What do I need to activate software on my 2007 Prius

[AnailizeR]

I just wanted to know what type of tool, if any, I can use/buy/rent/build that will allow me to tap into that car and tweak it until I am happy?...
Dont get me wrong I am just trying to learn as much as I can in as little time as possible, so lend me a hand guys. Any idea is welcomed... I mean if Dealerships can do it why cant we?

[galaxee]

dealerships do it because they've got the ~$9k to pony up for a techstream tool and they make lots of money off it.

[AnailizeR]

I can "pony up" that kind of money.. with the money i am saving on gas .. it will take a long while but sure can be done .. however, I was mostly interested in the "home made" tech .. if you get what I mean

[bwilson4web]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Anai @ Sep 25 2007, 09:18 PM) [snapback]517717[/snapback]</div>

I can "pony up" that kind of money.. with the money i am saving on gas .. it will take a long while but sure can be done .. however, I was mostly interested in the "home made" tech .. if you get what I mean
[/b]

Start with buying the maintenance manuals for your model Prius. All of the dealership techniques are described in those books. They'll also identify the tools that Toyota uses and you can work on getting functional equivalents. With the maintenance manuals, you'll get the part numbers for the control computers. You can then get equivalent control computers from salvage Prius and work with them on your bench:
http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_ECU.html

While you are waiting for the Toyota maintenance manuals and bench parts, you might read some of the other studies. Just use Google to find copies:

SAE 2004-01-0064
NREL/CP-540-31306
ORNL/TM-2004/137
ORNL/TM-2004/185
ORNL/TM-2004/247
ORNL/TM-2006/423
Planet drive explain#27520D.pdf
PnG_resolver_1579n2e.pdf

A good overview:
"Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Control,
Design, and Applications
Prof. Chris Mi"

Also:
"Comparative Assessment of Hybrid Vehicle Power Split Transmissions
John M. Miller, P.E., PhD
J-N-J Miller, P.L.C."

A schematic of interest:
EAA-PHEV-PRIUS-HighPowerSchematicV2d_060410.jpg

You might also enjoy seeing some of the Prius programming I've been doing:
http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_temp.html

"Activating the software" on the Prius is as you'll see, as simple and easy as turning it on.

Bob Wilson

[T-spirit]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Anai @ Sep 15 2007, 04:17 PM) [snapback]513004[/snapback]</div>

I just wanted to know what type of tool, if any, I can use/buy/rent/build that will allow me to tap into that car and tweak it until I am happy?...
Dont get me wrong I am just trying to learn as much as I can in as little time as possible, so lend me a hand guys. Any idea is welcomed... I mean if Dealerships can do it why cant we?
[/b]

It's not such a daft idea - after all, I have a USB to i-bus interface and a bit of shareware that will allow me to 1: monitor the bus and 2: modify the coding on certain modules of my BMW.

For example,you can code the navigation system for various settings, code the on-board TV module and the bluetooth module, and also activate 'factory only'options such as Voice Recognition.

All it needs is the correct interface (does the Prius use i-bus/k-bus or something else?) and someone to write the code; preferably someone who has access to the system used by the dealers who can then monitor the bus messages to reverse-engineer the coding commands.

They did it for the BMW (basically as the dealers were charging silly money to code cars) so it is theoretically possible for the Prius. Could be a nice little earner for the author....

[hill]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Anai @ Sep 15 2007, 11:17 AM) [snapback]513004[/snapback]</div>

I just wanted to know what type of tool, if any, I can use/buy/rent/build that will allow me to tap into that car and tweak it until I am happy?...
Dont get me wrong I am just trying to learn as much as I can in as little time as possible, so lend me a hand guys. Any idea is welcomed... I mean if Dealerships can do it why cant we?
[/b]

Curious. You don't say what you're not happy with. MPG? Power? If power, you wipe out mpg. So why have the Prius. If mpg is the goal, & you've got $9K to spare ... try the company in CO (use the search tool here to find various threads on the topic) that'll add enough extra KW hrs to give you extra ev ... enough so you get over 100mpg and virtually never even run the ICE. Hacking the software / hardware may have catastrophic resusts.

[FireEngineer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Anai @ Sep 15 2007, 10:17 AM) [snapback]513004[/snapback]</div>

... tweak it until I am happy?...
[/b]

What did you intend to tweak? Do you have a list?

Wayne

[bwilson4web]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Sep 26 2007, 09:32 AM) [snapback]517858[/snapback]</div>

What did you intend to tweak? Do you have a list?
[/b]

Ahem, I have a list:

1. ballistics glide - a way to disable electric drag with the foot off of the accelerator except when the velocity exceeds the accelerator off velocity by +2 mph.
2. automate "B" - as the speed exceeds the accelerator off speed +2 mph, reapply the electric drag and increase it until full "B" mode is reached at +10 mph over the accelerator off value.
3. eliminate extra warm-up gas penalty
4. allow lower cruise control speed - 0 mph would be perfect but I could live with 5 mph as the lower limit.
5. provide a high-mileage cruise control speed range - load sensitive, it would use a 10 mph range to optimize highway performance
6. lower thermistor threshold - to let vehicle operate in hybrid mode with coolant 10C cooler
7. all after-market hacks as options
8. programming by radio frequency and touch-screen controls
9. display ECU diagnostic and history codes in diagnostic screen
10. streaming performance metrics to a "black box" interface serial port

Bob Wilson
ps. I'm not waiting on Toyota for these features but we can talk about them a week from Sunday. <grins>

[AnailizeR]

Not interested in tweaking anything in particular guys... I am just interested in making changes to it ... I want more efficiency ... not power by the way ...

[bwilson4web]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Anai @ Sep 26 2007, 12:45 PM) [snapback]517982[/snapback]</div>

Not interested in tweaking anything in particular guys... I am just interested in making changes to it ... I want more efficiency ... not power by the way ...
[/b]

First understand what you've got; then perform experiments to see the effect of proposed changes; and finally, implement specific modifications to implement what works.

Bob Wilson