linking Vgate iCar Pro Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE) OBD2 to ABRP

[John Dean]

I am trying to link a Vgate Icar Pro Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE) OBD2 to ABRP using an iPhone in a VW ID.4 Pro S 2021, but it will not pair.  

When I am in the car with it on and ABRP going, I can see a button "link ABRP OBD connection", on the iPhone.  When I push the button, it indicates it is searching for an OBD device with the following "No OBD devices found yet, scanning...."  No matter how long I wait, it cannot find the device.  By the way, I have checked the Vgate device and it is fully powered.  I have deleted my car from the ABRP and added it back, but it is still not working.  Any suggestions?  I can always return the OBD device and try another.

 

[Rob Tunru]

Hello John,

Despite of postings on the Internet, saying that you do not need to pair to your mobile first, I had to pair my mobile to the the Vgate iCar Pro BLE , before I opened ABRP.

Then ABRP was able to find the Vgate and started to work as expected.

Do not forget that you must be signed in to the ABRP site, to see your car appears on the screen of your mobile.

Good luck,

Rob

[Samuel-ABRP]

You have to select the iOS connection, as that is a BLE connection, because iOS only works with BLE (except a few exceptions). So the manufacturers just name it like that, although it is not really specific to iOS or Android.

We have many users that use vgate icar pro and vlinker mc+, but we also have many complaints. So if you can not get it to work, maybe try a different one. You can read more user feedback on different dongles here:

All dongles work a bit differently, so might require some tinkering, for example es described here:

 

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, have you checked through this post? and tried the nRF Connect. I've just ordered the same OBD & would like to know how you get on.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Edited February 15, 2022 by Gr4ndp4

[e-Lionel]

Hi,

The Vgate iCar Pro device is a dual bluetooth device.

As reported by the "Bluetooth Scanner" application (with Android smartphone) :

the "Vgate" is a BLE-compliant device for Ios (Ios-vlink)

BUT is NOT a BLE-compliant device for Android (Android-vlink).

So, the device is not seen by ABRP in an Android context.

I would like tha "ABRP" team to confirm this assertion.

Best regards.

Edited February 16, 2022 by e-Lionel

[LaClastre]

Hi,

ok i just get the same vgate 4.0 BLE yesterday and just tested it this morning:

I have the same behaviour....

=> i can pair "Android-vlink" from my android smartphone...

=> but i can see only the "ios-vlink" BLE from the list of BLE devices in ABRP...

=> when i choose it and i confirme... then the two first steps are ok but the last one "car connection" failed!

 

So i'm also interested in the confirmation this device will not work with ABRP... before i return it back to Amazon...

Best regards

 

[Claus Bowe]

Hey, I'm using Vgate iCar Pro on my Android mobile device. I can connect to the OBD ios-vlink, get all the data from the car. But once I left the car with the mobile device and try to reconnect to the ios-vlink it can't be found. Quite interesting fact is, nrf finds the OBD plugin. But no chance with ABRP. So, what I found out is that a restart of my mobile device helps to reconnect to the Vgate iCar. No idea why, but it works. But at least it can't be the final solution.

[e-Lionel]

1 hour ago, Claus Bowe said:

Hey, I'm using Vgate iCar Pro on my Android mobile device. I can connect to the OBD ios-vlink, get all the data from the car. But once I left the car with the mobile device and try to reconnect to the ios-vlink it can't be found. Quite interesting fact is, nrf finds the OBD plugin. But no chance with ABRP. So, what I found out is that a restart of my mobile device helps to reconnect to the Vgate iCar. No idea why, but it works. But at least it can't be the final solution.

Many of us fail to connect the dongle with ABRP and Android device so please we need details about the connection, and each answer is important :

- do you activate localization first ? (sometimes needed to discover bluetooth devices, depending on android version... )

- do you activate bluetooth connection before launching ABRP, or does ABRP activate the Bluetooth connection by itself ? (there is an Android authorization for that)

- if activating bluetooth first, do you see the Android-vlink and Ios-vlink ? do you pair the Android-vlink ? (code 1234)

- if activating bluetooth within ABRP, is pairing needed ?

- within ABRP, do you try to connect to the dongle before or after launching navigation to your destination ?

- when choosing the Ios-vlink, do you see the 3 steps OK (green) ?

- is there a delay after connecting before getting live datas ?

- please can you confirm your smartphone model, and the android version used ?

- when trying to reconnect after you left the car, do you launch "nRF connect" first before a fail to reconnect within ABRP ? 

- After restarting your Android phone, do you succeed with ABRP connecteing to the vgate dongle, without launching "nRF connect" ?

thanks for your feedback...

some screenshots would help !

Edited February 21, 2022 by e-Lionel

[Claus Bowe]

@e-Lionel 

- do you activate localization first ? (sometimes needed to discover bluetooth devices, depending on android version... )
-> not necessary, bluetooth and GPS is on standby, connection works with all paired devices automatically when in use and GPS is in use when the App gets started.

- do you activate bluetooth connection before launching ABRP, or does ABRP activate the Bluetooth connection by itself ? (there is an Android authorization for that)
-> see above

 - if activating bluetooth first, do you see the Android-vlink and Ios-vlink ? do you pair the Android-vlink ? (code 1234)
-> only iOS Vlink available in ABRP

- within ABRP, do you try to connect to the dongle before or after launching navigation to your destination ?
-> right after entering ABRP I connect to the dongle, so before launching the navigation.

- when choosing the Ios-vlink, do you see the 3 steps OK (green)
-> Yes.

- is there a delay after connecting before getting live datas ?
-> Approx. 5 seconds, more or less.

- please can you confirm your smartphone model, and the android version used ?
-> Samsung Galaxy A52 5G (Modelnumber SM-A526B/DS), Android Version 12, One UI-Version 4.0

- when trying to reconnect after you left the car, do you launch "nRF connect" first before a fail to reconnect within ABRP ? 
-> No, nRF was connected after failing to connect to ABRP. And after connecting to nRF a reconnection to ABRP was not possible, too.

- After restarting your Android phone, do you succeed with ABRP connecting to the vgate dongle, without launching "nRF connect" ?
-> Yes, after restarting the phone the connection via ABRP to the vgate works immediately.

[e-Lionel]

@Claus Bowe : thanks so much for your reply... I think it can help much people !

I will post after expermenting...

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, you may find this video offers a way forward 

 

Cheers

[e-Lionel]

@Claus Bowe : 

- I can confirm a strange behaviour : 

if the Android-vlink device IS NOT PAIRED, the iOS-vlink is not visible within ABRP.

As soon as the Android-vlink is paired (in the standard Android bluetooth screen), the iOS-vlink becomes visible within ABRP.... So maybe you don't need to reboot your phone, pairing may be the only step needed

- unfortunately for me, after selecting the iOS-vlink, the third step fails :

(Xiaomi MI 9T Pro/Android 11)

 

I will read this post, could help :

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by e-Lionel

[Samuel-ABRP]

Don't get confused by the BT name. iOS in this case represents the BLE connection, as Android phones normally don't use it. So the manufacturer name it like the phone system it is mainly used on. Still android supports BLE and also the BT connections to iOS named dongles.

[e-Lionel]

@Samuel-ABRP :

No confusion at all, when selecting the iOS-vlink, the third step fails anyway (see above...)

My iCar Pro dongle is on his way back to Amazon...  (maybe a bad quality clone ?)

[Samuel-ABRP]

Which car are you trying to connect to?

[e-Lionel]

My car is a Seat Mii, I hope I will have better results with the OBDLINK CX dongle...

[Claus Bowe]

On 2/22/2022 at 10:52 PM, Samuel-ABRP said:

Don't get confused by the BT name. iOS in this case represents the BLE connection, as Android phones normally don't use it. So the manufacturer name it like the phone system it is mainly used on. Still android supports BLE and also the BT connections to iOS named dongles.

Yes, it's allways iOS vlink. But I still don't get it why it works only once. When I try to reconnect iOS is even not visible in ABRB, but in nRF it is visible. Any recommendation?

[Samuel-ABRP]

Did you try to close and reopen the app?

 

We did some more BT improvements but it is not released yet. Maybe the next version will improve the behavior for you.

[Claus Bowe]

1 minute ago, Samuel-ABRP said:

Did you try to close and reopen the app?

 

We did some more BT improvements but it is not released yet. Maybe the next version will improve the behavior for you.

Yes, I did. Only a restart of the whole smartphone helped to recover the situation enroute.  Thx a lot. Looking forward to your release.

[An Do]

On 2/24/2022 at 2:47 PM, Samuel-ABRP said:

Did you try to close and reopen the app?

 

We did some more BT improvements but it is not released yet. Maybe the next version will improve the behavior for you.

Hi Samuel, I use ABRP since 2019 on Android, subscribed to Beta program, now Premium for use with Android Auto). I have the issue with the vlink BLE adapter (iOS profile) that it only works after initialization. Once it has been registered and I want to use the app a 2nd time it says that it is connected already but no live data is progressed. I then need to unregister and initialize the adapter again to make it work. I am on Android 12 with POCO F3 phone, latest updates installed. 

Could you maybe check if you (ABRP) could unregister / re-initialize BLE adapters on startup? In the phones BT I did not pair the device btw, only ABRP does the connection. 

If you need any log data please let me know.

Cheers, 

Andreas

Edited May 28, 2022 by An Do
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