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Old 05-12-2022, 12:18 PM   #72 (permalink)
ps2fixer
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: MI, USA
Posts: 571

92 Camry - '92 Toyota Camry LE
Team Toyota
90 day: 26.81 mpg (US)

97 Corolla - '97 Toyota Corolla DX
Team Toyota
90 day: 30.1 mpg (US)

Red F250 - '95 Ford F250 XLT
90 day: 20.34 mpg (US)

Matrix - '04 Toyota Matrix XR
90 day: 31.86 mpg (US)

White Prius - '06 Toyota Prius Base
90 day: 48.54 mpg (US)
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I suspect you have a 2010+, my 2006 can't do EV mode above around 41mph, it has to keep the engine running at the higher speeds. There's battery assist when there's extra battery charge to burn, but in mine it targets around 60% state of charge, down hills it regens a little, and up hills it uses some battery charge.

I have a scan gauge now, so I'm able to check the hybrid battery state of charge, so if the battery at start and stop is the same, the tests should be reasonably valid. Longer tests would tighten up the accuracy. Knowing how accurate a test is can be hard to figure, like if gains are seen, are they just in the margin of error, or is it for sure at least a small gain.

With the engine running, it's hard to get the pedal just right to coast when above the EV threshold speed.

I think I might have figured out another oddity with this car. I have a small zig zag in my trip, in the short run I only get up to 35mph before I'm looking to coast. Because I just coasted for the stop sign, that's the section of the trip it seems like it refuses to turn the engine off for while coasting. My guess is there's some sort of timer between engine off events or something like that.

I've also had it a couple times I coasted into a parking lot or my parent's place and the engine was still running but fully warmed up. As soon as I put it in park the engine turns off. I'm pretty sure the EV mod will help in those situations.

Instead of making the pedal try to predict the coast mode, a simpler mod should be possible with a switch with dual contacts and a resister, press and hold (or toggle on) for coast. Kind of like an in car kill switch for P&G.

I noticed that when the battery is charging back up, mpg vs speed seems to be a bit different. I don't remember the exact mpg I was seeing, but it looked like 38mph vs 45mph the 45mph was as good or slightly better mpg while the engine was charging the battery back up. I'd have to put my scope on the battery leads to monitor if it was charging less or try to understand what it's doing differently for different speeds. It would be interesting to try to build a rough chart of speed vs mpg while battery is charging (such as after using EV mode). It seems like it has two modes, below around 54% I think it charges the battery more and above is the typical light charge to slowly get it to around 60%. Should be something interesting to check into at least. I'll have to check my probe specs to make sure the higher voltage won't be a problem. Rear of the car is loosely put together, so shouldn't be hard to get to the hybrid battery leads.

I'm still learning the software for the scope, I know there's a datalogger program too for longer scans. I'm not sure if the points it reads are instantaneous or averages over time.
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