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Torque PIDs and temp monitoring

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by prnico, Oct 20, 2020.

  1. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    I'm using Torque Pro on Android. What is a normal temperature range for the "Converter Temperature" PID which I believe is the boost converter?

    Mine is showing around 60 °C (140 °F) as soon as I start the (cold) car and around 80 °C (180 °F) after a drive.

    (Outside temperature is 14 °C (57 °F) when I took these Torque screenshots)

    Start-Screenshot_20201020-125907_Torque.png

    end-Screenshot_20201020-132424_Torque.png

    Cheers, Nico.
     
  2. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Not exactly sure what a boost converter is, but I don't believe the prius has such.

    And the reported temperature seems low for the catalytic 'converter'.
     
  3. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    I believe it's the system which converts the 200V or so coming out of the Hybrid battery to peaks of around 500V for MG2 when it's contributing to vehicle propulsion. (also referred to in other discussion as the DC-to-DC converter)
     
  4. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    The Gen2 does not have a boost converter- straight battery voltage (unboosted) goes to the inverter to drive MG2. The inverter unit also converts power from the motors back to DC for regen and it is the DC-DC 12V power supply. The gen3 and 4 boost the voltage for MG2 propulsion.

    Whatever the "converter" is, I would expect all the temperature sensors to read about the same as each other on a cold car. The only exception might be for the heat storage tank.
     
    #4 mr_guy_mann, Oct 22, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2020
  5. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    Ah, ok thanks for the info, my bad. So does anyone know what the "Converter Temperature" PID in Torque is and whether the temperatures I'm seeing are normal please? Yesterday while in idling in inspection mode for 10 minutes it crept up to 95 °C (203 °F) ! There are also "converter Carrier Frequency" and"converter Gate Status" PIDs...maybe that's a clue for someone? There is no other PID called just "inverter", only "MG1 inverter" and "MG2 inverter". If "converter" actually means inverter then it looks like maybe my inverter cooling isn't working?
     
  6. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    SFO likes this.
  7. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Should've known it was the "Inverter temperature". You're within spec, if the inverter coolant pump and fan are functioning properly.

    https://share.qclt.com/%E4%B8%B0%E7%94%B0%E6%99%AE%E7%91%9E%E6%96%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%8E%82%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8Cpdf%E6%A0%BC%E5%BC%8F/repair%20manual/04pruisr/05/21bpm/0a93346.pdf
     
  8. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    Thanks for answering. That manual extract looks interesting. I'll have to search for a complete one.

    So if I understand correctly, the boost converter, DC-to-DC converter, MG1 inverter and MG2 inverter are all subsystems inside what we refer to as the "inverter" (or in the case of Torque, the "converter") under that silver cover in the engine compartment?

    While looking around for more clues I stumbled on the following document which describes metric changes made by Gerd Bremer in early 2019:

    replace temperatures in Fahrenheit with Celsius · gerdbremer/Prius-gen2-torque-PIDs@0f4b565 · GitHub

    I edited my the PID in Torque accordingly (green line 22) and my "Converter temperature" is now showing values which are pretty much aligned with those of the MG1 inverter and MG2 inverter. (you had rightly suggested all the values should be about the same in an earlier post).


    Fixed-Screenshot_20201022-172024_Torque.png

    Strange that the "converter temperatre" PID in Torque wouldn't work in Celsius out of the box, as the other PIDs seem to...unless I did something wrong while playing around with it Maybe I should report it to the developer of the Torque App. As for usbseawolf2000, it looks like he hasn't been active here since 2016.

    Am I the only one using the "Converter temperature" PID on a gen 2 in Europe? :) Anyway, it's a relief to no longer see it displaying such high temperatures...of course now I'm suspicious about all the values. ;)
     
    #8 prnico, Oct 23, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2020
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  9. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    For the record, I have confirmed that the above statement was incorrect as the gen 2 (and later) prius *does* have a boost function.
     
  10. prnico

    prnico Junior Member

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    Also for the record:
    After further research, the "Converter Temperature" PID available in Torque seems to be that of the buck-boost converter inside the top half of the inverter assembly. Its normal value is most of the time within a few degrees of the MG1 and MG2 IGBTs (shown by Torque's "MG1 Inverter Temperature" and "MG2 Inverter Temperature" PIDs) except during hard acceleration or braking when it spikes briefly.