Banks IDash 1.8 Review

[texanbrit]

In my quest to get better/easier data logging I thought the Banks iDash 1.8 seemed like an attractive proposition.

It's a customizable gauge that reads from the OBD2 port and according to the sales blurb it is also capable of data logging any parameter it can see over the port.

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It's also capable of reading and clearing any DTC codes, emission statuses etc.

So basically it's Torque or Dashcommand all wrapped up in an easy to use package.

It currently sells for $310 so it's not cheap, but if you factor in the cost of a tablet/phone, a dongle and an app it's not that unreasonable for a dedicated solution.

SETUP
Initial setup is very straight forward. The supplied cable plugs into your ODB2 port, and the other end plugs into the rear of the gauge.

Connection

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With the car on and a touch of the button the gauge springs to life and does....nothing.

SETUP (AGAIN)
So the gauge came supplied with version 1.18 of the firmware. This doesn't seem to be compatible with my FIATs bus.
To fix this you'll need:
- a microSD memory card (32gig maximum size)
- a computer to download the correct firmware, unzip the files and transfer them to the SD card

Once the files are copied to the SD card you can slide the card in the front of the gauge.

SDcard

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Select upgrade firmware in the menu, select the version you want to install and then follow the prompts.

Update firmware

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Choose file

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So I tried the latest version of the firmware (1.19 in July 2020) and that didn't work either. However version 1.17.2 did work and gauge can read the ODB2 bus with that version.

CONFIGURATION
There are sooo many options, but I decided to start simply with a 2 value screen showing AFR and EGT. I also set the text colors to orange, bar graphs to red and everything else to black to make it as clean as possible and match the 2013 dash in the Abarth.

Final gauge

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DATA LOGGING
So your supposed to be able to log to the SD-card, selecting the appropriate PIDs in the menu. However dropping back to 1.17.2 seems to have disabled those options in the menu and I've been unable to make it work. I have a request into Banks for assistance but no help yet.

CONCLUSION
It's cool, but I'm not sure it is $300 cool. I'm disappointed that the data logging doesn't work at this point. Hopefully that will get resolved in the future. I like that it's something I can use in any of my newer FIATs, without messing around with dongles and configuring an app.

[retrophit]

Thanks for the review. And thanks for posting it here. Please keep us updated.

[MadFiat]

It's very disappointing, to the point of false advertising, that the datalogging doesn't work.

[texanbrit]

I could probably send it back, but I can be stubborn

[BIGSILK]

I could probably send it back, but I can be stubborn

Thanks for the post!

I'm trying to get mine working and these guys at banks go home 3:30pm their time for support

Are you sure you got the datamonster which has datalogging? I thought I did but mistakenly ordered just a idash supergauge. They really need to make a better distinction between the two it was very confusing.

Also how did you get a hold of that firmware update!? I can only find the newest so far. Thanks!

[texanbrit]

I'm not sure of the distinction, but bought through Speedmotive who said it datalogged. It had datalogging options until I installed the firmware version that took them away. So it seems that my choices are run the old firmware with no datalogging or run the new firmware with nothing to log except the engine capacity.

I got the firmware from someone else that got a response from Banks support I think with Speedmotive's assistance. I haven't had much of a response from either Speedmotive or Banks though.

I've shared it here if you want it: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoFbd0rcEyU98CvFhjU ... Z?e=xJZdRH