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Why doesn't this car show when brakes are engaged?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Skoorbmax, Mar 23, 2010.

  1. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    Test-drove this now and likely to purchase. I see the energy in/out of engine and motor but it seems almost criminal to me that the brakes are not shown when on or not. To my understanding, when brakes are applied the motor charges the battery--presumably 100% of braking is to this--until braking becomes so important that the discs have to cut in. If the little diagram would actually show when the pads and rotors are engaged it would really help give understanding of exactly how much braking can be applied before the wasted energy of the pads/rotors is coming online!
     
  2. Airbalancer

    Airbalancer Active Member

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    You are suppose to watch the road not a screen
     
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  3. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    Probably the same reason why the prius doesn't have a coolant temp gauge: to keep it simple so idiots can drive it without getting too distracted or confused.
     
  4. San_Carlos_Jeff

    San_Carlos_Jeff Active Member

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    My seat of the pants gauge tells me that you have to be on the brakes pretty hard to get the friction pads going. But, my gauge has been wrong before...
     
  5. mindmachine

    mindmachine Member

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    Recharging continues down to 7 mph and then the mechanical brakes kick in. Or the mechanical brakes kick in in a panic stop at any speed. Other than that i don't see a point to watching when this happens. Especially when you need to stop!
     
  6. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    It really has no tempt gauge for the engine? I presume it has an alert when the engine is overheating then. I've certainly never thought it was idiotic to want to know if the car was overheating but perhaps once I can put enough miles in a Prius I can be superior, too.

    The argument about watching where I'm going when braking could be equally applied to watching where I'm going when accelerating but, again, it shows what's going on when accelerating or at constant speed.
     
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  7. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    Well, there is an idiot light that appears when it overheats.
     
  8. Yossarian

    Yossarian New Member

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    Doesn't the HSI do that? Regen up to the limit of the "charging" bar, with any excess over that or braking under 8 mph being discs?
     
  9. going red baby!

    going red baby! still a n00b

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    In the display that shows the bar and when you're in ECO mode or Power, on the far left it shows how much the battery is charging. It doesn't specifically show when it changes but perhaps it will help you to see when friction braking kicks in by the charging level change?
     
  10. Kev1000000

    Kev1000000 New Member

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    The chrg bar DOES give you the ability to see when you are wasting energy toward mechanical brakes. Any time the chrg bar hits its max, you are wasting any additional stopping power towards heat from the brake pads. If the chrg meter is not at it's max, you have no control of when the mechanical brakes hit, so you are effectively recovering all of what you can recover.

    In other words, make longer stops so you don't have to go beyond the chrg bar's max. That will give you the ability to recover the most energy. If the mechanical brakes kick in when the crg bar is not at it's max, then there is really nothing you can do about it anyway, so there is no need to see when that happens.
     
  11. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    Ah, wicked, thanks, guys! That gets at it exactly. Excellent :)

    OK so if I'm still complaining, why is it that the 2010 seems to look old school? I see pics of the dash on the second gen and it looks like a nice color LED monitor. I know the third gen is a better car, though :D
     
  12. Prius42

    Prius42 New Member

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    Are you sure? I've been wondering if the "charge bar" is a cartoon or really an indication of when regen transitions over to friction braking. My brakes squeak a little and the squeaking doesn't seem to start until well after the "charge bar" is saturated. Do any of you experts monitor the charge current on the traction battery and can correlate this with the "charge bar" cartoon? I've really been meaning to ask this question. Thanks for bringing it up!
     
  13. lunabelgium

    lunabelgium Member

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    In Europe, all the Prius have HUD.
     
  14. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    The answer to both of your questions is that Toyota is attempting to capture some of the "normal" market with the Gen III. The Gen II Prius was all about new technology, and was designed to appeal to early adopters. Toyota pretty much saturated that market, so when they moved on to the Gen III it was important that it would have appeal to normal car buyers.

    Many of the controls were moved back to standard locations. Likewise the user interface has been kept simple for cost reasons and to keep from confusing non-technical drivers. Many of us on PC would appreciate much more technical information - the more the better.

    Tom
     
  15. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    Which is probably why I am actually considering it this time, although to be honest their current lease rates are criminal and that's the main reason :)

    I bet there would be a market if somebody came out with a hookup to the Prius ECU (if it allows it) with far more information displayed on some secondary GPS kind of display for people who are obsessed with absolutely everything that's going on with the car.
     
  16. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    It exists, it's called a Scangauge.
    .
    _H*
     
  17. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    So basically this thread consists of me wishing for the existence of things that already exist. I am ok with that;)
     
  18. Dozzer

    Dozzer Prius Noob

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    Is it possible to show when the mechanical brakes activate on the scanguage.. can it read brake voltages or somthing ?
     
  19. JasonPro

    JasonPro Junior Member

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    If you truly want this level of detail, buy a scanguage and google xgauge for the 2010 prius. People have figured out how to read value corresponding to the amount of regen and friction braking. However, as a scanguage owner, I usually keep mine in the trunk in case I really need it because I find it distracting. I'm certain others will disagree, but I think having more readouts like that increases the probability of a distraction causing an accident.
     
  20. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    No, the Scangauge can't show when the friction brakes go into operation. You would have to monitor brake line pressure and interpret that. Technically, the friction brakes are -always- working when you are braking, but if you are fairly gentle with the pedal, the pads are -just- touching the rotors. You could use the Scangauge to monitor current, and watch regeneration to interpret when the friction brakes start, but that would not be very accurate because the Prius does both at the same time. So you would need a device that monitored brake line pressure and regeneration and had smarts built in to interpret what it saw to figure out when friction braking begins.
    Except in "panic mode", when it is just friction braking (with brake assist).