How much would a scanguage help me?

[Kinare]

My commute:

80% highway, 20% <45 mph

On the highway if I go at the speed limit it's practically suicidal. I'm wondering what scanguage can do for me? If I go 70/60 in the appropriate mph zones. Right now I'm hovering between 47 and 51 mph depending on the outdoor temperature.

I know everyone says to go slower. I once got 75mpg on a trip so I know it can be done (taking back roads and such). But I have an hour commute and I don't want to prolong it any more than I have to. (Ie I am unwilling to spend much more time on my commute than I have to).

I would assume SG would help with acceleration and such. I guess I don't fully understand why it's go great.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by Kinare

I would assume SG would help with acceleration and such. I guess I don't fully understand why it's go great.

I feel it is great because it gives you a ton of relevant information about the car and how you are driving it so you can make adjusments for maximum efficiency or answer questions you may have when something doesn't seem right. I just purchased mine and on the way home last night I thought I was gliding (no arrows) through my neihborhood at max mpg but I noticed that the SGII only read 113mpg so I looked at GPH (gallons per hour) and I was around 0.29gph? which tells me the engine must have been running. So then I looked at the traction battery temp and found it was 89.7deg F. So from this I can conclude that the traction battery was too warm so the ECM decided to rely more on the ICE and therefore I could not reach max efficiency during that glide. So now I know why I parked with 57.7mpg on the MFD instead of 60mpg which I should have been able to attain during that last leg of my journey.

Does any of this matter? Not really but I like knowing the "how and why" of things like this.

My conclusions may be incorrect but that is part of the fun with the SGII. I get to learn more about how my car actually works.

[abq sfr]

Two of the best SG readouts are rpm and SOC. RPM tells you if the ICE is running or not, sometimes you can't tell and the MFD says its not even if it is; it also tells you if your rpms are higher than you like for better mpg. State Of Charge gives you much more accurate info than the bars on the MFD, you can learn how the rate of increase of charge relates to different stopping/slowing rates. For highway, this info might not be as valuable as stop-and-go. Unless your highway is stop-and-go. I also display 12v battery voltage and ice coolant temperature.

[Prius Prime]

Hi

After Hybridfest, I think I will want one. (Everyone else has one--some people have 2!)
The most important thing to me would be watching the RPMs for peak acceleration.
It would also be helpful for info when you have the nav system on, so you don't have to go back and forth in the MFD.

Actually, I may be getting a "trial" time; my son will be testing the kiwi (it's a more graphical-user friendly device from juicedhybrid.com) and he's going to loan me his scangauge.

My 2 cents.

Donna

[Sheepdog]

The kiwi is colorful but appears to be minimal info. The Scan Gauge is much more about info than colorful smiley faces. To each his own I guess...

[dprice23]

Another useful gauge on the ScanGuage II is water temp, so you know what stage of warm up you're in.

On the highway, the most important gauge I monitor is TPS (throttle position). I use it to make sure I'm giving it only enough throttle to maintain speed or slowly lose speed on a flat or an incline. I've found that TPS of 21 starts giving you 70 MPG or better, and I try never to go above that unless I'm going up a steep incline and I don't want to lose TOO much speed. I drive from Cleveland to Cincinnati every other weekend, and I've been averaging 66 MPG on the all-highway trip!

[nerfer]

Originally Posted by Kinare

I would assume SG would help with acceleration and such. I guess I don't fully understand why it's go great.

It's another tool to understand the intricacies of the car. And if you get a Check Engine Light, you can read the code and look it up on the internet rather than rely purely on a mechanic. And if you have reason to worry about engine temperature or something, it's easy to see that sort of thing.

It helps some people get the high mpgs, but they're also willing to change their commute (have you thought about a different job or a different house so you don't have to go so far?).

OTOH, TonyPSchaefer achieves >60mpg all summer without a ScanGauge.

I have one, mostly to get more information from my wife's Accord (ancient technology in that car doesn't allow for real-time mpg feedback!). But after reading up on it, I'll be using it in the Prius for my upcoming roadtrip. In a week, I should have some data as to if it helps or not. Some swear by keeping the IGN timing value at 14 (degrees off TDC) as much as possible, that's not possible to see without something like the SGII, but I'm thinking just keeping a light foot on the accelerator would do much the same.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by dprice23

Another useful gauge on the ScanGuage II is water temp, so you know what stage of warm up you're in.

Agreed. I generally have these 3 on constantly:

• RPM (so I can try and keep it below 2200)
• MPG (because it goes above 99mpg)
• Water Temp (to see what stage I'm in and for winter grille blocking)

I juggle the 4th between GPH (ga/per hour), TPS (throttle position) and Battery Temp.

[briantompo]

Hi Kinare,
For me, ScanGauge was worth about 15% improvement overall and my tanks are typically 70% highway, 30% rural/city. I bought one about two years ago and my tank mileage immediately improved from a consistent 60-62 to the high 60's. I pushed several tanks to 72 mpg before ethanol fuel blend and a tire change. Scangauge allowed me compare different driving techniques, routes, and the effects of wind/rain and road surface. Very small gas pedal changes create very large IMPG changes and Scangauge gives you instant feedback on how your decisions affect mileage. Based on feedback from SG I now drive a shorter but lower speed route to work to reduce my highway miles. I found out very quickly how rapidly the mileage drops off at higher speeds so now I rely on my city miles to boost tank average.
For comparison I've turned the MFD display off, covered the SG then drove bonzai style to work like everyone else. Commute took 1:15 instead of 1:24 and I used 1.7 gallons instead of 1.0 gallon. I saved 9 minutes, used 70 percent more fuel and exposed myself to a potentially expensive meeting with the cops for miles on end. My moving average was higher but I also spent significantly more time sitting at stop lights versus timing them from the back of the pack and rolling through.
I use RPM,IGN,MPG and FWT. Once coolant temp reaches 157F I switch to LOD. Based on fuel savings I figure the gauge paid for itself after 15k miles. See ya, Brian

[dwreed3rd]

Hi Kinare; It looks likes you have already received a number of good replies. I'll just add that we are already saving about 10% on our gas costs thanks to the information revealed by using the ScangaugeII and we don't even have our Prius yet. We've improved the mpg on our 2000 Avalon by ~2 mpg.