Interesting. I have the obdlink mx+ and paid something like $120 a couple years ago and now looking on amazon its $210 but im in canada. Thing works great but id also like a spare and for the price of this guy that would be nice. Let us know how it goes and hopefully it stays this price for a bit.

 

A few months ago @Mark_ found what appeared to be a lower priced option than the now-$140 OBDLink MX+ on Amazon called the vLinker MC+ (yup, no copyright infringement there )
[/snip]

It's getting hot in here... It better be good news 😅😅

 

It is getting so hot, I sense a comin' law-suit...

 

 

Hmm, maybe I got my wires crossed.... I was on the track of a mock-up of the Nelly song, "Hot in Heree"!

 

Never mind me... I'm just in a goofy mood

 

I still haven't seen any conclusive evidence that you can JUST use the mx+ without the blue or grey adapters for alfaOBD, even though some places on the internet say you can. Every person on this forum seems to have just bought the adapters.

 

I use my MX+ with AlfaOBD and everything works. I don't have any of the adapters. I experiment alot with the software so I've run through a lot of the features at this point and there's nothing needing any additional cables or adapters.

The blue cable is only if you have an adapter that cannot talk to the intermediate speed CANBUS (MS-CAN) [e.g. like the LX model]. The MX+ can talk both the normal highspeed CANBUS and MS-CAN so no adapters needed.

 

Did you have the Security Gateway Bypass cable?

Well damn...I need that too Gary???🤔😎

 

Unfortunately yes for any FCA car post-2019. It's actually kind of ironic.... They added to Security Gateway Module after someone was able to hack a GC WK2 or Cherokee wirelessly back in like 2013 or 2014 through the 3G uConnect. Now that 3G is gone, unless you have a 4G radio with active subscription, your car can't be wirelessly hacked hence the security module's raison d'être went away with 3G.

 

I've actually used the MX+ a lot on the Shelby with Forscan, and a couple other tuning apps on my laptop...😎

 

The last time I used alfaOBD I had a custom-made cable that plugged into the canbus block under the center console. I now have an ECRI but I have not tried again since.

 

The blue cable is only if you have an adapter that cannot talk to the intermediate speed CANBUS (MS-CAN) [e.g. like the LX model]. The MX+ can talk both the normal highspeed CANBUS and MS-CAN so no adapters needed.

 

Or, you can just buy it where it's made - it's on the temu for 20$
... I'm not joking

 

Or, you can just buy it where it's made - it's on the temu for 20$
... I'm not joking

The VLinker or the cable ? Linky ? I can't find either just now.

 

You can get the 4" fog lights on there too 🥂
Why not?
It's the same product 👍

 

While your at it, go ahead and grab the hid kit

... because that's where "a certain company' gets theirs from

Have a great day and God bless 🙏

 

You mean the Hylux kit ? If so, I finally figured that one out a few months ago. Some black paint and 'Made in the USA' is a good distraction on the fake one

HYLUX CAN-Bus Error Free HID Kit

Genuine HYLUX CAN-Bus HID Conversion kits offered in 35W (2A88) and 50W (2A50) output are known for being the top of the line, OEM quality in the

hidkitpros.com

 

Check dh gate then I ordered it a month ago

 

 

View attachment 226206

I'm just catching up on some threads now. Regarding the eBay/Amazon blue ELM327 dongles, note it's a little deceiving...

• Pretty much EVERY OBDII adapter will work with AlfaOBD (as well as iNCarDoc, Torque, and countless other OBDIIapps out there etc.). This is because basic ELM327 adapters only are intended to access the ECU for engine OBD features. Thus they access the standard high-speed CANBUS which all cars (incl. the Cherokee) use for engine, transmission, powertrain etc. management. (pulling codes, finding out if your car is emissions-ready etc.)
• The difference is that more expensive adapters will also talk to the intermediate-speed CANBUS as well which is needed for some of the Cherokee (and Jeep, Dodge, etc.) features like HVAC, door modules, etc. To use an inexpensive OBDII adapter on the intermediate-speed CANBUS you need a special (blue) cross-over cable.

The larger hassle comes when you try to do a proxi align. If you're using an inexpensive adapter, you can't complete the proxi align without the blue swapped-pin (crossover) cable because the proxi align tries to talk to ALL the modules in the car.

--------------------------
Just as a point of reference, below is the data architecture of the Cherokee CANBUS.

• From the OBDII port (yellow arrow) communication goes to the Body Control Module (BCM) which can be thought of as the 'master module'. On 2019+ cars there would be a new module, the Security Gateway Module (SGM), here before the BCM. You can read values with the SGM in place but cannot edit/write values. To do that you need the SGM bypass cable.
• The BCM can talk to both the high-speed CANBUS (shown by the red arrow branch) and the intermediate-speed CANBUS (the purple arrowed branch). For IT guys out there, while the BCM can talk to both networks, it does not bridge both networks.
  • Cheap OBDII dongles can only speak to the red-arrow modules; the Powertrain Control Module, ABS, Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), etc.
  • More expensive OBDII dongles can speak to the the red-arrowed modules PLUS the purple-arrowed modules; HVAC, Premium audio AMP, Passenger Door Module (PDM), Integrated Center Stack (ICS) etc.

A proxi align tries to recognize and save the state of ('align') ALL the modules in the car. Cheaper dongles will fail on any of the purple-arrowed modules.

CHEROKEE MODULES
ABS Anti Lock Brakes
ACC Adaptive Cruise Control
AHLM Headlamp Leveling
AMP Amplifier
BCM Body Controller
CSWM Comfort Seat Wheel Module
DDM Driver Door Module
DTCM Drive Train Control Module
EDM External Disc Module
EPB Electrical Parking Brake
EPS Electric Power Steering
ESL Electronic Steering Lock
ESM Electronic Shifter
FFCM Forward Facing Camera Module
HVAC Heat, Ventilation and A/C
ICS Integrated Center Stack
IPC Instrument Panel Cluster
LBSS Left Blind Spot Sensor
MSM Memory Seat Module
OCM Occupant Classification
ORC Occupant Restraint Air Bag
PAM Parking Aid Module
PCM Powertrain Control Module
PDM Passenger Door Module
PLGM Power Liftgate
PTU Power Transfer Unit
RADIO Radio
RBSS Right Blind Spot Sensor
RDM Rear Drive Module
RFH Radio Frequency Hub
RRM Radio Receiver Module
SCCM Steering Column Control Module
TCM Transmission Control Module

 

That's a lot of modules to fry in a lightning storm. That list is a prime example of why modern cars are a love hate relationship for mechanics. Release the gremlins...

Here, have some foglights --- Temu specials 😆
Next time you're hunting Amazon just know that the majority of individuals on there make their monies by reselling items. That extra 20$ is the next day delivery tax.

AlphaOBD will be fully functional if you find the photo with obdator written on it. That's also one of the ones alphaobd lists in it's FAQ or somewhere I read. You want the obdator one, I don't know why but just adding that word on the dongle fixes everything 🥂

What all have y'all unlocked in the programmming? Remember, most companies production factories are based in China. Huawei chipmaker just figured that out the hard way, SCIM - KIRIN.
i

 

have you gotten the v-gate yet and have you tried it out

 

Just helping @Gary Kline find your post....

 

Just don't be this guy...Ouch!!!😳😬😎

 

Back board and C spine collar.

 

Here's some technical info I was able to dig up... The OBDLink MX+ UART has a potential baud rate of 10 megabits/sec. (much higher than the AlfaOBD max. of 115,200k) and sports a hefty 4k data transfer buffer. My guess is that the vLinker MC+ doesn't approach the same speed and almost definitely, not a 4k buffer (probably 1 or 2k). Of course, this type of speed would only be really noticeable when running an automated routine (like the proxy align which in testing, was noticeable although as noted in the review, each person would need to determine how much those extra 40 seconds are worth in their time). In using AlfaOBD "live" (manually) of course, this is imperceptible since people are slower navigating a user interface.

Either way, both are way superior to a $7 AliExpress adapter (and I'm a cheapie at heart! 🤣 )

 

Not to high Jack the thread, but do you know if JScan has this capability? Also, I see AlfaOBD isn’t available for iPhone any longer.

Edit- just realized I posted this in the wrong thread. SMH!

 

No worries. Continue from the other thread.

 

Is there any way someone can show/tell me what the correct Alfa OBD app picture looks like? In IOS there are so many but I’m not sure which is correct, and several are the same name.

 

And make sure you get a suitable adapter: vGate vLinker MC+ or OBDLink MX+ (or if you're using Windows and want the adapter cabled (USB), then there vGate vLinker FS USB).

 

iOS (Apple) doesn't support AlfaOBD, only Android or Windows...