Read Battery Capacity Yourself (Autel AP200 Breakthrough)

FWIW, I contacted Autel via AliExpress after I purchased the AP200 from them, and inquired about getting updated firmware for reading the battery info from a Clarity PHEV. They asked for my VIN, and after I gave it to them, their answer was "sorry friend, it does not support." I hope they really release the features they put in @MrFixit's special version.
 
Patience everyone, please...

It took a good while for me to cultivate a productive relationship with specific Autel personnel.
If you just call their standard support line, they will likely know nothing about this.
I am afraid if a barrage of people start banging on them with inquiries, this could sour their willingness to cooperate.

I will follow through with them. If I check with them at the end of March (1Q) and get an unsatisfactory answer, then maybe we will need to resort to more aggressive tactics !
 
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AliExpress to Autel: "Hey, we're getting lots of interest in your AP200 from Honda Clarity owners. If they can get something called 'battery capacity' I'm sure we'll sell a ton of them."
Autel internal: "It's all that MrFixit's fault! We were going to release that battery capacity update one of these days, but now we're NEVER going to release it. We're moving on to the RAV4 Prime because nobody's asking us to support that vehicle. Somebody, push the update-cancel signal to MrFixit's AP200 ASAP!"
 
insightman said:
AliExpress to Autel: "Hey, we're getting lots of interest in your AP200 from Honda Clarity owners. If they can get something called 'battery capacity' I'm sure we'll sell a ton of them."
Autel internal: "It's all that MrFixit's fault! We were going to release that battery capacity update one of these days, but now we're NEVER going to release it. We're moving on to the RAV4 Prime because nobody's asking us to support that vehicle. Somebody, push the update-cancel signal to MrFixit's AP200 ASAP!"
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They are more like - nobody is asking about this weird car anymore (They don’t know that MrFixIt is telling the Clarity army not do so), so no need to do anything.
 
Ohliuw said:
They are more like - nobody is asking about this weird car anymore (They don’t know that MrFixIt is telling the Clarity army not do so), so no need to do anything.
Click to expand...

Well, I think it may be reasonable for me to send an email to my connections just asking for a status update. Maybe their response will tell us whether it makes sense to "unleash the army" on them or not... Or, maybe it will inspire them to move the release forward. Stand by - I should be able to report back in a couple days...
 
MrFixit said:
Well, I think it may be reasonable for me to send an email to my connections just asking for a status update. Maybe their response will tell us whether it makes sense to "unleash the army" on them or not... Or, maybe it will inspire them to move the release forward. Stand by - I should be able to report back in a couple days...
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If Autel releases an update and it DOESN'T include their demonstrated capability to read the Clarity PHEV's battery capacity signal, they're gonna hear from my...email.
 
MrFixit said:
Well, I think it may be reasonable for me to send an email to my connections just asking for a status update. Maybe their response will tell us whether it makes sense to "unleash the army" on them or not... Or, maybe it will inspire them to move the release forward. Stand by - I should be able to report back in a couple days...
Click to expand...
We midway through Q1, so it’s reasonable to email your guy and ask him if we are still on track.

Make sure to mention that there are tens of thousands of Clarity owners waiting to raid the shelves ;)
 
MrFixit said:
Well, I think it may be reasonable for me to send an email to my connections just asking for a status update. Maybe their response will tell us whether it makes sense to "unleash the army" on them or not... Or, maybe it will inspire them to move the release forward. Stand by - I should be able to report back in a couple days...
Click to expand...

Any news? Thanks
 
You don't have to keep asking... As I said, I will report anything that I hear.
If you can't wait, then go ahead and bang on Autel if you like. I can't say whether additional inquiries will help or not.
If you do ask, please be precise as to what you are asking for. Don't ask about "Battery Capacity", but rather support for the "Electric Powetrain" Live Data.

BTW - I am also working with another forum member on an alternative. I plan to capture the CAN traffic from my functional AP200 in the hope that we can decipher the PID for the Battery Capacity. This would enable access to the battery capacity from any ELM327 device which are widely available and many have already.
 
Thank you for you findings @MrFixit , I hope Autel will have an update soon for the AP200. I was just in the dealership with my clarity due to charging capacity issues and the techs told me they did not have the ability to read me the Battery Capacity. It was pretty frustrating despite telling them about Service Bulletin 17-093, they just looked at me confused.
 
@lt_dan457 :

They are totally incorrect.
Any dealer can easily read this with their i-HDS system.
The exact procedure is well documented the PDI (17-093) which they are supposed to perform on every vehicle pre-delivery.

Don't let them give you a blank stare. I have attached 17-093 to this posting. Print out the last page (Page 13) of this document and take it with you. There is no excuse for a blank stare !!!!

I would march right back there armed with this page and insist that they give you a readout. 55.0 Amp-Hours is the nominal reading for a new vehicle.
 

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Got me an AP200 from PA as I was passing by. I will keep it til the end of March, and if they don’t release the FW update, will return it to the store
 
Point to note: Check that the packaging is intact before taking it home. I picked an AP200 up at PA as a curbside delivery, and didn't check the packaging. When I tried to register it, I wasn't able to do so and it turns out that it had been carefully removed from the packaging and registered to someone else. I called Autel, and although they could reset the registration, they couldn't remove the use of the first "free" car make (which happened to be Nissan) and so I'll have to return it when the stores are open for customer entry.
 
Interested Members:

I have received information from Autel regarding this update, and unfortunately the news is not great.
I will summarize the situation and provide my actual correspondence with Autel so that you read it for yourselves.
I will also offer an alternative (and low cost) solution to this problem, and hope to provide many more details in a separate thread within days.

First, the Summary:
  • Autel will NOT be providing an official update that includes the Electric Powertrain Functionality.
    • The reasons are not technical, but rather, one of limited technical resources at their end
  • As compensation for this disappointing news, they ARE willing to provide the 2.01.54 beta version to any AP200 owners who want it.
    • Important: This beta update is only compatible with Android devices (not iOS).
If you are an Android user, and would like to obtain this functionality, I would be happy to gather serial numbers and submit them to Autel as a convenience (suggested by them). Alternatively, I can provide you with specific contact information upon request.

In the interest of not cluttering this thread, I have attached the email correspondence if you would like to read the words directly. Names have been removed for privacy reasons.

Path Forward:

I still feel that the AP200 is a very nice device, and I am perfectly happy with the beta software version that I have been running. It has a LOT of functionality beyond the Electric Powertrain as you can see in the initial information that I supplied early in this thread. Realize however that this decision has left iPhone users without a solution.

If you want to take advantage of Autel's offer to provide this beta update for Android, send me a private message. I can either gather these and send them as a batch, or provide you with direct contact information.
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Alternate Path:

I am also pleased to announce that I have been working with another forum member to identify another (even lower cost) solution that will get us Battery Capacity and some other key parameters. We believe this solution will be less than $30, and will be functional with both Android and iPhones. It is not a totally comprehensive set of diagnostics like the AP200, but it will include the most important battery information. With additional work (hopefully with help from this community) it can be expanded to include more functions over time.

I appreciate your patience and understanding. This is not an ideal solution, but please don't divert this thread into a complaint session. Most on this forum are extremely helpful and positive, and I am certain we can turn this into a win/win.
 

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I have already heard from 3 people who are interested in the beta upgrade...
Here is what I would like to propose -

I will collect serial numbers from interested users for a week (send me a private message).
Then I will ship these serial numbers off to Autel.
I will request a positive confirmation from Autel so I know when these users are set up.

I'll list the users here (by forum handle, no serial numbers) when I have sent a batch, and then again when I have received confirmation from Autel.

Beyond that, I'll play it by ear as to whether another batch is warranted ,or whether to work with stragglers individually.
 
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