This repo contains photos and info on my collection of fake OBD-II tuning boxes.
OBD-II chip tuning boxes purportedly adjusts your car engine's operating parameters by communicating to the ECU through your car's OBD-II port, to either increase the engine's power, or to reduce fuel usage. However, these low-cost devices generally don't actually communicate with your ECU. They typically just flash some LED. Sometimes they may be connected to your car's CAN bus lines, but have high value resistors that result in them only being able to listen to traffic rather than send any. At best these are a waste of battery if you leave them plugged in while the vehicle is off, and at worst may potentially cause issues with your car's internal network if the device is miswired. As such, plese don't buy these devices if you expect them to help with your car's performance. They will only serve as a light show.
Big Clive has some video teardowns of these devices, by type:
- MCU-based CAN bus monitoring
- MCU-based CAN bus direct connect
- MCU-based non-connected
- Analog flasher, non-connected
These types use a microcontroller and monitors CAN bus, ISO 9141, and/or SAE J1850 bus through a high-value resistor. These may or may not use the traffic on those buses to flash the LEDs differently.
These types use a microcontroller and are directly connected to the above buses. They may be able to drive the buses or otherwise wreak havoc if the microcontroller crashes.
These types use a microcontroller and are not connected to the buses at all. They are not influenced by or can influence the buses in any way, and are purely for show.
These don't use a microcontroller and just flash a LED using analog circuitry.
Click the photo/name of the device for details, photos, and schematic.
| Photo | Name | Purchase date | Color | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
ecoOBD2 | 2019-01 | Green | MCU-based non-connected/monitoring |
 |
Super OBD2 | 2019-01 | Yellow | MCU-based non-connected |
 |
nitroOBD2 | 2022-09 | Yellow | Analog flasher, non-connected |
 |
ecoOBD2 | 2022-09 | Blue | Analog flasher, non-connected |
 |
nitroOBD2 | 2022-09 | Red | MCU-based non-connected |
 |
PowerProg | 2022-09 | Red | Analog flasher, non-connected |