Vgate iCar Pro OBDII WiFi/Bluetooth 3.0/4.0

For coding with bimmercode app , is their a preference or benefit of WiFI vs Bluettoth.
I just ordered a Bluettoth version

I though Bluettoth consumes lee energy than the WiFi , but specs list both as same

Also ,in Leaf , many apps are available to poke deeper into data

Is their any app by which i can find for i3, which i can use continuously to find details like
Current Charge Rate for L2 and L3
Current Battery Temperature while driving
Set max charge rate to 80%
etc

EVMan said:

For coding with bimmercode app , is their a preference or benefit of WiFI vs Bluettoth.
I just ordered a Bluettoth version

I though Bluettoth consumes lee energy than the WiFi , but specs list both as same

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Complicated question. Bluetooth 4.0 + LE (a.k.a., Bluetooth Low Energy) almost certainly uses less energy than Bluetooth versions less than 4.0. I don't know how any Bluetooth version compares with any of the many WiFi versions or which WiFi version these cheap dongles use.

iOS has not supported Bluetooth versions earlier than 4.0 + LE unless their use was certified by Apple. I don't know whether this was due to the inherent insecurity of these earlier Bluetooth versions, to their potential high energy usage which could drain the battery of an iOS device, or for some other reason. So if you have an iOS device, the dongle needs to be Bluetooth 4.0 + LE or certified by Apple which these cheap Chinese dongles aren't.

In the wild, anything-goes Android world, any Bluetooth version is likely supported.

So if you will be running BimmerCode on an Android device, the Bluetooth dongle that you ordered will probably work. If you run BimmerCode on an iOS device, your Bluetooth dongle might not work. A WiFi dongle would work with all portable devices.

EVMan said:

Also ,in Leaf , many apps are available to poke deeper into data

Is their any app by which i can find for i3, which i can use continuously to find details like
Current Charge Rate for L2 and L3
Current Battery Temperature while driving
Set max charge rate to 80%
etc

Click to expand...

The methods used by the BMW Connected and iRemote apps and the ConnectedDrive Website to access some i3 data and control some i3 functionality have been reverse-engineered. I am not aware of any effort to reverse-engineer the data packets on the i3's several data busses to be able to do what you, I, and many other i3 owners would like to do. Doing so requires some electronic equipment, smarts, and lots of patience.

Something similar was done by a couple of owners of early Honda Insights who then built and sold custom gauges and control devices. With fewer than 20k Insights sold, the market for such devices was tiny, so the efforts of these talented owners was based more on love and curiosity than on profit. With many more i3's having been sold, there would certainly be more potential customers, but many i3 drivers are temporary lessees who might have little or no interest in such devices.

Insight owners are probably quite different from the typical BMW owner. However, some i3 owners are or were Insight owners, myself included. Many i3 owners like me have never owned or been interested in owning an ICE BMW, so there might be hope for the development of some of these devices. Maybe as the cost of used i3's continues dropping, which encourages long-term purchases by non-traditional BMW owners, as factory warranties expire, and as the desire of these more committed owners to detect and fix problems to minimize the high cost of BMW parts and service increases, someone will develop and sell such devices.

alohart said:

Something similar was done by a couple of owners of early Honda Insights who then built and sold custom gauges and control devices. With fewer than 20k Insights sold, the market for such devices was tiny, so the efforts of these talented owners was based more on love and curiosity than on profit. With many more i3's having been sold, there would certainly be more potential customers, but many i3 drivers are temporary lessees who might have little or no interest in such devices.

Insight owners are probably quite different from the typical BMW owner. However, some i3 owners are or were Insight owners, myself included. Many i3 owners like me have never owned or been interested in owning an ICE BMW, so there might be hope for the development of some of these devices. Maybe as the cost of used i3's continues dropping, which encourages long-term purchases by non-traditional BMW owners, as factory warranties expire, and as the desire of these more committed owners to detect and fix problems to minimize the high cost of BMW parts and service increases, someone will develop and sell such devices.

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Fellow previous Gen 1 Insight owner/InsightCentral member, let me know if you'd like to start a campaign to lure/steer some of them over to the i3


The technical prowess of that group/forum was something else...the i3 (at least for me) felt like the natural progression from the Gen 1 Insight (well except this is a bimmer and whatever baggage associated with that) - Lightweight/rust proof frame & body, great efficiency, can seat 4 (maybe less important to more mature folks), and can be had for a good price on the used market (not as good as the Insight, but still really good for what it is), not needing the 700 mile range anymore and appears there are many avenues to explore as far as modding goes....

EVBob said:

the i3 (at least for me) felt like the natural progression from the Gen 1 Insight (well except this is a bimmer and whatever baggage associated with that) - Lightweight/rust proof frame & body, great efficiency, can seat 4 (maybe less important to more mature folks), and can be had for a good price on the used market (not as good as the Insight, but still really good for what it is), not needing the 700 mile range anymore and appears there are many avenues to explore as far as modding goes....

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I share your views. Honda apparently tasked its engineers to design the most fuel-efficient mass-produced car every produced which led to many unique, but expensive design decisions including a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain. BMW seems to have tasked its engineers to do something similar with the i3 which is what attracted my interest.

I wish Honda rather than BMW had produced the i3 because it would have been less expensive to buy and repair and more reliable, but Honda seems to have lost its way.

The discounts on i3 are now adding up., which should increase sales and attract non traditional BMW buyers
I purchased it, as i got a new one cheaper than the Bolt.

With 2.5 gallon additional gas tank, i am good with this car , like a gas car , for long distance drives, the day i need it.

While reliability looks fine, the maintenance costs are rocket high...which includes the specially designed low life tires.

EVMan said:

While reliability looks fine, the maintenance costs are rocket high...which includes the specially designed low life tires.

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An i3's Bridgestone tires aren't any more special than the Insight's lightweight, shallow tread, low-rolling resistance Bridgestone tires. I expect to get the same ~35k miles life out of our i3's tires as I did out of our Insight's tires. Those who drive aggressively experience short tire life, but that would be true for the Insight as well. I have never had a puncture or damaged tire on our Insight or our i3, so my i3 tire experience seems very similar to that of our Insight.

After shipping our Insight to our apartment in Sweden, Bridgestone discontinued manufacturing the EU-approved tires originally installed on European Insights, so I imported the U.S. DOT-approved tires originally installed on U.S. Insights because I wanted to have low-rolling resistance tires on our Insight. We likely won't have this problem with our i3's tires because so many more i3's have been sold compared with Insights.

Maintenance costs for our BEV are less than for our Insight due to no ICE maintenance. A REx oil change can be performed by any owner who has maintained an ICE car, so REx maintenance costs need not be high. However, i3 repair costs can be scary high.