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Variation of EV switch install

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by galaxee, Jun 19, 2005.

  1. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    We installed our Factory EV yesterday, and had a few notes we would like to share with our friends here at PriusChat. Mostly this is a spinoff of efusco's article and htmlspinnr's article, but may hold a few advantages.

    We constructed a wiring harness for the switch, like htmlspinnr did. But we went about it slightly differently.

    Step 1. Go to a junkyard. You are looking for the following from a Toyota car.

    -One connector that has the correct size pins for the EV switch. Make sure there are at least 3, 8-inch wires that you can cut off along with this connector. (we used the hazard light button harness from his old "spare parts car" 88 Camry)

    -One connector that meets the above standards for pin size, but has at least one six-foot wire that you can cut off along with the connector. (for this we used brake light wiring from the same car.)

    Step 2. Construct the wiring harness.

    -From the first connector (the one with 3, 8-inch wires) release 3 pins with their wires attached. Place these in slots 1, 2, and 4 of the EV switch housing.

    -From the second connector (the one with 1, 6-foot wire) release the 6-foot wire and place the pin into slot 3 of the EV housing. Attach a pin from the flasher (see efusco's guide) to the far end of the wire.

    -If the pins don't lock into place correctly, they might slide back and forth inside the housing and not allow a connection. To correct this situation, push the wires all the way into the connector and put a drop of super glue in the back where the wire enters the connector. Make sure the glue is completely dry and the wires do not move after this step.

    [edit: pictures added below]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Step 3. Test the wiring harness connection.

    -Plug the harness into the EV switch. Make sure everything fits correctly and locks into place.

    Step 4. Connect the switch.

    -Use efusco's guide to disassemble the correct dash panels and do other necessary prep. We also recommend disconnecting the 12V battery. (ECUs aren't cheap, baby)
    -Use the pin 1 wire (illumination +) to connect to the gray wire from the dimmer switch. (we used a scotch lock.)
    -The other 2 short wires, pins 2 and 4, are illumination ground and EV ground. Directly behind the recess where the switch mounts into the dash there is a dash assembly brackets, and a couple of 10mm nuts holding them together. Stip and inch around each wire, unscrew 2 nuts, wrap the stripped wire around each stud, and replace the nuts. (Using separate stude prevents dash rattle. If you're using small wire you can probably do both grounds on 1 stud.)
    -The 6 foot wire goes across the dash to the HV ECU. (see efusco's guide for explanation, he describes it well)

    Refer to the other guides for finishing up installation, this is the end of where we vary things. :)

    The purpose of doing it this way was:
    1. To eliminate any possibility of a loose connection at the switch. No crimping or soldering of wires into connections that may not fit well.
    2. It's reversible. The only evidence left behind upon removal of the harness and switch is the 2 small cuts on the gray dimmer switch wire. And the end result is only intruding on your wiring system in one place.
    3. The wiring is automotive grade from Toyota. We bought a factory switch, why not use factory wiring? And the pins fit the way they should.

    This is just the way we did it and is only a suggestion. We claim no liability for anything that may happen while attempting this install on your own vehicle... and all that legal stuff. Enough said. :)
     
  2. Hybrid_Dave

    Hybrid_Dave New Member

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    Thanks for the great amendment to the other instructions. Great idea about using other Toyota parts. I like the fact that this method is reversible, that could help greatly for service appointments. I've got a place local that has tons of junked Toyotas sitting around, looking forward to getting this mod done.

    Dave.
     
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Good suggestions....Please add your post to the Knowledge base comments after my article or Rick's article so it will all be in one place. Sounds like a little leg work paid off nicely.

    I'm not sure there's any advantage to disconnecting the 12v battery though. Since the plug is out of the ECU anyway you aren't going to short anything out while working on that piece. If you've misconnected something it's going to fry anyway once you reconnect the 12v. But heck, a little added safety never hurt anyone.
     
  4. ryogajyc

    ryogajyc Active Member

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    I'm currently in the middle of the Factory EV button install myself, hampered by the lack of pins/wire terminals for the EV switch housing. I managed to finagle two from one Toyota dealership and calling around others, no one has any in stock. I haven't tried a junkyard yet since there don't seem to be any close to me.

    For those who don't want to go through the trouble of finding the part number for the pins like I did, the Toyota Part # is 82998-12360. This actually is a pre-crimped pin with a short piece of wire used as a repair splice. I was told by several part departments they do not sell the pin/wire terminal separately. Using the wire directly isn't really an issue for illumination +/- and ground, but the wire is a pretty thick gauge, so using it for the ECU pin is not very satisfactory (if you want to crimp it and whatnot... 24 guage is best for that to match the other ECU wiring, and I had a bit of a challenge stuffing 22 guage into the ECU pin). I'm surprised I couldn't find this part number mentioned before or why this isn't included with the EV switch/housing by those sellers out there. Oh, last thing is this part is unfortunately pretty expensive. They were $5 a piece and that was after a discount (tho' www.toyotapart.com lists them for $3.75).

    As a variation on galaxee's variation, I bought t-taps instead of the scotch locks. These t-taps have the dual advantage of having a quick disconnect connector so that the EV wiring harness can be quickly removed temporarily, and the t-tap itself can be removed permanently leaving only only a small slit in the wire insulation which can be covered up with electrical tape. This is slightly more invasive than Tom Stangl's wiring harness, but a lot easier to do and requires no soldering (I find soldering to tiny pins is always hard to do in a clean way and crimping comes out nicer/more factory like). Here's what scotch locks vs t-taps look like.

    For those with experience with the OEM installed EV button in Japan and Europe, can you comment on the EV button illumination behavior? It seems odd to me that there is no visual status indicator of EV mode like light or something. The only thing is an audio cue of 1 beep or three beeps. Is that how the OEM installed EV button behaves? I have been wondering if the actual behavior of the OEM installed EV button is that illuminates in EV mode, and is off otherwise. This sort of makes more sense to me since it would provide a visual cue and also match the light dimmer (which is not illuminated and sits right beside it). The various Factory EV button install guides have the EV button always illuminated, which like it might not be OEM behavior, IMO.

    Oh, one more thing for Evan. The removal of the bottom plastic piece of steering wheel column can be done in a slightly better way, I think. I was afraid using a screwdriver to pry the two pieces apart would leave marks (and they did make some minor ones, unfortunately). I think the reason the two are stuck together is because of plastic latches that is part of the design. I think you can unlatch them by pressing on the bottom steering column piece behind the turn signal and windshield wiper levers and then tugging on the bottom steering column piece to pull it apart.
     
  5. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    As far as visualization... someday when he has time my husband is going to disassemble the dash and try to find a blank spot to place an indicator. We looked already and the main display (the one with mph and all that, i don't know the technical name for it) does not have a premade slot for an EV indicator.

    This is a job for another day though. We have to finish detailing today and leave for vacation tomorrow! :)

    Evan, I will post this and pics of the wiring harness in the KB.
     
  6. kartanoman

    kartanoman New Member

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    Go back and read Rick's factory EV button install procedure as it explicitly discusses how to wire the EV button in order to activate its illumination feature. Give it a read and see if that doesn't help. It's an excellent read and I plan to follow both Rick's and Evan's procedures to install the EV button (that I already have) just as soon as I take ownership of my vehicle.

    Peace!
     
  7. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    I believe Joe is referring to having the light on when EV mode is on and off when EV mode is off. The current wiring situation just has the light on and there is no visual ON/OFF indicator for EV mode, just one beep from the audio system to let you know you activated the switch.

    I am also interested in finding out what the behavior of the switch in Europe and Japan is like... is there an indicator on the dash or something?
     
  8. kartanoman

    kartanoman New Member

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    Peace ... I understand. It goes and stays on along with all the other console lights, right? Bear with me as I'm looking forward to installing the button and I don't even have the car yet!

    It would seem logical that an indicator in the dash would activate when EV mode is invoked and I agree that feedback from an OCONUS owner would answer the question.

    Sorry for speaking out of turn!

    Peace!
     
  9. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Those countries where the EVb is standard have an indicator on the dash that comes on when EV is active.
     
  10. ryogajyc

    ryogajyc Active Member

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    Thanks for the info. A dash indicator would be nice. I did a quick check to see if it exists but is merely inactive on my Prius and apparently the US(NA?) Prius doesn't even have the indicator. [sigh] I'd like the factory indicator, but importing a dash indicator panel is a bit more trouble and money than I'm willing to put forth.

    BTW, the pins from www.toyotapart.com may be relatively inexpensive, but base shipping starts somewhere over $20! I asked a local dealer to order a couple more for me... finishing my EVb mod will have to wait.
     
  11. DaveG

    DaveG Member

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    Well, I did my install today and all went well. I took my time (about 2 hrs) in the warm Vancouver sun and took everything apart and followed instructions by Evan and Rick.

    A few thoughts:

    It was pretty easy to detach the vent on the passenger side after taking the glovebox out, but the driver's side was pretty difficult - I didn't want to mess up the plastic by prying around the seams. I finally reached around underneath by the parking-brake pedal and pushed the bottommost yellow clip off with a finger from behind. Popped right out after that (have a look for the yellow clip on the passenger one when you have it off - the clips are on the edge towards the center of the dash.

    I took the lower plastic panel off of the steering column to get better access while removing the pin from the flasher assembly and while feeding the EV wire - needed to unscrew the two phillips screws holding the tilt-adjust handle on, then removed the handle. It is very easy to detach the lower half of the steering column cover by reaching up from underneath (where the tilt handle is) and pulling downwards.

    I was skeptical, but using a flat kitchen knife is really the best way to remove the button cover and the dimmer assembly :)

    I also used the t-taps and tapped onto the grey for the power, and the white-black for a ground for both the EV and the light on the button.

    Feeding the EV wire with a coathanger was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. With lots of sunlight, it only took a minute or two to thread the coathanger through and pull the wire back.

    Getting the plug out of the ECU module wasn't too hard - the terminal locking strip only raises up a few millimeters, so don't try and get it any higher than that. The pin IS difficult to install (likely because it's the wrong size pin). I used some needlenose pliers to grip it from the sides and slide it down, rather than pushing from the back. Seemed to work well - then a final push with a small screwdriver to seat it in position.

    Worked out OK - I've had EV mode going, but also getting the 3-beep "exit" indicator when trying to enter EV mode too. I've been reading up a bit and perhaps it's because it's really bloody hot today and the engine (or battery?) is too warm to engage the mode (may also be because I was using the A/C). It powers on in EV fine in the parking garage where it's a bit cooler after being off for 10 min or so.

    More experimenting tonight/tomorrow :p

    Dave
     
  12. ryogajyc

    ryogajyc Active Member

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    Removing various pop-out pieces of plastic is a lot easier with plastic spreaders. They are softer than the interior plastic pieces so they will protect them and allow you to wedge into cracks and pry with a bit of leverage. Just apply nice slow controlled pressure and you'll have no worries about marring the plastic interior. To see what I'm talking about... Thanks to Tom for clueing me into them. :)

    Just the picture of the the kitchen knife prying out the button cover made me queasy... :p I found I could just reach around and push it out from behind (after pulling the bottom dash piece out).

    Did you go from driver side to passenger side with the coat hanger? Maybe that's where I went wrong. I went from passenger to driver's side and had a bit of a problem finding the end of it. I ended up taking apart a bit of the dash around the steering wheel to see more of what's going on.

    I envy those with a factory EVb... right now my installation involves a very ghetto wire sticking out of the button cover hole... Hopefully, I'll get my hands on some pins tomorrow and join the ranks of the factory EVb Prius owners. :)
     
  13. DaveG

    DaveG Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ryogajyc\";p=\"100275)</div>
    I tried pushing that button cover out, but since I didn't take the bottom of the console off, it wasn't going to happen. The knife (as long as it's thin) actually works quite well by compressing the little catch enough for it to pop out easily.

    I went from the passenger side through to the driver side. I fed the coathanger (end folded into a loop, covered with tape to prevent snagging) just above the large bolt. I went across just over the big black screw shown in Evan's Picture and the wire came out near the back of the steering column (easy to see with the bottom panel of the steering column removed).

    Dave
     
  14. Natedog

    Natedog New Member

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    I installed a factory EV swith this past weekend. I used both the acticles posted on this site. What a great resource! Thanks to all who have contributed. I bought my switch from Japanparts.com. I deviated slightly from the recommeded install in that I soldered directly to the pins on the EV switch. I put heat shrink over each soldered connection. I took power from the dimmer swtih as recommended. The RadioShack telephone taps worked great! My install is not easily reversable, but I don't plan on taking it out.
    Nate
     
  15. DaveG

    DaveG Member

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    Hmm... Is it only possible to switch to EV mode on startup? I have no problems getting the car into EV when I start it up, but when I'm driving it doesn't seem to switch.

    Press the EV button once, silence, press it again, 3-beeps, press again silence, press again 3-beeps and so on.

    Is that normal?

    Dave
     
  16. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveG\";p=\"100393)</div>
    EV will only engage at speeds of 30mph or less (I think). If you are already on the Energy screen it will engage, but no beep if you're going slow enough and the SOC is in range and such. If you're on the consumption screen it will switch to Energy screen and beep so you'll know it engaged.

    If you get 3 beeps it means that you're either not through warm-up or it's kicking out of EV mode.
     
  17. boxer93

    boxer93 Psyched for PHEV

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    I know this is an old thread, it didn't seem like many people were installing the OEM switch. I just installed the EV Switch in my 2008 without too much difficulty. Acquired the part from Sigma Auto. All I needed to do was trim 1 connector for pin 27 and add wire to run from passenger side to driver side and get wire taps. Everything else was supplied.
    The only stupid thing I did was have the car on in accessory mode (listening to the radio) While I unplugged the connector from the block fitted the pin and reinserted. A couple of drives and it appears to be fine.
    EV mode works and I like the OEM look of the switch. Hopefully it will light up when dark outside. It seems most people are using the Coastal option (I actually put one my brother in law's 2006). I used this option since my 2008 was a base with no CC. Thanks to all the posts on PC about these switches. It makes it much easier to attempt.
    Chris