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Hymotion and 52 MPH EV Mode -

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by zcat3, Feb 25, 2009.

  1. aminorjourney

    aminorjourney Mum to two prius!

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    Interestingly, Mike, I can get 31 mph before my EV mode cancels! :)

    But...

    I think perhaps the thing we should all be thinking about is how the Toyota PHEV prius works. Reports are that it's simply a modified BMS/ECU program and a second OEM pack, similar to my own DIY mod. Given that and some thought, perhaps the high speed mode is okay - but only if you can cancel it without a reboot!


    Nikki.
     
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  2. jessebismarcknd

    jessebismarcknd New Member

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    I am assuming that using 52 MPH in pure EV mode would deplete the battery much quicker than going the same speed using the Hymotion pack without the 52 MPH EV mode. Right now I get about 30 miles using the Hymotion pack as normal. I'm only getting maybe 50 MPG (in 10 degree weather). If I could go 15 miles in pure EV and then average 40 MPG in standard Prius mode for the last 15, this would equate to 80 MPG overall....not bad if this would actually be the case.
     
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  3. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    Thought I would post a quick update about using the Hymotion with the 52 MPH EV mode. Here are my observations so far:

    1. It appears the pure EV mode allows for much more efficient battery use than the Hybrid mode. For example, my commute to work is 28 miles of almost all highway / freeway driving with 2 significant hill climbs - one of about 700 feet in 1.5 miles. With the Hymotion system I usually get to work with the 2 purple bars showing, and sometimes the Hymotion is drained before I make it all the way in. On a day like today, rainy and in the low 50s, my mileage coming in would normally be 70 -75 and the battery would almost be entirely drained. With the EV mode option, I can switch to pure EV for the last 2 miles or so and today I made it to work at 80 MPG with 3 bars showing (and the 4th bar had just dropped off in the last mile). Yesterday in similar weather I made it to work at 75 MPG and finished the day at 85 MPG (meaning my return home was 95 MPG). I did use the EV only mode for the last 3-4 miles of my commute. Previously I would only get 90 plus MPG legs on warm sunny days.

    2. Do not mount the EV button next to the Hymotion button - I have now accidentally hit the EV button twice on the freeway. The last time I was lucky as trasffic was slowing down and for the last 4 miles on the freeway I never got over 50 - otherwise I would have had to pull over to reset the car to normal Hybrid mode.

    3. For an NEV this system works great. I can drive all over Half Moon Bay (max speed limit 45) without using a drop of gas. I have solar on my house, so I actually produce the power for the car - pretty cool.

    4. EV accelration is o.k. - not great. If turning from a stop onto a 45 MPH road, give yourself a much larger gap to get into traffic.

    Not sure why Toyota has not moved faster on this - perhaps they think an added 10K to the price of a Prius would not be viable - and maybe for mass production they are right.
     
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  4. baboonia

    baboonia New Member

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    3ProngPower of Berkeley installs the kill buttons in the drivers side "triangle window area." Driver (and passengers!) cannot hit the kill button accidentally.

    Prius Dash Button Location
     
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  5. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    Yep - that works. As they installed mine in a factory switch location, I am sure they could just put a switch blank back in that area and move the button if need be.


    One other thing I have noticed is that if you have EV enabled and turn the Hymotion switch off and then back on while driving (as you may want to do in a down slope area where you can get enough regen to propel the car without using the Hymotion pack) the car seems to continue to drain down the Prius hybrid battery for a bit after you switch back to Hymotion power. The downside of this is that if you inadvertently let the Prius battery get to purple (even when the Hymotion battery has plenty of blue) the Prius starts to go into battery protect mode and cuts way back on your power. I have had this happen twice where I could not longer maintain a speed of 50 on a 50 MPH road. The upside to playing around with this is you can maximize range. I got 85 MPG on my 28 mile commute home yesterday in cold rainy weather and only needed 3.6 kWh to recharge the Hymotion battery.
     
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  6. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

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    I've had mine go into the battery protect mode a couple times. I thought the Hymotion was causing it due to excessive current. How did you resolve it with this situation ? I stopped and restarted back to normal, let the car charge the battery and did Hymotion on the return trip.

    ---Kent
     
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  7. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    In my case I was lucky in that the people behind me were patient as I slowed to 42 and then got off the road. I got up some speed on a side road, turned the Hymotion off and was able to regen back up to 3 bars. This seemed to let the Hymotion system charge the Prius battery again. I am guessing that it you drop into purple on the Prius battery, which is technically a state the Hymotion system would not normally see while it is operating, then the Prius somehow stops the Hymotion from feeding current into the hybrid battery. By the time I got home the Prius battery was showing purple again, so the next day when I started the car I left the Hymotion system off and let the Prius reg the battery itself at which point I then activated the Hymotion system.

    What's interesting is that if there were an integrated system that allowed regen, ev mode, hybrid mode all to work in concert, I would bet you could get a lot more mileage and MPG out of a 5 kWh battery system.
     
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  8. Fibb222

    Fibb222 New Member

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    Sigh, you guys are so lucky..... well that's not fair as I could have worked harder in university.... I'm just so jealous.
     
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  9. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

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    Thank you so much for pointing out the real problem. Today I started out in pure EV mode and drained the Prius battery. From your post, I was able to verify by showing the SOC charge on the Scanguage which always shows the Prius Battery. I was down to 38%. Fortunately, I was at my destination waiting to pick up my son. During that time the SOC climbed to the low 50's and I was able to EV all the way home.

    Now my conclusion is that we are drawing more current than we can put into the regular pack when doing a high current EV. I was doing about 45 MPH, so I was discharging the main battery faster than the Hymotion could charge it back up. I feathered the gas a little, but the real trick was sitting and letting the Hymotion charge the Prius battery.

    I must say, I love this stuff.

    Thanks for your insight,
    ---Kent
     
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  10. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    Kent - you may be right that on longer trips over 40 MPG or so that the Hymotion cannot charge the Prius battery fast enough so you see a slow drop in the SOC of the main Hybrid battery. This certainly coincides with the 2 times it has happened to me - both after maybe 5-6 miles of driving over 45 MPH.
     
  11. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

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    I tested the hypothesis tonight. When going over 40 MPH with the forced EV mode, the Prius battery is drained at a steady rate. Under 40 MPH, the Hymotion can keep it charged while moving. To avoid shutting down due to the Prius Battery you must give the Hymotion the ability to catch up on charging the stock battery. This can be done at stop light for if traffic permits feathering the accellerator.

    I'm now watching the SOC on the Scanguage to make sure I do not drain the stock battery too fast.

    ---Kent
     
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  12. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    How do you watch SOC via the scanguage?
     
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  13. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

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    It is one of the settings for the X-Gauge. You can see all of the options on CleanMPG.com searching for Scangauge.

    ---Kent
     
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  14. jessebismarcknd

    jessebismarcknd New Member

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    I have the 52 MPH EV Mode on my Prius. I have a Scan Gauge II. When I start in the EV mode, I get the usual error lights (exclamation point, etc). If I clear the codes through the Scan Gauge II, they only go away for a second and then come right back.

    When I restart the car in regular mode and do the same thing, the codes will only go away for a second. I can get them to go away by shutting off and on the power five times (as described in the manual).

    Does anyone else have this problem or found a way around it. It's not too big of a deal shutting it on and off five times, but it would be nice if there was a quicker way to clear the codes!
     
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  15. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    I had this happen a few times when I first had the EV button installed. It has not happened in a while though. Try starting the car without the Hymotion system on and waiting until the airbag light goes out before you activate the EV button (about a 10 second delay after you hit power). Clear the code and hopefully it stays off. Then go ahead and turn on the Hymotion.
     
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  16. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

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    Just an update on the EV button combined with the Hymotion system. On my first full tank of gas using these together I was able to go 1060 miles on 9.5 gallon - about 110 mpg. This is quite good for me as most of this is driving freeway speeds to and from San Francisco on hilly and often windy roads. Without using the EV button I was averaging about 85 mpg.
     
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  17. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

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    Turn the Scangauge to watch your 12v battery voltage. When I had a low 12v battery below 11.5 the error would not clear properly. After getting the L5 Battery Booster, I have not had a single problem clearing the error codes.

    ---Kent
     
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  18. jessebismarcknd

    jessebismarcknd New Member

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    Thanks for the tip! I was able to get this to work by following your recommendation, zcat3. Then I also tried doing the same thing, except for leaving the Hymotion button on the whole time and it still worked. I noticed I did have to wait about 5 seconds after the airbag light went off for it to work. It's sure a lot nicer driving without all the error lights! I have not had any issues with battery voltages and clearing codes, but seems like my voltage has always been good recently...this may be a different story in the winter though! Anyway, thanks for the advice....this works great...now I can say that I actually can use the ScanGauge for the purpose for which I bought it!
     
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  19. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    For those of you who want to play with some of the oddball
    conditions that these "high speed EV" hacks throw the car into,
    I finally did finish the page about my fuel-cut switch and was
    able to add a bunch of observations and my own take on the
    HS-EV thing. This is easy to do without having to install
    a PHEV system, limited by what the stock pack can give you.
    .
    I also now know that at least one of these "engine killer" mods
    simply breaks the +B power connection to the engine ECM, the black
    wire at E7-4. It's sort of like turning off the ignition to that
    particular module, which the hybrid ECU picks up on immediately.
    .
    I still think there's a lot more to be gained by learning how to play
    warp-stealth for all it's worth, and not at any theorized or real
    risk to the car's components. Read the whole thought-process at the
    webpage and its subsidiary links.
    .
    _H*
     
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  20. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    so cutting this wire ( putting a switch on it ) wil prefent the ice from starting
    or will it still try to start? and unbla to do so? and set a DTC?
     
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