My Method: "Pulse-Cruise / Neutral-Drive-Glide / Resume

[douglas001001]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JimboK @ Mar 6 2007, 09:06 AM) [snapback]400794[/snapback]</div>

I wouldn't term responses to your posts negative. [/b]

Right, I was just asking why you were using neutral instead of just cancelling your cc (which still leaves your target mph in memory for you to resume back to after cancelling).

If you think that cc can pulse you more efficiently than your foot then it is probably a good alternative for those without good foot pedal control.. but is it better than setting cc at your avg mph and letting it go since most think that cc acceleration is too fast?

[hobbit]

It sounds like what you're getting with the CC game is the effect of
pulse-n-glide, i.e. you're running the engine fairly hard to get
up to speed and then backing off and letting it do its gliding
thing. You *will* do better than by babying the thing, whether it's
by CC or right foot or whatever.
.
_H*

[Mister Swigart]

Man, do I have to do some back-pedalling here! I have been dying to write back all day. Work is out, so now I will.

On the drive this morning I had the whole thing clear up. There IS a way to obtain all that I had suggested using the Neutral and/or the Footbrake by simply using the Cruise Control. I think some of you may have been alluding to this in your previous posts but I didn't catch on until a couple of posts ago. The cruise controls in my other cars had always been without this "Cancel" feature. (I had to hit my brake and then resume or take it off cruise altogether) I had my steering wheel in such an angle that I had never seen the word "Cancel" written on the top edge of the handle. But there it is. Just what I was suggesting Toyota add, was there all along. So I feel just like the Lumberjack in my little joke I mentioned above. Kind of dumb. So if you can forgive an old fool, I will try to salvage this. (It takes a big man to admit his mistake -- and I'm enormous! )

On the way to work this morning I pulled up and inward and sure enough there was another function there that I had overlooked. I looked for some written indication of this function and that's when I found the word "Cancel" written around the North edge just over the cliff . I wanted to plead, "the sun was in my eyes!" like they do in baseball, but I just didn't see it.

Now if its possible to still save face with this group, I still think the method I'm suggesting has great value. I just have to come up with another name for it. Now I must call it: Pulse-Cruise/Cancel-Glide/Resume. I'm still not sure whether my Glide phase coincides with that of the Pulse & Glide proponents exactly in terms of regeneration or no-regeneration, but if you've been following this, it's still a method worth trying out, because the results were so good. I now believe that during what I call "Glide" there is regeneration of the battery (a feint blue or greenish arrow back to the battery -- I'm a bit color blind).

So here is the method revised again: Let's say we are in everyday driving in city streets where the signs are posted between 25 and 45 mph, we have cars in front of us (I won't ever be following too closely with this method):

1. Pulse-Cruise
Turn the Cuise button "On." Leave it on for the duration of your drive. Using the idea of the Pulse phase, as discussed in the article, take yourself up to the speed you wish to set as the upper threshold. It might be the speed of the car in front of you or the speed limit or something else that you will have to use: your upper limits may change as you go along and other things come up, too. Nevertheless, the idea is still the same: pulse up to the speed that you can best drive safely at. Now "Set" your Cruise Control by flicking the handle down. It will kick in to hold that speed but you are now ready for the next phase which will interrupt the maintanence of that speed:

2. Cancel-Glide
Now in order to replicate the Glide phase of Pulse and Glide, hit the "Cancel" by lifting up and inward (toward your chest) on the Cruise Control handle. (You can feel a little dimple underneath in the one I have) Your foot is completely off the gas and going to be kept off as long as you can keep these cycles going. Now, let your speed drop off and glide down to your lower threshold. Again this speed may vary. Cars may be behind you and you will not want to drop too low. 30 was the lower threshold in the Pulse & Glide articles, but you can drop as low as 25 mph and still go to the next step. Below 25 you will have to go back to step #1 to reset all over again, so try not to drop below 25. Again, drop to whatever speed the conditions will safely allow. Then go to the next step.

3. Resume
Since Cancel only interrupts the Cruise Control without turning it "Off" you can go back to your upper threshold again. Just swing the Cruise Control switch back up (toward the windshield) to engage the "Resume" setting.

1. Pulse-Cruise
Immediately the car will accelerate in a very steady and gradual rate returning to the Pulse-Cruise phase. I do not feel that it is too aggressive, but you do have to be alert and in control. (Put that damn cell-phone down and drive -- the game is afoot, Watson!")

Now, I don't know if this replicates the Pulse & Glide verbatim in its effects at all. It was simply inspired by it. It replicates, I think, some of the desired effects of Pulse & Glide. I do think it does a good enough job for "everyday driving," and gets great results. And thanks to the input and corrections made by the help of this group, it no longer taxes shifter, should not void any warranty, and with just a little practice, makes for a very safe drive.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you will give it another try and forgive the Neutral and Footbrake ideas I felt was necessary while under the misapprehension that there was no "Cancel" on the Toyota. I hope, now I will get some serious attempts at replicating my 55 to 75 mpg results I've seen in preliminary testing. I need some real time, now, through several tanksfull. Again, keep in mind that I am in some cold country, the car is not kept in any garage, the car is not broken in, I do not have the engine blocked, I'm new at this kind of driving and goals, and I am already getting great results that I think will prove to be as good as those posted by so many others here with their Green Stickers at the bottom of posts.

Please share any results, you are getting.

Down, but not out,

The Lone Ranger
Rides, Again!

[brick]

I think the only thing you are missing from your technique is a true glide, which doesn't happen when your foot is completely off the gas. In your case the car is regenerating slightly in order to simulate the engine drag of a normal car. It puts energy in the battery at the cost of coasting distance. All you need to do is put your foot on the accelerator and just barely apply pressure. You will feel the drag go away in the seat of your pants as the car starts to glide free...no need to stare at the energy monitor. With practice it becomes second nature, and your foot goes to exactly the right spot every time. The distance travelled before needing to re-engage the engine will be much more satisfying.

I think you're on the right track to efficient driving. I also think that getting used to the drivetrain and letting your foot do the work will pay off in the long run vs. having to deal with the cruise control as well. That way you can explore the glide territory in the 20mph region which, when there is absolutely nobody else around, results in some insanely long gliding.

As always, be careful and don't get too carried away!

[adam1991]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(The Lone Ranger @ Mar 4 2007, 07:01 PM) [snapback]400040[/snapback]</div>

The materials provided by posters above has not been wasted on this driver. I went out with printed materials in hand to actually try some of these things. It really appeals to the engineer in me, to "play" with the controls and to seek "optimum conditions." What I came up with a little method I will introduce by the name "Pulse-Cruise/Neutral-Drive-Glide/Resume".

I was out driving today, and was most interested in this 40 to 30 and back to 40 mph business that is touted as being so successful in the articles mentioned to me by so many others. I have been reading a lot here at the Chat. [/b]

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=30065&st=101

Please be a curious engineer on your own time, and don't involve the rest of the world.

[Mister Swigart]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adam1991 @ Mar 6 2007, 07:23 PM) [snapback]401335[/snapback]</div>

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=30065&st=101

Please be a curious engineer on your own time, and don't involve the rest of the world.
[/b]

Did you even read these posts? My disposition was to come up with a way of getting similar results to what the "engineers" were getting without having to watch the dashboard. We all watch the speedometer or isn't that allowed? I am a human being, therefore I am a curious engineer. What value is there in anything if you aren't involved with the rest of the world? Safety rides shotgun over my method.

The Lone Ranger
(Not Tonto - Spanish for foolish)

[orangeblood]

Just ignore him, Lone Ranger. He'll be the one holding up traffic at a green light because he's fiddling with his SkyFi radio.

I will second Brick's suggestion that you learn how to get the car into a true glide... it will make your results even better. Let us know how it goes!

[adam1991]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(orangeblood @ Mar 7 2007, 12:07 AM) [snapback]401443[/snapback]</div>

Just ignore him, Lone Ranger. He'll be the one holding up traffic at a green light because he's fiddling with his SkyFi radio.[/b]

Not a chance. I'll be the one exploring the use of the electric motor.

But I'm serious. If you want to explore your toy, fine--but don't do it in traffic at the expense of other drivers.

[orangeblood]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adam1991 @ Mar 7 2007, 04:10 AM) [snapback]401497[/snapback]</div>

Not a chance. I'll be the one exploring the use of the electric motor.

But I'm serious. If you want to explore your toy, fine--but don't do it in traffic at the expense of other drivers.
[/b]

Now that's a more reasonable and civil response. I don't think there are many in this forum who advocate disrupting traffic, so next time you might try not carpet-bombing an entire thread.

Fiddling with cell phones, stereos, etc. is likely to be far more dangerous, but it wouldn't be fair for us to excoriate every person who uses these items, either.

[hobbit]

Hey, Loney, no need to save face. Watching people learn and discover
and rant at length about it is why we're all here! By July you'll
be ready to kick all our butts in the Hybridfest MPG run.
.
_H*