Black Bars in Consumption Screen

I've seen that once. I was coming down Mt. Charleston and coasted most of the time. That's the only time I've seen it.

 

I have a black bar every once in a while. I wondered if it was an anomaly or defect. It was a long distance drive, the car appeared to be at an optimum operating level (good fuel economy, fully charged battery).

 

It's SOP. If the ICE does not go on for the period, a blank-bar results. It happens in jammed rush hour traffic in my experience. It has been discussed before, but I could not find the thread either.

 

Only in non metric countries. In a metric country it would mean 0L/100km so no confusion.
I have seen this on another thread and the theory is that the original calculation is in metric converted to US measurements by software, there fore if the consumption is 0L/100km there is no consumption to report so a reading of 0mpg comes up.
There have been at least 3 previous threads on this.
http://priuschat.com/index.php?act=Search&...ite=missing+bar

 

I saw it yesterday for the first time.. stuck in traffic due to an accident... went about 1/2 hour with no ice creeping along..thought i'd get a great mpg reading once i was back up to speed. No such luck !
i believe there must be a low end threshold of speed that you must hit to have it register.

 

See it quite often. Especially in the mountains or in heavy traffic. The bar is left blank because it would have to display infinite mileage otherwise. Which would be ridiculous. So it trips the divide by zero catch in the software and calls for a blank. It's more meaningful when the display is l/100 km, as the blank is 0 l/100 km, which it is if you move and don't burn fuel.

I think it still uses the data in that 5 min interval in the overall mileage calculation though. If it was the only five minute interval (ie - reset just before it) then no, it would throw that calc. out temporarily and wait for more data.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 20 2007, 05:37 AM) [snapback]515171[/snapback]</div>

Correct. With our miles/gallon calculation you get a divide by zero error if no fuel is used. Toyota chose to display infinite mileage as a black or empty bar.

Tom

 

So the metric prii more accurately display what is going on if you travel a distance and don't use any fuel (0L/100km).

That leaves me with the question of what the metric prii display when fuel is used during a 5 minute interval but the car doesn't move. That should create a divide by 0 condition with the metric L/100km measurement. The non-metric Prii accurately display this as 0 mpg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Sep 20 2007, 09:16 AM) [snapback]515255[/snapback]</div>

Pearl shows -.- l/100 km.

 

When I fill up and the milage resets if I don't get going but the ICE starts the instant reading is 99.9L/100km so I would imagine if I sat still for long enough and the ICE had run in that 5 minute segment I would just get a full height bar, I'll have to try it now.

 

is there anyway to quote "flip a switch" to make the american prius read in metric?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SureValla @ Sep 20 2007, 06:39 PM) [snapback]515486[/snapback]</div>

I've had the black bar show when sitting in traffic without moving for more than 5 minutes, then black. If crawling along in traffic, no ICE, then full bar.

 

If you have 35 minutes, you can use this trick to fill your display with 100 MPG bars. First warm-up the car by driving 45+ mph for about 20 minutes and drive to a parking lot on a day without rain, wind and temperatures above 60F:

1) stop car, leaving it in "N" and wait for current 5 min. bar to transfer to summary area
2) slip car in "D" and gently achieve 6 mph to get one, 100 MPG bar
3) slip car into "N" and wait 5 minutes
4) when 100 MPG bar shows up in summary area, goto step 2.

After 35 minutes, take a photo of full-bar, display and have a happy.

Bob Wilson