engine not displaying on monitor

Your observations are consistent with mine.

 

What could it show? If it isn't charging the battery, and it isn't powering the wheels, then there shouldn't be any arrows. Makes sense.

Now, if they had a simple "engine running" indication, maybe just animating the icon like they do the wheels...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"43447)</div>

Evan,

You don't really expect me to take a picture of the MFD while driving, do you? One of your LA colleagues may end up with an extra patient in the ER if I were to do so.

:lol:

Seriously. I have managed, on a few occasions, to manipulate the gas pedal to the point that no arrows were showing at all, while at the same time I can still feel that the ICE is on. On other instances, I have been stopped at a red light for a minute or two. No arrows were showing to indicate that any activity is taking place and all of a sudden the car shudders slightly as the ICE turns itself off.

Mind you, I have not even had the car for two weeks and am still getting the feel for it. Some of my impressions may not be accurate.

My car is one of the very first 05s with barely 600 miles on the odometer.

 

Remember the MFD updates every 3 seconds, so the ICE can still be shown as running (or not) when its not (or is).

As I read the original post I understood there was no ICON showing. Now that would be strange.

toolbox: Can you clarify?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"43527)</div>

Where is there an ICE icon? Are you referring to the engine symbol on the MFD "Energy" screen? If so, I am sure that at times it indicates that the ICE is off when I know for a fact that the engine is running.

 

evan, i do believe your hypothesis is correct. they are refering to stealth mode and the warm up period.

there will be several times when no arrows are present even when the car is warmed up and running at freeway speeds. we on this site refer to it as running in "stealth" mode.

this does not mean the engine is not running. it simply means that the engine is not outputting enough power for any of its functions to register on the screen.

this happens frequently and under several different conditions depending on what you are doing.

it could be that you are on a long slight downgrade and has just enough gas pedal pressure to maintain speed without charging.

be assured that the car is doing something and there needs to be a transistional area when the engine goes from powering the wheels to charging the battery (or both) to providing power to the EV.

this is normal operation. certain types of flourescent light needs 80 volts to remain lit... but need 110+ volts to light up...

this creates an area between the starting voltage (110+) and the "running" voltage or what is needed to keep light on (80) where sometimes the light is on and some times its off...

when turning the light on from an off state. the "between" voltage will result in a light that is off... but if the light is on, then that voltage will result in a light that is on.

so you have the same voltage values, but two different states of the light. that is what you are seeing on the screen when there are no arrows present. you will notice that you can run the gamut of arrow direction if you choose to do so by somewhat aggresive gas pedal action... you can go from the "3 arrows" (arrows to the wheels battery and EV) to the other extreme of arrows to just the battery from either the wheels or the ICE.

but the very gentle (and recommended here for maximum efficiency) and correct pedal action can result in a longer time between the arrow transistions including times when no arrows are present.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"43584)</div>

Evan,

I have watched my dashboard like a hawk, on the drive home from the office, for any sign of such an icon. Other than the arrows in the "Energy" screen, I have found nothing to indicate whether or not the ICE is running. Just where is that icon that you are referring to? Perhaps its absence is one of the differentiations between the 04 and the 05 models.

 

its the picture of a little motor... with fan blade.

it will be about top center on screen. it will not be on dash but the TFT screen. its the screen that shows energy flow in the system.

http://priuschat.com/forums/album_thumbnai....php?pic_id=753

see it bet the front wheel and SOC indicator? labeled "engine" (never realized that it was labeled till looking at this pic)

the pic you see was when my car was warming up. i am coasting down a freeway overpass and as you can see, although i am regenerating i still have poor mpg reading of 13 mpg because my car was still in the warm up stage.

 

A better link

http://www.priuschat.com/forums/album_pic.....php?pic_id=753

 

This is fun!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"43624)</div>

I am well familiar with that picture, except that it is a static image that does not change at all to indicate whether the ICE is running or not. The icon which I could not find, because it does not exist, monitors if the ICE is On or Off.

 

oic what you are getting at. and you are right. the screen only shows power distribution when involved in motion of the car only.