A Prius Prime Specific remote start

(admins if this is not allowed please delete)

While the Prius Prime comes with a factory remote start, it's pretty limited in a lot of ways. So some people opt to have a 3rd party unit installed so gain the benefits of longer ranger, longer run time, and 2-way confirmation. Both the factory remote start and the aftermarket remote starts shut-down the HVAC (or whole car) upon opening the door. This is normal and also required for safety reasons.

Another major issue for 3rd party remote starts on Prius Primes is that if you try to remote start them while they are plugged in (getting power or not dont matter), they will fail to start, and only run in ACCY mode which does not run your HVAC system in your car.

While leaving your car unplugged solves this issues, it still will turn off when the door is open for safety reasons.

Wouldn't it be amazing if there was a remote start built specifically to this car for these reasons? This magic remote-start would:

* Activate the factory HVAC start mode only when plugged in
* Auto switch back to normal 3rd party remote start when not plugged in
* Allow both of these modes to be controlled by the 3rd party remote offering long-range and 2-way confirms
* Allow both modes to let the driver open the door without a shutdown, at the worst possible time.
* Even allow FULL take over without the need to restart the car to drive, or carry both keyfobs.
* And do all of this will not only maintaining full car anti-theft security but also adding even more!

This has been my goal for a long time, and so far to this day, I can't find any product that will do all of this. So, after countless hours in the lab, in the car, and a couple of boo boo's here and there, I finally did it. I actually made an adapter that fits between a 3rd party remote system, and the Prius itself, which offers everything you just read about.

Enjoy this rather crude, long-winded video, and watch to the end to show you that I finally achieved my goal!

 

Well, then I guess I better get busy on that eh? In one of my prototypes, you can set a jumper that will activate which mode the car will start in while plugged in. What your talking about would be to trick the car into thinking that the charger spout has been pulled out, and the lid is closed, and thus invoke a normal remote start (along with pressing the EV/HV button a moment later). It is definitely possible and sounds like there might be enough people in that situation where it would be worth it. This would also feature full take over, assuming you pull the plug out for real before trying to put it in gear. Sadly tho, as soon as you remote start the car, the charge would stop, and you would indeed be using gas to heat up your car....but that's kinda what you want right? Def can do.

 

That makes sense. I think by deflught if the temp is below 14 (or is it -14f) that pure EV mode is not possible and will always run the ICE when driving (and in my case, remote starting).

 

if you left it plugged in all night, I assume the EV battery would be at full. Then if you remote started it while plugged in, using the function my device can offer, it would stop the charging (already stopped if battery full) and run the car as if normally started while unplugged, thus consuming some of that EV charge. But if defrost is on, that forces ICE on, and so EV battery pull should be small.