what is the word on the Live Data Interface Tool?

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 12 May 2011, 16:20

Every now and then I stumble on something while searching for code readers for my fleet of European cars. I forgot what the last over priced solution I saw was called but now see some china knock off that is everywhere as the Live Data Interface Tool SZC648. I have not stumbled upon anywhere on the forums stating this discussion is a "no no" so does anyone know if this $30 has an use or not...or is just a hoax? I know my buddy has a chinamade ross tech interface that works with some basic opensource ross tech software, I'm assuming without his permission.

Same story here?

EDIT: OK I see it uses a laptop and FCR Software...which I'm guessing is not open source. Am I understanding this is pre 1999 vehicles too? The original website from China that everyone who is selling this copied from makes no mention of year or models!

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 12 May 2011, 17:04

VOL-FCR that works with a VAG-COM serial cable is all over places like pirate bay and it does work well on the older cars except for actual powertrain codes, that only works for Motronic 4.4, not the 4.3 on the older cars. The BI-itch is that you are hard pressed to find a laptop with a serial port anymore and the USB to serial converters are sketchy. Some of them have been reported to work but most have not.

I have a stone aged IBM Thinkpad with a serial port but it has a dead battery - I think they were shipped with dead batteries - so I need to pull an extension cord out to the driveway to make it work off of the AC Adapter.

The cable will run between $15.00 and $20.00 depending on what guy in China you buy it from.

...Lee

carboncow · Post by **carboncow** » 12 May 2011, 20:19

We have the same issue at work that I have to keep a few IBM and Dell dinosaurs around due to interfaces need serial and as you stated the USB driver based solutions are not reliable or the OS needs restarted after hooking up the cables.

Are there ANY solutions for cars from the 2000+ decade that are not big dollars? I'm having trouble finding a definitive webpage or forum post on the good, bad and ugly about 3rd party software for troubleshooting Volvo specific codes. Saab and Volvo seem to be the last two major European breads that we in the US simply don't have great hacks for them like Vw, BMW, Porsche, etc.

I'm new enough to the used Volvo world that I'm simply not "in the know" yet on such topics.