Homebrew charge tracking: is this feasible?

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by CodeNamePancakes, Nov 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM.

  1. CodeNamePancakes

    CodeNamePancakes Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2024
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    Location:
    New England, USA
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XSE
    I've posted elsewhere that I am less than impressed with Connected Services and its reporting on my 2024 Prius Prime's charge history. Connected Services has now expired, I'm not going to pay $ for that quality of product, but I'm curious if it's possible to create a home-brew rig to replace the charge history.

    Parameters: I am a professional software engineer; computers, networks, and data do not scare me. I am a relative newbie to automotive systems, however, so there are places where I don't know what's possible or how difficult it may be to do.

    This is the plan I kind of mapped out in my head:

    1. Add a small network-enabled computer to the Prius Prime which can connect to my home wi-fi network. (Something like a Raspberry Pi.) This computer would sleep most of the time (don't want it drawing power) but would wake up and dump data at a fixed time of day (probably early morning) or on specific triggers (like returning to the home WiFi network after being out). Time-based reporting would be pretty easy; event-based is a little trickier, but not impossible.
    2. This computer would need to read data from the Prius Prime. I am hoping something like a Bluetooth OBDII interface would allow this to happen with a minimum of wiring-harness shenanigans, but this is where my lack of knowledge comes through: I don't know if the data I'm after is accessible through ODBII.
    3. I'd need an API service running on a host in my network to receive and store the data. (This is the part that's actually easy for me; I do this stuff professionally, and I can visualize a service running on my existing NAS which would receive data dumps and provide some basic reporting.)
    4. Ideally the "cleanup" would include disconnecting the Prius Prime's cell antenna so the data is no longer reported to Toyota. (I know this is not a widely-shared opinion, but my position is that if I actually own this car, I should have control over where its data goes.)
    How much of this is pie in the sky? Is battery charge data available through OBDII, or would I need a different data source? Is there an easier way to do any of this? Has anyone tried anything like this? (...why not, given the vibe I get from this crew?)
     
  2. otatrant

    otatrant Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2023
    311
    188
    10
    Location:
    San Francisco
    Vehicle:
    2023 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XSE Premium
    Currently do not have my Prius Prime at home and will not have it for another ~2 weeks to verify this but I have been using VCX Plus from VXDiag for about a week. The OBDII scanner connects to my NUC running Windows 11 with Techstream 18 downloaded from VXDiag site. The Hybrid Control Module transmits live data from the traction battery. Here is a screenshot from the Hybrid Control Module/ECU from Techstream.

    Xnip2025-11-15_16-40-26.jpg

    There may be more data available in Techstream from the Plug-In Control module but I did not screenshot it.


    Techstream 18 allows you to record data to store on you local hard drive and you there is an option to trigger recordings but I have not experimented with it. I connected the VCX Plus to my prime using a OBD-II diagnostic cable then connected my NUC to the VCX Plus via the included USB 3 cable. Alternatively the VCX Plus can connect to the PC via WLAN 802.11 b/g/n wireless network. I have not tested the wireless connection.

    The VCX Plus comes in a aluminum housing that is pretty substantial so you can't just plug it into the OBD-II port and leave it hanging there. VCX diagnostics has other OBD-II scanner tools which can hang from the OBD-II port and are in plastic housings and much lighter and have wireless as well as USB PC connection options.

    As far as using a bluetooth only OBD-II scanner tool you probably can get the data above from it but have only experimented with one app OBD Fusion that works with the bluetooth Carista tool. I have not heard of anyone being able to use a bluetooth only OBD-II tool to connect to Techstream.

    Here is a screenshot of the SAE PIDs relevant to battery charging available through the bluetooth OBD dongle I can monitor via OBD Fusion.

    SAE PIDs on OBD Fusion.jpg

    Here is a link to a pdf that shows all of the live data available from the Hybrid Control Module in Techstream 18.
     
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