Healtech OBD Diagnostic Tool

[Asphaltmaniac]

I have looked at the diagnostic tool from healtech for a few years now and finally pulled the trigger. I have a scan tool for the other bike 2017 BMW GSA LC and my Toyota. Why not one for my aging wing? I also had a small problem that also sorta pushed me in that direction. It would on totally cold start up not really idle as though I though it would..Maybe 1000-900 and quickly come down. Once warmed up no problem with the idle or warm/hot start. Upon using it the first time with a cold engine and 55 degrees in the garage, it shows me the Intake air temperature is 179 degrees. Well there's your problem mister! My guess was the sensor was maybe shot. Wrong!
I had forgotten that I installed the stumble stop from electrical connection way back when. And the last time I had the shelter off was about 18 months ago. And I figured I'd bumped it. So with the scan tool I could see how the value changed in real time. Took it down from 179 to 21 degrees . I think the next step up would be 35 degrees or so. But left it at 21 for starters. But without the scan tool I would of had no clue where to begin as the tool from EC has just dots on it to set the tool.

Anyway a couple hours and it idles at 1500 rpm for a short while then descends. A much happier idle! I took it out for a quick spin and there is no famous gold wing flat spot. Anyway seeing the values for the first time is interesting and informative. The tool also lets you see a read out of codes and the bike computer takes a freeze frame when there's a code. I found many codes. Because I did a huge job a few years back tearing the bike down to replace all the coolant hoses. and while slowly putting it together I had fired up the bike several time just to check progress along the way. And of course having things unplugged chucks a code. It also allows for four data pits to be pulled up at a time. and of course you can erase old codes. Also this tool when you connect instantly records all data. and then askes if you want to safe it or not when you go to disconnect.
Not a bad tool to have.[/attachment]

The graph is my riding down the road with the laptop sitting in the passenger spot. Oh one more thing if you save a scan you can play it back...Sorry cant write worth a darn..ha!

[keithg64]

Now that is cool. I have the healtech speedometer corrector and like that.

[BlueThunder]

Beware!

Diagnostic tools for Honda (motorcycles and marine engines), Kawasaki (motorcycles, ATVs and Jet-Skis) and Suzuki (motorcycles and ATVs) are offered by some Chinese companies too. While the module looks different, the PCB inside is a clone of our OBD hardware and it will NOT work without our software. They supply an old version of our software on CD. This has very limited functionality. As soon as you update the software, the module will be disabled permanently and you will not get a refund from the seller. Also, these clones do not have the quality, do not come with the same connectors, do not come with a hard case, do not come with a 2-year warranty and free updates. Be sure to purchase the OBD Tool from a HealTech distributor or dealer. Do NOT purchase on AliExpress. Do NOT purchase on eBay from a Chinese seller.

[minimac]

That's good to know, Brian. Thanks for posting it, as I'm sure some may be considering the less expensive options.

[WingAdmin]

Beware!

Diagnostic tools for Honda (motorcycles and marine engines), Kawasaki (motorcycles, ATVs and Jet-Skis) and Suzuki (motorcycles and ATVs) are offered by some Chinese companies too. While the module looks different, the PCB inside is a clone of our OBD hardware and it will NOT work without our software. They supply an old version of our software on CD. This has very limited functionality. As soon as you update the software, the module will be disabled permanently and you will not get a refund from the seller. Also, these clones do not have the quality, do not come with the same connectors, do not come with a hard case, do not come with a 2-year warranty and free updates. Be sure to purchase the OBD Tool from a HealTech distributor or dealer. Do NOT purchase on AliExpress. Do NOT purchase on eBay from a Chinese seller.

The fact that Healtech is intentionally disabling - permanently - non-HealTech OBD hardware when you use their newer software, would make me NEVER buy a HealTech product.

Incidentally, this is not the first time this kind of stunt has been pulled. FTDI, the manufacturer of the most popular USB-to-serial chip made, was fighting Chinese clones of their product. They issued a new Windows driver that would identify any cloned version of their product, and intentionally destroy it when it was plugged into a Windows USB port.

The problem was that these cloned/counterfeit chips were often sold into the product distribution chain as genuine, meaning legitimate manufacturers implemented them into their products in good faith. Now users were finding that they had a thousand-dollar piece of computer equipment turn into a useless brick, because the FTDI driver update had irreparably destroyed the USB/serial chip inside their device. The manufacturer of the device had no idea that the chip was counterfeit, and the end user has no idea why their device suddenly stopped working.

This ended up in a huge class action lawsuit against FTDI, and a massive fine. It also meant that manufacturers stopped using FTDI chips, which up until that point had been THE defacto USB/serial chip in virtually every device.

HealTech is playing a dangerous game by intentionally destroying third-party devices owned by people who bought them in good faith. It's one thing to design their software to identify and not function with cloned versions of their adapter. It's quite a different thing to make their software intentionally destroy those devices.

[tamathumper]

This is/was also the case with DuraMetric, a company that makes diagnostic cables (with embedded chips) for Porsche automobiles, including pre-ODB-II ones.

[BlueThunder]

Wait a minute....

China is notorious for stealing technology/products from American companies. I do contract manufacturing so I am quite familiar with how the Chinese do business. How do the Chineses steal? An American company has a manufacturing "partner" or contracts with a Chinese manufacturer to produce a product. Keep in mind that Americans cannot own a factory in China. They have to partner with a Chinese counterpart. Even Apple has to have a Chinese counterpart. It may be called Apple China but it is owned by Chinese. Note that this is not unique to China. Japan and South Korea (to name some) have the system.

Which brings me to the stealing part... It is very typical for the Chinese factory to over-produce a product order. They ship the order to the American company and sell the over-run for pennies. This happens with Halloween costumes, high fashion (Prada, YSL, Channel, etc.), computer and electronics, and so forth. If the product is a high demand item, the knock-off (aka counterfeit) sales can be quite profitable for the Chinese. Chinese counterfeiting is not an isolated incidence. Their system is rampant with counterfeiting products.

Healtech at one time either had a OBD unit manufactured in China or China reversed engineer a Healtech product. I suspect it was the former as it fits Chinese modus operandi. So naturally China counterfeited the product and is selling it cheaply. Healtech (now manufactures its products in the US to prevent counterfeiting) has written firmware not to support unauthorized knock-offs.

I applaud Healtech's approach to eliminate counterfeiting as it is a serious problem for many industries. After all, why should Healtech spend money on R&D and technical/customer support for its competitors? To do so is sheer lunacy and a fast way to bankruptcy. Please note that Healtech's firmware does not disable genuine competitor's products, only Healtech counterfeits. If it destroys genuine products of a non-violating or licensed item, then I agree that this is wrong and cannot continue. However, Healtech's firmware disables the cheap Chinese ebay knock-offs/counterfeits. If property and intellectual rights are not honoured, then innovation will cease to exist.

[tamathumper]

American (and other foreign) companies can own a company in China through the Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) model. Sometimes called WOFE, or "woofy". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wholly_fo ... enterprise

But this is no protection from Chinese intellectual property theft, as my former company found out. We kept our formulas coded and compartmentalized, as well as our raw material and customer lists, but the one guy who knew (the plant manager at one of the plants) left and went directly to a state-funded competitor.

We had to sue the Chinese company and it took years in Chinese courts, which were a mockery. Our lawyers would be summoned and fly there and sit outside the sealed courtroom waiting to be let in, only to be sent away, on more than one occasion. We won our case with the Federal Trade Commission, but it was a pale victory as it only precluded them from selling our product in the U.S. for a period of time. They were still free to compete against us with our own product everywhere else in the world. The Chinese government on the other hand demanded we print an apology in the Wall Street Journal or they would, I'm guessing, confiscate our assets.

The theft that China has committed in the past several decades constitutes the largest transfer of wealth in human history, and it has been allowed by every administration prior, by no action being taken.

[minimac]

When a manufacturer decides to have it's product produced in China, it's common practice for the Chinese to ask for a prototype. They copy it, send it back for approval, and then produce it. Sometimes they overproduce, as stated earlier, or make a very minor change and produce it for themselves to sell in direct competition, or even to the original manufacturers competitors. During the actual manufacturing process, they continually cut corners, use inferior supplies,etc, to increase their profit. That's how they can initially offer low prices. The pricing never stays at what is agreed upon or else various supply chain 'problems' arise, delaying shipments, creating problems for the O.M. in filling their customers demands. The whole process is very deceptive and corrupt, with the original manufacturer getting the short end of the stick. Always. You can read about it in the book, Poorly Made In China, by Paul Midler. It's an insider's account of the tactics behind China's production game.
You can't blame Healtech for trying to protect it's intellectual property, but that's one of the unforeseen costs when you send production offshore.

[WingAdmin]

Wait a minute....

China is notorious for stealing technology/products from American companies. I do contract manufacturing so I am quite familiar with how the Chinese do business. How do the Chineses steal? An American company has a manufacturing "partner" or contracts with a Chinese manufacturer to produce a product. Keep in mind that Americans cannot own a factory in China. They have to partner with a Chinese counterpart. Even Apple has to have a Chinese counterpart. It may be called Apple China but it is owned by Chinese. Note that this is not unique to China. Japan and South Korea (to name some) have the system.

I understand this, but to intentionally destroy devices that you think are cloned...puts you on legally unstable ground.

When I had my satellite radio company, the devices we had manufactured in China (which incidentally I designed to use FTDI USB to Serial chips, and is why I am familiar with this) were at risk for cloning and duplication. We also had software that worked with the hardware, and we originally had a problem with cloned devices.

How we fixed the problem was to use encryption. The devices had a small processor in them, and I wrote code that encrypted the data between the device and the software. This code was not loaded onto the devices until after we received them from the manufacturer in China, so they had no access to the encryption keys. The cloned versions of our devices (which did not have the encryption) simply stopped working with our software, and they were never able to clone the newer devices that had the encryption in them. We did not go so far as to try to destroy cloned devices - we just made them not work with our software anymore. I used the same security method used in Mondex cash smart cards (I worked for them as well), and embedded multiple encryption keys. Should one of them have been cracked, we would issue an update. As soon as the software talked to the device, they would switch from the old, compromised key to a newer one, and the old key would be disabled, so the cracked key became useless again. We never actually had to do this (the encryption never got cracked) but the capability was there.

I'm just saying, there are many ways of getting around the Chinese cloning problem without going so far as to intentionally destroy the hardware of unwitting consumers. Choosing to do so is poor business practice, in my opinion.

[BlueThunder]

Scott, is the clone destroyed or made inopperative?

[WingAdmin]

Scott, is the clone destroyed or made inopperative?

Typically it's disabled: custom firmware is loaded into the clone which makes it inoperative, and makes it incapable of being re-flashed with new firmware. So essentially it is destroyed, because in order to fix it, you would have to physically desolder a (usually surface-mounted) component and replace it.

[jayhawker]

It seems that the OBD tool is only available for the Honda Goldwing model year 2006 and newer.

[Ed Brock]

I read all of the above posts including jayhawker. I started to get lost with all the talk about the right or wrong of protecting made in the USA products, and what to do about the clones that followed them.
My question is; does a 1998 Gl1500 SE have a OBD 2 port? Does it take a special scanner (motorcycle specific only) to read the OBD 2 port?
Thanks for the teaching.
Ed

[DenverWinger]

1800's I believe have OBD 2 (never owned one), but the 1500 and earlier 'Wings do not.

[Ed Brock]

DenverWinger,
Thanks that is what I understood for all the posts, I just thought I would ask and make sure.
Ed

[AZgl1800]

1800's I believe have OBD 2 (never owned one), but the 1500 and earlier 'Wings do not.

if it does, I have never seen the port to plug into.
not saying it is not on the bike....

[Ed Brock]

AZgl1800,
Hi, so the '98 15 SE has a OBD 2 port but it's hidden in the bike somewhere???? My My, Honda is making this a bit of knowledge into a Trivial Pursuit question.
Why do I need to know answers to things like this beets me.
Ed

[AZgl1800]

AZgl1800,
Hi, so the '98 15 SE has a OBD 2 port but it's hidden in the bike somewhere???? My My, Honda is making this a bit of knowledge into a Trivial Pursuit question.
Why do I need to know answers to things like this beets me.
Ed

No, the gl1500 does NOT have an OBD2 port, that I am sure of.

[DenverWinger]

if it does, I have never seen the port to plug into.
not saying it is not on the bike....

.... He's referring to the 1800 here, not the 1500....

[Ed Brock]

DenverWinger and AZgl1800,
Thank you for the confirmation. Now i can sleep!!!!!
Ed