Coastel EV switch stopped working?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Feb 6 2007, 12:13 PM) [snapback]386151[/snapback]</div>

Alright, look it!
I have this tiny little all-aluminum engine and it gets cold really darned fast. So if you think just because we came to a stop I am going to automatically shut off, you're out of your mind. And pushing my buttons isn't going to change my mind.

Now, if you really cared about emissions you'd understand that one of the things my engine does is to keep the catalytic converter heated properly. When will it sink into that thick-skulled meatball that I will not shut down my engine when it might sacrifice the proper operation of the catalytic converter?

And by the way. What do you say you look at the window a little more often. I see you sitting at your desk talking about me. It's snowing out here. Do you care? NOOOooooo. It's 2ºF and snowing! Would it kill you to buy an engine block heater?!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(grasshopper @ Feb 6 2007, 11:57 AM) [snapback]386134[/snapback]</div>

My coastal EV switch works just fine at 40F as long as the battery state is above 3 bars, the ICE is warmed up, I am at 34 mph or less. Outside those parameters, you get 3 beeps. Are you holding the cruise stalk back for the 2 seconds? That is how it is activated. If it is working, but not available, that will be displayed at the top of the MFD; "EV MODE NOT AVAILABLE".

The efficiency of this device is another matter. Draining the battery down to 3 bars in using EV causes a longer running time of ICE to recharge. So it is my observation that the only time it is efficient is at the end of a drive when stopping for a longer period of time where ICE will run anyway to warm up when restarted. Or when just backing out of the garage to wash for example is another time to use it. Also, stopping completely to use EV is not efficient either because it take more battery power to accelerate from a stop than to just go into EV once below 34 mph. I find that I am 99.99 mpg once I take my foot off the pedal while decelerating and even if I continue to drive it stays at 99.99 mpg for a period of time while driving below 42 mph until charging is needed or the engine cools to much. So EV is really a toy but used effectively can possible gain some limited amount of efficiency. I give credit to Evan as he gave me most of the insight upfront that I have applied to develope my own usage from.

I think you might not be holding the cruise stalk long enough to activate...try it, I hope it is that simple.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Feb 6 2007, 10:34 AM) [snapback]386163[/snapback]</div>

Wouldn't work Doc, he would just try to feed it to his battery!

 

I've definitely noticed a correlation between temp and the EV mode not responding. I've held the stalk for way longer than two seconds and I get nothing. No beeps. I've never seen a message displayed... ever and I've had ev toggle installed for over a year now. Is that a 2006 thing?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Feb 7 2007, 06:35 PM) [snapback]386770[/snapback]</div>

Yes it is. Just goes to show how much EV software there is in the Prius, considering we're in a country where the EV mode isn't available.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Feb 7 2007, 07:41 PM) [snapback]386775[/snapback]</div>

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing this. I don't see green very often, the highest I usually get is 6 bars. I've noticed that I don't even really need to activate EV when the SOC is really high though. The car seems to go there itself until the SOC comes back down into the blue. The few times I've had 8 bars the car runs almost exclusively off of the battery unless I demand a lot of power (which I don't, I just let the car do its thing).

This winter's been much colder than last year so I havn't been able to ev as much. Hell, there have been a number of days when the ICE starts up almost immediately upon boot up. Way faster than 7 seconds, more like 0.5-1.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Feb 7 2007, 08:21 PM) [snapback]386805[/snapback]</div>

It seems to do this when the temp is < 15F but I haven't really kept tabs on it. Next cold snap I'll see if I can't gather better data.

Now that my sailboat is in the garage the Prius is parked in the driveway so the engine is pretty much at OAT when I start it up in the morning.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Feb 7 2007, 07:17 PM) [snapback]386801[/snapback]</div>

The only time I haven't been able to go into EV at cold startup (and this has been down to 0F), has been when other conditions haven't allowed (e.g., state of charge). The only times that I haven't had ~ 7 seconds were when I wife had left the defroster or AC on when powering down.

Are you certain that the defroster hadn't been left on?

Dave M.

 

My Coastal EV switch always worked erratically and mostly under cold temperatures, not to long ago I started using the relay driver from CANview and comparing operations of same and 95 % of the time when Coastal EV didn't engage the EV mode, the hard connection from the relay activated through CANview provide me the necessary EV mode in the Prius. So, under my Lupe, the Coastal EV product is not a perfect operating piece of equipment yet, or at least the one I have. After 2 emails sent regarding this to the guys @ Coastal with not answer, I decided to give up the case. Their customer support is well known already in this forum.

It is a great product and I love it when worked right, but......