EV switches on eBay

Wouls splicing a connector in to the wire that goes to the new pin make it easy to remove? If so, is there a Toyota brand connector, used elsewhere in the car, that would make it look untampered-with affter removal?

 

from what i understand, you dont splice, you use a wire tap.( just a clamp that forces a metal tap to break the insulation to connect to the line without cutting into it) removing the tap makes it very difficult to tell that anything was ever there.

 

I think he is referring to the added pin 27, but I don't know exactly what is being asked.
On the bottommost plug on the HV ECU, is an otherwise unused pin #27. A pin is added to the plug to make contact with the pin on the ECU itself. Depending on the pin used, it may be difficult to impossible to remove once installed. I don't know if Coastal uses the exact fit female pins, but if you were to borrow one from the combination switch for a DIY, as I did, those are just a tad too big and would stay there pretty much for good.

 

weeelll. depending on the type of pin used, some can be a real pain to remove. if using a PC power style connector pin, those can be removed by finding something that fits snugly over the pin but slides off easily. then pull the wire out slowly while allowing the pin to slide out the back.

i be willing to bet that most techs wouldnt notice the extra pin anyway unless they had to specifically look at the schematic for that plug.

and also, we are assuming that something is going to go wrong. so we gotta lotta "ifs" that have to happen for this mod to be a bad idea and i am simply not going to worry about it.

 

So the EV switch seems to be not very useful for me. I never start my car unless I am going to "drive" it. I'd leave it on the street before I'd start it to move into the garage. If I am going to another store I usually walk. So if there is no improvement in MPG do I need it? TIA.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(highbred\";p=\"99129)</div>

There is no MPG improvement and even if there was, you don't NEED it. As for moving it into the garage, the point being made is that you don't have to start the engine to move it into the garage. That saves wear on the ICE.

 

Yesterday, I received my EV button from the eBay supplier in Southern California. Now all I need is my Prius to install it on and I'll be good to go!

 

Prius acquired yesterday, EV button installed today and you can add me to the list of factory EV button installers. My most sincere thanks to Evan and Rick's instructions as well as the input of everyone else who has installed the button.

I took my time with it and made sure to read everything carefully. In all, everything went off without a hitch ... everything, that is, save for the pin in the ECU - what an absolute pain!!! Hard enough trying to do this in a confined space, however, I kept having problems with the pins breaking every time I tried to insert it past the halfway point. I guess I'm fortunate that my needle-nose pliers were able to pull the broken stem out each time. After three unsuccessful cracks at it, I decided to employ a different strategy. The copper 22-gauge wire was way too thin to sit in slot #27 on its own ... so what should I do was all I was thinking. Then it struck me ... strip the wire double the length of the pin insertion distance, make two folds of the wire to bring it to the appropriate thickness such that the copper wire would make contact with the lead in the slot, cap the top half of the bare copper wire with the broken pin and wrap just enough of it around the insulation so that it wouldn't go anywhere (my thought being that it would serve to retain the pin in the slot) and insert it into slot #27. All right ... maybe I get an "F" for soldering and pin insertion class but I scored an "A" on EV functionality because I tested it and it worked just fine and dandy ... no warning lights ... no nothing! Initially, into my test drive, I received the three beep warning denying my request into EV mode which made my day as I knew it must be working. After driving for a few minutes, I got to a point where I could drive about 25-30 mph and I tried again. This time, however, I achieved EV mode and sustained it for almost two miles!!! When the battery status dropped to three bars, I received a three-beep audible warning and the gas engine kicked back on ... mission a success!

In all, it was a nice way to spend Sunday afternoon and I was able to acquire my techno-geek fix for the day!

Peace!

 

Do you know of a place to get instructions to install an "EV prefered" button in a 2002 prius?

:mrgreen:

 

I'm not aware that the 2002 is capable of EV mode.