ODBII Reader?

Why can't my ODBII readers read the iMiEV.

The ODBII readers get power from the under the dash ODBII connector, but they don't read the codes. The readers say there is no connection to the car, and I should plug the cable in to try again. I set the ODBII car type to global since the iMiEV isn't listed.

FWIW, my ScanGaugeII also failed to connect.

I also have a SGII. I'll give it a try as soon as I can...but I believe you.

If you look at the standard OBDII parameters, they are almost all related to an internal combustion engine, so few of these would be available on the i. Manufacturers may define custom parameters, but many scan gauges don't report these custom parameters. I suspect that this is the case with the i OBD system, and this might explain why a standard OBD-II scanner reports nothing.

Those clever enough to reverse-engineer the signals at the i's OBDII port could build a relatively inexpensive gauge that would report the values of the custom parameters available at the OBDII port. This has been done for the Honda Insight. It would be a non-destructive way to monitor what's happening with the battery pack, drive motor, etc., in real time and in a way that should not void one's warranty.

It appears that the Leafers have made LeafCAN which can at least read the State of Charge (SOC). I saw it in action the other day at the Quick Charge demonstration in Palo Alto, CA.

It looks like a fun Arduino project:
https://github.com/lincomatic/LeafCAN

Maybe it will give an idea how to start one for the i-MiEV.