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Featured Dr Prius App Deep Dive - Request Assistance

Discussion in 'Prius v Technical Discussion' started by Brian in Chaparral, Sep 9, 2024 at 8:06 PM.

  1. Brian in Chaparral

    Brian in Chaparral New Member

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    Greetings to all!

    Noob on this forum. I am the third owner of a 2014 Prius V here in Southern NM with about 185K on the odometer. This vehicle is originally from Michigan. It is still running the original traction battery. Although I suspect the heat of the summer months are the primary cause for the rapid battery drain due to AC usage, I also harbor a feeling that the age of the battery is part of my concern.

    I recently downloaded the Dr Prius app and I have finally gotten this to work. So my question goes to interpreting the data that is saved to csv files.

    I recorded the data from a drive this morning. I am trying understand the various aspects on this software. I am not running the two paid for app extensions (yet). From what I have read the traction battery is only intended to charge to 80% and that the multi-function display, at the lowest one bar indicator, is at 40%.

    I have noticed that within the State of Charge (SOG%) column the lowest is 55.692398% while the highest is 67.8506%. I have tried to upload this file but the forum software does not like this format. It contains 2369 lines and 39 columns of data for an approximately 35 mile drive over 30 minutes. So it contains a fair amount of data.

    Given the age of the battery and mileage am I correct in interpreting that this battery is nearing the tail end of service life? Am I deficient in my understanding of this technology?

    I am interested in the new sodium ion batteries that are coming to market and looking to make a purchase along those lines.

    Thanks,

    Brian
     

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  2. BuckleSpring

    BuckleSpring Junior Member

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    I had a quick look through it and didn't see anything too alarming. Delta SOC remained at zero, IR is in the normal range, Temps were normal, there were a couple of times on the drive cycle where it pulled ~90amps... I don't see anything obviously wrong, have you noticed decreased MPG? Go for another drive with the Dr Prius app open and keep an eye on the Voltage Difference, just keep a mental note of how high that number gets (under heavy acceleration, braking, etc).

    Since you have a Gen 3, have you heard about cleaning the intake/EGR system? Head gaskets on a Gen 3 are kind of a known thing, and not unusual in the mileage range you have now.
     
  3. Brian in Chaparral

    Brian in Chaparral New Member

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    V
    Thanks for the response. Which areas are you seeing the high amperage? That way I can narrow it down to which road I was driving.

    I changed the spark plugs back around 145K. That gave me a small bump on the mpg that I remember. I saw a good bump by adding a can of Sea Foam every couple of months to clean the fuel injectors. Currently experiencing approx 43 mpg. I track my mpg tank to tank when I fill up. I do know that some of the gas ant the stations has a bit too much ethanol in it at times and I see that after I fill up on occasion.

    I am thinking of treating my gasoline to remove the ethanol, but that is down the road.
     
  4. BuckleSpring

    BuckleSpring Junior Member

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    In the Current(Amp) heading, you can scroll down and find a few points where it reads -90+ (with a negative number being discharge amperage from the pack). Under heavy full throttle acceleration, the pack can provide a theoretical maximum of ~120A I think? With 90-100 being more common.

    43ish is about what I'd expect for a V in average conditions.
     
    #4 BuckleSpring, Sep 11, 2024 at 11:52 PM
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2024 at 12:17 AM
  5. Brian in Chaparral

    Brian in Chaparral New Member

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    Had to make a tip this morning to the post office, up through a mountain pass. I have two files; one for each direction. The -1 is a bit truncated as I forgot to hit the record button about a minute into the drive. The -2 file is the return trip. PWR Mode is typically used by myself. I also use cruise control much of the time I am on highway style roads; which these were.

    I notice on the app that when I brake the color of the blade indicators turn yellow. On the way to the post office they blade indicators turned red even though I was not braking hard (compared to other braking periods).

    The Pack Voltage and Blade Voltage turned red a couple of times. Not sure why as the car was in cc mode and was not struggling with the mountain pass. I remember that the Pack voltage was down to 209 volts for a second or two before it bumped up to about 219 volts.
     

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  6. Brian in Chaparral

    Brian in Chaparral New Member

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    V
    I had to run to the post office this morning so I was able to collect a bit more data. Two files; -1 is the trip to the post office and -2 is the return trip. -1 is a bit truncated as I forgot to press the record button until a minute or so into the drive.

    Up and through a mountain pass for most of the drive. Cruise control both ways as much as possible. I tend to drive in PWR Mode.

    I noticed that when braking the blade indicators on the app turn yellow. Today then were turning red a couple of times. I was not braking excessively when this occurred. I was just slowing down as I caught up to traffic in front of me.

    I also noticed once when the Pack Voltage and Blade Voltage numbers turned red. The Pack Voltage was 109 volts then shot up to about 122 volts. Not sure what the cause was as I was in cc mode on flat road at around 55 mph.

    On the app you advise me to watch the voltage difference. What should I be looking at in the spreadsheet for this information?

    The largest draw was 101 amps. This was just after accelerating to around 55 on a flat road. Not sure of the timing but this is also roughly when I noticed the red Pack Voltage numbers.
     

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  7. BuckleSpring

    BuckleSpring Junior Member

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    I just got a chance to open your files on my pc, and was able to get a closer look.

    For all intents and purposes, ignore the colors on the app, it's just an indicator for when voltage gets outside of the nominal range basically (voltage spikes under regen, and sags during assist). It's really only particularly useful for pointing out an individual module being out of the range when the rest are normal.

    Voltage difference is the difference in voltage between the 14 blocks. I.E. if the maximum voltage of any given block is, for example, 15V, and you have another block showing 14.5V, your voltage difference is 0.5V. For some reason Dr Prius doesn't already plot this when recording, I did it by using a MAX-MIN function in excel for each line of the block voltages. On an freshly brand new battery pack with perfectly matched modules, this number is going to be fairly close to zero (under 0.1V at most IIRC). As the pack ages, modules lose capacity, you get corrosion buildup, or a number of other things, this number climbs. On the battery pack I just rebuilt for my Gen 2, using good capacity modules matched as close as I could reasonably get them, my max V.Diff under extreme circumstances is... 0.2V? 0.21V? When you have a module that's most likely failing internally, the Delta SOC increases... In a "healthy" pack with no failing modules, this number will almost always be Zero, if it's not, you've got a module failure imminent.

    On #5 of this thread, using your -1 file, on line 884, your voltage difference did seem to peak at -.83V while the pack was outputting 66 Amps. A couple of lines down (887), your voltage difference is 0.51 with the pack only charging at 0.05A (followed by 60A of regen so presumably it was a split second between being on the gas and off of the gas).

    On the -2 file, you have a V.Diff of 0.75 on line 535 while outputting 52A from the pack.

    Looking at a few of the other rows when the V.Diff was high (especially under load), the "low" block varies, it's not a constant one. This, to me, says you don't have a failing module. At worst, you've got maybe some capacity loss and balancing issues, plus maybe some minor corrosion.