I DID IT!!!

I did it! I installed the Costal Tech EV switch (cruise-control stalk version). It seemed to work.

The installation, for this idiot klutz, was not easy. But if I can do it you probably can. Following are my experiences:

First off, I had a great deal of difficulty removing the passenger-side A/C vent cover. It just didn't want to budge. I suspect that there's a way to make it slip out easy as butter, but I pried and wrenched at it for a long time before it came out. I cannot say what I finally did to make it give.

Once I exposed the wires, I found that the plug was nearly impossible to get at. It is way behind stuff, and even with the vent cover off there is a lot of solid plastic in front of it, and, by my count, seventeen million and three wires in the way of it. I nearly gave up at this point, but being anal retentive, kept poking at it until I got it out.

Once the plug was out I realized that it would not come out into the open. Those seventeen million and three wires are tied into stiff bundles, with only about two and a half millimeters of slack. Telling myself, that if I ruined it, Toyota could fix it and probably would not charge me more than a few thousand dollars for the repair, I managed to slip the plug under the other wires and out into the open.

There still was not much room, but with only slightly more than superhuman effort I identified the two indicated wires and got the wire splices onto them.

Then came the really hard part: inserting the dreaded pin. It took me a while to figure out how to lift the retaining bar by using a screwdriver on the two pins at the side, and I got the pin in flush, though I suspect it should have been a bit beyond flush, because I don't think I got the retaining bar quite all the way back in. I'm not sure, because I think I busted off that side pin trying to force it back.

Attaching the leads to the wire taps was easy. Getting the plug back into place was actually possible, and re-inserting it, once it was back in place, was child's play.

Replacing the A/C vent cover was easier than taking it off, but still required some messing around with it.

I was parked on the street so I could work in sunlight, so I got back in the driver's seat, powered up the car, and as soon as the Ready light was on I pulled the cruise-control stalk toward me and held it until I heard a single beep. Costal says two seconds, and that's what it seemed like. I drove it around to the back of the apartment building and into my garage without the engine starting. I don't expect to go out again today, but tomorrow I'll report further on whether it seems to work the way I expect.

Costal says the installation takes 30 minutes. It took me 50 minutes. But I spent a lot of time trying to figure things out, messing with the A/C vent cover, etc., and working slowly and deliberately. 30 minutes it probably right for anyone who's not a klutz.

I repeat: it seems to work. It gave no indications of anything untoward.

Thanks to Wayne Brown, for figuring out how to make EV work.
Thanks to Costal Tech for a (relatively) easy way to implement this with no drilling.
And thanks to Evan for better pictures than come with the kit.

 

Goodness gracious! Do you mean I'm the first to install the production version of Costal's switch???!!!

Well, I was tired after spending several hours at the street fair and eating too much street food, and it was very hot, and I wanted to try it out on a calm mind. And to be honest, I was in no great hurry. Getting it in, and driving into the garage in EV mode without anything exploding, was enough excitement for one day. Especially since I had originally intended to install it tomorrow.

I'm also not entirely sure of what I need to test about it.

Engage cruise control between 25 and 34 mph to see if there is a conflict.

Engage cc while in EV mode to see if they work together.

Try out how hard I can accelerate while in EV mode (i.e., are people behind me going to get angry because I can't pull away from a stop at a reasonable speed without disengaging EV?)

See how far it will go from a full SOC in EV mode.

Drive from the gym to the office on EV mode just because I can (they're only a few blocks apart).

See if I can engage EV mode while in motion (in electric-only mode, or with the engine running).

I'm not concerned about possible conflicts with the CC cancel function, because I never use it. If I need to cancel cc it's to slow down, and then I have to use the brake anyway, so I don't need the cancel switch; and if I do need to cancel cc I just switch it off with the button.

Anything else I ought to test?

 

The production version (of anything) is the version they intend to sell to the public. In this case, there was a beta-test version first, which had some problems, reported on in the link in Evan's post.

 

"Production model" is my term, to distinguish from the beta-test version reported on elsewhere.

PRELIMINARY REPORT:

Cruise control below 34 mph works just fine with the Costal EV switch. I engaged it, disengaged it, "cancelled" it and restored it, all numerous times, and without any problems.

I have not yet attempted to engage cruise control while in EV mode, or vice versa. This is a very low priority for me.

It refused to engage when I first powered up this morning. The battery SOC was 3 bars. So I presume that it will not engage with the battery that low. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the installation. It's got to be in the computer's programming.

In EV mode I was able to accelerate from a stop as fast as the average driver around here, though not as fast as I am accostomed to doing. This is acceptable.

I was able to engage the EV mode even while the car is in motion. I am very happy with this. Somehow I had gotten the idea that perhaps it was necessary to stop first.

As expected, range in EV mode appears to be short. The battery drains pretty quickly, but I don't have any clear idea of actual distances yet. But this, too, will be independent of the installation.

I have not noticed any of the quirks reported in the beta-test version.

I have not yet had it over 35 mph since installing the switch.

When I engage to EV mode while driving, I do NOT hear the beep, telling me it has engaged. I get that beep if I engage it immediately upon starting the car.

 

Evan, it seems to me that when the ICE first starts up, whether on powering up the car, or on exiting EV mode if you engaged that on power-up, the ICE does not want to supply power to the wheels immediately. During the first minute or two of ICE operation, the car will get most of its power from the battery/motor. This will drop the SOC by one bar or so. I do not believe this drop reflects energy drain from the battery during EV mode, but rather energy used after. I have observed this drop in SOC most mornings, as though power was coming from the battery rather than the ICE.

Until now, getting the car to stay in electric mode for parking-lot creep was erratic. Sometimes it would, and sometimes it would not. I believe that very low-speed is inefficient on gas power. It's cool to be able to force EV operation under such circumstances, as well as to assure that I never have a full battery when I start the ICE cold, so there will be a place for that energy to go during the mandatory warm-up phase.

mboileau, you do not get the three beeps when exiting EV mode with the switch. There is no indication, other than the energy flow from the engine.

And the reason for cancelling EV mode manually is that you may come to the end of the area where you want to be in EV mode. Since the ICE does not want to supply power to the wheels immediately, it may be a good idea to cancell it a minute before reaching the place where you want the ICE to be operational.

Example: coming home from a play tonight, I put the car in EV mode at power-up, for the slow creep out of the parking lot. As I approached the street I cancelled EV mode to give the ICE a moment to warm up before hitting the street, where I would want to have more acceleration.

Question for Evan: I don't think I got the pin to "click" into place, as mboileau mentions, although I did get it flush with the surface of the plug. Is this likely to cause me problems? It would have required a really tiny pointed object to push it beyond flush, and the instructions said nothing about that.

 

I have not noticed any erratic behavior. As reported by others, it will not engage EV if the engine is not yet warm (I have yet to test Evan's assertion that it must be not only warm, but actually in Phase III operation) and it will not engage if the battery SOC is 3 bars or less. It will disengage itself if I step too hard on the pedal (though as Evan reports, I can step much harder than without EV engaged) or if the battery SOC drops to 2 bars.

This morning, with 5 bars, I engaged EV immediately on power-up, and drove to the mini-mall a tad over a half a mile away (10 minutes walking) and the SOC dropped to 3 bars. Upon leaving, I could not engage EV. This suggests an EV range of 1.5 miles from 8 bars, but I've never seen 8 bars. 6 is common enough, but 5 is more so. And often enough it's at 4. So I'd say it has a real-world EV range of 1/2 mile to one mile, depending on charge.

I was not able to engage cruise control while in EV mode (not that I'd ever really want to; I was just testing).

Upon engaging EV, the MFD will switch to the energy screen if it is not already there, but does not toggle back upon exiting EV. I don't think it was supposed to.

Mboileau, are you familiar with the three "phases" of the computer? Your "erratic" behavior could be due to trying to engage it when it is not yet in phase III. The engine must be fully warm, AND THEN the car must exceed some speed (somewhere around 35 or 40 mph, I don't remember exactly) OR it must come to a full and complete stop for 10 seconds.

I'm still going to test this. My typical commute does not have any streets over 25 mph speed limit, or stop lights, for the first 5 or 6 minutes, so I'll be able to get the engine warm and yet not yet in phase III, to see if I can engage EV.

I'm going to hope for the best with that pin. As I said, it's flush with the plug, and it's tight. I just don't remember hearing a click. And although I pressed the retaining bar back in, I'm not sure it latched. There's a reason I sub-titled this thread "Idiot klutz successfully (?) installs Costal EV switch."

The real advantages of the switch are probably minor. However, I was angry and frustrated that the car would sometimes insist on running the ICE in very low-speed situations, as creeping through parking lots, and this annoyed me. Having the EV switch may be a small thing in objective terms, but it VERY GREATLY increases my comfort level with the car, as I can force EV operation under those kinds of circumstances. I like the looks I get as I glide silently along, and I feel that I'm saving gas by shutting off the ICE when it is clearly not necessary.

 

I've had the SSC-40D done, but my #7 does not have the info switch on the steering wheel. I need to touch the screen to toggle. And this works fine even after the re-programming. And as I said, engaging EV does switch to the energy screen.