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How do I setup Dr.Prius app to run out of car/on the bench?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Jerry Harris, Jan 31, 2022.

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  1. Jerry Harris

    Jerry Harris Junior Member

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    Dear members,

    I use the Dr.Prius app on a regular basis & now it has come to replace my hybrid battery. I have a grid charger & discharger. So I can charge & discharge the complete pack in one go.

    I have seen once a guy use Dr.Prius app while charging the battery out of car. He had managed to somehow setup an OBD2 port connected to the orange 14 wire battery condition monitor plug.

    By having this setup, he was able to monitor charge & discharge statistics live & also make sure the battery was balanced before it went in car.

    Does anyone have any idea how this can be achieved. Unfortunately I do not have the link to the Youtube video anymore & have been looking all over without any success. Any help will be kindly appreciated.
     
    #1 Jerry Harris, Jan 31, 2022
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    I've thought about it... Basically all the wires that plug into battery ECU, safety switch sensor, battery cooling fan, and high voltage cables would all have to be extended from the host vehicle to the bench where the battery is. Though you might try asking the maker of Dr. Prius app if there's an easier way, but I doubt it.
     
    #2 PriusCamper, Jan 31, 2022
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  3. Jerry Harris

    Jerry Harris Junior Member

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    I have seen another person run Techstream on the bench with the hybrid battery & the software was reading live data from the battery while out of car. All I need to read is the battery data which I believe is taken from the battery ECU. So if the ECU can be read on the bench via Dr.Prius, it will be really great.
     
    #3 Jerry Harris, Jan 31, 2022
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    That orange one would definitely not be the plug he connected the OBD port to; that would succeed only in letting the magic smoke out of Dr. Prius.

    The battery ECU also has some (non-orange) plugs on the far side, which is where its 12 volt power and communication connections are.

    You might have seen somebody who set that up with a Gen 2. The Gen 2 battery ECU has its own CAN interface, so its connections (on the non-orange side) include a pair of CAN pins, and if you set it up with power and ground and an OBD port with its CAN pins connected, you could be chatting away with it happily.

    If you are looking at doing the same thing in Gen 3, it could be a heavier lift. The "battery ECU smart unit" in Gen 3 doesn't have its own CAN connections, it has some kind of proprietary serial comm link to the power management control ECU, and that ECU has the CAN interface and does the talking for both of them.

    So maybe you could get a Gen 3 bench setup working, but you'd probably need a spare power management control ECU to be sitting on the bench as well, with your OBD port connected to that.
     
    #4 ChapmanF, Jan 31, 2022
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  5. Jerry Harris

    Jerry Harris Junior Member

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    Yes, you are correct. It was indeed a Gen2 Prius the guy was working on & he had some wires connected to the side of the battery ECU which was attached to an OBD2 port. That was then connected to Techstream. I am looking all over Youtube & another guy had a similar setup, but what got my attention was, he used an elevator brake as a load to discharge his complete battery pack.

    By the way, I have a good Gen2 ECU with all wires & connectors as a spare.
     

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    #5 Jerry Harris, Jan 31, 2022
  6. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    The elevator brake guy made an appearance on PriusChat... Doubt there's more than one of them? Please post any additional info you find in this thread because your info combined with @ChapmanF has pretty much made this thread the best reference on this subject.
     
    #6 PriusCamper, Jan 31, 2022
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  7. Jerry Harris

    Jerry Harris Junior Member

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    Do you have any links ( PriusChat & Youtube) of any info about the Elevator brake guy? That way we could see what he did as he posted some info on the Youtube description about the CAN interface to connect to Techstream.
     
    #7 Jerry Harris, Feb 1, 2022
  8. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    My DIY hv battery tester | PriusChat
     
    #8 PriusCamper, Feb 1, 2022
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