Yet another Hymotion install

Very cool, keep us posted!

Rob

 

Congrats! I am going to have to call Erin and see if bribery will get me anywhere?

 

You'll love it, especially if you have an EV switch. This morning I had to drive my kid to school because he missed the bus, but I was rewarded by the thrill of getting over 3,000 MPG.

 

I know they are doing installs here in the Minneapolis area - I think I'm just in the back of the line...

Holding out for my Dec install estimate.

 

SV,
That's great news. IMHO you should hold off on the EV switch. The L5 is connected to pin27 and automatically turns on EV mode, when appropriate. I have one of my xgauges set to monitor EV and it is ON when it should be. The only thing, for me, that seems to get in the way is S3/S4. The engine easily cools <150f especially with a lot of SHM driving. Yesterday on the highway I was 71-73MPH in SHM for 2 miles until I came to a hill.
Chris

 

Much of my driving is short trips around town, five or ten minutes at most. Pick up the kids, take them somewhere else. Without that EV switch to keep me in stealth mode for the first few minutes, I'd have terrible mileage! It all depends on how you use the car. Commuters probably wouldn't need the EV switch.

 

SVPriusfan, I live in West Centennial, and just received my first Prius. I would love to take a look at your Hymotion if you anywhere near where I am. I work downtown Denver.

 

lbligh,
I agree on the EV use. Even though my <30MPH use is low It'll still get me .5 Mi. before I hit 35MPH in the morning. Have you tried the low speed driving without using your EV button? I'm curious if maybe the L5 was not connected to pin27.
Chris

 

Hello everyone. I just got home yesterday from having my L5 installed at Westboro Toyota outside of Boston. I waited 24 hours from when Hymotion started taking orders and I was 97th in line.

I bought the EV mode switch but I am confused if I need to install it or not from what I am reading.

My wife's (Debra) Prius is the one I had the L5 installed into. She commutes round trip 10 miles and I have 31 solar panels on my roof. She gets home at 3pm and can use the onsite solar generated power to juice up the battery. Today she plugged in at 3pm and the battery took 1.54KWH of solar power. She is reporting that the engine is running more than we want it to. I was hoping the EV switch would supress the engine from turning on at all for the trip.

I am able to keep the engine from running on my 2004 Prius up to 42 miles per hour. The speed limit for Debra' commute is 40MPH.

 

SVPriusFan- i wish you a very quick week. I thought late September would never come.

The first thing I noticed when I sat in the drivers seat when I left the dealer to test drive the L5 is I could tell there was added weight and that the back was riding lower. I drive a 2004 Prius (license plate PEAK OIL) and can really feel the difference between the two now. It is like there are two adults sitting in the back seat.

I was about to install the EV switch but decided against it for now. I emailed Hymotion support about getting clarification if the L5 enables EV mode and this is what they said:

"We make a connection into the same pin-out in the EV ECU as the aftermarket kit for EV Mode, so it is not advisable to make further modifications in this area.

The Toyota system will run the ICE, within the first mile or so, to warm up the catalytic converter and satisfy emissions. Once this is brought up to operating temp, your mileage will ramp up. We don’t disturb this process as it would be a violation to CARB mandates and void the vehicle warranty. The ICE will also run when a request is made for heat. The heater core requires the circulation of coolant that is warmed by the ICE. "

What gets me about emissions regulations is IF the computer was modified to KEEP THE ICE FROM COMING ON AT ALL under the city driving conditions- there WOULD BE NO EMISSIONS SO THEREFORE NO NEED TO HEAT UP THE EMISSIONS CONTROL SYSTEM!!

I am curious if an engine block heater would result in faster emissions system heat up?

On average this week my wife's 10 mile round trip commute consumed 1.25Kwh of electricity which is right on the money of 25% utilization of the pack. I use a killawatt unit to measure the draw.

I asked Hymotion about power draw during charging and this is what they responded with:

"After the charge cycle is complete, there is a draw of about 29 watts to cool the pack down. Eventually the power consumption should go down to 8 – 10 watts. This is a nominal draw for the battery management controller, which cannot be shut down when the pack is plugged in.

The simplest solution is to just leave it plugged in at night…"

When charging is complete the kilowatt reports a draw of 3 watts.

Another thing my wife is reporting is the SOC communication from the pack to the display is driving her nuts. Every time she wants to look at the reported avg MPG it INSTANTLY changes back to the Energy screen. Since the Prius is home from the 140 mile trip back from the Boston Toyota Dealer the Consumption average has increased from 66 to 69.4MPG.

I am going to review the version of the L5 manual he posted with what I was given. From what I remember reading of the version The Force got, it said to NOT plug in a power meter into the outlet used to charge. My version does not say that. I have Release 3 of the manual.

 

renewablesnow,
Nice to hear of an install (relatively) close to me. How was Rose? On a couple of your questions.
The original manual does state to not use a meter while charging. Erin did state there was a new manual in the works. I hope I get it.
Switching to the consumption screen is a hit or miss for me. Most times it does not switch back to the energy screen.
IMHO, Yes on the EBH. I purchased one, still have to install it.
The 5 Mi. trip your wife makes will definitely keep the mileage lower than a 10 Mi one way trip I make. On weekends where my initial around town trips 1-2 Mi. I get 60-90MPG according to the SCII, unless I can stay under 30MPH for the entire trip and not need the power to accelerate or hills. For my 10Mi. one way commute mileage is 110-135MPG.
One tip that was in my manual is to let off the accelerator(sp) and then reapply light throttle engaging the battery and not the ICE. I use this a LOT once the ICE is up to temperature.
I hope you can get your mileage up to what you expect.
Final thought, I don't worry about the ICE running, as long as I can get 99.9 on the MFD.
Chris

 

Chris,
Rose was great. I spent about an hour with Charlie, who owns the dealership. He is great. Very forward thinking when it comes to greening transportation. I wanted to video tape him as I have a prosumer HD digital video camera I use to video tape renewable energy homes in my area and put them online. Charlie was camera shy so we just talked. I will do what I can to promote Westboro Toyota on my website and my overall advocacy of alternative energy.

MFD reports 78.2 MPG now. I drove 9-10 miles mainly highway today and back probably 15 miles a different route more 30-40MPH roads which ended up bringing the mileage up. At highway speeds, if the Prius is on level road or down slope I propel on electric alone and get over 99.9. We are on our first tank after the conversion and the 140 highway miles is what killed the mileage. I am sure on the second and subsequent tanks I will average over 100.

I too experienced the MFD not switching back- I dont see the switch back to the Energy screen work consistently.

Do you experience three beeps at times? I dont know what that is. When I hear it, if I am not on the Energy screen, it does NOT switch back to the Energy screen after the beeps happen.

I'll make a reminder to bring the manual into work and put in on the copier to make a PDF I will post.

 

SVP, You can find alot of info on the EBH. The effect on the PHEV is the same as all Prii. I believe that it would also help all times of the year, not just Winter. (I also had a thought wouldn't it be cool it your EBH was connected to the same plus as the PHEV
I agree on EV mode 3 beeps. I usually see it around 36MPH. Which is past the 34 limit. Most times it happens to me the ICE is up to it's temp. One caveat is my ICE temp definitly drops on extended SHM mode -10 to 20 deg. F.
Good luck Wednesday. If you're driving it out after the install you may not have a charge. They charged mine overnight. I doubt they are shipped charged.
Chris