Quote:
Originally Posted by SixSpeed
Sorry, P.S. why not strap a Diesel to the Prius? the increased torque at low RPM could recharge the battery faster and more efficient?
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Perhaps you might do some preliminary work in this area?
Recently there were some reports about adding motors to rear axles with electric controllers and batteries. You could be the first to demonstrate a do-it-yourself, diesel hybrid. After all, you already have the diesel. Better still, you could get a used NHW11 Prius like mine for a good price and lead the way.
For now, I have another list I'm working on. For example, last night I wrote a Perl program to extract the GPS track data from a Garmin nuvi:
- gps_300 - shows the raw text found in GARMIN\GPS\Current.gml, the track data.
- gps_310 - shows the text converted to data records including elevation in meters and mph
- gps_320 - shows a plot of two 'trips' including some coastdown data (vertical samples)
- gps_330 - shows a map plotted in excel of all four trips
When done, I should be able to use the GPS to capture my coast-down data and average multiple runs including the 1-2 meter elevation effects. This should let me read out the Cd and Crr from just the GPS data and software. I'll then share this approach with other ecomodders and this should significantly improve our instrumentation to evaluate modifications.
Right now, I have a perl program for extracting the raw text and I'm using excel to make sure I understand the other data transformations. I did find one 'outlier' and I need to find out if it is a problem in my data or my logic. But when I'm done, we'll have a new tool for rapidly evaluating the measured effect of a change.
I know, compared to posting about ripping out someone else's gas engine and replacing it with a diesel without bringing a wrench or parts, this instrumentation effort must seem trivial . . . a great waste of time. But it is one of the reasons I like this group . . . the high ratio of folks who do more than talk.
Bob Wilson