Monitoring Hybrid Battery State-Of-Charge

[SuperDave71]

Maybe with all the EV’s in CA his maverick is flexing a bit haha

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[GPSMan]

Interesting, I’ve never seen the blue battery bar in Mav ever get this big in 1500 miles, is this in a certain driving mode? I wonder if something’s up with mine

I usually don't have a blue bar that large either. Consider this the maximum, not the typical.

 

[GPSMan]

I don't have a definitive answer, but my guess is, it's telling you EV mode is possible if demand is low enough. I know what you are referring to. And I don't think I've ever seen it on a cold engine. I'll look for it next couple of drives.

I thought it meant combination ice and battery, I'm assuming three possibilities of power , ice, battery, mixture of both. Just my guess , no actual facts.

I pretty much confirmed today:
Blue bar on the white hybrid bar means "drop throttle (pedal position) to here, and the engine can shut off." It gets longer as charge increases. It won't be present when battery is on the low end, but you can still get EV by dropping throttle to zero (aka take your foot off the pedal).

 

[RonFLA]

Very interesting thread. Let’s see some pictures of the Scanguard III mounted in the Maverick. Would like to see if it’s really worth the extra money over the more ideally sized Scandguard II model.

 

[MostlySafeBear]

I also wish there was a cheaper alternative just to get the battery info, but I'm looking into an SGIII as well.

A "cheaper alternative" has been provided in the solution of Torque Pro and an OBDII reader, which can display on your head unit as an Android Auto app, or on a phone.

 

[Darnon]

I pretty much confirmed today:
Blue bar on the white hybrid bar means "drop throttle (pedal position) to here, and the engine can shut off." It gets longer as charge increases. It won't be present when battery is on the low end, but you can still get EV by dropping throttle to zero (aka take your foot off the pedal).

The threshold also starts to reduce over 50 mph and by 55 mph it's pickier/more opaque about what throttle level will transition to EV; sharply dropping to zero throttle often but not always, exacerbated by the readout sometimes taking a second two to update that it's in EV. The bar also may "lie " about being able switch during ICE warmup.

 

[JimParker256]

A "cheaper alternative" has been provided in the solution of Torque Pro and an OBDII reader, which can display on your head unit as an Android Auto app, or on a phone.

Torque Pro appears to be a really nice app for Android devices. But I believe the SGIII is significantly less expensive than purchasing an Android phone with a decent-sized screen that can be dedicated to running Torque Pro. The whole point of doing this is to have a "Dedicated" set of gauges so they are always available when we're driving the Maverick.

Now, if I were an Android phone user, and I already had a Bluetooth-enabled ODB2 device, and happened to have an Android device laying around that I could dedicate to running Torque Pro, that might be a way to put that old device to good use.

But I suspect you would still have to power on the Android device each time you start up - lest you either run down your device battery or the truck battery... And that's a non-starter for me - or more accurately for my wife, since she drives "our" truck as well. She's simply not going to remember (or care enough) to ensure the app is up and running, even on a dedicated Android device.

By the way, this isn't an Apple vs Android issue (though Torque Pro appears to only be available on Android), but a matter of "at what point does a dedicated device optimized for the purpose make more sense than a non-dedicated 'app+phone' combination that might be optimal for occasional use?" There seem to be some "dashboard" apps available for the iPhone as well, and I'm not interested in them, either. My phone is way too busy as it is!

 

[MostlySafeBear]

Torque Pro appears to be a really nice app for Android devices. But I believe the SGIII is significantly less expensive than purchasing an Android phone with a decent-sized screen that can be dedicated to running Torque Pro. The whole point of doing this is to have a "Dedicated" set of gauges so they are always available when we're driving the Maverick.

Now, if I were an Android phone user, and I already had a Bluetooth-enabled ODB2 device, and happened to have an Android device laying around that I could dedicate to running Torque Pro, that might be a way to put that old device to good use.

But I suspect you would still have to power on the Android device each time you start up - lest you either run down your device battery or the truck battery... And that's a non-starter for me - or more accurately for my wife, since she drives "our" truck as well. She's simply not going to remember (or care enough) to ensure the app is up and running, even on a dedicated Android device.

By the way, this isn't an Apple vs Android issue (though Torque Pro appears to only be available on Android), but a matter of "at what point does a dedicated device optimized for the purpose make more sense than a non-dedicated 'app+phone' combination that might be optimal for occasional use?" There seem to be some "dashboard" apps available for the iPhone as well, and I'm not interested in them, either. My phone is way too busy as it is!

Let's not move the goal post. You may have said "dedicated", by the person I originally quoted only requested "a cheaper alternative".

Old Android phones that have large screens are very common on the used market for cheap, maybe $100 will get you one, maybe even less. They don't need to be powerful flagships to run one app and keep a bluetooth connection established. They don't even need to have active internet connections after downloading the app. Hell, there are even OBDII readers that connect via USB, and I bet that you could charge the phone displaying the data off the same OBDII port you're getting the data from, if you cared to. All the phone would need to do is to support USB OTG and have the proper cable, theoretically. I've never tried it.

As far as "but the battery", that's not really a concern because anything electronic added to the truck - ScanGauge or phone - needs a power connection.

Some phones can even have their internal batteries removed completely and still run with an external power connection, though this is more on a level of hardware hacking.

And in all that, said cheap Android phone is still infinitely more flexible and capable.

 

[JimParker256]

Let's not move the goal post. You may have said "dedicated", by the person I originally quoted only requested "a cheaper alternative".

The intention wasn't to "move the goalpost," but to point out some of the differences versus using the SGIII.

Yes, you might be able to get most (or even all) of the same information with a potentially less expensive solution, but even if you do have an extra Android device laying around the house, you're still passing up some of the benefits of a dedicated solution. I may have done a poor job of it, but that's what I was trying to point out.

Old Android phones that have large screens are very common on the used market for cheap, maybe $100 will get you one, maybe even less. They don't need to be powerful flagships to run one app and keep a bluetooth connection established. They don't even need to have active internet connections after downloading the app.

But by the time you purchase even a $100 phone, some kind of secure mount to hold it where it can be seen while driving, and the Bluetooth ODB2 device, you're within striking distance of the SGIII - a purpose-built, fully supported device that comes with all that. That's all I was trying to point out on the financial side.

As far as "but the battery", that's not really a concern because anything electronic added to the truck - ScanGauge or phone - needs a power connection.

It is certainly less of an issue if you're running it on your "primary" phone that you keep charged all the time, but if you want a dedicated device (as I do), it becomes a bigger deal. You would have to remember to power it on each time you start the vehicle, and off each time you park. I know my wife won't remember to do that - it's not top of mind for her.

This is NOT an issue with the SGIII, because it is powered through the ODB2 port, so that it powers on/off with the vehicle. No need to tie up one of the USB power plugs or connect to a dedicated power source.

I'm not saying the Android+Torque Pro isn't a good solution for some folks. I'm just saying the price difference isn't as big as you're making it out to be, and comes at the cost of a good bit of convenience and usability.

 

[MostlySafeBear]

The intention wasn't to "move the goalpost," but to point out some of the differences versus using the SGIII.

Yes, you might be able to get most (or even all) of the same information with a potentially less expensive solution, but even if you do have an extra Android device laying around the house, you're still passing up some of the benefits of a dedicated solution. I may have done a poor job of it, but that's what I was trying to point out.


But by the time you purchase even a $100 phone, some kind of secure mount to hold it where it can be seen while driving, and the Bluetooth ODB2 device, you're within striking distance of the SGIII - a purpose-built, fully supported device that comes with all that. That's all I was trying to point out on the financial side.


It is certainly less of an issue if you're running it on your "primary" phone that you keep charged all the time, but if you want a dedicated device (as I do), it becomes a bigger deal. You would have to remember to power it on each time you start the vehicle, and off each time you park. I know my wife won't remember to do that - it's not top of mind for her.

This is NOT an issue with the SGIII, because it is powered through the ODB2 port, so that it powers on/off with the vehicle. No need to tie up one of the USB power plugs or connect to a dedicated power source.

I'm not saying the Android+Torque Pro isn't a good solution for some folks. I'm just saying the price difference isn't as big as you're making it out to be, and comes at the cost of a good bit of convenience and usability.

You keep moving the goalposts here with irrelevant stuff like "if you're running it on your primary phone" which was not part of the discussion, but you somehow added. You added goalposts for mounts and similar, which would be the same for a ScanGauge as well.

Also you have to know that the price I threw out for a used phone was a placeholder. They vary from "just come and get it for free so I can be rid of it" to hundreds.

You speak of convenience and usability, and again, those were not part of the original request.

As far as power, I already specifically referenced tapping power from the same OBDII port that data was being gathered from - just like the ScanGauge - but you ignored that.

 

[GPSMan]

Let's not move the goal post.

And in all that, said cheap Android phone is still infinitely more flexible and capable.

So why are you moving the goal posts?

And I 100% disagree. You want a ScanGauge or other DEDICATED OBDII device for semi-permanent installations.

What Jim says is an important fact:
The ScanGauge is "instant on, instant off" just like your dashboard. Automatically on, automatically off, like 1 or 2 seconds of "boot time" and usually no key presses needed.

I am an Apple user, but still, I'd do it no other way. This is ideal for long term or semi-permanent installations.

 

[MostlySafeBear]

So why are you moving the goal posts?

And I 100% disagree. You want a ScanGauge or other DEDICATED OBDII device for semi-permanent installations.

What Jim says is an important fact:
The ScanGauge is "instant on, instant off" just like your dashboard. Automatically on, automatically off, like 1 or 2 seconds of "boot time" and usually no key presses needed.

I am an Apple user, but still, I'd do it no other way. This is ideal for long term or semi-permanent installations.

I'm not moving the goalposts. The original quote was "I also wish there was a cheaper alternative just to get the battery info", and note that cheaper was the only thing specified. Nothing else.

Not boot time, not charging, not mounting, nothing. All of these are moving the proverbial goalposts.

 

[GPSMan]

Very interesting thread. Let’s see some pictures of the Scanguard III mounted in the Maverick. Would like to see if it’s really worth the extra money over the more ideally sized Scandguard II model.

Included suction cup and magnetic screen mount. Cup to the flat spot behind the tiny cubby.
Have infinite pan and tilt in 3 degrees of freedom. I love it.

 

[JimParker256]

You keep moving the goalposts here with irrelevant stuff like "if you're running it on your primary phone" which was not part of the discussion, but you somehow added. You added goalposts for mounts and similar, which would be the same for a ScanGauge as well.

Perhaps a misundersatnding on my part. Clearly when you only mentioned the cost of the Bluetooth ODB2 reader, it should have been obvious that you intended for everyone to also run out and purchase a second Android device to run the app. My bad.

By the way, as has been pointed out numerous times, the ScanGauge III comes as a complete, ready-to-use solution that includes the ODB2 connector (which has a built-in cable to connect to the gauge, and the gauge itself, and a mount for the gauge - all "out of the box" - nothing else to purchase. Just plug-n-play.

(I feel like it comes across that I'm schilling for the company - and that's certainly not my intention. I'm still waiting to receive mine, and certainly have nothing to gain from anyone else choosing or not choosing to use SGIII.)

Also you have to know that the price I threw out for a used phone was a placeholder. They vary from "just come and get it for free so I can be rid of it" to hundreds.

Granted. But you should also grant that the "free" or "really cheap" device you receive may or may not be virus and/or trojan-free, and may or may not expose you (and potentially your vehicle) to higher risk than purchasing from a reputable source that may cost a bit more. At the very least, anyone contemplating this should have some expert help in "cleaning up" the system before using it. Your money - your decision.

You speak of convenience and usability, and again, those were not part of the original request.

It's called a forum, which by definition is a "discussion group." Discussion is what we do here.

And, by the way, here are the relevant parts of the OP's "original request" that I was responding to:

<<snip>>
Before I spend $270 on a new ScanGuage, I am hoping there is a way to make this work with my old ScanGauge II. I am well versed at using the X-Codes feature on various different vehicles and have had the ScanGauge II in all my vehicles for around 8 years. It looks like the ScanGauge III has an automatic programming mode that allows this data to be viewed - I am curious if GPSMan would be able to view and share the programming codes.
<<snip>>
I am also aware of the ability to use a bluetooth OBDII reader with android and Torque Pro app. I actually have this on an old phone of mine, but don't like it as a permanent solution because it is another thing to have to turn on when you get in the car to drive.
<<snip>>

(Added emphasis is mine.)
So I don't think I was the one "moving the goalpost" in the discussion.

As far as power, I already specifically referenced tapping power from the same OBDII port that data was being gathered from - just like the ScanGauge - but you ignored that.

Nope - I just pointed out that with the SGIII, you do NOT have to do that for yourself, which may or may not incur additional cost for you. It is less convenient, and especially so if you don't have the "know-how" to fabricate that "tap" for yourself.

Have a great day. I'm done.

 

[Waterick]

I think the Mostly SafeBear dialog has really convinced me to spend the money for the SGIII as opposed to just what would only display limited data. The more utility and ease of use and installation should be more than worth it cost. Plus the portability of using it in another vehicle. Very good discussion, thanks all.

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