How accurate is the “Dr. Prius” app?

Don’t you need one to have envy?

Or is it something else.

 

Well, I just did the LifeExpectancyTest using DrPrius (…and BAFX OBDII dongle), here are my preliminary results:

At the very end of the 800+sec(!!!!!) wait for the test to complete, I was frantically switching things on and off to try to keep the needle in the green area, but the silly thing was changing so fast (…all in the last 60 secs or so!!!) …but what the hell does 100.48% mean???? I've used HA's Prolong Grid-Charging system for the past 4 years, but if it's as good as that, then I think perhaps @jeff652 should be informed!!!

I haven't done the other test yet as I've not found anywhere in our apartment complex where I can accelerate to 45mph as quickly as possible and then stop in a safe manner! (…also I just can't stand the vocal-fry of the poor girl in the demo-videos! )

 

100.48% means that your battery blades have an average capacity of 6531.2mAh, which is slightly higher than the Toyota spec 6500mAh, note: Toyota usually ship the battery at around 7000mAh @ 1C brand spanking new.

so.. congrats! I guess that Prolong charging works, like many other users had reported.
I would love to see how long it can keep the NiMH refresh before it lose capacity for good.

Jack

 

Could the warning on @WilDavis' test be throwing things off? Or not that critical?

For the acceleration/deceleration test, the video says you need to bring it up to "45": assume that's mph? Does the app prompt you how long to accelerate? Or just bring it up to 45?Then just brake hard?

I'm still wondering where the heck to do this safely. Maybe some isolated farm country road with no side streets, Sunday morning.

 

even with the warning, the result should still be within +-5%, that is still one healthy battery pack

not sure about you guys but all my Prius do 0~60mph in 10 sec, means that I just need to put my lead foot down for around 7 seconds and switch that leg to the brake for another 3 seconds to conclude the load test, not like we have to hit 88mph to get the flux capacitor to charge up, lol

 

You're overthinking. IMO side streets (better yet, a bunch of small business plazas closed for the weekend) work best in this scenario, as you can turn your blinker on and brake, then get into said side street or plaza.

 

I just ran the life expectancy test twice on our 2011 V with 135,000 miles.

Hint - go to the special features and disable the reverse beep before starting test. It takes 15 minutes.

The first time, the engine started at about 4 minutes left so the test quit and gave me a score of mid 50’s. Did it again being more diligent on the current draw and made it to about 2 minutes before the engine started. Score in the 70’s.

It passed the full battery test.

My concern is the Battery Monitor and the Internal Resistance of block 4,6,9 & 10 and what that indicates.

Don

 

I think the resistance bar graph is maybe overly dramatic? I have a hunch the lowest value is always "no green".

I happened to do another this morning:



In bowling I think they'd call that "bed posts".

I've yet to do either of the tests. Are you supposed to keep the engine from starting? How to accomplish that?

It'd be nice if it had a more complete instruction, than the current YouTube videos.

 

Hi Jacktheripper!
Great app you have there! Helped me a great deal when I purchased my vehicle! Gave me a lot of confidence that the battery was good!
Keep up the great work!

 

yes, might be a bit too dramatic on the IR as the lower value didn't show any color (more like a bug, will try to fix it in the next release)

and you don't need to do anything to keep engine from starting during the test, simply follow the instruction on the screen and you should be fine, most users find first time always eventful but 2nd round should be smoother, feel free to send me email at [email protected] and I should be able to assist you promptly.

Best,
Jack

 

Thanks for the encouragement and glad the App able to help !
I will for sure continue to improve the App.

 

Thanks for the app. It gives my wife some confidence and me a better understanding. Our v is at 135K and we live in a remote area with marginal cell coverage. The dealer was absolutely useless with any information (no surprise) other then pull over and call a tow truck. And as you well know, the manual just says “reduced performance”.

Keep up the good work.

Don

 

Hello from Eastern Europe jack and thanks for your app.
Just one question. How does it look Life Expectancy test on my Prius 3 with almost 300.000 km and 10 years old?



For me it looks reasonable but I'm new to this stuff.
The other test passed with flying colors and Torque/Hybrid Assistant shows normal values when I'm monitoring.

Thanks.

 

Hi Burebista,

for a 300k km / 187.5K mile, your Gen3 is doing much better than mine at 50% which is still running ok.
yours still have years to go till retirement.

Jack

 

Thanks Don, actually if you ask, Toyota can do the life expectancy test for you at around $350 USD !!

 

Do we have any data at what point a battery tipicaly fails? Is this at 40% or lower? Is this dependent more on the individual module health? Can the app check that instead of just indicating that you have eg. 50% capacity left?

 

according to my experience, at 40% you should be getting the famous P0A80 (battery module weak, replace pack soon), car still drive fine but MPG drop quiet a bit.

To find individual blade problem, simply use the "Full battery test". Full battery test is basically doing load testing at around 100 Amp charging + discharging. Any bad blade will show weakness at that point.

Jack

 

Hey Jack, let me add my thanks for your great app. Also, I seem to remember you making a comment about the battery cooling fan only coming on at highway speeds, and that you could control that with your app. Does that mean we can use your app to make that fan come on at lower speeds?

 

I measured the capacity from 80% to 38% and got an estimated full capacity of whopping 2.42Ah, Ouch. Measured energy was 959mAh.

So 37% capacity and still runnig fine, 3 years ago I was at ~50%, seriously thinking about a newer Prius and let someone else deal with it.

 

yes, fan override is in the special feature page, simply adjust the temperature to your liking. (must warn you the fan is fairly noisy and irritating, at least for me)