Data logging is for racers.
It is extremely useful to have some means of collecting OBDll data from your truck. I use a program called Auterra with my Palm PDA to plug into the OBD port and check things out. It will let me see any trouble codes that have been logged and comes with files you download onto your PDA so you can decipher the trouble codes. And most importantly it lets you reset the check engine light. Any OBDll solution worth its salt should facilitate this. Auterra, while it does not log data per se, instead gives you a graphic representation of all engine functions in real time. As an off-road driver, that seems to be a more important feature. If there's a problem on the trail, I need to diagnose it there - on the trail - and not when I get home to my computer.
It's very reassuring to take the car in for service and already know what's wrong with it. It's also great to be able to reset the check engine light myself and not pay the mechanic $80 or more to do something which takes about 2 seconds.
The car chip seems better suited to racers who want to review their vehicle's performance after the fact, say, after a practice session, so that they can alter their tuning accordingly for race day.
To answer your question though, I'm sure that you can either wipe the memory using the computer software, or, more likely, that the clock just rolls over and you always get the last 300 hrs. of data no matter how long you leave the thing plugged in.
campbell said:
It is extremely useful to have some means of collecting OBDll data from your truck. I use a program called Auterra with my Palm PDA to plug into the OBD port and check things out. It will let me see any trouble codes that have been logged and comes with files you download onto your PDA so you can decipher the trouble codes. And most importantly it lets you reset the check engine light. Any OBDll solution worth its salt should facilitate this. Auterra, while it does not log data per se, instead gives you a graphic representation of all engine functions in real time. As an off-road driver, that seems to be a more important feature. If there's a problem on the trail, I need to diagnose it there - on the trail - and not when I get home to my computer.
It's very reassuring to take the car in for service and already know what's wrong with it. It's also great to be able to reset the check engine light myself and not pay the mechanic $80 or more to do something which takes about 2 seconds.
The car chip seems better suited to racers who want to review their vehicle's performance after the fact, say, after a practice session, so that they can alter their tuning accordingly for race day.
To answer your question though, I'm sure that you can either wipe the memory using the computer software, or, more likely, that the clock just rolls over and you always get the last 300 hrs. of data no matter how long you leave the thing plugged in.