Care to help a new Hymotion owner?

Hi snookums, the display of regen is a known issue with the xgauge (I tested it with Jay and confirmed it) I do not know of which ones work. I use fwt, mpg per trip, ev mode and I mpg.
Your ev mode sounds a little like the fan is on. Now with colder weather my ice doesn't turn off when the fwt is too low. I run full grill block and most cold days I barely reach 157f.
If you don't use an ebh I highly reccomend it.
I would reccomendvthe newest firmware. I have been using for a month now and don't have any negative effects others than the ice running for 57 sec from the carb version. There is no way to connect the ev switch and leave the L5 in a stock configuation. I have my dv switch connected in parallel with the L5 connection. It will not override the L5.
I do hope your hymotion experience is great. I will share whatever information I can with you
Chris

 

The SOC will only display the spoofed SOC the L5 will put out. So if the L5 is on you will normally see 80% until you run out of charge then it will display the stock battery SOC. Also if you regen you will see 82%-90% or more. Also if you EV too much especially near the end of your charge you will bring down the stock battery SOC and the spoofed SOC will read %79 when actually the stock battery SOC is 59%. Its confusing but once you see it in action you will understand how the spoof SOC works with the stock SOC.

You can either ignore this or stop using the active gauges. Only use passive gauges for AMPs, and SOC. Dont know if it does it on other active gauges.

The new firmware is supposed to take care of some issues but I dont know if it will fix this one or not since I dont let the L5 take control of EV. I would recommend getting the firmware upgrade anyway if you have a dealer near by. otherwise just install a manual EV button and disconnect the L5 wire.

Like I said you might want to get the upgrade anyway. It fixes some issues.

Mine was installed before the L5 install. My dealer did not even install the wire. So I did not do a thing to mine. I'm guessing all you have to do is make sure you have the right wire on the right connector, Cut it about 5 or so inches from the connector and splice in your manual EV button onto that cut wire going into the connector.

With the 04 Prius blank size I'm willing to bet you can put everything on the one blank. Just get a small rocker switch, The same LED should fit there along with a small momentary switch. You may have to get a new blank so you can drill your own holes. If you go with a stock EV button you will have to find a new location of the L5 switch and LED. Mine is on my dash. If you look at my Hymotion battery review there is a picture of it. I'm sure you could do the same thing as long as the dash padding is not to think on the 04 Prius.

This is undocumented on what kind of interface it has and what information it can give if anything. I'm sure its just serial communication but I think you might have to activate it somehow. It could be just for programming only and does not output any useful data. I think I will try to get Jim Strong to tell me a little more about it when I get my firmware updated next week.

As far as you trouble code goes, take it into a dealer.

 

If your traction battery's SOC is below 58 or 59% when you shut off your car, you won't be able to avoid the ICE coming on next time you start it up. If you were driving in EV mode before you shut off the car, the SOC should stay higher than that. This problem usually occurs when your L5 battery has been depleted before you shut off the car, especially if you live at the top of a hill. Usually, my SOC is back up to 60% by the time I get to the bottom of my driveway. If you hear some beeping and see a message that says "can't enter EV mode now," that means that your car IS ready to enter EV mode. All you have to do is shut it off and start it back up again.

There are four other possible reasons for the ICE to kick on when you start up your car:

- if you have the CARB update.
- if you have the update that "fixes" the rear-view camera "problem" (and causes the ICE to start up when you shift into reverse (unless your car is already VERY warmed up)).
- if you left your defrost button on (the one that has a button on the steering wheel) when you shut off your car. The one on the climate screen (that shows a defrost symbol AND a "blow air on the feet" symbol) CAN be used without triggering the ICE to start.
- if the traction battery's temperature is too low

The only one that can't be avoided is the last one. If it's too cold, EV mode just isn't going to happen.

The CARB warmup cycle can be avoided by turning off your L5 switch before starting the car and then turning it back on again several seconds AFTER starting the car (but before the ICE comes on).

If you have to back up to get out of your garage or a parking space when you start out in the morning, you can still keep the ICE from coming on. You just need to back up quickly, shift back into DRIVE, and flip on the L5 switch. (You have several seconds, which is usually plenty of time to do this safely, as long as you don't waste any time.)

The effect of the heating/defrosting system is a little complicated. As I said, you never want to leave the defrost button on before shutting off your car. In temperatures that are about 40 degrees F (or above), you can leave the heating/air conditioning system ON and still get into EV mode when you start up. In colder temperatures, you should probably press the OFF button on your climate screen before shutting the car off. Then, when you have started up and gotten into EV mode, you can turn the fan back on.

Again, EV mode is impossible in REALLY cold weather. However, if the temperature is within about 5 degrees F of freezing, you can usually get into EV mode, but not right away. Often, when I am leaving work, I get the beeping message (see above) before I get across the parking lot. So, I just pull over and restart the car to get into EV mode. I'm guessing that this happens because the battery is ALMOST warm enough to allow EV mode, and any small amount of non-EV battery use is enough to warm it up above the critical temperature. Again, none of this is going to work unless you turn your heating system completely off before you shut off your car, and don't turn it back on until AFTER you get into EV mode.

Obviously, none of this is going to work if your windshield is frosted over or fogged up and you HAVE to use the "defrost" button. However, if your windshield is only SLIGHTLY fogged, sometimes the other mode (defrost/feet) is enough to clear it, even without the ICE (if you're a patient person).

Please note that there seems to be a slight difference between "cold EV mode" (when you've been in EV mode since you started the car) and "warm EV mode" (when you enter into EV mode AFTER the ICE has been running. The "warm" mode sometimes seems to be more sensitive to acceleration (in terms of the ICE coming on), especially if you have your heating system on.

I probably sound crazy when talking about driving with the heat off in winter. I like to call it "hat and mittens" mode.

In regard to your other question (when your EV mode indicator starts switching between ON and OFF): This is the result of a failed attempt to enter EV mode. This problem usually occurs when you are slowing down from highway speed on your way into town (although it CAN occur any time your ICE has been running and the conditions to enter EV mode are suddenly met). For some reason, the Hymotion system is programmed to continue trying to get into EV mode, even though that appears to be impossible when it is unsuccessful on the first attempt. I went through a long struggle with Hymotion about this. They eventually sent me a data logger so that they could be sure that they knew what I was talking about. In the end, they told me that this is the way the Hymotion system is intended to operate.

It doesn't seem to make any sense. I'm not sure if they really intended it to work this way (which implies that they don't know what they're doing) or if it's just an unintentional mode of operation that occurs as an artifact of a failed attempt to enter EV mode. I was never able to get them to let me talk to anyone who understood enough to answer that question for me.

The bottom line is that, once you get into this weird "EV ON/OFF" mode, the real EV mode will NEVER come on. There are only two ways to get OUT of the ON/OFF mode. You can pull over and restart your car, OR you can (if speed limits and traffic permit) speed up to over 35 mph and then slow back down again. The latter method will ALWAYS get you into EV mode on the second attempt, unless one of the OTHER conditions for EV mode is not being met at that moment. In cold weather, it sometimes helps to shut off your heating system before slowing back down below 35. Then, you can turn it back on, as soon as you're in EV mode.

I usually try to slow down a little early when coming into town, so that I'll have enough room to speed back up, if the first EV mode attempt fails.

The Hymotion people told me that the CAUSE of a failed attempt has to do with the status of some unknown parameter within the Prius system, NOT the Hymotion system.

The other thing to keep in mind is that installing a manual EV mode switch won't entirely solve this problem. From what I've heard "The Force" say, it seems that the manual switch WILL get you into EV mode, but it WON'T get you out of the weird "ON/OFF" mode. That seems fine, if you're always using the manual switch, but not if you're wanting to get back into automatic Hymotion EV operation.

Is that complicated enough for you?

Arthur

 

If the OAT is < 65F you shouldn't have any problems with a full grill block. And since you have a SG2 you can keep an eye on the temps. If the fWT gauge goes above 200F (translate that to C as necessary) then open it up a bit. I have a 2004 Gen 2 (live in Michigan) and have had a full grill block (well...I left the very bottom slot open) since the end of September and have had zero problems with overheating.

The goal is to get the coolant temp above 157F and keep it there. That will put you into S4 (after a stop-idle check). Running the heater will delay or even prevent that from happening. If you're running on the freeway with/full grill block and the engine running constantly you should be able to run the heater on a low fan setting at 70-75F and still keep the coolant temp high enough. Running the heater at a high temp with high fan setting will suck the heat out of the engine VERY quickly.

 

Another trick that I found works well with my conversion (PICC, not Hymotion, but it should still work) is to use the "Recirculate Air" option on the climate screen when the heater is on. This draws air from inside the vehicle instead of air from outside the vehicle. I have observed that on this setting the heater doesn't cool off the engine as quickly because it is heating already pre-warmed air instead of ice cold air from outside.

One annoying thing is that you have to keep pressing the recirculation button every time you turn the heater on and off (or switch from defrost to heater). I wish there was a way to make it default to recirculation in the winter...

Andrew