Tony's EBH Thread

At Hybridfest, Wayne installed my Engine Block Heater (EBH). I got gas on Sunday and decided that a fresh tank is the best time to start using it. So starting this morning, I'm starting the morning commute with warmer engine fluid.

Here's the plug-in routine:
I bought a timer and have it in the garage. It kicks on at 4:30 and kicks off at 6:30. I'm almost always leaving the house between 6:30 and 6:40. This is for summer-time driving. In the winter I will most likely kick it on at 3:30. Priapus lives almost exclusively outside in the driveway. I originally resisted having the EBH installed until I could keep him in a garage overnight because I just don't like having a wire exposed like. There is nowhere for me to plug it in at work. And I'm not sure if I would get in trouble if I tried.

It's only been one day. It's really bad form to draw conclusions from one data point.
But I have been suffering with mileage in the mid-50s for the last two tanks. This morning I rolled into the parking lot in the upper-60s. That's far too might to be entirely EBH-related. I suppose it was a good morning but I given the last month I wouldn't have expected that.

It'll be a couple weeks before this tank is over and I'll keep every one up-to-date.

 

DAY 1.
Okay, it diid seem sot be an oddly vacant day on the roads. There was absolutely no creeping whatsoever. That's always a bonus.

After the Morning Commute MPG: 69.8 mpg
After the Evening Commute MPG: 68.4 mpg

For the record, the trip home is usually tougher on my mileage, involving an elevation of approximately +400 feet, more traffic, and three separate instances of creeping. So a good day is when I maintain the mileage on the evening commute. A great day is when it goes up. Normally, though, it goes down a little.

 

I edited the OP to include the information I forgot:
- Jay, I don't (can't?) plug it in at work.
- Hill, in the summer I'll have it on for 2 hours and in the winter I'll kick it up to 3.

Mileage is setting in. This morning is 67.4.
The first 5-minute block was still at 25mpg. Last night he slept in the garage.

 

I do not have additional instrumentation though some of you have pressed me very hard to get some. You missed my birthday, by the way.

I was thinking about setting the timer to later so I guess I will. I'm going to do this entire tank with a 2-hour warm-up. The next tank will be with a three-hour warm-up. Of course, the ambient temp is always changing so I'm not convinced that it's a fair scientific comparison; thank goodness I'm not a scientist.

 

End of day 2 (this will get old soon)
66.9 MPG after 106 miles. It would have been better except for extended creeping.

 

I took this picture this morning. As you can see, the first 5-minute segment is still in the 25mpg range. That's where it's always been. I was hoping the EBH would bump that up closer to the 50 line. As you can also see, once that first segment is over it's pretty much business as usual.

(Don't take pictures while driving, kids. It's dangerous)

 

Hey Matt.
Yeah, I'm pulling the numbers from the MFD. From the picture I just posted, it's pretty clear that it hasn't changed much. But at least it hasn't gone down. :cheer2:

About creeping: I wanted a term to describe the situation in which traffic if moving extremely slowly. This is important because at speeds below 7 mph, energy is drawn from the battery to propel the car. This simulates a mechanical car rolling forward when in drive. At 7 mph, there is no energy flow. At speeds above 7 mph, energy flows from the wheels to the battery. So when I'm complaining about extended creeping, I'm upset because traffic is creeping along for long stretches sapping power from my battery. When I do get the chance to accelerate, I'm doing it on a depleted battery.

 

My first five minutes is like this:
- House to stoplight: 0.2 miles including one left and one right turn.

- Stoplight to right turn: 0.7 miles containing two lights that I can usually time properly. Accelerating from the previous light to ~40 mph and coasting hopefully.

- Stoplight to right turn: 3.0 miles containing three stoplights. Timing these lights is a little more difficult but possible. Speed limit 40; average driver 45 - 50 mph. Some days I can P&G well and some days even I can glide pretty far. It's up and down some hills which requires a decent amount of effort maintaining speed. It ends at the bottom of a hill.

- Right turn to left turn: 0.7 miles. Starting at the bottom of a hill, I turn right and head uphill on a 50 mph highway. This part blows chunks.

Now that I lay it out like that, it's a pretty difficult first five minutes. Perhaps I shouldn't complain too much. It's just annoying.

 

Try to keep in mind, guys, that I've so far resisted the technical discussions.

Wayne: I don't know the ICE temp.
Evan: Which one's S4?
Jay: huh?