I am a new Prius III owner and am interested in knowing exactly when the engine is running. While the vehicle is moving it is very difficult to tell. I understand that there is a graphic screen that shows red arrows moving out of the engine, but when using other screens I can't tell if the engine is running. Has anyone wired an LED indicator light that shows when the engine is running? And if so, where what power supplied for the light?
Closest thing I've read on here so far is that many people use a Scan Gauge II and hook it up to the computer. From there, you can watch engine RPM to know if it is running or not. ... other than that, I've not seen anything that tells you if the ICE is running (red lines don't always show since the engine can idle without providing power to the wheels or chargers).
A cheaper route (than an SGII) I suppose could be to install a tachometer. Most I have seen these days are LED.
What about if the gas consumption gauge shows infinite mpg or zero liter/100km? Isn't this a positive indicator of no consumption? I believe at a stop and idling it will still show no gas consumption, but it's pretty easy to tell by sound/vibration in that case.
^ in your case yes, but the US model is not that accurate. The engine can get 100+ mpg and by the meter it appears "off".
Some sort of tach might be good but with the cost of a SG II at $145, and the fact that it offers dozens of other readouts/data points and can be used to disable annoying beeps, seems like that might be a better cost/benefit ratio..? Love mine and it IS fun to see '0 RPM' and like 1300 mpg etc
I have read about the SG II and someday we might put one in the Prius. I figured that by connecting an LED and resistor to a circuit that is energized only when the engine is running would be a simple and cheap way to to know what's going on under the hood.
I think Harold was asking, either here or at CleanMPG, if he could get his (Canadian) second generation Prius to display mpg. I believe even when he switched to mph display it was showing liters/100km. The same thing happened with ours, I think, when I tried switching to mph: still showing liters/100km. Seems like that is in some firmware, can't be switched.
Sorry, my statement probably wasn't clear. The MPG is inaccurate as the engine can be consuming at a rate > 100 mpg (engine not off) but the meter would be pegged at 100 mpg. Therefore it would not be a good indicator that the engine was running or not. Does that make sense?
I would rather know exactly when the engine stops or starts. I certainly don't understand how the engine can run without fuel. I wonder if there is a detailed explanation of how the battery, regenerative systems, engine, etc. work under various circumstances. I would like to understand more about the inner workings of the vehicle.
