OBD-II adapter killed by car?

langemand · Apr 17, 2016

Got my Konnwei KW902 OBD-II adapter friday, tried it in my Toyota saturday (Wife took the Soul) with Torque; it was functioning fine, lights in all LEDs, bluetooth connection ok, Torque getting data.
Today I plugged the adapter into the Soul (plug under the panel in front of left knee): Got one short blink from the adapter (didn't see which lights), then nothing. No lights. I tried pushing the button on the adapter, a few times. No light, device not reachable by bluetooth.

Now when I plug it into the Toyota, I get no lights. No response to button.

Both cars have 12 Volt between pins 16 and 4, also when ignition is off.

Has anybody experienced anything similar?

JejuSoul · Apr 17, 2016

I read the title as OBD-II adapter killed by cat!

A similar problem has been reported on the Soul Spy a few times. (Although in our cases the red light stays on)

"Another annoying thing is that the dongle does not seem to work anymore. The red power light turns on, but the blue BT light doesn't. Pressing the button doesn't help"

"I had this too, after reboot/restarting my phone I could make a bluetooth connection again. So it is possibly more related to the phone/Torque Pro."

"Unfortunately restarting my phone has not resulted in a new connection with the dongle."

"Did you also try to remove the bluetooth connection on the phone to the Konnwei and try to pair again freshly?"

"My phone is connected to the Soul."

A different problem involving a loose wire inside the dongle is reported here -Faulty KONNWEI / MAXISCAN dongle

AndY1 · Apr 17, 2016

There were some occurrences where OBD2 dongle killed/bricked a Chevrolet Volt, so be careful.

langemand · Nov 6, 2016

I finally got a replacement in June, they accepted that it was probably defect when I received it, so I got a refund without sending it back to China. Didn't get time to use it before now. The replacement works fine

Thanks for the suggestions and warnings.

JejuSoul · Nov 6, 2016

Am glad it is working now.

I have been using a Konnwei KW902 OBD adapter for a year now, without problems. I added an OBD extension wire with a switch. This solves the possible problems that the KW902 has. 1/drawing power when the car is off. 2/having an insecure password.
Tonsiki OBD 2 Cord 16 pin M/F Male to Female Right Angle Diagnostic Extension Cable with Power Switch to avoid battery drain

I pushed the OBD connector back out of its clip to allow room for the plastic cover to be closed. The OBD extension wire is threaded under the steering column so that the switch and adapter can sit under the navigation by the accessory ports.

There is a post on the German forum by Alkl who got a flat battery by leaving the OVMS module on for a week in a parked car:
here - Re: Batterieproblem?

.... car was 6 days and then the 12 battery was at about 7V. I had however forgotten the OVMS module, which draws about 3Ah per day.
After "start-up" with another car I was then able to drive normally and after a few minutes drive into the workshop the capacity of the 12V battery was tested and found as OK, reloading recommended. Interesting that the battery was so fast again (a few minutes parallel to other battery and no 5min drive to the workshop). ...