LeLink2 OBD2 not broadcasting / connecting to LeafSpy.

ianlighting

My system has been driving for a year now and have used LeafSpy fine.

Recently I found it would not connect. I’ve investigated as much as I can, but am stuck for what to do next.

Symptom - turn car on, LeLink2 shows red light but does not connect to mobile device.

Checks and tests:

LeLink2 works in an original Nissan Leaf. So that’s fine. But I also have a new one and that also does not solve problem.

I’ve removed any CANbus peripheral devices so the system is minimal. (Meaning Oled display, my drive status monitor LEDs and ibooster)

I’ve reset system by disconnecting 12v battery in case there’s some part of the system ‘stuck’ in a fault state.

I’ve checked all wiring, plugs etc. wiggled connections when not working and done the same on the rare occasions it springs into life, but can’t find a flaky connection.

I’ve used 2 different iOS devices - my iPad runs an older OS to my phone. My phone works fine with the lelink2 in our original Nissan leaf.

With LeLink2 out of the socket there’s 13v between + / -. And 2.5v and 2.3v between each can wire and ground which I believe is good.

….

This morning I put the system back together and I thought it was fixed. I was regularly getting the connection on my phone through many different tests (takes about 12 seconds usually, but maybe up to 20).

*@isak - if you read this, this was the point where I emailed to say I thought the fault was cleared, but I was wrong.

This was when the system was on, using the ignition key.

My next test was to try charging. No LeafSpy connection.

So reverted back to ignition on, and no connection again. I had made no changes to the system. Seemed as though once it was in a failed state it was stuck there.

I did a full reset and removed the 12v, but stayed not working.

Since that point, no matter what I do I can’t get Leaf Spy to reconnect.

The rest of the system seems to work 100%. Drives, charges, gear changes, oled display, all good. But not LeLink2 / LeafSpy connection.

Any ideas?

ianlighting

I’m left with 2 thoughts, neither of which I know how to progress as they are guesses and could be wrong.

there’s something in my system corrupting can data which makes the VCU unable to process it and so doesn’t send anything useful to the LeLink2. But I’ve removed all peripheral CANbus devices. It only leaves major lumps like PDM, battery BMS.
Is this theory a possibility? I need inside knowledge of how the VCU might behave in such a potential corrupted data situation.
there’s a fault of some sort internal to the VCU not related to anything connected to it. Is it possible for it to provide power and canbus voltage but prevent the lelink2 from connecting to LeafSpy?
Again I need knowledge that’s not available to me. Are there any tests I can do to prove this?

Whatever it is it’s 99% failed. But twice this morning (out of dozens of tests) it connected, but with nothing obvious that I did to trigger the success.

On the first time it worked I shutdown LeafSpy app and reopened, but would not connect.
2nd time it worked I tried pulling the LeLink2 and returning it, but it would not reconnect.
@isak, any ideas?

RufusL

ian this is an odd one. I tried a brand new LELink2 a few days ago and it worked fine. Two days later, not working. With no changes to the system this is very strange.
The intermittency you have described is very odd.
I'm going to try two things, which you might like to do too.
Firstly, another app that can connect and read CAN data, to see if the intermittency could be to do with LeafSpy.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/engine-link-le/id1222128102?ls=1&mt=8 is one that is recommended for my LELink2.

Secondly, attempting to connect to the LeLink without it being connected to the CAN bus so just power. Not sure if this is possible but could indicate whether CAN traffic affects bluetooth connection.

ianlighting

In my case it worked for a year with no issue. Never had to think about it, just connected within a few seconds.

Known issue is that early Oled included an extra termination resistor. This is not to CANbus spec, but system still worked fine with this present.

I’m no CANbus expert, but if you start doing measurements you find that resistance between can hi and low, with oled in circuit is 40ohms, instead of correct 60ohms. But even with oled removed (and returning system to an in spec 60 ohms - no joy.
Note - I have no idea if your oled is a later one with the resistor correctly omitted.

I need to get back to it at some point but I ran out of steam going round in circles eliminating devices and rewiring sections.

Probably next thing will be to spend more time on different areas checking hi and low against ground throughout the system to see if there’s a voltage drop that might be to blame.

I’ve also got an ESP32 / arduino running savvycan that will read can data. So whether that will help pinpoint a problem I don’t know.

I do know I won’t be confident long term not being able to review the mV variation on my cells. I have 1 that’s stubbornly low and I need to keep an eye on him.

RufusL

I tried those troubleshooting steps yesterday.
LeLink2 connects within a few seconds to another app every time without fail.

Leafspy connected once in about 2 hours, whether CAN bus was connected or not.

I’m going to try another reader because the inconsistency is so irritating, and I’ve read plenty of posts around the connection between LeLink and Leafspy.

Would it help to look at the update logs for Leafspy and see if one of them lines up with when you first started getting connection issues?

ianlighting

Something to investigate - the version of OS on your device.

This occurred to me before but I thought I’d covered it because I’ve always used 2 different devices iphone and iPad. iPhone is 26.4.2. iPad is 18.7.9. Since they were different but both failed to connect I put aside that idea.

But this morning I dug out an old smashed screen iPhone running 15.8.4 and it connected first time after I turned Bluetooth off / on.

A couple more tries and still worked.

This is not a comprehensive proof of anything. It might just be lucky coincidence. I’m out for a while now, but if it regularly connects when I get back home for more testing, it’s the start of identifying the root cause.