STN1110 Bluetooth OBD-II Adapter

Update:  The STN1110 readers have been “discontinued” in favor of my new  STN1170-based Bluetooth OBDII Reader!  “Discontinued” really only means that I’m not actively producing the STN1110 based reader anymore.  Parts are still available and software updates will probably continue to be released by Scantool.net.  I will of course link to those updates as I have in the past.  The only reason I’m discontinuing the STN1110 reader is that I don’t have the time to support producing two different units that pretty much do the same thing (the STN1170 does more in fact).

This page contains all the information for all the legacy Bluetooth OBD-II modules I’ve designed.  These are by far the smallest modules of their kind that I’ve seen.  I have an agreement with Scantool.net to open-source my designs.  The majority of my adapters are based on their STN1110 chip (ELM327 compatible).  All of my Bluetooth OBD-II modules work very well with Scantool.net‘s ScanXL OBD-II diagnostic software for Windows.  Check it out!

For Android users, my Bluetooth OBD-II adapters are an excellent companion for the Torque app ($5 on the Android Market), which is easily the best OBD-II software available for any Android smart phone or tablet.

Palm Pilot and PocketPC users can use OBDGauge, although both of these configurations are untested with my adapters.  Essentially as long as you can pair your Palm Pilot or PocketPC device to my adapter via Bluetooth, OBDGauge should be able to communicate with my adapter.

IPhone/IPod/IPad owners will not be able to use my Bluetooth adapters with their Apple products due to the lack of an Apple authentication chip in my BT module (the BT module also doesn’t support Apple’s authentication protocol).  If you have an Apple device, you will have to purchase a wifi ad-hoc OBD-II adapter if you want a wireless link to your vehicle.  Apple also makes it prohibitively expensive and complicated for hobby type people wanting to connect something via Bluetooth to their iOS device.  I’m not sure if this is also the case with OSX.

Right now I have 5 different modules to choose from, although since Sparkfun discontinued the one Bluetooth module I was using, there are really only 3 modules that have parts available to build.   PCBs and assembled units are available for purchase below (and kits too, but post a message for kit purchase details as they may or may not be in stock at any given time).  The modules aren’t too hard to build yourself, but there are small parts on the unit, which enable this module to be the smallest OBD-II Bluetooth modules on the market today.  It is smaller than the OBDLink MX, which claims to be the smallest adapter in the world.  The smallest passive parts are 0603 and the smallest pin pitch for an IC is 0.5mm.  There aren’t any QFN/DFN/BGA…etc kind of crap on my modules.

Here’s a quick and dirty manual I created that explains how to connect up my modules (or any OBD-II module really) to your vehicle and pair it to your Android phone.  For other operating systems, the process is essentially the same, but not covered in the manual.  Download the manual here:  Bluetooth OBD-II Adapter Manual

To make a complete module, two boards are needed: a driver board and a Bluetooth board.  A STN1110 based Bluetooth board requires the STN1110 universal driver board and likewise, an ELM327 based Bluetooth board requires an ELM327 universal driver board.

Please note that for shipping destinations outside of the USA I am not responsible for any extra customs/duty fees that may be encountered when importing happens, and I am not responsible for lost packages outside of the USA.  A tracking number will be provided if there is one available (depends on shipping method).  If you don’t receive your package within say 4 weeks of me informing you that I shipped your item, I can provide customs form numbers so that you can check with your country’s customs office to see if they have your package. The untracked international shipping method should arrive somewhere between 2-4 weeks of when I tell you the item has shipped. You will not see tracking updates once the package leaves the USA. The tracked international shipping option will get your adapter to you within 1-2 weeks, and the package is tracked the entire trip.

Kits:

RN-42 (FCC Certified) STN1110 Bluetooth Module Kit
Unassembled Kit w/ All Parts
A kit will contain a minimally assembled driver PCB and Bluetooth PCB.  You’ll be responsible for soldering down pretty much all the parts.  Assembly drawings and a page of directions to assemble the kit is included.  All this stuff are available to download via links above. Please read through the kit directions before ordering the kit so that you have some idea of the task you are going to undertake. I can provide some help, but as this is a kit, it is your responsibility to properly assemble, test, and program the unit to your liking. The only assembled/tested piece of the module is the 12V to 5V supply in the kit.  Please leave a comment to purchase a kit as they may or may not be in stock.
Kit: $60 Shipped (USA), $95 Shipped (International, tracked)

Genuine STN1110 Bluetooth OBDII PCBs:

Genuine STN1110 very low-power consumption FCC certified Bluetooth board STN1110 Universal Driver Board Genuine STN1110 non-FCC certified Bluetooth board

RN-42 TopRN-42 Bottom

STN1110 Driver TopSTN1110 Driver Bottom

Bare PCB Only: $13 shipped (USA)
$23 shipped to other countries

Shipping Destination

Bare PCB Only: $13 shipped (USA)
$23 shipped to other countries

Shipping Destination

Out of stock

 

Genuine ELM327 OBDII Bluetooth PCBs:

ELM327 Universal Driver Board Genuine ELM327 non-FCC certified Bluetooth board

Just for completeness, the following modules were also designed, but cannot be built anymore because the BTM-182 Bluetooth module is no longer obtainable:

Genuine STN1110 Bluetooth board (BTM-182 not available) Genuine ELM327 Bluetooth board (BTM-182 not available)

If there is some interest, I could also create a ELM327 based module with the FCC certified Bluetooth module.  I use only genuine STN1110/ELM327 chips in my designs, not ripped-off versions of the ELM327 like the blue Chinese modules on Ebay.

All the designs were created in Altium Designer.  Each zip file contains the Altium source binaries, gerbers, a BOM, a PDF of the schematics, and an assembly drawing showing where all the parts go.

You’ll also need the information in this text file to set up the STN1110/ELM327 chips and their corresponding Bluetooth module on the board:  OBD-II Adapter Setup Commands.  Essentially what needs to be done is both the Bluetooth module’s UART and STN1110/ELM327 UART need to be at the same baud rate to communicate.  On all Bluetooth modules except the RN-42, you have to connect up to the UART side of the Bluetooth module (the side the OBD-II interpreter chip connects to) and enter the module’s command mode and send it commands to get it to match the baud rate of the OBD-II interpreter chip.  On my modules, I have the OBD-II interpreter chips configured to run at 115.2kbps (although they can go higher…I just haven’t tested them higher).

 


The Bluetooth OBD-II adapter is copyrighted under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.  If you use these sources for creating your own module that you post online, please attribute my module as the original source (as the license states).


 

Creative Commons License
OBDII Bluetooth Module by Andrew Honecker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

129 Responses to STN1110 Bluetooth OBD-II Adapter

  1. Roger says:

    Are these still available?

    • Andy says:

      No, these have not been for sale for quite some time now, and likely will not be produced again unless there is significant interest (aka potential orders) to justify the cost of producing more of these.

  2. Tonny Tran says:

    My car is the Pontiac G5, will it work? If it work please mail for me soon. I want to order one for my car. I’ve tried another one but it’s not working. I’ve wasted money for this. So i want to know exactly might it work.

  3. Parker Lockhart says:

    Andy,

    Can this be used to flash/tune obd2 PCMs?
    GM, Ford in particular.

    Thanks

    • Andy says:

      Parker,

      Sure, I’d imagine it could (I say this loosely) as all the unit does really is provide a convenient way to get you onto the vehicle’s bus via a terminal window. However, you would need to know the specific commands for ECU tuning to be able to send them to the PCM. I’ve never run across such commands though.

      – Andy

  4. mike says:

    Andy, thanks for sharing the schematics.
    1) are the bare PCB boards still available for order
    2) do you mind sharing your Digikey BOM list
    regards

    • Andy says:

      Mike,

      Bare boards aren’t available, but the gerbers are in the design package so you could order your own. I haven’t included my normal BOM for the boards as it contains a bunch of information I don’t really want to share and I don’t want to spend the time to strip that data out. I think you can download the Altium viewer and generate a BOM by opening the project up.

      – Andy

  5. Carl Charles Revine says:

    Is there any way to add a sensor on the vehicle end and monitor it’s output through an OBD2 interface with Blue Tooth in a OBD2 app?

    • Andy says:

      You can pretty much do whatever you want if you make your own custom protocol via the OBDII reader and app. As far as using standard ELM327 or compatible apps go, no, that’s not possible w/o changing things on both the OBDII reader end and the host side (phone, laptop…etc).

      – Andy

  6. Todd Huber says:

    I have scantool.net Link which I have used for years and have been happy with having a tech product that actually held its value…well point is if you were going to get one prior to the popularity of the clones and such, it was a choice. I have quite a few BT modules laying around from early CSR-firmware experiments and from the Arduino explosion. My question is: Do you have a reference on your site as to the pinout in the Link as I would like to mess around with attaching one of my Bluetooth modules? I know the bluetooth is not going to provide the bandwidth that direct connect does but just wanted to play with it. Is their a jumper setting needed inside the Link? This is the original Link product.
    Thank you so much for the info…I could have sworn I saw something with most of this info before on your site but can not locate right now and must get on with life…LOL
    Todd

    • Andy says:

      Todd,

      Not sure what pinout you’re referring to, but if it helps, design files (schematics + PCB) are available on my site for the STN1110 and STN1170 based readers.

      – Andy

  7. Yamit says:

    Hello,

    Will it work for Mitsubishi iMiev?
    If so I would like to order one for testing.
    Please email me as I would like to discuss a bigger order in the future.

    Thanks,
    Yamit
    C2G-Logic

    • Andy says:

      Yamit,

      Yes the readers do work on the iMiev, but I’m out of stock for the time being (and probably won’t be making more). I am, however, going to release the design as open source today, so you would then be free to produce the reader yourself (for your own uses, not for sale otherwise).

      – Andy

Leave a Reply to Tonny Tran Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.