ODB / CAN Data Logging Gen 2 - standalone options?

You're gonna want something that's programmed for the unique components in Prius/Hybrid cars... Toyota Techstream is going to give you the most data. And phone apps like Hybrid Assisstant when used with Hybrid recorder app will give you 20 pages of data from a 2 mile drive. Also Dr. Prius app is my favorite because it's simple and easy to use and only offers the best and most relevant information.

 

Keeping an OBD2 reader plugged in all the time can eventually cause glitches... So tapping into the CAN BUS is the way to go. But that's a great deal of work. What type of data do you want? There's lots of different apps. Some don't require connecting to the car and just use the GPS data to calculate MPG and other info.

 

Tactrix MIGHT do what you want but the logging feature looks to be poorly documented. Most OBD logging is for monitoring engine (ECM) data (ie, default generic OBD2 info).

You want to do something very specialized. So YOU would have to search through the web to get the files needed to have Tactrix log ECM data, then research what you would have to change in order have it address the HV battery ecu (assuming it can do that in stand alone mode). Next you'd have to research how to have it record the specific voltage PIDs you want (might have some relevance to "custom" PIDs used in Torque Pro app for Gen2 hybrid system data)

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Tactrix Openport is known to work very well with the Prius in interactive pass-thru mode.

I don't know how well its standalone logging feature would work in the Prius, but I'd be pretty optimistic because it isn't doing much different in terms of communications with the car.

The real question is, can the Tactrix datalogging tool ask the correct questions of your car? If it doesn't know how to ask the main ecu to forward an inquiry to the hybrid ecu or the battery ecu and then parse those very different results, then the actual menu of data you can log isn't going to be that interesting.

 

The Tactrix dongle has an SD card slot right on it.

As I understand it, you just take an ordinary (MSDOS FAT-formatted) SD card and you put a plain text file on it with a specific name. In the file you write the specific PIDs you want logged, and the logging period, etc., using a simple syntax that they explain in a document.

Then you put that SD card in dongle and plug the dongle in the car and away it goes. It saves the logs as new files on the SD card, and you can take it out and read them. Or you can just connect the dongle's USB port to a computer and the SD card will show up as a drive.

Seems simple enough, but I've never actually tested it, because my dongle has a busted SD slot.

I think that was my fault. The slot doesn't really prevent you putting the SD card in the wrong way, but if you do, you bend the contacts and then it doesn't work. At least they considered it my fault and didn't offer me another dongle. So you have to look really closely before sticking that card in.