SuperOBD Performance Chip Review / Teardown
To begin, if you have not already seen the tests by quarkslab on reverse engineering the Nitro OBD2 performance chip scam, check it out here: https://blog.quarkslab.com/reverse-engineering-of-the-nitro-obd2.html
We point you in this direction because this scam has been flooding the internet for a few years now, and has given birth to numerous other copies with varying colors and logos. We provide our analysis below of the SuperOBD performance chip and show what is inside. To accurately understand the big picture you should first read the above quarkslab article in its entirety. It is proven based on several different articles and tests that the Nitro OBD module is a verified joke.
There are also several youtube videos proving the details of the Nitro-OBDÂ light flasher scam and some of it’s variants:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgXwfBTKLGU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-l9ohTjvkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdoIjt2mMEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OIO1tJPEy8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1OmGDE1FLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytwlDVaFbec
Reverse engineering the SuperOBD Performance Chip
Tags: CAN OBD Performance Chip Vehicle Tuning Scams Analysis Reverse Engineering SUPER OBD NITRO
This article involves reverse engineering and analyzing the OBD chip called the “SuperOBD2 Tuning Chip” in order to identify if it functions as advertised or not.
It is advertised like this on the Amazon product page: “Super OBD2 is a Plug & Drive Ready device to function the increasing the performance of engine. Super OBD2 is easy to install. Just plug it into the OBD2 connector of cars. Super OBD2 fits all car from the year of 1996. It works based OBD2 protocols as remaping the Car’s computer ECU. After driving 200 km road total, Super OBD2 adjusts itself to the car,according to the drivers’ habits and always keeps remaping the ECU to increase the performance of engine. What does Super OBD2 make? According to your driving habits, Super OBD2 makes new map in the car’s computer ECU to increase the performance of your car. As you driving much more KM/Mile, it renews the map.”
There are a lot of testimonials on the internet about this device being a fake, while other people say that it really works. We wanted to reverse engineer it to check for ourselves. One issue we already see with the product is the claim that it ‘fits all car from the year of 1996’. Most legitimate tuning devices must be custom made for one specific vehicle application.
COST
The price for the SuperOBD2 Tuning Chip on Amazon above was $35.94. However, some digging on the overseas website aliexpress shows the price is much less when purchased directly from the manufacturer in CHINA, $1.97:
Armed with the fact that the well-known Nitro OBD scam chips, like the majority of them, were also made in China, and the fact that the ad above shows “Nitro OBD” in the title, we know the Super OBD Box is related to the Nitro OBD scam chips, but how close are they in reality?
CASE / PACKAGING
Sometimes the best clues are in plain sight. In the case of the SuperOBD chiptuning box, we have the following paper box with install steps on the reverse side:
Notice the install steps. Now, compare these to the install steps on the original known scam NitroOBD tuning chip – notice anything familiar?
The steps are almost IDENTICAL. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck….
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
We obtained one of these Super OBD2 OBDII Chiptuning boxes and disassembled the outer plastic case. The inside was identical to the Nitro OBD verified chiptuning scam.
Verified Nitro OBD scam chip circuit board, courtesy manocao https://mhhauto.com/Thread-EcoOBD2-and-nitroOBD2-Good-or-Bad?page=2 :
SUPER OBD2 Tuning Box Circuit board we examined – they are identical:
In addition, the original Nitro OBD scam circuit board has three surface mount LEDs present. The Super OBD2 circuit board on the right also has three surface mount LEDs. They both have a diode supposedly for ‘circuit protection’, as well as a 5V surface mounted voltage regulator. Also disturbing is the presence of the PIC16F59 chip, mentioned in many videos proving the Nitro OBD tuning box scam. The PIC16F59 microprocessor is made by the US company Microchip, and has a memory size of only 3KB. This is way too small to contain a vehicle map table
as claimed by the manufacturer:
Most legitimate vehicle maps are 512KB or larger, depending on the vehicle model and configuration:
https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/69265/ecu-tune-file-formats
While this small memory capacity could not hold vehicle map data, it would hold a simple light flashing routine, which is exactly what the NITRO OBD has been proven to contain. From these facts, we can clearly see that the SUPER OBD2 OBDII Chiptuning Box is nothing more than another NITRO OBD light flasher scam with a round reset button added (who couldn’t use another fancy flashing light right?)! The manufacturer even compares the product to it’s earlier cousin, the Nitro OBD Tuning box:
To confirm this, we connected the Super OBDII Box to a vehicle and drove for approximately three weeks, doing multiple gas fill-ups and noticed no difference in fuel economy, performance or any other vehicle behaviour.
To confirm further that the programming inside the microprocessor is indeed the same as the verified Nitro OBD scam, we connected both modules to a 12V power supply on the bench and noted the blink intervals of the led lights:
Blink Test Video: https://youtu.be/NzdWdQw2UpQ
Both the Nitro OBD tuning scam (Left) and the SUPER OBD2 Tuning Box (Right) blinked at EXACTLY the same interval! Same board components, same blinking interval, same scam.
CONCLUSION
From our research as well as testing we can safely conclude that the SUPER OBDII OBD2 Chiptuning Box is nothing more than another Nitro OBD scam. Fun light blinker, crappy tuner. Don’t CHIP in your hard earned money for this expensive light show!
Different circuit board version of the same scam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB810U7j77k
If after all this, you STILL are considering purchasing this product, here is our response:
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Nice work! Do you plan to have an email alert setup, would like to know when you do more
Perhaps in the future, so much to do so little time!
you need a dyno to tell if this works or not
A dyno would be nice to prove / disprove power gains / losses, but in this case it isn’t necessary. We have enough evidence to conclude conclusively this is a scam. If a product truly delivered that kind of performance gain, it would be noticeable. This, along with the other identical behavior, design and sources prove it is nothing but a pretty disco light for your obd port!
May god bless you sir.
I almost plan to buy this scrap thing.
Thanks god.
Your website bookmarked for future references
Well, i already bought mine and after a little while the odometer dropped numbers which now remain blank spaces! Anyone know how to fix this? Am going to remove it in the morning!