Scangauge 3 Real-World Usability and Mounting Notes

[booster]

A couple of discussions on here addressed the Scangauge 3 and it's capabilities, but with some unknowns and questions for me about usability in the real world. I did finally get one to find out if it would address the things that I would want over the Scangauge 2 we have had for many years.

The wants:

A display that you can actually see during a sunny day with sunglasses on.

More than 4 gauges at a time.

Gear number gauge.

Torque converter lockup gauge.

A better way to be able to set the fuel correction percent so it wouldn't auto calculate at every fill.

Questions I had:

Where can you put it so you can easily see it without looking way off the road and also not have it block any windshield or side window view, particularly to the van's front corners that the pillars block a bunch already

How do you hit the tiny screen change buttons to see other gauge panels as you bounce down the road.

Have they changed the battery killing "connecting" loop if the battery is disconnected to store or preserve the battery during slack times.

Observations so far

The display is quite bright and hopefully will work OK. All are spotty if I where a pair of ski type goggles over the sunglasses in late or early season when the sun is low and coming in the side window and behind the sun glasses. Will get a test this fall, I hope, on fall trip.

The gear number does display.

Converter lockup status does not display so you have to use converter slip rpm to tell if you are locked. The Scangauge 2 didn't have either display so better but not ideal.

The auto setting fuel correction is not different, but it is claimed that there is no limit to how many fills it is averaging. I find that hard to believe as I have never seen any rolling average do that. Our Scangauge 2 was wildly inaccurate if we let it calc it's own all the time, even for a long trip averaged by hand after getting home and tabulating each fill and averaging them. It will take quite a while to see how the automatic goes as I will use it but check the correction % after each to see if it ever gets consistent like it would averaging a huge number of fills over time.

I did find a place that it mounted that didn't block views but was very accessible to touch and see.

The buttons are too small to hit, but the "screen swipe" feature does work. Downside is that although they say just side to side, it only appears to work when you swipe on finger on the very bottom of the screen, at least for me. The vertical swipe two finger swipe works well to control brightness, though.

The battery killer connecting loop has not changed, unfortunately, and in some ways is worse the way the on/off works in general.
The problem with the on/off is that it is difficult to get the screen to stay on or come back on unless you run the engine, at least in default settings. It will only activate when it sees engine rpm, and they said that a double tap would turn it on, but even with key on that was spotty at best. I changed the activation setting to COM so it would activate whenever the key is on and that works much better. The Scangauge 2 would come on if you pushed the menu button as long as the battery was connected and was much easier to tweak quickly for settings.

I would say the pros definitely outweigh the cons and on user friendly probably is pretty good as you can get 27 gauges with just swiping and the Scangauge 2 was very hard to find any beyond the 4 on the screen when driving.

Actual use will certainly fill in any blanks and show up any oddities, I think.

The mounting pix: The course foam block in the pic goes under the edge of the mount on the dash to prevent bounce and loosening the mounting tape to dashpad. The velcro is left over from the dash cover attachment. I used an Amazon purchased 90 degree connector adapter cable 18" long for the connection so it clears the dash without stressing the connection because of the cable bend over the dash.

 

[youngnretired]

I like your mount location. Ideally, that's where i wanted mine but couldn't find a way to mount it without doing some adhesive tape or something. I've always had an issue screwing holes or taping things to the dash in my cars over the decades. Not sure why, maybe some type of OCD going on that I'm not willing to admit i have.......

 

[TX-Trek]

Thanks for posting this - I've been considering getting the SG3, especially for transmission temperature along with the variety of other available PIDs on our 2010.
I've got a number of scantools, latest is XTool D8s which I really like. I suppose I could use that but prefer the SG3 setup for constant readout.

 

[booster]

Thanks for posting this - I've been considering getting the SG3, especially for transmission temperature along with the variety of other available PIDs on our 2010.
I've got a number of scantools, latest is XTool D8s which I really like. I suppose I could use that but prefer the SG3 setup for constant readout.

I agree. The scanners work fine but only when you have them on the van so not full time data.

If I used my data logger that I have the van, on top of the my tuner I can build a complete dashboard of gauges on our laptop which is pretty cool compared to a list but where do put a 16" laptop full time? The Scangauge is big enough to try to locate somewhere.

 

[JamesOdea]

A couple of discussions on here addressed the Scangauge 3 and it's capabilities, but with some unknowns and questions for me about usability in the real world. I did finally get one to find out if it would address the things that I would want over the Scangauge 2 we have had for many years.

The wants:

A display that you can actually see during a sunny day with sunglasses on.

More than 4 gauges at a time.

Gear number gauge.

Torque converter lockup gauge.

A better way to be able to set the fuel correction percent so it wouldn't auto calculate at every fill.

Questions I had:

Where can you put it so you can easily see it without looking way off the road and also not have it block any windshield or side window view, particularly to the van's front corners that the pillars block a bunch already

How do you hit the tiny screen change buttons to see other gauge panels as you bounce down the road.

Have they changed the battery killing "connecting" loop if the battery is disconnected to store or preserve the battery during slack times.

Observations so far

The display is quite bright and hopefully will work OK. All are spotty if I where a pair of ski type goggles over the sunglasses in late or early season when the sun is low and coming in the side window and behind the sun glasses. Will get a test this fall, I hope, on fall trip.

The gear number does display.

Converter lockup status does not display so you have to use converter slip rpm to tell if you are locked. The Scangauge 2 didn't have either display so better but not ideal.

The auto setting fuel correction is not different, but it is claimed that there is no limit to how many fills it is averaging. I find that hard to believe as I have never seen any rolling average do that. Our Scangauge 2 was wildly inaccurate if we let it calc it's own all the time, even for a long trip averaged by hand after getting home and tabulating each fill and averaging them. It will take quite a while to see how the automatic goes as I will use it but check the correction % after each to see if it ever gets consistent like it would averaging a huge number of fills over time.

I did find a place that it mounted that didn't block views but was very accessible to touch and see.

The buttons are too small to hit, but the "screen swipe" feature does work. Downside is that although they say just side to side, it only appears to work when you swipe on finger on the very bottom of the screen, at least for me. The vertical swipe two finger swipe works well to control brightness, though.

The battery killer connecting loop has not changed, unfortunately, and in some ways is worse the way the on/off works in general.
The problem with the on/off is that it is difficult to get the screen to stay on or come back on unless you run the engine, at least in default settings. It will only activate when it sees engine rpm, and they said that a double tap would turn it on, but even with key on that was spotty at best. I changed the activation setting to COM so it would activate whenever the key is on and that works much better. The Scangauge 2 would come on if you pushed the menu button as long as the battery was connected and was much easier to tweak quickly for settings.

I would say the pros definitely outweigh the cons and on user friendly probably is pretty good as you can get 27 gauges with just swiping and the Scangauge 2 was very hard to find any beyond the 4 on the screen when driving.

Actual use will certainly fill in any blanks and show up any oddities, I think.

The mounting pix: The course foam block in the pic goes under the edge of the mount on the dash to prevent bounce and loosening the mounting tape to dashpad. The velcro is left over from the dash cover attachment. I used an Amazon purchased 90 degree connector adapter cable 18" long for the connection so it clears the dash without stressing the connection because of the cable bend over the dash.
On a separate note, I’ve also seen mostbet promo code no deposit mentioned when people discuss sports betting options. If you follow sports while traveling, it can be another platform to compare available markets and odds, although I’d check the current terms and availability before using it.

The ScanGauge 3 sounds like a pretty worthwhile upgrade if the main goal is having more information available without constantly cycling through menus. The gear display and 27-gauge capacity alone seem like a big improvement over the SG2.

The lack of a direct torque-converter lockup indicator would bug me too, though. Using converter slip RPM works, but it’s not quite as convenient as having a simple locked/unlocked status. The small buttons also sound like something that’s fine parked but frustrating while driving, so the swipe gesture being reliable is probably more important in practice.

For the fuel correction, I’d definitely keep recording the manual numbers for a while before trusting the automatic calculation. It’ll be interesting to see whether the long-term averaging actually settles down or still wanders like the SG2 did.

The battery/connection behavior is probably the biggest disappointment. If it still sits there trying to connect after the vehicle is stored, that somewhat defeats the purpose of having a permanently installed monitor. Changing activation to COM sounds like a good workaround for normal use, though.

Overall, from your observations, it sounds like the SG3 is more usable day-to-day despite those quirks, especially with the much easier access to additional gauges.

 

[dmb496]

SG III available at Advance Auto for $219.99 with promo code.

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

 

[booster]

That is where I got mine on that deal. Same price at Autozone, and I think I would recommend them over Advance.

This was the first purchase from Advance for me as they never were close to where I lived, and what did they do but try pawn off an open box unit as brand new when it got to the store to pick it up. I refused it so they said they would have a new one the that afternoon and would call, no call, and when I called them they said "probably" the next day and would call me. No call the next day until I called them and they said it was there. Horrible customer service IMO.

 

[booster]

We just got back from 300 mile day trip to test some changes and make sure all is well for our fall trip, and the Scangauge 3 evaluation was a big part of it it for me.

Really not much to say, though, as it did everything just as expected without issue.

Very visible even with sun and sunglasses.

Mounting location very convenient

Single tank fuel compensation autoset to 3% at first metered fill. Actual calcs to 2.45% but I think they only allow 1% increments in that setting. 3% is what we settled on in our old Scangauge 2 so believable.

I had put in a 1% speedo adjustment based on the old gauge and odometer in the Scangauge read the same as our calibrated to very close accuracy van odometer.

All the easily available gauges and data or going to be very useful for me.

 

[Mr. Merk]

I've been looking at different radar mounts for the van and came across a ScanGauge II mirror mount from BlendMount.

Theoretically this could be compatible with a Roadspy super mount, although the Blend mount ID may need to be opened up a bit.

I REALLY like the Roadspy mounts and have them in a few of my other cars already. They only show compatibility with up to 2005 Savana, but I emailed them to check on any offerings for the later vans.

I'd like to pair all of the above with this mirror from Master Tailgaters.

 

[romeo-ClassB]

Has anyone looked at the various OBD-ll scan dongle with BlueTooth connectivity? You can display the information on a dell phone, PC, Ipad, or any other Bluetooth divice.

I am currently setting mine up with one of the many available and inexpensive $6.00 app named Fusion OBD ll and the $41.00 VeePeak BLE+ OBD ll scanner. I have found it very simialiar to the SilverLeaf setup that I use in my diesel pusher showing all desired engine and transmission data. I used SilverLeaf in lieu of ScanGauge since it displayed all diesel data on a much larger display and much more in depth data. So far I have found that Fusion and Veepeak show me the same data and engine analysis. Depending of which version of the software you use, one can also delete error codes. OBD scanners vary in price up to versions that cost 100+. So far all the software if reasonably priced.

There are many videos and information on YouTube regarding OBD ll scanners and accompanying software, so I won't spend much time here discussing it.

The scan device and software will display any and all of the data that is produced by your vehicle model. The gauge style is highly configurable for all the parameters that you see on the example gauges and if desired will produce graphs and charts for analysis. I did see a PID for transmission that I all told will show transmission/torgue lockup.

My main interest is in engine RPM and some of the other readings that gauges will display. At this point I am not concerned with engine analysis so can talk about that aspect of OBD ll data.


The attached photos are of the gauges that I have defined so far.

• Ron

 

[booster]

There was a lot of interest and members here were using various OBD to phone monitors a few years ago, but it all died down quickly and we haven't seen much about it lately.

Personally, I prefer permanent independent gauges for all of this kind of stuff, including the charging controls for the batteries, etc. I find it much more convenient that way and they all can be in use at the same time, not just one at a time as is how the Bluetooth has to be used.

I have no choice on the drop in style lithium batteries to see individual cell voltages, to do the settings in the Wakespeed alternator regulator, or to easily make changes to the Victron battery monitor so those are on the phone but would prefer them not to be.

A sidenote to this would be that I think that in a state that has handsfree phone laws while driving you could get sited for changing screens on the phone even if it was being used as a monitor unless the newest apps have voice input that actually works well.