More on Android Head units

Head Units are Android-based devices that can be installed in the car dashboard, usually in place of the car builtin infotainment module.

Since their Bluetooth module is primarily intended for hands-free usage, sometimes it's quite difficult to use a Bluetooth OBD adapter with them: in such case and USB adapter may solve the issue.
While we do not officially supports head units, we are happy to report user success stories.

Marijan Pribek wrote us:

My experience with connecting OBDLink LX and SX to HYBRID ASSISTANT
My car is a Toyota Yaris HYBRID, 2016, EU edition. Android HU is Pumpkin CN01
One month ago I bought an OBDLink LX and tried to connect to the Hybrid assistant app but no avail.
On the advice of the HA team returned from the LX (BT) device and purchased the OBDlink SX (USB).

Today I finally received my OBDLink SX. I connected it to the free USB on the HU port and after selecting the USB connection in the OBDLink application it worked from the first. The connection is very stable and the connection is very fast.

Unlike a Bluetoooth device, this is a big difference - a positive one.
Connecting an SX device to a HYBRID ASSISTANT application is very easy. Everything works smoothly and without error.
Tested on Chinese HU: Pumpkin CN01 and Xtrons 708L, no problem.

In my experience, the OBDLink SX (USB) device is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for use in the Android HU and HYBRID ASSISTANT app.
I hope someone will use this information.

Thank you Marijan

Android Head Unit pairing trick

Android Head Units use a different Bluetooth module from standard phones, so using a Bluetooth OBD adapter may be tricky.

An USB OBD Adapter like the OBDLink SX may be a better solution.

We do not directly support running Hybrid Assistant on Android Head Units, but we are happy to report success from our users.

Oliver S. writes us about a trick he used to overcome a pairing problem on his unit:

If HA hangs during initialization and you cannot select a Bluetooth device because the “button” is not responding, it is probably due to HA not getting the correct data from the Bluetooth
stack in your device.

To lift this issue follow these steps:

1.      Connect from a different device (e.g. mobile phone) to your OBD adapter
2.      Quit HA on the non-working device.
3.      Copy file hybridassistant.db from the working device (located in internal storage/_hybridassistant/) to your  non-working device, overwriting the existing hybridassistant.db 
4.      Restart HA
5.      Now everything should work. If not continue reading:
6.      Sometimes HA now stops at this point
and the OBD adapter needs an additional push: 
a.      Start “Torque” (free on Playstore) and wait until it connects.
b.      Quit Torque (or don’t, does not matter) and start HA

If you have read up to number 6, steps a) and b) must most likely be
performed on this unit once per driving session if you wish to use HA.


Thank you, Oliver

Hybrid Assistant on a Head Unit - modification required to OBD interface

Custom Head units available on the market can be installed on our hybrid cars as replacement of the Toyota Touch / Toyota Touch 2.

One of our tester has identified an incompatibility between his head unit and the OBDLink LX OBD adapter.

The incompatibility identified does not allow the Head Unit to operate corretly both Torque and Hybrid Assistant. The problem is in the name of the OBD dongle since some Head Units requires the Can Bus adapter to be called with a fixed name "OBD" to correctly operate the Can Bus applications.

To solve this issue, the following procedure can be performed

• request to Scantool, an updated firmware, not available on their site, allowing the renaming of the OBDLink LX 
• perform the Firware Upgrade according to the provided Scantool procedure using a Windows PC 
• install on an Android phone a Bluetooth terminal (e.g. "Bluetooth terminal" available on the Play Store) 
• Connect the ObdLink LX to the Android Phone via Bluetooth 
• send the command STI 
• Check that OBDLink LX has updated the firmware (now the release should be 4.0)
• Send the command STBTN OBD 

After this operation, the Head Unit can be paired to the OBDLink LX that now will be able to operate both Torque and Hybrid Assistant

As usual these modifications are carried out at your own risk.

 A video of the result, showing hybrid assistant operative, is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJnjPc3fIeA&feature=youtu.be