miniVCI report
 

Hi,

There has been some buzz about the 'miniVCI' and after having my virtual PC with AutoEnginuity destroyed by a virus, I thought to at least try 'miniVCI'. Lessons learned:

• Ebay version - came with version 1.4.7 firmware which is no longer updatable from the 'XHorse', original hackers. They took down their online update because of 'the clones.' Honor amoung software pirates.
• XHorse reseller - came with version 2.0.4 firmware which solves a problem accessing the engine ECU of the ZVW30 Prius. At $35, a little more expensive than the Ebay version, it at least works on both our NHW11 and ZVW30.

I have not found 'miniVCI' to be perfect as one attempt to record data failed. Worse, it only records a limited time window, at most 5 minutes, but could be less.

I don't endorse using 'hacked' software if nothing else because someone who hacks Toyota's Techstream might be just as willing to load 'other' software. But if you are going to use the XHorse software, get it from their 'authorized reseller'.

Personally I thing the best use of this software is to reverse engineer the OBD protocol to our Prius. Then export a ScangaugeII or open source project dump of the vehicle specific protocol. At least then we will have something useful for further engineering studies.

Bob Wilson