[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I paid around $178. If you check Aliexpress, the same system is available from various vendors from about $170 to $200.

The one I bought costs $76, before purchasing, used the coupons from the store, got $16 discount. Net price excluding shipping is $60. Paid $11 for fast shipping. So total is $71 = Rs 4509.66 is what was deducted.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

The one I bought costs $76, before purchasing, used the coupons from the store, got $16 discount. Net price excluding shipping is $60. Paid $11 for fast shipping. So total is $71 = Rs 4509.66 is what was deducted.

That sounds like a great deal! By the way, is that with internal or external sensors? What is your opinion about these sensors?

I really like the external sensors for the ease of installation, ease of battery replacement and tyre rotation. However, I am still a bit nervous about the possibility of losing the external sensors due to theft or other reasons (since they are so exposed to the outside world).

Also, how do you plan to use the accessory socket for other devices? Would you use a socket splitter? Or is there an extra USB port on the plug-in TPMS that can be used to power other devices? I have seen in the pictures that most of these plug-in TPMS have an extra USB port.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

That sounds like a great deal! By the way, is that with internal or external sensors? What is your opinion about these sensors?

Also, how do you plan to use the accessory socket for other devices? Would you use a socket splitter?

I am all for External sensors. I am not going to step the tyre and install the internal ones. I do tyre rotation every 10K kms which is 3 months thanks to my daily usage. I can't keep the hassle of reinstalling the sensors each time I do the rotation hence I prefer the external one.

Theft issue, IMO I don't think it would happen unless parked in crowded areas or malls.

I use a Tom Tom car charger that has 2 USB ports and accessory socket in it.




Even the TPMS that I have bought has a USB socket so my problem is solved. I use only mobile charger. No other gadget in the car that uses the 12V socket.

[chaith.turbo]

Thanks Dr. AD.
I myself is looking for a phone mount and have tried couple of car mounts and they all have problem with Suction capacity.
Did you try Exogear EXOMOUNT TOUCH? How is the suction?

[ron_9191]

@Dr.AD could you let me know where you bought the Sony Xperia Z3's magnetic charging cable from? I have a Z3 and I really want to buy the magnetic charging cable than the dock.

[rosh_aveo1.4]

Hey man, totally bought out the geek in me! This is a lovely thread. The OBD adapter, is that common across cars or anyway to check that (have a 2008 Civic and a 2013 Nissan Sunny at home)
What was the cost of the TPMS (not sure I seen the rate mentioned there)?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by chaith.turbo

Thanks Dr. AD.
I myself is looking for a phone mount and have tried couple of car mounts and they all have problem with Suction capacity.
Did you try Exogear EXOMOUNT TOUCH? How is the suction?

No, I haven't used or seen the Exogear ExoMount Touch. So I can't comment on that. However, for the ExoMount Tablet S that I use, the suction grip is extremely strong. In fact, it is so strong that the user manual that came with it cautioned that sometimes there may be a dimple on the dashboard where you install it. The dimple would be caused by the superstrong suction.

I have used it a lot with my Nexus 7 as well, which is heavier (weighs ~300g) than any mobile phone one would ever use, but still the suction was not at all a problem. Further, if you see the picture, you will see a "spaceship" kind of object (that is what someone who was traveling in my car once called it) on top of the suction mount. That is supposed to protect the actual suction cup from sunlight. Heating under direct sunlight is one of the primary reasons for suction cups to lose their grip over time, and in this design, the suction cup is cleverly protected from sunlight.

So I would totally recommend this ExoMount Tablet S. But not sure about the ExoMount TOUCH. However, in general, looking at the overall quality and attention to detail given in various Exogear products, I would most likely trust them on the quality front and order any product from their lineup if I need one.

Originally Posted by ron_9191

@Dr.AD could you let me know where you bought the Sony Xperia Z3's magnetic charging cable from? I have a Z3 and I really want to buy the magnetic charging cable than the dock.

I ordered this from ebay.in. If you search on ebay.in for "magnetic charging cable for Xperia Z3", you will see many options. Some of them are unbranded cables selling for Rs. 350 or so, and they looked pretty OK to me. However, I ordered something which the seller said was "original genuine Sony product" for Rs. 900.

By the way, if you are thinking of using this instead of the dock, then I have one word of caution. The magnetic coupling is nowhere as strong as the traditional microUSB plug-in type coupling. So you can't really handle the phone with this magnetic cable connected. Any handling of the phone will most likely lose the magnetic coupling and the cable will be disconnected. However, this work very well if the phone is docked or mounted somewhere. For example, with the phone mounted on my car mount, the magnetic charging works very well. Even when I go over a bump, both the phone and the cable move up or down together, and the connection never comes off. Same would work well if you keep the phone flat on a table and attach the cable to is. You can use the touchscreen while the phone on the table, but if you try to lift the phone off the table, the connection will come off.

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

Hey man, totally bought out the geek in me! This is a lovely thread. The OBD adapter, is that common across cars or anyway to check that (have a 2008 Civic and a 2013 Nissan Sunny at home)
What was the cost of the TPMS (not sure I seen the rate mentioned there)?

Thanks rosh_aveo1.4. The OBDII is a indeed very common thing now. According to wikipedia, in the USA, all cars made after 1996 have this OBDII protocol as standard. In India, it is generally believed that all cars made after 2010 support OBDII protocol, although there is no official policy or standardization on this in India. My car is made in July 2010, and supports OBDII apparently quite well. So I would be almost certain that your 2013 Sunny will support OBDII without any issues. About 2008 Civic, it is very likely that it supports OBDII too, but I am not 100% sure. Maybe others can throw some light on it.

Regarding the cost of TPMS, as I mentioned in my reply to a4anurag, it cost me some $178.

[abirnale]

This is awesome "instrumentation" AD. Long pending, finally here!

I must say you braved setting up the mount right in front of the vents - it does block the cool air though keeps tab/ phone cool. The passengers in rear seat would sure curse you. But I know that is not the problem you have since your rear seats are always empty! But otherwise for them who don't want to block the air vents - you can periodically disconnect the power source and shut off tab/ phone display to keep it colder. If there are any audible tones/ warnings that you can set for the key parameters, that would serve your purpose.

The TPMS sensors on the tyres are external. They look very normal and so should not attract attention but that being very important piece of this TPMS instrumentation, do something to protect them too. I have had instance when my aluminium/ steel valve caps were stolen (yes, I am sure not fallen) while parked in a noticeable road area.

There are couple of other phone apps like Dash and Automatic that are useful for capturing the FE/ Driving behaviour data. Dash specifically captures all your sudden accelerations/ decelerations or hard braking and keeps scoring your driving style. Sometimes awful but otherwise very helpful.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by abirnale

This is awesome "instrumentation" AD. Long pending, finally here!

Thanks a lot Avinash. Your own experiments with OBDII and your confirmation that ELM327 works on SX4 were very useful for me. So I owe you one for that. :-)

Originally Posted by abirnale

I must say you braved setting up the mount right in front of the vents - it does block the cool air though keeps tab/ phone cool. The passengers in rear seat would sure curse you. But I know that is not the problem you have since your rear seats are always empty!

Yes, you are right. Unfortunately, my mounting position does block the airflow, especially to the back seats. However, as you rightly guessed, my back seats are empty 99% of times, so I am not concerned about that. The flow to the front passenger seat is also blocked to some extent. However, I found that just increasing the airflow manually (anyways, the ACC is never set to max cold level, so there is always plenty of airflow on tap if required) compensates for any blockages due to this phone mount. My wife who usually sits in the passenger seat, and who is generally very particular about powerful AC and good cooling effect, has not yet complained about this even once. So I take that as a sign that the airflow blockage is not that bad.

Actually, the pictures exaggerate the blockage quite a bit. In reality, the flow blockage is not as bad as it looks in the picture. There is plenty of distance between the actual phone position and the air vents. Thus, there is plenty of room free on all sides, and I guess the air can easily escape from all sides and still provide sufficient cooling at least in the front seats. But yes, it will definitely affect the cooling at back seats.

Originally Posted by abirnale

There are couple of other phone apps like Dash and Automatic that are useful for capturing the FE/ Driving behaviour data. Dash specifically captures all your sudden accelerations/ decelerations or hard braking and keeps scoring your driving style. Sometimes awful but otherwise very helpful.

Thanks, someday I will try these. I have tried a lot of apps actually. Not just about FE, bu in general, I use a lot of driving related apps. I use Google's "My Tracks" app to track and log all my long drives. I also once tried an app called Flo that "measures" your driving style. And of course, I use Google Maps navigation now practically all the time. I have purchased full versions of NaviMaps and Sygic too, but I prefer Google Maps over those. I have completely retired my MapMyIndia device.

[Aditya]

Nice reviews Dr.AD.

That's a lot of stuff you've fitted in your car. I learnt a lot from your thread.

The Exogear mount seems really helpful. After my MapMyIndia goes bust, I guess, I'll shift to this apparatus. The torque app seems interesting as well. Got to try it out with the ELM327 adapter.

[Dry Ice]

You have tempted me to get a TPMS system now

Could you post some photos of the fitting? As in, how do the caps look on the wheels from a distance. The ones I came across on AE are a lot cheaper (~$70-80) but not sure about reliability.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Before you think of buying the full version, go to settings page >> OBD Adapter setting >> check for the list of "Available Sensors".

a4anurag,

Any idea how to log this information and read it? I've been using this app (full version) for the past few months now but can't seem to log or read data files. Any input will help.

Thanks,
gpa

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Nice reviews Dr.AD.

That's a lot of stuff you've fitted in your car. I learnt a lot from your thread.

The Exogear mount seems really helpful. After my MapMyIndia goes bust, I guess, I'll shift to this apparatus. The torque app seems interesting as well. Got to try it out with the ELM327 adapter.

Thanks a lot, Aditya! Yes, the Exogear ExoMount is a really nice product, and the more I am using it, the mote I am liking it. So I would totally recommend it.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Could you post some photos of the fitting? As in, how do the caps look on the wheels from a distance. The ones I came across on AE are a lot cheaper (~$70-80) but not sure about reliability.

The fitment is really very simple. You just need to screw in the sensors on the valves, tighten the security nut, and mount the display on the dashboard. It comes with a magnetic base which has 3M tape. So you attach the base to the dashboard with the tape, and then the display unit nicely sits on it. So there is really not much to show in photos about fitting. It is a simple 10 minutes DIY job.

Here is a photo of how the valve caps look on the wheel. This is taken standing about 5 feet away from the wheel. From any further distance, the valve caps are not even noticeable because they totally blend into the wheel and look like any other normal caps.

Originally Posted by gpa

a4anurag,

Any idea how to log this information and read it? I've been using this app (full version) for the past few months now but can't seem to log or read data files. Any input will help.

Thanks,
gpa

If I may answer the question (which is asked to a4anurag), here is how to log or read data:

1. From the main page of the app, click on settings. Then following screen will open. Click on the "Data Logging & Upload" menu (circled in red below), and then there are various options for data logging. Set the options as per your preference (e.g. you can choose what parameters to log etc.)



2. Then, from the real-time dashboard screen, click on the setting icon, and the following screen will open. Here, click on "Start Logging" (circled in red), and the logging starts immediately.


I have used this feature for testing, and works quite well. Hope this helps, and this is what you were looking for.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

If I may answer the question (which is asked to a4anurag), here is how to log or read data

Thank you, Dr. AD. How is the info stored? Can I export it to an Excel sheet?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by gpa

Thank you, Dr. AD. How is the info stored? Can I export it to an Excel sheet?

The logs are stored in your phone in the default Torque directory. Torque creates a hidden folder named .Torque. You have to enable "show hidden files" option to access it. Inside that folder, there will be a directory named TorqueLogs. All your logs are stored there.

The logs are stored as .CSV (Comma Separated Values) format, which can be easily opened by Excel. You can easily convert this into Excel file by just opening the .CSV file into Excel and saving it in Excel format.

By the way, in addition to data logging, torque also has a "trip logging" option. Here, it will store all the trip data (GPS position, time, speed etc.), and this you can open in the maps plugin which is already there in torque, and you can see the data plotted onto a map. You can also export this in KML format, which can be read by Google Maps and other mapping applications.

You can also email yourself the data log files or the trip log files if you want.