How accurate is the “Dr. Prius” app?

ouch, sorry to hear the low score, you should be getting the P0A80 at anytime, although it is just a warning code, some state (ex: CA) won't let you pass the smog, FYI.

Jack

 

but everything resets once the app is disconnected, right?

 

Good question. I'm thinking the fan speed override would stick? Similar to single beep reverse?

 

Currently the fan speed won't stick once you close the App ( I actually feel safer this way, don't want any App to drain my cell phone battery), but I'm working on making the App to run at the background, will make it configurable. FYI.

 

I guess there's no way to make it 'really' stick, like having it always run on level 3 without ne phone connection ?

 

I just got 81.5% in my 2008 Gen 2 with original battery; am quite pleased as I have 260,000km on the clock, original battery although voltage sense harness is newer (after last,one shorted out)

 

A warning about controlling fan speed...

A while ago I did an experiment where I set the heater to ‘max’, and the batteries really heated up; I monitored the fan speed and it went from 1 to zero, stayed zero for ages, and did brief periods at level 1. The battery ECU seems to try to only cool the battery if the cabin air is cooler than the battery (which makes sense)

I would be worried about forcing the fan to max; if the battery is colder than the cabin, the battery will get covered in condensation. And probably corrode badly etc... so, I would leave the fan as-is, and only activate forced cooling mode once the battery has warmed up, and only when air con is on, to prevent condensation....

 

A rule of thumb is, NiMH battery enjoy operating at right about human body temperature (95~100), so if you feel hot sitting in the cabin, your battery is feeling hot too !!

The best time using fan override is during traffic jam, where the ECU turn off fan to reduce the noise, while reducing the battery life at the same time...

 

Wow that’s some seriously low capacity! How many miles has this car driven, and has it seen extreme heat?

 

No extreme heat, 190k km, already sold it, traded it in for 1 year old gen4. It could be a measuring error.

I drove some hilly terain, but not daily, just ocasinally.

 

Damn that’s not that many miles. My sister has 2010 with 268k (miles) and still gets good mpg and seems to have good capacity left. Just bought an OBD adapter so I’m anxious to see how the battery looks.

 

My 08 with 125k (recently purchased) has a 66% of life expectancy. Is that a good number. How do I interpret this result? Will keep it for 1.5 years or so.. thanks

 

Well,i just did the test again, in fact twice.

1) The capacity was at 66% last week (battery was charged at 8 bars as instructed on the app,used gas pedal to keep the needle in the green area while it was in reverse)
2) A week later is down to 60.1% (battery overdraw from time to time, but compromised, did not use gas pedal this time)
3) 10 minutes later it is down to 56.4% (the battery was almost full (7 bars not 8) so it skipped step 1 automatically, did not use the gas pedal.

I am not sure which one I should rely on as I dont think the batter degrades from 66 to 56.4 in one week. Worrying about reliability of this test

 

Apps will never be consistent or accurate. Hybrid assistant app connected to my car and then status showed “TELSA”.

I’m starting to miss those “Just drive it” folks.

 

2007 with 235,000 miles, original battery. Just had discharge and rebalance

 

Believe it or not, NIMH batteries love about 76 F.

BTW, love your app and bought the Garage Pkg... I do LOT's of car diagnosis.

 

Can anyone tell me what’s going on with these 2 Screenshots?

I mean I’m confused, either i be worried or not?

 

Looks bad, you don’t have 5G or LTE service. Change carrier soon as you can, you can get better deals else where.

 

sorry dear but I didn’t get you.

 

Try cleaning your battery fan and clear dust from the air path going through the battery.