to either broadcast or poll a specific CANID without sending a message) past this the interaction could be a passive monitoring of CANBus traffic and recording the information. This was quite instructive at times and the initialisation messages from the EMU gave out quite a lot of information. This initialisation could be subverted and extended depending on the vehicle and in any case all that was required was to restart the EMU (disconnect the battery in the most persistent cases) as the EMU performed a proper re-initialisation on such a cold start. Some CAN devices would correctly support multiple messages, for example configuring them to send status updates to the CAN Host device in addition to the EMU, for others the CAN device was singular and would only send to one device at a time. This shouldn't be the case but hey, some devices are cheap/crap.
The best fuel saving OBD device is a a combination of a Bluetooth OBD reader, your phone, a phone holder, and an app that shows instant fuel consumption.... Then adjust you're driving style to minimise fuel use.
Blinking LED lights is always a sure bet with consumers. I mean if an LED is blinking, it has to be doing something...right? Amazing how many people will be scammed via these type phony circuits. Thumbs Up!
You know when you have a quality ECO OBD-2 device when the ON/OFF switch is more sophisticated than the rest of the design... Have to hand it to the guy that came up with that... and I think you're right, they've repurposed someone else's fake blink-o-matic controller
However this is entirely an assumption. They could have purchased a batch of legitimately preprogrammed chips from the Halloween/decoration industry. This light show seems appropriate for a simulated ADSL modem that can be demonstrated without depending on the phone company or buying an extra line.
@@skylined5534 It could also be for a fake DVR. Thieves break into a place they can see has cameras, so they look for the DVR to steal along with the valuables. Put the fake DVR so the thieves will find it first. Meanwhile, the real DVR is hidden away and continuing to record. having the blinking lights like that make the fake DVR look more real.
I like how you super-imposed the chip numbers, enlarged, over the chips on your printed photo. Very nice! Unless my internet is behaving super poorly and the numbers were really that large lol
Thats funny, exactly the same "Fuel saver" i disassembled to show a buddy of mine that it is a complete hoax with that price (i just showed him that the relevant data-lines are going nowhere). Thanks for getting into the details, Clive!
well that unit you have has worked for me, I watched your video instead of going out in the car lol , good morning all (UK) Having a Clive day today and watching some of his retro videos, keep up the good work BC
OBD II port is also useful to trickle charge the battery from inside the vehicle. I use a 1 amp trickle charger to charge through pins 16 & 4 so I don't have to go under the hood to disconnect the battery clips every time I want to go for a drive.
Already demagnetized my CDs today, now I can add a device allowing my car to run without using any fuel. Life is good. Also got a power saving 1µF capacitor to my mains, so I'm covered. Feel soooooo "green" and environment-friendly now!
Probably because it's a half stolen design copy/pasted. Likely this company copied another company that was also making a fake part, who in turn was copying another...etc... At each step someone knows just enough to cut out more and more, but they just never bothered to change the PCB. On a practical sense, I wonder if what happens is one company goes bust or runs back down the drain when they get caught out, and the surplus parts get used in the next scam product. Eventually a new run of boards is needed, but because these are fidiot scammers they have no idea how to redesign it, so just say "copy this".
@@kal9001 Yes very true, I think the PCB company is also selling companys lays outs so the Chieses makes can just solder the parts on. Cutting the PCB layout altogether.
the wild ass circuit might've also just been an attempt at preventing reverse engineering. do something simple in a complicated way so either competitors can't steal their design or so a layman opening it up goes "oh man that's complicated it must work" it could be stolen code as well, but you don't need any code to blink some LEDs so I'm leaning towards my theory
Absolutely but I have to wonder why somebody would worry about a totally bogus product (piece of crap) being reverse engineered? I myself have developed a genuine fuel saving system. I don't want to say too much until the patent is granted but I'll give you a hint; a dog's 'squeaky toy' cable-tied behind the accelerator pedal, pure genius! I can't wait to be rich. Arguably, you could just ease off on the accelerator a bit, maybe cruise along and never, ever use automatic speed control? Sorry if I got too technical there! I love Clive's 'breakdowns', old school electronics and basic practical engineering 'exemplified', logical reasoning in an analogue world. I 'entered the fold' when OC 71/72 Germanium transistors were the 'way to the future', nice to find some kindred spirits. Pax.
My 30 year old VW Golf diesel is so advanced it has electric (motor) windows and LEDs as indicators. The starter motor and headlights are about the only other electrical bits.
Do not tap into the OBD power lines for power! If you burn your socket fuse no trouble. If you want permanent on 12 V use one of the radios'. One that powers is clock. If you short or even worse spike communication, important things might start failing. I admit, I am a safety inspector and can't hold myself from sending warnings on forums ...
The on/off toggle circuit looks very much like a simple version of the footswitch circuit of a cheap guitar effect pedal. Two transistors back to back with the base of each connected to the collector of the other, hold capacitor(s) and, in the case of a pedal, a JFET to switch the audio signal.
Looks like they employed someone who thinks they know about electrical engineering, and started designing a board to actually interact with the system, at which point the boss said, "No, I don't want you to *actually* design an ODBII device. It just has to vaguely look like an ODBII device.".
Excellent, you can easily make this to a real fuel-saver, just connect Pin 2 with 10, 6 with 14 and 7 with 15, im sure that will save the most fuel because it shortens all 3 buses in the car
This looks more or less identical to my bluetooth ODB-II adapter, apart from the color and text. My guess is that they just took one of these designs, and populated only the bare minimum to get the lights blinking. That's the reason for the overly complicated PCB and the lack of a lot of components.
Another horror story yes, but I do love little transistor circuits like this. I think I'd be right in saying from your circuit description, that the transistor circuit wouldn't be quite there as a bounce free single button on/off toggle switch for a small construction project, as the power would go to a definite ON if there was an interruption to the incoming power supply. I do though recall from ages ago, a natty two gate cmos invertor circuit (leaving 4 spare invertors) using a couple of resistors and a capacitor that formed a single button on/off toggle. The rub is though I can't recall (without a lot a doodling) exactly how it was done. Update: Its just dawned on me: Take the FET gate to the other collector!
I'm surprised these OBD gas savers haven't started popping up at gas [petrol] stations yet... So many independently owned service stations with dubious owners are already selling questionable stuff, from crack pipes to expired food, to even using card skimmers to steal from customers, this would just be another exploit for these shady owners.
Customers would demand to pay for less fuel after buying these. Hilarity would ensue once it's proven the loudest complainants didn't even plug in the thing, thus being scammers themselves.
Actually this video was quite an eye-opener, thanks. I knew about fake fuel savers but fake gadgets that claim to plug into OBD?! That's news to me....
The input series diode is to protect the 78L05 from negative spikes on the 12V supply, as automotive electricity is quite nasty. IIRC, standard automotive circuit design has to allow for -40V to +60V transients.
One unexpected take away from this video was hidden in the description. Rum and cream soda is something I need to try. I love my rum and coke but cream soda seems like a very interesting choice and I just have to try it. So thanks for the idea!
Amazes me how folks can make and sell this stuff, get away with it, make lots of money even though it is well publicized that these things are total BS. Why do people buy this except to debunk? Oh, damn, I forgot, people are stupid.
It could be stolen code, but given the origins it could just as easily be lost source code, so that's what they were left with and they found a a way to make it work. I've worked with suppliers in Asia where a design is so old that it is impossible to update without complete redesign. Sometimes, the original engineer left the company many years ago and no records of the original development remain.
I wrote some Arduino code a ways back, they then updated the Arduino compiler and now I can no longer compile my code even though I have the source. So this can easily happen to anyone. This kind of makes me want to go back to assembly code.
many many years ago, i almost built something like this. It would only clear DTC codes stored. whether someone changes an engine sensor and needs the clear codes, or the idiot lights are just illuminated on the dash, it would clear them for cheap. because those fancy scan tools arent for everyone's budget, and doubtful they'd use it enough to justify buying an expensive unit. Thanks for sharing these and showing people these things are just a scam.
I'd assume that if these units actually DID what they said on the tin, they'd be illegal in many places where modifying the factory map is illegal due to emissions regulations :)
I was going to same much the same. I'd think they'd be illegal anyway because they can't deliver on their promise. But if they tried, they'd be illegal for tampering with emissions.
That does not apply to about 98% of countries. There are many Real OBDII tuning options that are completely Legal, Almost all countries you can modify the cars computer and tune, specially as there is no way to tell its been modified without scanning it. USA is one of the only few countries who regularly check cars emissions & even then its only like 1 or 2 states on West Coast. (here in Australia its only done if you get caught with exhaust without cat converter or police see black smoke (unburnt fuel) coming out the Exhaust, other wise can drive the car for 50 years on the same Road Worthy Test you got in 1960's :D) Majority of countries dont even have a test when you get car first Taxed/registered in your name. They simply rely on what the car company says. In the end none of it really matters (single voyage of Queen Mary 2 put out more CO-2 and pollution than every car in entire United Kingdom does in 1 week. Or they use as much fuel as 1 family with 2 cars could do 250,000km per year (500,000 combined) for over 25 years. So car pollution is a small fraction of the issue. 10 Cruise ships = over 250,000,000 cars Co-2 output.
The irony of course being that if you successfully reduce fuel consumption, you're going to be reducing emissions anyway. The engine isn't creating the emissions by magic.
@@tin2001 wrong, you must keep the engine running in ideal conditions. by leaning the Afr you can save fuel, but increase combustion temperature and increase NOx emissions
When I was a teenager I'd occasionally have a nocturnal emission. Does cleaning up the mess in the morning count as tampering with emissions? Illegally? Would they have sent me to the penile colony if they caught me?
Uh I spotted the soft-latch first glance :) With these parts as raw materials it would probably be possible to build a device that had a function related to the can bus, like really displaying activity on the bus or something... really entertaining ! Thanks for the dirty work !
The switching behaviour reminds me of when you repeatedly press a torch button and it cycles through different light levels and flash setting, morse code etc? Cheers for the video Clive.
With the immense competition between major vehicle manufacturers about fuel economy and emissions reduction, if this gizmo like this would actually work, they would already imtegrated it in their vehicles.
I suspect that they got ahold of some Gerber files, deleted the connection from the MC to the pins, added a light show to the leds, then buttoned it up and started selling.
I drive a miracle fuel saving 3 cylinder Geo Metro that gets up to 50mpg with no gizmos added. It’s just a very small, light car with a 90 pound engine.
Fuel saving devices are a complete scam, designed to dupe the technologically illiterate. Why would you want Clive to engage in creating scam hardware?
This unit should had a pass through OBD connection so that you could plug more than one in a chain for even more fuel saving 🤣 BTW I love using 10K resistors for indicator LEDs when I design a circuit, It is pretty much always enough and I can bet my only pair of shoes that they won´t burn out quickly too
These things should be illegal. Consumer protection should step in and not only remove these from the market, but should fine these companies into solvency.
I'm sure someone else in the comments has already mentioned this but I believe the components left disconnected are because they've used the same board/plastic box that is normally used in the cheap wifi/Bluetooth elm32 code readers.
Hahaaaaha...I came across one like this with the button. Never quite worked correctly and it actually did something (more than once) that required a CAN reset on at least one controller on the network. It finally totally failed - and I feel safer now. Thanks!
Just a side note Regarding the comment at end about tapping into constant 12V source at the OBDII port. Never do this as onboard computers are very easy to blow and also dont like power interferance. Say if its connected to a strong car stereo head unit and turning it on drains power this could be enough to make car send wrong signals and even blow engine. just run a new 12v wire or tape into radio instead.
That's not quite how it becomes a problem... The issue is more along the lines of the data lines are 5V max, and you're playing with 12v wiring within millimetres of them. And that the 12v constant power in the OBD port is intended to power small electronic scanners, not large loads, and will have a suitably small fuse to protect the suitably small wires. Also, do people seriously hook stereos into the OBD port? I'd have thought any car that actually has an OBD port would also have a constant 12V already present for the factory stereo.
Note: OBD 12v connector is rated to 6A. The issue is with that, did the designers of your car's electronics allow for 6A per OBD socket (some cars have multiples) or is it 6A total? Generally, exceeding the rating of this should just cause a fuse to blow (or breaker if you have some kind of aftermarket PD system).
The 12v power rail at the OBD2 port comes from the fuse box, it has nothing to do with the onboard computers. It's purely there to power diagnostic tools. The older OBD systems without a standardised connector often didn't have any power rail which is very inconvenient.
Thank you, Clive. I needed this entertainment. I just spent the last 15 minutes in a Mexican stand-off with 2 basement-dwelling jumping crickets. They're called "camel" or "spider" crickets and they jump super high when frightened. They have a very flexible exoskeleton and they've somehow found their way indoors due to the cool weather. All I wanted was to use the bathroom and I found myself face-to-face with one of these cheeky bastards, sitting there in the doorway... menacingly. I had to carefully and methodically sneak _around_ him to get the can of bug spray. And then I left the room for 2 minutes, came back, and _another_ one had appeared in the same spot. I'm a grown man and these little buggers are harmless, but I just get the fear of God in the pit of my stomach every time I see one. But now I can _finally_ unwind in bed and watch your videos in peace. 🥲
Another issue with these is that some cars won't save an error log to the ecu if a diagnostic tool is connected, so potentially depending on the arrangement of pins, dodgy circuitry, software etc. a car may detect something is connected and thus not log error codes
What's funny is that you can't affect fuel economy in any meaningful way through the ODB2 port. You'd need to reprogram the ECU or a specific module, which is much much more difficult. In fact, in many cars, you can't reprogram the ECU without having expensive equipment, and a subscription to the manufacturer's site that lets you download the correct software and then it digitally signs things.
My local and independent auto repair shop is literally a Ma and Pa operation with their son doing the hi-tech work now. As you walk in, they have a big glass jar labeled "Fake Fuel Savers" that's filling up rapidly with OBD scam boxes they find plugged into customers OBD ports. A few of them have been found guilty of causing the engine to misfire until removed. The jar is a good way to get people talking about scam boxes.
Maybe you should try and get a few of them, then send them to Big Clive.
That's pretty disappointing to be able to tangibly realize just how many alleged suckers are birthed and how many fools and finances are parted.... 2022!!!
fake fuel savers, saving fuel by making your car misfire so you give up and walk to work.
I want to see one that caused a misfires get reverse engineered
@@Green_Expedition_Drgn I like to think that those are the better ones. At least they're doing _something_ at all.
They should've put a blob of black epoxy on there somewhere as as "secret chip"
yes... on an empty board....😀
Yes, they missed a trick there to be sure! Maybe they priced it up and decided epoxy was too expensive?
@@RobertoColi wireless chip 😅
Imagine if you plugged it in and a bootleg version of super mario brothers appeared on the satnav screen
@@actuallyusingmyrealnameher5061 Haha. Mario Kart though surely?
I love how Techmoan is reviewing CD audio scams as BigClive is investigating Fuel Saving scams.
Increase your MPG by demagnitizing your petrol.
@@ann_onn Haha!
If you shave off your tyre sidewall and colour it in with Sharpie, you'll save loads of fuel! And it's totally safe!
@@ann_onn You joke but he did a video on such a product years ago: ua-cam.com/video/Au8QNVe4GLg/v-deo.html
@@Agent24Electronics “Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out." - Feynman.
Keeping up the Star Trek tradition. In the original series when characters opened access ports for theatrical messing with magic smoke and sparks, there were pipes that bore the official looking stencils ‘GNDN’. The set designer later said these stood for ‘goes nowhere, does nothing’.
I can just imagine those set designers having a laugh at our expense as we tried to believe the trek universe even though being told it does nothing and goes nowhere.
Hahaha sums it up
You are doing an important job Clive. Thank you!
How come UA-cam is concientious enough to remove certain conspiracy theorists and 'adult' channels (sometimes even incorrectly taking down perfectly legitimate channels) but not conscientious enough to remove adverts for products like this that are blatantly lying? - Obviously, the answer is that the advertisers pay them but this sort of thing really needs to be stamped on.
What about the adverts telling you to put toothpaste, water and fizzy cola into your petrol tank? They don't get deleted. . . . . I'm off to put some iron filings in mine and video an advertisement .
Follow the money....
Or, agenda, the case of most of big tech. In which power is exchanged for money. I
Do you guys really think YT ads are being independently verified like some kind of Consumer Reports testing lab...?
C’mon... You pay your money, don’t obviously violate a TOS contract, and it’s 100% caveat emptor from there.
This is what happens when AI algorithms operate your business
@@samholdsworth420 this is what happens when uneducated people believe everything they see and are gullible enough to think a plastic box is going to save on fuel. Just plug it in and save money. PLEASE
i've never a seen a bi-stable circuit done like that before! its kind of incredible considering it skirts the problem of stolen code from a stolen design. the ingenuity of thieves is always impressive
Apart from the circuitry for the button/switch, that’s a standard transistor based bistable circuit.
It takes a lot of work to avoid getting a job!
@@Mark1024MAK it's not too difficult to lay out a PCB these days but yeah it shows what people are willing to do
Radio Shack's "100-in-one" kits had a similar BJT "pushbutton on/off switch" back in the day.
@@infernaldaedra I can appreciate the effort of laying out tracks that go nowhere under a switch. Most PCB software would flag that as a problem.
This video just inadvertently made me realize an error I’ve been making and now everything actually makes sense. For WEEKS I’ve been thinking that CAN-Hi is 500k and CAN-low is 250k… when I was working out the circuitry of the “fuel saver” I came across my issue!
I’ve been using it in my schematics and now I know this is what has been screwing up my troubleshooting!
Who would’ve thought that a scam OBD2 plug thing would’ve turned into someone’s lightbulb moment.
There are several versions of CAN, the most common are 125Kb, 250Kb, 500Kb, 1Mb.
The CAN Low and Can High simply provide signal reliability, as they are twisted it is very difficult to disturb the signal.
@@SrWolf90 Almost got it...
Canbus is differential balanced line signalling. When one line goes high, the other goes low. When the wires are twisted, each doing the opposite simultaneously will prevent EMI. Any other noise encountered will effect both lines simultaneously, which won't change the difference in voltage between each line after you subtract out the "common" voltage.
Since canbus is non clocked, you can make whatever bitrate you desire. When you get a MCP2515 or similar canbus controller, you've gotta set the sampling times (bit timings, google mcp2515 bit time calculator) based off the controller's clock rate. In effect, there's no "different versions" canbus till you get into CAN-FD.
Not sure now, but in the 2000s it was common to have a high-speed (500kb) CAN bus for mission critical functions (related to engine management, etc.) and low- speed (say 125kb) for less-critical functions. Unless the manufacturer cheaped-out and put everything on one bus.
Redraw the two NPN transistors as a simple flip-flop, which will simplify the schematic so that your eyes don't cross. In my distant past, I have used this same circuit, but using TTL logic, to make a toggle on-off switch. The key to making it work is that the value of the resistor in the RC network be at least 10x higher than the impedance of the flip flop output that it connects to. The C debounces the switch.
I plugged one of these into the previously disconnected SU carburetor heater circuit in my 948cc Austin Healey Sprite to automatically clean the cassette player heads whenever I play a Bee Gees cassette. It does this perfectly and I don't believe a word you are saying !
Oh! I love it when you go on mini-deep dives in a subject. A string of similar but different tear-downs really cements something in my memory quite well.
Gotta give them some credit, they had a chance to really mess up the car's computer using this interface, but were decent enough to resist the urge....
My guess is that a previous version did have extra components and connections, but it killed certain models of engines, and you can trick people into thinking you're saving them gas if their car won't start. So they axed bits with the minimum amount of work necessary.
The silly thing is that 78L05 probably pulls more current than a PIC idling
Probably pulls more quiescent current than a PIC running full tilt
Those of us of A Certain Age will remember the small glass phials with spark gaps that were sold in street markets. You put this in your HT lead from the coil and the improvement in performance was demonstrated on the stall with a much bigger, brighter spark. I never saw the Secret Switch they had under the table though . . . .
Yeah the donuts that fell for that didn't understand that a bright blue spark in open air is not the same as what you get in a fuel/air mixture under compression...
honestly my guess is it was wired to an oil burner transformer 10,000v-14,000v output makes a nice blue spark that can jump a wide gap, you can build those Frankenstein movie style Jacob's Ladders with these things. Or a Neon sign transformer, they are similar voltages to the oil burner ignition ones. Either way I mention both of those because for a scammer on the street there is another important factor, both are cheap.
Given the odd design, they may have designed it to work using cheap E-Waste components they could get from recyclers, rather than using new and far more expensive sourced components.
Not many reputable companies want to use questionable reclaimed components in their products, and disposal is expensive.
But if they could stick them in fake product lines they don't need to maintain, there is profit to be made.
How very cynical of you
@@KarlHamilton
I'd say likely and practical but nothing o do with cynicism.
@@KarlHamilton You seem to be confusing cynicism with scepticality.
@@UnexplainedHoveringSpheroid Nope. Perhaps you should Google it.
Reduce Reuse Recycle: E-Waste can be recycled to create more E-Waste
They went to the trouble of adding these elaborate traces to nowhere, probably the initial version had all the resistors populated as well, just to give the impression that the device is actually connected to the bus in case someone opens it up. But then they thought "oh f** it, no one's gonna do that anyway, let's save that half a cent per unit" 😂
Although it doesn't make any difference. Even if there were traces, resistors, and a CAN transceiver and microcontroller.
Then the product would still not save fuel, and would still be fraudulent.
So leaving out as much electronics at least reduces some e-waste.
Sustainability 100
@@graealex you know what would help e-waste? If these products didn't exist at all but something tells me the people behind this aren't all too concerned lol
@@samsh0-q3a Yes that would help even more. People selling it are criminals, but police and courts usually have more pressing matters to attend to.
My guess is that, with the resistors it wouldn't be compatible with all cars, as it would cause problems.
So they disconnected them for compatibility.
I can only imagine how many people get duped by these globally. Of course everything feels like a scam these days for those of us who pay attention.
lol. You're so right. My list gets longer each day.
Society itself is one huge scam. You literally can't trust a single person any more, not even your own family because they would sooner serve the system.
Wasn't VW and other car manufacturers doing something like this on cars for years!
@@anthonydenn4345 That was a bit different, but yeah ... you get attentive to problems like that.
I think the analogue power control circuit was just someone showing off. They were probably bored.
What I find odd is that it's obviously cheaper than replacing the momentary contact switch with a latching switch.
@@Shaun.Stephens but still more expensive than just using the microcontroller's interrupts to achieve the same purpose in software.
There's no need to control the power to the whole microcontroller, just turn off the LEDs and drop into a low power mode. Power to the microcontroller is automatically turned off every time the car is turned off.
@@tissuepaper9962 My car's OBDII port is always powered.
@@wufftwenty-sixteen5567 well then perhaps I'm mistaken.
Ahh, but Clive, those connector pins are used to hold it in place. We can't expect it to hold on with two pins.
That seems like they went to a lot of trouble to try and scam a particular group. I hope they don't start messing with the network in future attempts.
I wonder what they were thinking when making this bistable switch circuitry.
Hey big Clive. Just wanted to say thank you. I got my first job after graduation from university as electrical engineer and your videos helped me very much.
Congratulations on your first job. Clive is the best supply teacher ever! I wasn't clever enough to university so big respect to you mate.
Great result.
Thanks to Clive I grew and dyed my beard. :)
I wonder if perhaps this hadn't started out, at least in the initial design brief, as a single-purpose service reminder reset unit. The example I'm familiar with is certain BMW models where shorting two pins in the classic "Pacman" connector via a certain resistance for a few seconds resets the oil change interval counter. I believe some later models moved that function to the OBD2 connector.
Someone in comments mentioned this cost about 10 pounds? If so, wound nit the next step in the scam be to price it more around the 50 pounds Serling or even a bit more? Usually hood tech costs? Either way, hope not too many folks get scammed out of their hard earned money. Great video and explanations as always, Clive!
The low price is there to filter out smarter buyers. Just like scam mails with obvious spelling mistakes. Also if the made this more expensive, the poor souls who actually notice they where scammed would be more inclined to ask for a refund, potentially getting the seller banned.
I paid 50 US dollars. Wtf.
@@davidwaldo9180 Ouch! It was a pretty thought out scam. Also to a non electronics person like me, if I opened it up to see inside, I honestly would think it is legit!
Looking forward to all the projects that you are going to build with these "OBD" cases.
In a previous life I got quite experienced with CAN Bus and wrote a software stack for interfacing with the protocol (supporting multiple devices through their own device driver). It was quite entertaining when I applied my CAB scan and detect code to a car and found, naturally, that I had access to all the functionality that a car manufacturer kept for main dealers and prevented independent garages from accessing. In theory, it is quite possible to have something on the car's CAN network that would impact vehicle efficiency. Likely not well advised, and it is also very likely the that vehicle's EMU (Engine Management Unit) will do a far better job.
As I commented elsewhere, one of these devices could be detected by some ECUs causing them not to log error codes
@@JordyValentine Yep. The despicable attempts the auto manufacturers made to maintain a monopoly on overpriced "servicing" of their engines/EMUs was really bad.
A well behaved CAN Bus tap was invisible to any devices. While adevice scan was necessarily interactive (it's impossible not to either broadcast or poll a specific CANID without sending a message) past this the interaction could be a passive monitoring of CANBus traffic and recording the information. This was quite instructive at times and the initialisation messages from the EMU gave out quite a lot of information. This initialisation could be subverted and extended depending on the vehicle and in any case all that was required was to restart the EMU (disconnect the battery in the most persistent cases) as the EMU performed a proper re-initialisation on such a cold start. Some CAN devices would correctly support multiple messages, for example configuring them to send status updates to the CAN Host device in addition to the EMU, for others the CAN device was singular and would only send to one device at a time. This shouldn't be the case but hey, some devices are cheap/crap.
The best fuel saving OBD device is a a combination of a Bluetooth OBD reader, your phone, a phone holder, and an app that shows instant fuel consumption....
Then adjust you're driving style to minimise fuel use.
The best fuel saving method is to walk or use a bicycle…
@@Mark1024MAK Food is fuel, too. Better just stay at home.
Quality as always. 👍👍
You delivered what you promised during the last OBD Scam product
That's a nice and convincing blinkery, those bogus bastards. I love these debunking videos on fake products.
They have clearly been watching your channel and under driving the LEDs to make them last longer. Thoughtful of them.
Blinking LED lights is always a sure bet with consumers. I mean if an LED is blinking, it has to be doing something...right? Amazing how many people will be scammed via these type phony circuits. Thumbs Up!
You know when you have a quality ECO OBD-2 device when the ON/OFF switch is more sophisticated than the rest of the design... Have to hand it to the guy that came up with that... and I think you're right, they've repurposed someone else's fake blink-o-matic controller
However this is entirely an assumption. They could have purchased a batch of legitimately preprogrammed chips from the Halloween/decoration industry. This light show seems appropriate for a simulated ADSL modem that can be demonstrated without depending on the phone company or buying an extra line.
@@johndododoe1411
Why in the world would you want a fake 'working' modem display? Now THAT is supposition.
@@skylined5534 It could also be for a fake DVR. Thieves break into a place they can see has cameras, so they look for the DVR to steal along with the valuables. Put the fake DVR so the thieves will find it first. Meanwhile, the real DVR is hidden away and continuing to record. having the blinking lights like that make the fake DVR look more real.
I like how you super-imposed the chip numbers, enlarged, over the chips on your printed photo. Very nice! Unless my internet is behaving super poorly and the numbers were really that large lol
Thats funny, exactly the same "Fuel saver" i disassembled to show a buddy of mine that it is a complete hoax with that price (i just showed him that the relevant data-lines are going nowhere). Thanks for getting into the details, Clive!
well that unit you have has worked for me, I watched your video instead of going out in the car lol , good morning all (UK) Having a Clive day today and watching some of his retro videos, keep up the good work BC
If you hook the "signal" LED line to a speaker, it plays "Happy Birthday."
OBD II port is also useful to trickle charge the battery from inside the vehicle. I use a 1 amp trickle charger to charge through pins 16 & 4 so I don't have to go under the hood to disconnect the battery clips every time I want to go for a drive.
Buy a new battery skinflint!
Already demagnetized my CDs today, now I can add a device allowing my car to run without using any fuel. Life is good. Also got a power saving 1µF capacitor to my mains, so I'm covered. Feel soooooo "green" and environment-friendly now!
Supprised they pu in so many parts and so much effort, rather than just a blinking LED board.
Probably because it's a half stolen design copy/pasted. Likely this company copied another company that was also making a fake part, who in turn was copying another...etc... At each step someone knows just enough to cut out more and more, but they just never bothered to change the PCB.
On a practical sense, I wonder if what happens is one company goes bust or runs back down the drain when they get caught out, and the surplus parts get used in the next scam product. Eventually a new run of boards is needed, but because these are fidiot scammers they have no idea how to redesign it, so just say "copy this".
@@kal9001 Yes very true, I think the PCB company is also selling companys lays outs so the Chieses makes can just solder the parts on. Cutting the PCB layout altogether.
Yes Clive, fuel saving is a miracle, and so are the electronics !! 😂
So glad I serendipitously came across this channel. Totally addicted 👌
It would be interesting to attach a scope or connect linux socket CAN/hardware to see if the can bus has any data frames.
the wild ass circuit might've also just been an attempt at preventing reverse engineering. do something simple in a complicated way so either competitors can't steal their design or so a layman opening it up goes "oh man that's complicated it must work"
it could be stolen code as well, but you don't need any code to blink some LEDs so I'm leaning towards my theory
Absolutely but I have to wonder why somebody would worry about a totally bogus product (piece of crap) being reverse engineered?
I myself have developed a genuine fuel saving system. I don't want to say too much until the patent is granted but I'll give you a hint; a dog's 'squeaky toy' cable-tied behind the accelerator pedal, pure genius! I can't wait to be rich. Arguably, you could just ease off on the accelerator a bit, maybe cruise along and never, ever use automatic speed control?
Sorry if I got too technical there!
I love Clive's 'breakdowns', old school electronics and basic practical engineering 'exemplified', logical reasoning in an analogue world.
I 'entered the fold' when OC 71/72 Germanium transistors were the 'way to the future', nice to find some kindred spirits.
Pax.
The reason for the high current limit resistors on the LEDs might be because of the power handling limit of the SMD linear regulator 78L05.
This item will work perfectly for my fake car.
My 30 year old VW Golf diesel is so advanced it has electric (motor) windows and LEDs as indicators. The starter motor and headlights are about the only other electrical bits.
Do not tap into the OBD power lines for power!
If you burn your socket fuse no trouble. If you want permanent on 12 V use one of the radios'. One that powers is clock. If you short or even worse spike communication, important things might start failing.
I admit, I am a safety inspector and can't hold myself from sending warnings on forums ...
The on/off toggle circuit looks very much like a simple version of the footswitch circuit of a cheap guitar effect pedal. Two transistors back to back with the base of each connected to the collector of the other, hold capacitor(s) and, in the case of a pedal, a JFET to switch the audio signal.
Ever just click on a video not knowing what it is and end up feeling really stupid?
Looks like they employed someone who thinks they know about electrical engineering, and started designing a board to actually interact with the system, at which point the boss said, "No, I don't want you to *actually* design an ODBII device. It just has to vaguely look like an ODBII device.".
Excellent, you can easily make this to a real fuel-saver, just connect Pin 2 with 10, 6 with 14 and 7 with 15, im sure that will save the most fuel because it shortens all 3 buses in the car
Now that's clever..
This looks more or less identical to my bluetooth ODB-II adapter, apart from the color and text. My guess is that they just took one of these designs, and populated only the bare minimum to get the lights blinking. That's the reason for the overly complicated PCB and the lack of a lot of components.
Another horror story yes, but I do love little transistor circuits like this. I think I'd be right in saying from your circuit description, that the transistor circuit wouldn't be quite there as a bounce free single button on/off toggle switch for a small construction project, as the power would go to a definite ON if there was an interruption to the incoming power supply. I do though recall from ages ago, a natty two gate cmos invertor circuit (leaving 4 spare invertors) using a couple of resistors and a capacitor that formed a single button on/off toggle. The rub is though I can't recall (without a lot a doodling) exactly how it was done.
Update: Its just dawned on me: Take the FET gate to the other collector!
I'm surprised these OBD gas savers haven't started popping up at gas [petrol] stations yet... So many independently owned service stations with dubious owners are already selling questionable stuff, from crack pipes to expired food, to even using card skimmers to steal from customers, this would just be another exploit for these shady owners.
Seen them... or at least packaging with kind of these things. Of course did not buy them for more then 15 € ...
Customers would demand to pay for less fuel after buying these. Hilarity would ensue once it's proven the loudest complainants didn't even plug in the thing, thus being scammers themselves.
It is hidden in the small characters you need to pay a subscription to enable it! /s
Fake or not fake, it has a nice old-school dual transistor trigger circuit that I'm taking a note of.
Does that make it a simple S-R register by any chance?
@@stepheneyles2198 I dunno about "register" but it is indeed a discrete component implementation of an RS flip-flop.
@@stepheneyles2198 - yes, it’s a simple S-R flip flop / bistable / register. However, the circuitry for the button/switch adds a toggle facility.
As Big Clive I must admit I thoroughly examined it, and it's not only merely _fake_ --it's really most sincerely *fake*
Heck yea, you’re on a role Clive!
Actually this video was quite an eye-opener, thanks. I knew about fake fuel savers but fake gadgets that claim to plug into OBD?! That's news to me....
Those bi-stable multi-vibrators were so common a long time ago before flip-flops in DIL packages. 😁
Best part is there was an ad before this video saying how great this revolutionary device was
The input series diode is to protect the 78L05 from negative spikes on the 12V supply, as automotive electricity is quite nasty. IIRC, standard automotive circuit design has to allow for -40V to +60V transients.
Nice catch! I like your style, very entertaining, and easy to follow/understand.
One unexpected take away from this video was hidden in the description. Rum and cream soda is something I need to try. I love my rum and coke but cream soda seems like a very interesting choice and I just have to try it. So thanks for the idea!
Amazes me how folks can make and sell this stuff, get away with it, make lots of money even though it is well publicized that these things are total BS.
Why do people buy this except to debunk?
Oh, damn, I forgot, people are stupid.
A very sensible design, it does nothing but convinces the hapless user that it does, thereby ensuring no harm is done.
These are being advertised on my Facebook timeline. Clearly due diligence is less important to Meta than advertising revenue!
Facebook advertising is notorious for scams.
It could be stolen code, but given the origins it could just as easily be lost source code, so that's what they were left with and they found a a way to make it work. I've worked with suppliers in Asia where a design is so old that it is impossible to update without complete redesign. Sometimes, the original engineer left the company many years ago and no records of the original development remain.
I wrote some Arduino code a ways back, they then updated the Arduino compiler and now I can no longer compile my code even though I have the source. So this can easily happen to anyone.
This kind of makes me want to go back to assembly code.
Perhaps the tracks to no were are designed for those driving the road to no were
Where else would it not go?
It's a pretty normal two-transistor flip-flop, I think.
many many years ago, i almost built something like this. It would only clear DTC codes stored. whether someone changes an engine sensor and needs the clear codes, or the idiot lights are just illuminated on the dash, it would clear them for cheap. because those fancy scan tools arent for everyone's budget, and doubtful they'd use it enough to justify buying an expensive unit.
Thanks for sharing these and showing people these things are just a scam.
I'd assume that if these units actually DID what they said on the tin, they'd be illegal in many places where modifying the factory map is illegal due to emissions regulations :)
I was going to same much the same. I'd think they'd be illegal anyway because they can't deliver on their promise. But if they tried, they'd be illegal for tampering with emissions.
That does not apply to about 98% of countries.
There are many Real OBDII tuning options that are completely Legal,
Almost all countries you can modify the cars computer and tune, specially as there is no way to tell its been modified without scanning it.
USA is one of the only few countries who regularly check cars emissions & even then its only like 1 or 2 states on West Coast.
(here in Australia its only done if you get caught with exhaust without cat converter or police see black smoke (unburnt fuel) coming out the Exhaust, other wise can drive the car for 50 years on the same Road Worthy Test you got in 1960's :D)
Majority of countries dont even have a test when you get car first Taxed/registered in your name.
They simply rely on what the car company says.
In the end none of it really matters (single voyage of Queen Mary 2 put out more CO-2 and pollution than every car in entire United Kingdom does in 1 week.
Or they use as much fuel as 1 family with 2 cars could do 250,000km per year (500,000 combined) for over 25 years.
So car pollution is a small fraction of the issue. 10 Cruise ships = over 250,000,000 cars Co-2 output.
The irony of course being that if you successfully reduce fuel consumption, you're going to be reducing emissions anyway. The engine isn't creating the emissions by magic.
@@tin2001 wrong, you must keep the engine running in ideal conditions. by leaning the Afr you can save fuel, but increase combustion temperature and increase NOx emissions
When I was a teenager I'd occasionally have a nocturnal emission. Does cleaning up the mess in the morning count as tampering with emissions? Illegally? Would they have sent me to the penile colony if they caught me?
I'd love to see a big clive review of the cheap $10-$20 bluetooth ODB2 dongles that actually can do bluetooth and canbus comms!
One day they will just get few damaged components, solder them randomly without any connectors or power and sell it like that.
Producers are organising meetings to discuss this stuff. How can we make money from some fake product. Amazing.
They’re putting more in them, funny the advert was on about one of these “fuel savers” lol
Awesome! Loved the detailed circuit explanation and reverse engineering process. Hope to see more of these kinds of videos.
That's pretty much all this channel is.
Uh I spotted the soft-latch first glance :)
With these parts as raw materials it would probably be possible to build a device that had a function related to the can bus, like really displaying activity on the bus or something... really entertaining ! Thanks for the dirty work !
PS: It already exists.. AND you made a video about it in "Simplest OBD2 engine remapper yet, with actual canbus connection."
@@tinygriffy No CANBUS transceiver. It doesn't do much of anything.
"No one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the public."
they used 10k resistors to lower the fuel consumption by reducing load on the alternator! Genius!
The best electronic show on UA-cam....!!!
The switching behaviour reminds me of when you repeatedly press a torch button and it cycles through different light levels and flash setting, morse code etc? Cheers for the video Clive.
If you put a speaker across the "OBD" LED does it play happy birthday?
It's fascinating the trouble they go to just to make some LEDs flash.
Once again Clive does a teardown of fake gear so we don't have to, thanks.
With the immense competition between major vehicle manufacturers about fuel economy and emissions reduction, if this gizmo like this would actually work, they would already imtegrated it in their vehicles.
I love imtegration almost as much as integration....
I suspect that they got ahold of some Gerber files, deleted the connection from the MC to the pins, added a light show to the leds, then buttoned it up and started selling.
Wow...that is faker than our news!
it is like he's taking apart CNN!😀
I drive a miracle fuel saving 3 cylinder Geo Metro that gets up to 50mpg with no gizmos added. It’s just a very small, light car with a 90 pound engine.
It would be awesome to see you make your own fuel save circuit!
Fuel saving devices are a complete scam, designed to dupe the technologically illiterate. Why would you want Clive to engage in creating scam hardware?
Appears they wanted to keep casual observers convinced
This unit should had a pass through OBD connection so that you could plug more than one in a chain for even more fuel saving 🤣 BTW I love using 10K resistors for indicator LEDs when I design a circuit, It is pretty much always enough and I can bet my only pair of shoes that they won´t burn out quickly too
These things should be illegal. Consumer protection should step in and not only remove these from the market, but should fine these companies into solvency.
Insolvency would be better....
I'm sure someone else in the comments has already mentioned this but I believe the components left disconnected are because they've used the same board/plastic box that is normally used in the cheap wifi/Bluetooth elm32 code readers.
Hahaaaaha...I came across one like this with the button. Never quite worked correctly and it actually did something (more than once) that required a CAN reset on at least one controller on the network.
It finally totally failed - and I feel safer now. Thanks!
"Plated Thru Hole to No Where"
Sounds like the opening of a song full of woe and sorrow.
Safe to say all OBD II port "mileage enhancers" are scams.
There are reprogramming methods, each is specific to brands and models.
Just a side note Regarding the comment at end about tapping into constant 12V source at the OBDII port.
Never do this as onboard computers are very easy to blow and also dont like power interferance.
Say if its connected to a strong car stereo head unit and turning it on drains power this could be enough to make car send wrong signals and even blow engine.
just run a new 12v wire or tape into radio instead.
That's not quite how it becomes a problem... The issue is more along the lines of the data lines are 5V max, and you're playing with 12v wiring within millimetres of them. And that the 12v constant power in the OBD port is intended to power small electronic scanners, not large loads, and will have a suitably small fuse to protect the suitably small wires.
Also, do people seriously hook stereos into the OBD port? I'd have thought any car that actually has an OBD port would also have a constant 12V already present for the factory stereo.
Note: OBD 12v connector is rated to 6A.
The issue is with that, did the designers of your car's electronics allow for 6A per OBD socket (some cars have multiples) or is it 6A total?
Generally, exceeding the rating of this should just cause a fuse to blow (or breaker if you have some kind of aftermarket PD system).
The 12v power rail at the OBD2 port comes from the fuse box, it has nothing to do with the onboard computers. It's purely there to power diagnostic tools. The older OBD systems without a standardised connector often didn't have any power rail which is very inconvenient.
Thank you, Clive. I needed this entertainment. I just spent the last 15 minutes in a Mexican stand-off with 2 basement-dwelling jumping crickets. They're called "camel" or "spider" crickets and they jump super high when frightened. They have a very flexible exoskeleton and they've somehow found their way indoors due to the cool weather.
All I wanted was to use the bathroom and I found myself face-to-face with one of these cheeky bastards, sitting there in the doorway... menacingly. I had to carefully and methodically sneak _around_ him to get the can of bug spray. And then I left the room for 2 minutes, came back, and _another_ one had appeared in the same spot. I'm a grown man and these little buggers are harmless, but I just get the fear of God in the pit of my stomach every time I see one. But now I can _finally_ unwind in bed and watch your videos in peace. 🥲
I suppose to go along with one of these, I could add a fake OBD socket on my 1972 Hillman Avenger. It would be just as likely to actually do anything.
Curiously, I just saw an ad for one of these. "Save 30% fuel with no loss in performance!" Yea, right! That's gonna work!
Another issue with these is that some cars won't save an error log to the ecu if a diagnostic tool is connected, so potentially depending on the arrangement of pins, dodgy circuitry, software etc. a car may detect something is connected and thus not log error codes
The fact that it works 'normally' with just 12V says everything, no errors, just successful comms to the non existent car.
What's funny is that you can't affect fuel economy in any meaningful way through the ODB2 port. You'd need to reprogram the ECU or a specific module, which is much much more difficult. In fact, in many cars, you can't reprogram the ECU without having expensive equipment, and a subscription to the manufacturer's site that lets you download the correct software and then it digitally signs things.