Ducati Monster 797 OBD2 DDA diagnostic connector and communication

I created this simple guide to show you how to simply make a DDA OBD2 connector for your Ducati Monster (797 or older models with fuel injection).

The OBD2 connector (Ducati "DDA" connector) is located under the seat. So, the first step is to remove the seat, and locate the connector. This connector has 4 pins, and it is not the standard OBD2 connector available on most cars, which has 16 pins in total. Therefore, if you want to use an ELM327 or similar interfaces to communicate with your Ducati, you must make an adapter cable which wires the 4 pins of this DDA connector, to the standard OBD2 female connector (16 pins). Only 4 pins are needed:

  • +12V (Battery)
  • Chassis/Signal GND (0V)
  • CAN High
  • CAN Low

The following is the pinout of the Ducati DDA connector, on motorcycle side.

Ducati Monster 797 OBD2 DDA connector pinoutVehicle side has female connector, so you need to make a male one. The part numbers are visible below: 673-7868 (211CL2S1160) and 673-7789 (211PL042S0011) for the Delphi pins and plastic connector. All these parts are available on Aliexpress, RS Components or similar websites.

Take an OBD2 female connector (standard one) and connect the wires as following.

The final cable looks as the following. I connected an ELM327 Bluetooth on the OBD2 port. For the OBD2 16 pin cable and connector, you can find them online for 10 dollars: just cut and rewire.

Next step is to connect the OBD2 interface cable to the motorcycle, and then attach the ELM327 OBD2 to Bluetooth adapter, or similar ones.

ELM327 Bluetooth OBD2 Ducati Monster 797Using RealTerm or similar serial terminal programs (TeraTerm, etc.), I connected to the ELM327. First of all, you should pair the device: “OBDII”, password: 1234.

Ducati Monster 797 Bluetooth pairingThen, I sent some commands using RealTerm. “AL L1” sets line feeds ON. “AL H1” sets header ON. I tried to send some comments, like Service $01 $00, and it works (remember to turn Ignition ON).

If you are interested, please read the full guide here: Ducati_Monster797_OBD. And also, chech the standard PIDs of OBD2 diagnostic services at this Wikipedia link.

Author: Davide Cavaliere

I am an Italian Electrical Engineer graduated at Politecnico di Milano. My interests are motorcycles and cars, electronics, programming, Internet of Things, and Japanese culture.

17 thoughts on “Ducati Monster 797 OBD2 DDA diagnostic connector and communication”

  1. Mr. Cavaliere:

    I am an avid motorcyclist and electronics hobbyist in Texas, USA. I feel like you may be able to assist me with some technical issues I have regarding an Arduino project I'm working on for an older carbureted Harley-Davidson. Please email me at your convenience if you'd like to provide me with some assistance.

    Thanks,
    Barry H. Rhodes

  2. David,
    I wish to thank you for the Fuelino O/s design. I am a retired tech but have recently started 'Commuterlite' racing. This is in Australia, & the Commuterlite eries is for basically standard spec, stripped 4stroke commuter motorcycles. Locally, this is run on a go-Kart track (short), so we need to also have nylon sliders so if we fall off, the track is not damaged.
    Modifications are restricted to removing road items, but also a free-flow exhaust, & can allow modifying the injector timing (hence the interest in your project.

    Anyway, my point in this communication is that I am fairly sure the OBD2 connector on Ducati's is the same as Moto-Guzzi. I use a Fiat adaptor on my Guzzi Bellagio. These are cheap from China, but beware that some adaptors are fitted with the wrong plug on the loom end. (I have even had a supplier send the wrong ones after I saw the correct plugs on the ebay listing!)
    fyi, I use GuzziDiags, a program written in Holland. I think it works with Dukes.

    I have been using O/S software for a considerable time. my O/s of choice is PCLinuxOS. Easy & good support.
    If ever in Australia, feel free to contact me. I live about 40min from Byron Bay, NSW.

    regards, Doug

  3. Davide Cavaliere, I am writing from Venezuela, we do not have Ducati dealers in my country.

    Thank you for your excellent information, I just wanted to ask you if I can perform the scanner with an ELM327 USB with FT232RL Chip V1.4 and a Connector 4 Pin OBD 2 for a Ducati Monster 821, year 2.016, without problems.

    Kind Regards.

    1. I quickly searched "Monster 821 OBD DDS connector" on Google, and it seems that the 4-pin connector is the same. If you have the motorcycle close to you, try to remove the seat and locate the connector, remove the plastic cap, and check the voltage on the pins. For GND and +BB pins, it's easy since you should see about 12V difference. If these 2 pins match with my connector, then you can be quite sure that they are the same connectors (i.e. there would have been no reason for Ducati to swap the other 2 CAN pins...).
      Summarizing: buy the connector, a OBD cable, and modify it by DIY. Then, buy a cheap ELM327 module on Aliexpress or similar. You can find both connector and ELM on Aliexpress, for 20 dollars or less you can buy both, shipment included.

  4. Hello davide,
    im fajar from indonesia i'm motorcyle hobbies . i love to read your blog

    i want to ask, have you try connect obd to ecu connector of small cylinder honda ?
    it have 4 connector. 1 is 12v , 2 is SCS connector, 3 is K-Line, and 4 is ground. is possible to do like on your ducati to a honda ?

    thanks a lot.
    (sorry my english is not good)

    1. it depends if your Honda uses a standard OBD-II protocol or not. Ducati has a standard 500 kbaud (kbit/s) CAN bus, and the Engine Control Unit supports OBD-II protocol. I don't know if Honda support it. Which model is it? do you have the Service Manual?

      1. my bike is honda cb 150 r. its fabricates and assembly in indonesia for south east asia market. it use honda k56 series engine . simmiliar to honda rs150/ supra gtr 150, honda sonic 150.
        as far as i know, its non OBD protocol, just like cbr 125
        yes i have the service manual,

  5. Hello David,
    I'm Thai. I'm sorry if my English is not good. I would like to ask you a question.
    I tried to connect the ECU with OBD-II wifi and EOBD-Facile Application on my iphone many times on Ducati Diavel 2013.I saw the flashing of the taillight is twice and later the application reported that it didn't connect. Do you have any idea do you have any idea what problem should i solve? Or my bike can't connect with OBD-II?

    Thank you for your assistance regarding this matter,
    Apz

  6. Hi David, good night. I have a 848 and you could give me more information. how to configure, connect and use software realterm via bluetooth .ok thank you

  7. por favor poderia explicar melhor ,ajudaria bastante se você fizesse uma postagem de como ,conectou o RealTerm e as configurações que você fez para enviar e receber os comandos///===please could explain better, it would help a lot if you made a post of how, connected RealTerm and the settings you made to send and receive the commands

  8. Dear Dave ;

    I purchased dda>>ODB2 cable for my multistrada on ebay from obd innovations. But pins are completely reversed - pin1 no : 1 from DDA is connected to 14 (OBD) pin:2 >>to 6 (OBD2)
    pin 3 to 4&5
    pin 4 to 16.

    I Wonder if it could damage my brande new multistrada ecu due to using this cable - I connected elm but it did not event switched on flashed obd2 diode.

    I am really worried now
    Can you please confirm what might have happened to the bike ?

  9. DEar Davide

    I purchased dda cable on ebay from obd innovations. But looking at your diagram my cable has completely reversed pins .
    I Wonder if I could damage my ecu with that

    1. Hi Marcin, yes absolutely you could do some damage. As you can see from Davide's very thorough explanation we are drawing power via the battery. You do not want the voltage from the battery going to the wrong place or being misconnected somehow!

      I can confirm that Davide's layout is absolutely correct.

      I hope he will not mind that I share my link on this page - for those who do not wish to purchase all the individual components and just want a ready made cable for convenience, my shop OBDMoto is selling them here -> https://obdmoto.com/products/ducati-4-pin-obd-ii-cable

  10. Hi Davide,
    I would like a suggestion from you, if possible: I would like to enable the fog lights button on a multistrada 2017, I know that it is possible to do it only via the ECU, unfortunately all the software I found that does not allow it. Considering that I'm a programmer, do you have any suggestions or advice to start with? Thanks

  11. I have a 2009 Ducati Monster 1100, and Facile fails to connect, and I think that it is because I may have a Siemen's ECU. How can i find out which ECU i have, without taking everything apart?

  12. Hi Davide. Thanks for this blog post. I'm using some information from here to build my own gear indicator. I'm located in the United States and have a 2018 Ducati Monster 797.

    Do you have any experience or recommendations on building this? I plan on using an Arduino and an MCP2515 and MCP2551 for this circuit and to read the transmission gear and to output the gear in a display

  13. Hello Davide

    I am a Ducati Monster 696. As far I know the M696's communication protocol is the same than the M797.
    I would like to test to read the rpm and speed parameters using an ELM327 and RealTerm. I have all necessary hardware. Could I have the AT Command format to do that?

    Thanks in advance.

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