EV Button Oddity

I found once the ICE starts running (after 15 seconds from power on), EVb doesn't work for about 30 seconds, no matter what stage you are in.

The VFAQ man is having another EV button group buy for 10 people. See details on Yahoo 2G group. It may be closed already, though...

Tosh

Salsa Red BC + EVb

 

My car has refused to go into EV mode twice now on a cold start-up. AC is off. It's always on a sunny and warm, not hot, day. I get the 3 rapid beeps and no EV mode. I've even tried later in the commute to no avail usually. It's also after the car has sat in the sun most of the day so the interior is very warm but the engine cold. It happened today again and it was only 68-70 deg but very sunny. I didn't cover my car today so the interior was hot. It finally did go into ev mode when I tried it at the end of the 11 mile commute I presume after the battery and the battery compartment had cooled down some.

 

I'm pretty sure I didn't miss the 7 sec window both times. And the SOC was green too. When the car shut off at the first light it still would still not go into EV mode. AC was off and no need to use the defroster on a 70 deg sunny day...in fact I've only used the defroster twice now and the AC rarely. I opened all the windows as my speeds were below 40 mph and it finally seemed to work after things cooled off. There is a battery or battery compartment temp beyond which the EV mode will not work right? The last time I really noticed the battery compartment fan. It was blowing very warm air out....probably this time too.

The car is normally covered and this leads to a cooler interior. I usually don't leave work in the afternoon, which I did do yesterday so it was still somewhat warm in the car and it was uncovered since I had some dealer door edge damage painted and didn't want to risk the cover on sticky paint. Other than these two times it works pretty good when used in moderation.

 

That makes sense now that you mention it about the air flow direction...but it did feel warm at the intake. It was just a very sunny day, all day and I started out at 4pm, early for me. The car was completely closed up and I forgot to put the shade in the front window. After the ready light I hit the ev button and was immediately greeted with the 3 rapid beeps. The engine had been off since about 9am. The first time it happened I shut the car off and tried again...no luck. So I drove off and with engine warming up as is normal without the ev button. Later in my commute I was at my usual stop and go section after the 2 mile freeway run. It still would not go into EVb. Since the traffic was stopped I shut the car down and restarted, again no EVb mode available....3 beeps! Regular EV mode worked as normal and the battery always had a very hight SOC, no AC or climate control, etc. The next day it went into EV mode perfectly. This has happened twice now on very sunny but not unually hot day. Just a hot interior. I normally leave work around 6PM and the car is covered all day so I don't encouter these conditions that often.

I did have one time when I used EV mode where I could not change the volume of the radio...it was stuck at one setting. Shutting down and restarting cured that one and I'm not sure it was related to EVb mode except that I was adjusting the volume about the same time I hit the EV button...maybe coincidental.

 

I agree it can be overused. After the initial novelty wore off I've found I'm not using as often and rarely running the battery down. The one place in my commute that the battery goes down to 2 bars is the same with or without the ev button...it has about 1 mile of 2-8 mph. Otherwise I never go below half. But I find it's super for backing the car out to wash...short distances where you move the car less than 1/4 mile in a parking lot for instance and don't want the car to go through warmup. I'm keeping mine and using it sparingly. Just makes the car that much better in my opinion.

 

I'd say so.

This morning my unmodded Prius had the same problem. Only after I powered down and restarted could I change the volume.

At least the weird stuff hasn't been dangerously weird...

 

Today I was driving in EVb mode and stopped at an intersection. Then suddenly EV cancelled by itself with three beeps. SOC was 5 so need to charge. The ICE continued to run and kept charging the battery while I was stopping, just like in the warmup period. In less than 30 seconds, before the light turned green, the ICE stopped again. But EV button did not work again. Strange.

The only reason I can think of, is the coolant temp lowered for some reason to below the threshould of S2. But it is unlikely because the ICE was warm enough after driving at least 20 miles and I was in EV mode for less than half a mile. Anyone else had a similar experience?

Tosh

 

The only times I've been unable to go into EV mode are if I miss the 7-second start-up window (which is really 5 seconds with Costal's switch, because of its own built-in 2-second delay) or if the SOC is 3 bars or less. Twice it took itself out of EV mode: once when I stepped hard on the pedal, intentionally, to get a feel for the limit, and once just as the SOC dropped to 2 bars.

My only anomaly from what's been described by others, is that I can go into EV mode before the car is in S4. When the car has warmed up somewhat, but not enough to get electric operation by feathering the pedal, the EV switch will work. If I then cancel EV mode, I still cannot feather the pedal into electric operation.

I agree with Evan, that it won't hurt the car, because it's using a feature that's already built in, and it has built-in protections limiting power, speed, and SOC.

It would be a sad joke if they disconnected pin 27 on the US 2005 so that folks cannot make this mod.

 

They could use a different plug that had no connector in the #27 socket. But I don't think that's likely. My guess is they left it off the U.S. version because they figured it would confuse the majority of U.S. buyers and they want to market the car as a just-drive-it-like-a-regular-car car, in which case they wouldn't really care what we do with it. Any possible EPA issues with an aftermarket mod would not affect them.

 

My EV mod seems to work fine. I have it wired thru the headlite flasher: just pull back on the headlite lever and it beeps and I'm in! And I've even got it to go into EV mode on the fly. Yeah, thought u had to be stopped (either in D or park)?. I'm usually below 15 MPH, and the ICE has been running (and charging the hybrid battery) for 10 minutes or more. Any others able to engage EV mode on the run? I think after the novelty wears off I'll use it just to move the car around the driveway or a parking lot, but right now, it's really freakin' cool to control the mode(s)!

 

EV mode...

Thanks Evan, glad to know it's 'normal'. I was confused a tad with this from your excellant EV mode document:

EV will engage only at speeds less than 35mph...

The car must be stopped and in "P" or in "D" to engage EV.

I, for one am really happy with this EV mode and have my small (three, so far) hybrid car group really jealous of this mod! Next up, where is that stereo aux/MP3 input project?

 

I, too, thought you had to be stopped, and was surprised to find out that I can engage it on the fly, even with the ICE running, as long as it's warm enough and the SOC is 4 bars or more. It won't engage with 3 bars or less, and it disengages itself if the SOC drops to 2 bars.

And as I've noted elsewhere, I can engage it even when the car is not ready to go electric on feathering the pedal. I like to use it when the car is warm and the SOC is high but it insists on running the ICE even though I'm driving slowly on a level street. (All streets in Fargo are level, except the occasional overpass or underpass.)

I also engage it as I pull into parking lots, and I feel superior to all those Neanderthals using gasoline when all they're doing is looking for a parking space. (It's a bird! It's a cat! No, it's Priusman, cruising the parking lot as quiet as a golf cart!) Boy, I love this car.