What Have You Done To Your PHEV Today?

[jdsx]

So here's a problem I hadn't encountered before..... plugged in for a rapid charge but the wind was VERY strong, and I mean VERY.... As soon as I plugged in, I could hear the open charging flap being blown by the wind against the rapid charger cable. I was worried that if it carried on, the flap might be damaged, or worse still, bent back against the body. So I thought.... I need to improvise a solution to keep the flap close in against the rapid charger cable.....

[Hope the links work....you might have to right click and 'open in new tab'.]

If it helps, I can tell you that the circumference of the rapid charger cable and the charging flap is approximately 17 inches!!!

 

[Regulo]

. . . and that's why I was arrested for indecent exposure, M'Lud.

 

[phil4146]

Well not today - but Sunday and Monday - I drove from Brighton to Paris via the Tunnel.

Started with a full battery, put it on Save to use at the tunnel and in Paris - much of the rest of the drive was on cruise at 70 mph (in fact coming back late last night was on cruise for nearly 2 hours without coming out of it!). Averaged 34.8mpg on the way down and 36.9mpg on the way back. That's ok for me for a 2 ton 4x4.

Drove like a dream, comfortable and smooth, caused a few comments in the train as it crept silently down the carriages, and a few French people in the hotel garage came over to ask how it was so quiet.

With all the moans of the Satnav it took me exactly to the hotel in area of Paris I have never been before. BUT: on the way down it wanted to visit a number of pretty towns until I realised it was set to avoid tools (even though I was already on the toll road!), and the POI had Eurotunnel at Folkestone but not at Calais - and its a pain as it expects every piece of info when it should be obvious!. And (the funniest) as I was coming along the M20 it wanted to go off at the Ashford turning and go along the parallel road and come back on to the motorway slightly later - no I didn't!

Used a quick charge on the way back when I stopped for coffee which gave me about 10 miles extra, but even with a near empty carp[ark at gone 11pm some charmer parked in one of the bays with an ICE (unless Vauxhall were making electric Corsa's 10 years ago ).

What I was surprised about was when I set Save I expected it to remain at the same level but it actually increased the battery level by some margin (battery bar went up about a qtr over the length of the journey) so I gather it 'collects' spare energy when you are doing constant speeds?

Whilst the manual says you don't have to change or use adaptors for the headlights I got more than a few flashes!

As this is the first long fast journey I am very pleased with it.

 

[davebodger]

Swapped out the numberplate bulbs and the reversing bulb for LEDs.

I used these for the numberplate lights but removed the canbus resistors before fitting.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201078247466?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Another canbus bulb but as it's only used for reversing I'm not worried about the wasted extra power as it's not on for long.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151597417836?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The numberplate bulbs are fractionally brighter or maybe just seem that way because of the white colour.
That's fine, I was mostly going for the power savings. I'm not trying to blind people with my number plate.
Was 10W, now 2W.

The "50W" LED reversing bulb is noticeably brighter, so I'm happy with that too.
I didn't measure to see exactly how much power it draws but no more than 10W I think.
Not trying to reduce power usage with this one, just needed more lumens.

I wonder what will come in the post tomorrow.

Numberplate lights are whiter and brighter:-

Reversing light is brighter too:-

 

[Kim]

I wonder what will come in the post tomorrow.

My postman brought me these today:

 

[davebodger]

Nice set of festoon bulbs.
They're not for the Outlander are they?

 

[Hypermiler]

Today I finally had my tow bar fitted - a Witter detachable fitted by PF Jones (thanks for the tip whoever mentioned them) - very efficient (other tow bar suppliers are available). He also kindly attached my tow bar bike rack bracket (Maxx Raxx) which is supposed to allow me to tow and carry bikes at the same time (nose weight limit permitting) and allows access to the boot by tilting the rack down (probably not with a trailer attached as well ) And on Sunday I am off to pick up a trailer and a load of camping equipment I bought on ebay - very excited as not towed anything before. Will try to post some pics over the weekend.
H

 

[davebodger]

The DRL leds arrived in the post so got ground down and fitted - work a treat.
You have to grind about 4mm off the diameter to get them to fit in.
I took the rubber rings off first so they didn't get damaged and ground the plastic so it left a small lip to retain the ring.
They use 0.3A @ 13.95V so about 4.14W each.
The original filament bulbs draw 1.3A @ 13.95V so I've saved about 28W for the pair during daylight trips.
If I add the 8W I've saved on the numberplate bulbs and the 7W I saved on the position lamps then that's reduced the constant battery drain by about 15W after dark.

I also managed to pry off the tailgate cover and wrapped the bleeper in a couple of layers of electrical insulating tape.
Blissfully quieter now.

I think that's me done now, I'll just drive it and fuel up when necessary from now on.

 

[Kim]

Pics of the work you've done with the DRL please.
And a pic of the car how it looks now

 

[Andy123]

Today I rode my bicycle about 40 miles west from our house through the Yorkshire Dales, where I met my lovely wife, my children and my PHEV. Which was when I realised I'd asked the dealer to put the wrong socket on my towbar for my bike rack. DOH!!

Drove back (after buying my mum lunch) with no brake lights without incident, and quite proud we managed to get over 50mpg for a c80 mile journey on wibbly wobbly A roads with the heater on most of the way.

 

[rkde]

Fitted my Witter removable tow bar today, took a while to fit, don't quite like how the rear lights wouldn't come out. Other than that and the instructions missing some information it all went well

 

[davebodger]

Pics of the work you've done with the DRL please.
And a pic of the car how it looks now

Yea, sorry, forgot the obligatory pics (else it didn't happen).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321640985855?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

In place. They stick up a fair bit so not ideally positioned in the reflector, but they are bright enough it doesn't matter I think.

Still visible against a sun lit background.

 

[Kim]

My LEDs for DRL arrived today:

They draw 5 Watts true (I measured them) and I got them here: http://www.dx.com/p/hj-p13w-5w-500l...ckup-light-dc-12-24v-2pcs-359492#.VQw0Eyxz-Hs

(Click thumbs for bigger images...)

 

[aitchjaybee]

I bought a wifi OBD2 dongle for £10 incl postage, came in 2 days, then bought the App Dash Command (tried free one to check it worked, the bought the £7:99 full version).

I bought it for several reasons:

The km/h display on the phev is awful (with mph as primary) and setting the units to Kmh gives me a large digital speedo for continent driving.
It gives loads of info on ICE and fuel flow so will help me adjust how I use the car (eg charge mode v save). I miss a rev gauge, the power one is okay but I'd like to see how hard I'm working the ice.
And I'm a geek who loves data. Only just started exploring the app.

It works perfectly. I've used on iPhone 5s running ios8 and a Samsung S5 on lollipop.
HJB
Edit, Bluetooth ones are cheaper but you can't connect to MMCS as well, so I wanted wifi

 

[NAPpy]

I bought a wifi OBD2 dongle for £10 incl postage, came in 2 days, then bought the App Dash Command (tried free one to check it worked, the bought the £7:99 full version).

Would this be the correct one to get? BT is fine with me.

Cheers for the info.

NAPpy

 

[aitchjaybee]

hi @NAPpy, not sure if by "this" you mean the dongle or the app. on this thread, http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1259&p=14611#p14611 others comment the iPhone not connecting to dash command by BT, but android is fine. Either way, I went for the wifi version so thats all i can say works, dont know about BT. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-ELM327-Car-OBD2-OBDII-Diagnostic-Scanner-Scan-Tool-For-iPhone-iPad-Android-/261791217541?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf3f8f785 I got mine thru seller 'colourlemons' but loads of listings. I've linked to the single product but a search for "elm327 obd" will bring up BT and wifi
if you need anything else, either post again or PM me, happy to help
HJB

 

[davebodger]

My LEDs for DRL arrived today:
They draw 5 Watts true (I measured them) and I got them here: http://www.dx.com/p/hj-p13w-5w-500l...ckup-light-dc-12-24v-2pcs-359492#.VQw0Eyxz-Hs

Oh, nice bulbs.
The shorter length must position them much better for the reflector.
I wish I had access to a lathe. :mrgreen:

 

[Hypermiler]

I have charged the car using our new solar pv system - very exciting. Not sure the sun quite kept pace with the car, but it has been a beautiful day so it will certainly have helped!
H

 

[Regulo]

I have charged the car using our new solar pv system - very exciting. Not sure the sun quite kept pace with the car, but it has been a beautiful day so it will certainly have helped!
H

If you have the standard 4kW system usually installed, then on a sunny day you'll be able to charge for nothing during the day using the supplied charger. Those systems can easily supply the 2.5kW required. Of course if you're using a wall charger you'll need 3.5kw, bit near to maximum output for a 4kw system. I find a PV monitor useful for seeing what the panels are generating, and whether I can turn on higher wattage appliances to take best advantage from the system.

 

[user 816]

I have listened to my wife moan. I have been abroad 3 weeks so she has been using my PHEV. Now I am back she is relegated back to her diesel Outlander (C-Crosser) and is moaning she has to change gear, its noisy, it doesn't just woosh when you press the pedal, she has to stick the key in the ignition and get it out to blip the locks, open the boot and get her hands dirty, nag, nag, nag...

I am just glad not to be bumping my head as I have for 3 weeks every time I got into the saloon I have been travelling in.

First person to suggest his and her PHEV's will get their bank account hacked to pay for it!