Benefits of the ScanGauge II

I am new to this. I have had the car about 7 weeks and the scangauge 3. I like having RPM information and engine temp. The ability to see what warmup stage the car is in as well as power output in Kw and HP on the highway has been helpful as well. Having had access to the information if it was gone now I would feel a bit like I was flying blind.

I have added other gauges for fuel flow, intake temp, fuel level and cabin temp. The trip information is more extensive and helps with the tracking. Overall I think it is a fine addition to the car.

 

If you will go to the Linear Logic (vendor) web site you will find a whole list of XGauge parameters for the Gen II. This spreadsheet was developed by Adrian Black and others here on PC.

You can monitor a whole list of hybrid specific parameters such as coolant temperatures, battery amps, battery voltage, MG speeds, etc. You can also view the standard parameters such as average MPG, MPH, trip information, etc.

You can also read Toyota specific DTC's (diagnostic trouble codes) in the event that your car has an issue. There are also certain custom features that you can program through the SGII.

 

My Prius is Gen 2 like yours, bought secondhand. I've had it nearly three years and love it. I'm a retired electrical engineer in Sydney, Australia.

A car like the Prius just cries out to be studied and understood completely and a ScanGauge is one of the better tools to do this. I got mine about a month ago (SGII, 4.06 firmware). It's a piece of cake to install, and if you want to you can extend its functions tremendously. It's not cheap but very good value and is well made with excellent documentation.

It's pretty good right out of the box but when you get to check out extra features like the trip computers, and performance monitoring you'll see it's potential. The only thing missing in my opinion is extended data logging - there's some in the performance functions but only over fairly short time periods.

I tried several other instrumentation and data logging gadgets but I think I'll retire most of them in favour of the ScanGauge. Make sure you get the model with XGauges because a lot of the interesting stuff in the Prius requires special setting up (which is easy by the way).

Good luck.

 

it will actually help you increase your mileage significantly faster (as compared to not having one) and improve your learning curve as a new prius driver... that is if you
know the gauges that tell you vital information that will improve your hybrid driving technique. in time, it will actually pay for itself in gas savings.

 

It depends on how much you want to learn about your car and how it operates. If you like to know a little about everything then the SC2 is a nifty little gadget. It can really help diagnose problems or questions you may have. It can also help you become a more efficient driver in any vehicle because most of the things that drop mpg in the Prius will affect a non- hybrid. It is one of the best mods I have purchased for my car and I have quite a few mods.

 

Sadly the Prii are a little shy about disclosing things we are all used to seeing, oil pressure, temp, etc. The big PLUS is the X gauge that are specific to the Hybrid side of operation.
F8L nails it. You can just drive the car, or learn how the car is running, and to Hypermile.
I run two Scan Gauges side by side, you can daisy chain as many as you want. I just made some short Cat-5 jumpers, boom, 8 gauges. You just add the gauge, and program them to pull the specific PIDs you want!

Now you gotta ask yourself, how much information is too much, and what's it worth to get the info!

 

You mention adding gauges for cabin temp.
I am looking for the scangauge II codes for this. Do you have those codes?

 

I have a Gen III prius and it is one of the x gauge codes. Here are the codes I used from the google docs spreadsheet posted on this site


Room Temp 07C42121 046185210000 2808 005A001400CB RmF xx.x F - Temperature inside cabin

 

Well poo. That is the code I have tried and no cigar. I have a Gen II, so that must not work for mine. Thanks anyway!

 

A significant benefit of having a SGII not yet mentioned is the
ability to monitor the 12V battery. :rockon:

The battery has a typical service life of ~4 years. But that can be
shortened by service in very hot or cold climes. Perhaps more
importantly, even a single instance of deep discharging -- usually
the result of a door or the hatch left ajar, aftermarket stereo, etc
-- results in a state of rapid capacity loss.

Having a SG won't prevent having to get a new 12V battery. But
it will allow you to easily check battery status periodically and
know in advance that replacement is due, and not be caught out
in an inconvenient or unsafe situation.

 

Newbie here, just got my car, second mod is a ScanGauge II:

Question about expected/observed operating temperatures with ScanGauge II on-line:

I have installed a winter blocker for the grilles:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...nal-grille-blocker-cold-weather-08-prius.html

Went for an hour drive, some secondary roads (80 kph), some highway (100 kph).

What temps are considered 'expected/normal/safe'?

On my test loop, I ran as high as 94C (I suspect the rad fans would cycle on as this would drop to 90C).

Is this too hot (should I remove a portion of my blocker)?

I'm looking for some data points (temp wise) as I'm 'flying blind' trying to learn my new car.

Thanks

Cheers

Mike

 

Your SG is sitting in a good place! Is that the same one you had in your last car? Hal

 

Thanks, and yes, it is the same unit.

Here is a shot of the dash all apart (no shots of drilling a hole thru it!):


The reason for the lap-top is so that I could follow the procedures for tearing her down from alldatadiy.com (these deatils not fornd in my Bently's hard-bound shop manual).

Hal, what temps should I be running at (what do you run at, or do you not use a blocker in the winter)?

 

I have recently purchased a SGII for a GenII. The SGII has 4.05 software. I am having a problem with the SGII turning itself off from 1 to 20 minutes after turning it on. I do have fuel type set to hybrid. Has anyone had this problem and, if so, what is the fix? I have programmed 8 X-Gauges and to my knowledge they are all correct. These X-Gauges are returning values that are reasonable.

Other than the problem discussed above, my experience with the SGII has been positive. The GenII does scream for more data on how the car is running. So the SGII does fill that void. Does anyone know what the acceptable range of SOC (state of charge) is? Also, is there a good value for LOD (load) to optimize fuel efficiency?

 

navguy12:
I am using the SG11 in my HCH2 blocked. 180- 205 F. Prius is in Victoria where it is not cold enough most days to warrant blocking the grill.Hal

 

Well if indeed you have it set to Hybrid, that is the key for continuous operation, you might have a defective unit. What version of firmware are you running? Have you contacted Scan-gauge in regards to this problem. I had this same problem when I put my units in. After discovering the Hybrid function, that fixed my problem. It should have fixed yours!
Good Luck, let us know what happens.

 

You also need to change the Sleep Mode to COM, so it shuts off on loss of comm after power off and not on RPM when engine shuts down.

 

Hal, thanks. I note that is 82C to 96C. OK, now I have data to go by....

phdchp: how does one do that, get SOC info on the Scangauge. I tried to read/understand the x-gauge portion of the instruction manual and it just does not make sense how to set those things up. But SOC would be a great item to have......

Question about ScanGauge fuel economy readings versus what the car's instrument panel tells me: First tank of gas in my new Prius and I'm noticing that every trip, the ScanGauge fuel economy numbers are poorer than the Prius`readout. Which is correct.....

Thanks