Would this work on a prius?

farmwrecker · 01-08-2004, 05:02 PM

Has anyone ever used anything like a Davis Carchip (http://www.davisnet.com/drive/index.asp) on their Prius? I'm curious about if this would work with a vehicle that essentially has two 'engines'.

jimvitz · 01-08-2004, 05:37 PM

The 04 Prius is not compatable with the present OBDII (On Board Diagnostics II) protocol of the Davis CarChip. Instead, it uses the CAN protocol (Controller Area Network). I have contacted Davis Instruments and they hope to have the CAN compatable CarChip available sometime this month. I'm not sure how it will deal with the two engines, but there are enough variables to collect data for that you should be able to get just about any info you'd ever need, especially with the larger memory units that are capable of 300 hours of data storage before downloading to your computer..

Silver BC wait now at 77 days and counting - Jim

**tag** · 01-08-2004, 11:40 PM

Quote:

The 04 Prius is not compatable with the present OBDII (On Board Diagnostics II) protocol of the Davis CarChip. Instead, it uses the CAN protocol (Controller Area Network). I have contacted Davis Instruments and they hope to have the CAN compatable CarChip available sometime this month. I'm not sure how it will deal with the two engines, but there are enough variables to collect data for that you should be able to get just about any info you'd ever need, especially with the larger memory units that are capable of 300 hours of data storage before downloading to your computer..

Silver BC wait now at 77 days and counting - Jim

Great post! I, of course, understood none of it but three things came to mind:

1) We're both named "Jim"

We both have Silver BC's on order

3) We both have resorted to "counting the days"

3(a)) We both live in Illinois

jimvitz · 02-13-2004, 03:18 PM

I just received this reply from Davis Instruments concerning the comaptability of their new CAN protocol Car Chip (not yet released)

Unfortunately the CarChip is not compatible with hybrids. I do not have a
date for when CAN protocol compatibility will be available at this time. I
don't think that a CAN protocol CarChip implies hybrid compatibility in
itself. The hybrid incompatibility is due to the fact that we monitor RPM to
determine trips. On a combustion car, RPM goes to zero when the car is turned
off marking the end of trip. With hybrid cars the gas engine and the
electronic engine alternate and so the RPMs are not consistent with what we
require. As such hybrid will not work with our CarChip's present design. I
will pass your feedback along to our development group. Thank you for using
Davis Instruments.

Guy Penna
Tech Support Rep

Too bad, it would have been cool to monitor speed, acceleration, braking, etc and be able to decipher any check engine codes. Oh well, maybe their R & D people will work on it.

01-08-2004, 05:02 PM	#1
farmwrecker Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 7 My Car: Model: Package: Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	Would this work on a prius? Has anyone ever used anything like a Davis Carchip (http://www.davisnet.com/drive/index.asp) on their Prius? I'm curious about if this would work with a vehicle that essentially has two 'engines'.

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01-08-2004, 05:37 PM	#2
jimvitz Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Oak Park, IL Posts: 89 My Car: Model: Package: Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	The 04 Prius is not compatable with the present OBDII (On Board Diagnostics II) protocol of the Davis CarChip. Instead, it uses the CAN protocol (Controller Area Network). I have contacted Davis Instruments and they hope to have the CAN compatable CarChip available sometime this month. I'm not sure how it will deal with the two engines, but there are enough variables to collect data for that you should be able to get just about any info you'd ever need, especially with the larger memory units that are capable of 300 hours of data storage before downloading to your computer.. Silver BC wait now at 77 days and counting - Jim

02-13-2004, 03:18 PM	#4
jimvitz Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Oak Park, IL Posts: 89 My Car: Model: Package: Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	I just received this reply from Davis Instruments concerning the comaptability of their new CAN protocol Car Chip (not yet released) Unfortunately the CarChip is not compatible with hybrids. I do not have a date for when CAN protocol compatibility will be available at this time. I don't think that a CAN protocol CarChip implies hybrid compatibility in itself. The hybrid incompatibility is due to the fact that we monitor RPM to determine trips. On a combustion car, RPM goes to zero when the car is turned off marking the end of trip. With hybrid cars the gas engine and the electronic engine alternate and so the RPMs are not consistent with what we require. As such hybrid will not work with our CarChip's present design. I will pass your feedback along to our development group. Thank you for using Davis Instruments. Guy Penna Tech Support Rep Too bad, it would have been cool to monitor speed, acceleration, braking, etc and be able to decipher any check engine codes. Oh well, maybe their R & D people will work on it.