Sun and planet.
Hard to say. I think in my case the pedal cable just rotates a variable resistor which is read and the computer opens the actual throttle. The car has "normal" and "ECO" settings but I think all that does is mean you've to press harder to get the same thing. I always choose the "power" setting to get better response. Doesn't seem to affect consumption.
So they 'drive directly' then?
eg, They aren't like the bit you snipped, a 'IC>Electric' solution, an IC 'engine' running a generator of some sort, with or without some batteries and that (only) driving an electric traction motor.
Like 'Diesel-Electric' trains or the Steam turbine > electric ships my Dad was on?
Cheers, T i m
Or battery going high resistance or poor connection to the battery (same outcome)?
After what sort of time and in what temperature? If your 'too low' includes the observation of it not rising at all and after a bit of time then yes.
Because of a large parasitic load somewhere? I saw this on my mates SL63 the other day when the main battery (in the boot) was flattening the smaller starter battery in the engine bay. The 'fault' was actually the dual output alternator.
Or lack of charge before being turned off last time? This could be simply a 'summer battery' (a battery with sufficient capacity to work ok in the summer but not in the winter) being worked a bit harder the day before. Lights being left on for a while after the engine was off etc.
These days I agree with you. However, I had both Voltmeter and Ammeter in my Morris minor van and used to scan them fairly regularly because it would allow me both a point check and a feeling about the general charging / battery status. That said, I also had a tacho and oil pressure gauge and found them all interesting and helpful (if not daily as such).
Cheers, T i m
no (see what he says at 13:50 in the video below)
As they say "it's complicated"
My last company car was a hybrid Peugeot 508. That didn't have a rev counter and I never missed not having one. It had a power meter in its place showing which motor was driving the car and when the batteries were being charged or discharged.
Mike
That's what ears are for, surely ?
I learned to drive in a FIAT 500 - no synchromesh and no clutch most of the time. Made up for the abuse my Mum gave it :)
Sorry (not following the whole thread), were we talking specifically about the Prius or these hybrid transmissions in general?
My mate has the
;-)
If at any point there is a mechanical link between the engine and the transmission, even if the engine is never actually driving the vehicle on it's own, I would still call that 'direct drive'. That would be compared to a diesel > electric train where the engine was *only* coupled to the driven wheels via electricity. Or the "Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust", a pure EV with diesel range extender ... ;-)
A mate has a Vauxhall / Opel Ampera (Chevy Volt) and that has a similar 'mixed' drive modes:
Even more so considering how many performance cars are autos these days and can't be over-revved.
Wonder just how visible that will be with the sun on it? My car has part LCD (or whatever) in the analogue gauges, which can be difficult to read with the roof down and the sun in a certain direction.
If they know how to interpret it. ;-)
Many cars with Bosch engine management have a temperature gauge fed off the ECU. Gauge looks perfectly normal, but once the engine is hot, will read bang in the middle over a wide range of true coolant temp. Only if this range is exceeded will it read high.
Probably why you no longer get an oil pressure gauge and an ammeter. They worry people.
A decent voltmeter does the same. Or to save space, a tri-colour LED. Red when discharging, amber when just balancing the load (normal), green when charging.
Where alternators now put out over 100 amps, difficult to make an analogue ammeter that would read a small charge or discharge.
I've built a digital voltmeter into the SD1 rev counter. Which is on with the ignition - but via a relay, so reads direct across the battery.
No room for it in the speedo, so that's a use for the revcounter.
Because with the alternator charging, it will read something like 13.8v. No charge, 12 and a bit with a fresh battery.
Dates from racing car days when you really did need to watch the red line. I'd say it was superfluous on modern road cars which surely all have rev limiters. Perhaps just about useful if you want to drag-race off the lights (but you need to know the peak torque revs and slip the clutch to maintain this).
Mine has a water temp gauge with 8 (?) discrete LEDs arranged as a bargraph, when the engine is stone cold the segment between 50 and 60°C will be on, over a short distance (1/2 mile?) they will light up one by one until it reaches 90°C and stay there, as you say, I don't think I've ever seen it higher or lower than that once running and warmed-up.
The car also has an LCD display, it is possible to call up an oil temperature gauge, it has a much higher resolution (each pixel about 1 or 2°C) that takes longer to reach even 60° and much longer (10-20 miles?) to reach 85 to 90°C, but it does vary.
How much of the difference is due to different thermal capacity of oil vs water, and how much the arrangement and flow rates of cylinder water jacket and block oil galleries, or faking around to smooth the numbers out, I have no idea ...
Maybe Bosch think that anyone who has gone out of their way to show oil temperature wants an accurate number, but anyone merely glancing at the water temperature just wants a "don't worry" indication?
Maybe OBD-II could coax an accurate water temperature out of the ECU?
Many yeras ago with my aging and incipienrt dementia addled mum in the passenger seat and my diminutive girlfriend in what passed as the rear seat of my XJS, the dear old bird leaned over and said 'Oh: Only 55? it feels a lot faster
I was doing 125 mph. She had looked at the tacho.
I wouldn't have specced it if ordering from the factory, but mine was an e-demo, so the dealer had specced "virtual cockpit" which is a shaped LCD screen surrounded by a normal looking binnacle and a few discrete warning LEDs (i.e. not a telsa-like laptop screen from the centre console, though it has a smaller screen like that too).
Never had any problem with visibility.
DSG and launch control FTW!
I do not drive automatics.
I think all hybrids use the same scheme.
yes there's a physical connection between the three drive shafts, but what power goes in or out of one shaft depends on the speed and direction you're putting in or taking out of the other two, or holding one of them still.
Pretty much the same thing with added clutches, if it helps with efficiency fair enough, but if they're reaching the speed limit of the motor why not just put a 2-speed gearbox on the motor, or use 2 planet sets like an automatic?
How would an ammeter tell you that?
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