Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place -- Broken AP v2 Dongle
 

Hey all,

So I posted a while back that my AP v2's USB portion on the dongle for the OBDII port detached from the circuit board and unfortunately is unrepairable.

I've had multiple people say to contact Cobb support, but with the support for this model of AP being obsolete, there is no way I can order a new dongle. What is even more worse than not being able to power on the device is knowing that I cannot even unmarry the AP from the car.

Calling Cobb, I was told I am eligible for the V2B and V3 upgrade, but I can't even do this since I cannot unmarry the AP from the car.

Am I seriously SOL and in no way of recovering from this? I find it hard to believe that there is not a single dongle I can order from somewhere.

For reference, it's the piece in the attached pic.

Marrying the AP to your car prevents the AP from being used with another vehicle, it doesn't prevent you from marrying ANOTHER AP to your car.

Get another AP and you'll be fine...


EDIT: Or are you saying that COBB won't accept your old AP as a trade-in because it's still married to a vehicle?

Did you take the dongle apart?

Was the circuitboard compromised?

If not, and it's just the usb port, you can buy a new one for $5 and solder it in.

Is the cable simply mini USB to USB?

Would a OBD2 to USB cable work just as well then?

http://i63.tinypic.com/29n7ynm.jpg

Correct to your edit: Cobb will not accept the AP trade in since it is still married to my vehicle. I could spend $150 on a V2b for the trade it, or I could dish out money for a whole nother Ap. Either way, $$$.

I actually did take it apart and solder a new USB port on there, but it would appear that when it broke it ripped off a layer of the board with it :irked:

But you know, I never tried another OBDII dongle to USB. The Dongle is USB Mini, so from your picture, I guess I could get away with one that's already attached to it's dongle and get away with a USB A to plug into the AP. Is that dongle only responisble for powering on the AP and transferring data to/from ECU? Meaning, it's not proprietary to Cobb?

I imagine so. My V3's cable is just a regular OBD2 cable. I don't imagine the V2's is anything special either...

EDIT: @tmaiorca; Meh. From reading through some of the COBB threads on the Subie sites, it sounds like the AP iterations before the V2B didn't have all of the necessary components in the AP itself. So your dongle has something inside that a typical cable wouldn't. Do you have any pictures of the guts?

Coming from an Evo forum - Lost Cobb AP v2 obdii to USB cable...will a vag com cable work? - EvoXForums.com - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Forums
"Ours is COBB specific. Call customer support, we should have replacements.
-Chris"

Might be SOL. I guess its worth $10 trying though..

EDIT: Nvm kept reading. "Ah, I misread, I thought you were looking for the v2b cable, those dongles are few and far between.
-Chris"

"Yes, as long as it is a 7 pin/red logo dongle, like the one above, which means it is a CAN dongle.
-Chris"

With reference to my above comment, Chris from Cobb mentioned that the AP v2 (not v2b) uses the CAN protocol (ISO 15765-4). So, I found this guy - https://www.scantool.net/obdlink-sx/#customer-reviews

On the Spec page it says it supports both baud rates of ISO CAN 15765-4. Emailed cobb just a second ago, but won't hear back until Monday I'm sure.

I can also look at the dongle and compare it to the link here OBD2 protocols.


Essentially, I think Cobb is just using a specific standard and protocol set with their dongle on the v2. The VAG-COM one's from VW and such use a different protocol, one that is not compatible with the CAN-Bus system in our speeds.

Cobb isn't choosing a protocol to communicate with your ECU. The cars ECU communication protocol is selected by the manufacturer of the vehicle/ECU manufacturer and Cobb designed their dongles to support the protocol.

Also, I bet the adapter you found won't work because Cobb would prevent their software from working with non Cobb hardware. What you could do is try and change the adapter driver to have windows recognize it as a Cobb AccessPort and hopefully the configuration is the same via software (unlikely).

Makes sense. Appreciate the input. Still, that sounds unlikely like you said. I'd be willing to upgrade to even a v3, but I still need a way to unmarry the damn thing, and I don't see buying a used AP just for the dongle worth it

Hey just checking in on this to make sure you've been taken care of. I didn't receive a response to the PM I sent you last month, but hopefully you contacted COBB customer service and have this all sorted out.

Mike @ COBB

So sorry I didn't check the PM. But yes, I ended up upgrading to the V2b! I appreciate the willingness to help and the awesome customer service you all have at Cobb [emoji106]

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

No worries! I'm just glad you're taken care of!

Mike @ COBB

Dammit, Mike. Didn't you hear Cobb abandoned the platform and doesn't care about the common user? Stop being helpful.

/sarcasm

In case someone has this issue in the future, I'm sure someone would be willing to let you use their dongle for a bit to unmarry. Always ask your local Nator group. Just another option.

Haha thanks xfeejayx! We're happy to help, but it's awesome that you guys help each other too. We're all enthusiasts and I love seeing the positive side of forums, rather than people making fun of someone else's stickers, wheels, haircut... ;)

Have a great day guys!

Mike @ COBB