THE ANALOGUE
MasterLink Setup
Set up your MasterLink
Whether I built yours by hand or you built your own, this is the same short path:
plug it into the car, pair it to your phone over Bluetooth once, and it is reading your car for
good. About five minutes, no computer needed.
A
Video walkthrough
Coming shortly. I will walk you through the whole setup, start to finish.
What you need
Your MasterLink
The unit itself, in its case. If you built your own, it is your flashed Pi.
Your K+DCAN cable
The cable that plugs the MasterLink into your car. Most owners already have one.
If your BMW has the round pin port under the hood, add the OBD1 adapter.
A way to power it in the car
A micro USB power cable into a car USB port, or a 12V-to-USB adapter in the cigarette
socket. Anything that gives the unit a steady 5V while you work. The car does not need to be running,
just the ignition on.
Your iPhone with The Analogue
Installed and signed in with the account you purchased under. Your Personal Hotspot
is how the MasterLink talks to the app, so have that ready.
Two iPhone settings to flip first. Nearly everyone trips on these.
1. Allow Others to Join must be ON. Settings, Personal Hotspot, Allow Others to
Join. The hotspot button in Control Centre does not turn this on, and if it is off your
MasterLink cannot see your phone at all.
2. Turn on Maximize Compatibility. Same screen. The MasterLink talks 2.4 GHz and
iPhones default to 5 GHz, so without this it cannot find your hotspot.
Set it up
- Plug in and power up. Plug the K+DCAN cable into the MasterLink, and the
other end into your car's OBD2 port under the dash (or through the round pin adapter if that is
your car). Then power the unit. Turn the ignition to on. Give it about two minutes on the very
first boot. It will look like nothing is happening. Leave it alone.
- Open the setup screen. In The Analogue, go to
Settings, MasterLink, Set up over Bluetooth. Your phone finds the unit over
Bluetooth, so you do not need it on your hotspot yet.
- Pick your unit. It appears as MasterLink-XXXX.
Tap it to pair.
- Hand it the keys. Enter your hotspot name and
hotspot password exactly as they appear in Settings, Personal Hotspot, then
enter your licence key. On a unit I built for you, the licence is already
paired to your account, so this is filled in. If you built your own, your key is on the
download page when you are signed in.
- Watch it come online. It moves through these on its own. The last one means
you are done.
receiving›
connecting›
activating›
online
That is your MasterLink phoning home
once, locking its licence to that exact board, and joining your hotspot.
- Connect and drive. Hit Connect and run your first scan. From
now on the routine is simple: turn on your hotspot, open The Analogue, hit Connect. No computer,
no re-pairing, no re-entering anything.
Keeping it updated, over the air
You never touch a computer again. Whenever your
MasterLink is online on your hotspot, it checks for new firmware and updates itself quietly in the
background. New protocols, new cars, deeper reads, they all arrive the same way, at no cost, with
nothing for you to do.
If an update is mid-flight, just leave the unit powered and on
your hotspot for a minute before you pull the ignition. It is the same idea as letting your phone
finish an update.
If it cannot find your phone
Almost always one of these:
• Allow Others to Join is off. Turn
it on in Settings, Personal Hotspot.
• Maximize Compatibility is off.
Same screen, turn it on.
• The hotspot name or password was typed wrong at
setup. Run Set up over Bluetooth again and re-enter them exactly.
• The unit lost power too soon on first boot. Give it the
full two minutes with the ignition on.
GET MY LICENCE KEY
Building your own? Start here