glide without pedal but with going to "N"

I don't think its that bad for the prius, but if you have ever tried going to N verses doing a true glide you don't get near the distance ..

 

I've noted that doing "N" at speeds below 40mph, saves battery power...

If you think its bad for the prius, doing this while driving, then you don't understand how the transmission works. It only hurts when you go to N below 40mph with the engine OFF, then somehow manage to get up to speeds in excess of 65mph (over 10,000 rpm of mpg2).

 

I have noticed that if you start a glide at 30 mph or less, the distance is pretty much the same in N or holding the "sweet spot." If the glide is started at 37-41 mph everything is fine until you hit ~35 mph and until you get back down to 30 mph. When starting a glide while descending a hill, you will feel a drag until you hit 37 mph. If you have a Scanguage set to monitor battery current you can see this effect by seeing a charge going into the HV battery while in N.

 

I've noticed the same thing too. The bars don't drop nearly as fast when gliding in N.

 

I think that might explain why the bars are not dropping as fast..

Now that I think back on the N glides Vs. true glides I did, I think they where high speed with battery assisted for some of the glide that would explain the greater distance..I might have to preform some more tests, but I really dont have a problem gliding..

 

I don't think N physically disconnects anything.

 

You can check it with a Scanguage and set it up to measure "BTA" which is battery amps. When the pack is being charged the number will be a negative value and while it is providing power the number will be a positive value. On certain downhills, I have seen as much as a 15+ amp charge going into the pack while in N as the speed breaks through the 37 mph barrier.

 

Yeah, that's basically what Wayne Mitchell(Fire Engineer) told me awhile back. He was saying that apparently the upper limit on the speed must be the point where the weight/momentum of the car overcomes the drag of generating current and that around 30-31 mph must be the lower limit on where it generates a meaningful/noticeable amount of current.

 

In the first post in this thread, JimboK worked up some graphs from data
recorded by his CanView of SOC outflow during no-arrow glides and N glides.
Take a look:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-t...parison-methods-pedal-control-vs-neutral.html

 

N-Glide is great first step.
But if one can't manipulte that gas pedal, then it's unlikely they will be able to link glides with stealth and regen, for truely extensive travel on no gas.
And those no-gas opportunities come way too often, when your right hand may be occupied with other things. Repetative fancy-footwork is alot easier than fancy wrist-work.
Probably safer too, but I'm not trying to start a debate.
I would wear my shifter down to a knub if I used it to glide, as much as I glide and stealth with simple gas pedal manipulation.
And if you can't find the sweet spot for a glide with the gas pedal, you can't stealth and warp stealth either.

My point is, Prius manipulation can be done instantly and mindlessly with your foot. not so with a N-shift and then a D-shift.....etc, etc, etc.

 

Hi All,

Simply selecting N with the lever may lock the engine on. One needs the fancy foot work first, and then wrist work to lock the car into engine-off glide with the lever.

Until one can flawlessy get into glide with accellerator peddle manipulation, forget about putting the hybrid drive in N mode.

I say it that way, as the Prius gearbox is not changed in anyway, so its not shifting gears at all. "Shifting" refers to sliding gears backwards and forwards along shafts so that the gear teeth become engaged or disengaged. The Prius does not do that. The gears are always mechanically engaged, and running against each other.

The safety hazard of shifting older cars and trucks, is that in pre-Porshe (he invented syncros), gears would not reengage at higher speeds when the engine speed and axle speeds were not matched precisely. Ever hear the song "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" by Harry Chapin? This is what happens with truck gear boxes, circa 1950. Here is a link to the song:

 

And here's the Reader's Digest version, which pretty well summarizes the consensus of this thread: Neutral glides create slightly more drag than pedal glides but use less battery power, especially above 30 MPH. Put another way, pedal glides appear to provide about 0.7 hp extra thrust, but at the price of quicker battery depletion. Fuel economy is similar, with a possible slight edge to neutral glides. These days I mainly use neutral except where preservation of momentum is more important than preservation of SOC.

 

I think your mis-reading the scangauge. It's NEGATIVE when it goes INTO the HV battery.


During N, I've only seen positive numbers between 0 and 1.8 amps.

 

Sorry about not clarifying that. When I said I saw a 15+ amp charge going into the pack, I meant that the SG was reading more than -15BTA. And yes, during the day without headlights I see +.9-+1.1 amps on the SG and +1.5-+1.7 at night with the headlights on.

 

I can't rebutt the facts that have been shown here, but I don't know if you guys have stopped and thinking for a while that maybe there is a reason why the N shouldn't be used while car is moving? (unless the car is being towed)...

Excuse me for my ignorance:banplease: