neal adkins
Active Member
My dealership said that the clarity doesn't have a hotspot. They had a sign advertising att wifi hotspot. When i inquired, they didnt think the Clarity was capable. I don't remember seeing anything in the owners manual saying it has it.
Tim66
Active Member
Sandroad, what mobile wifi device are you using? I'm looking at the Hum X OBD plug in WIFI Hotspot. https://www.hum.com/
Tim
Tim66
Active Member
Neil, the Hum website has a section to see if their OBD plug works with the Clarity PHEV. It does but not with the electric or Fuel Cell models. It uses the Verizon network. If you are on AT&T the Mobley works https://www.zteusa.com/zte-mobley
Ray B
Active Member
You can set up a cheap NFC tag/sticker to toggle your phone to run a wifi hotspot. NFC tags are very cheap, but you'll need to have NFC turned on, which can cost battery life on your phone.
Alternatively, you could probably trigger it using IFTTT, tasker or other such automating app or service.
Alternatively, you could probably trigger it using IFTTT, tasker or other such automating app or service.
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
My iPhone is the mobile wifi hotspot. The iPhone 8 creates a wifi hotspot that any other device can connect to for access to the Internet, through the iPhone. I have unlimited cellular data on my iPhone, so I don't have to buy time on another cell network to create a wifi hotspot in the car. I use the same system for fast, secure, unlimited access to the Internet wherever and whenever I'm away from my home wifi.
Because you are looking at the Hum device, are you trying to do something with the OBDII port? That can also easily be done with an iPhone app, but I'm not sure what your goal is.
Tim66
Active Member
I'm on Android. My understanding is that you need an OBD Dongle and the app for your phone to connect to in order to read the data. Is that incorrect?
Tim
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
Hmmm.....What you are asking about doesn't seem to have anything to do with a mobile wifi hotspot. If you want to connect your Android phone to the car's computer to read out diagnostics and lots of interesting data, I have heard from reliable sources that Torque Pro or Torque Lite are good apps from Google Play for that purpose (I have not used it myself because it hasn't been available for iPhone.) You will need a Bluetooth OBDII device to plug into the car's OBDII port under the dash to communicate with your phone (no dongle needed). The device is only about the size of a small matchbox and several inexpensive brands are widely available. You can get recommendations on appropriate devices from the Torque app.
Do you still need a wifi hotspot, if you use something like Torque Pro to get all the data from your car onto your phone?
Tim66
Active Member
The reason I replied about the OBD software and not WIFI was that you seemed to indicate that software alone could read the OBD data. When I say dongle that was just shorthand for OBD reader. The Hum X uses the OBD scanner that's why I asked about the software and the reader. Most reports say that the available OBD sacnner do not give much specific information about the Clarity PHEV.
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
I don't know what current OBDII devices can read on the Clarity, because I don't do anything with the OBDII port in my car. I think I've just confused you, because I see a wifi hotspot (your first post) as separate from reading OBDII data in your car (all your subsequent posts). So, I think I better get out of this thread and let someone else who uses the OBDII port in their car help you out.
Tim66
Active Member
I don't know what current OBDII devices can read on the Clarity, because I don't do anything with the OBDII port in my car. I think I've just confused you, because I see a wifi hotspot (your first post) as separate from reading OBDII data in your car (all your subsequent posts). So, I think I better get out of this thread and let someone else who uses the OBDII port in their car help you out.
Sorry Sandroad, it is I who has probably been confusing. The OBD scanner part of the discussion comes up because the HUM X use one as their wifi connection as well as an OBD reader. I just thought it would be an added bonus to have the OBD info as well as wifi. Verizon has a dedicated wifi add on but it gets pretty bad reviews. Before going the add on wifi route I'm going to try using my Galaxy S8 as a hot spot. Thanks for your input.
Regards
Tim
LegoZ
Active Member
I tried T-Mobile SyncUP drive and it did not work. The device kept losing power and never properly registered in my Clarity PHEV. It worked well in my wife’s Niro hybrid though. I also think it would likely work when running in HV mode but didn’t have the time to test it due to the short return period.
petteyg359
Well-Known Member
A bit off topic, but why do we need OBD-II ports these days? They made sense when the only computer in the car was inaccessible in the engine area, and you needed an accessible access port. Now we have touchscreen controls, USB ports, and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. All of that data should be directly exposed from the touchscreen. OBD-II is 20 years old. I think it's past time for the law that mandated the protocol and ports to be updated for modern technology.
Tim66
Active Member
The ODB port is the industry standard for diagnostics. Standard usually leads to cheaper. It would be quite expensive for every auto manufacturer to configure their display screens to display ODB data. And not every manufacture equips their cars with a display screen. Not everyone would do it and then you would have a hodgepodge of systems. Besides the average driver never even uses let alone knows about the OBD port.
petteyg359
Well-Known Member
Re-quoted the important bits. The only reason everybody has OBD-II is because there already was a "hodgepodge" before it was mandated. Mandate a new standard, and everybody will have it.
MNSteve
Well-Known Member
There must be a reason for a new standard, and generally that reason consists of a financial gain for someone. In the case of the ODB standard, that motivation simply does not exist. It does what it needs to do; change would be expensive; there's no net gain for the folks who would be making the change.
I wish auto manufacturers would provide more options and a better window into what is happening under the hood. The general buying public want things as simple as possible, and that works against the idea of providing this capability. The people on this forum represent a tiny fraction of the car-buying public, and it's unlikely that our desires will be met if they are in conflict with "normal people".
Tim66
Active Member
