After the PCM software update/recalibration - observations by Hybridbear

[Eddie Sessum]

I just did the disonnect and am very encouraged. My city mileage has always been decent (low 40s), but my highway is usually mid thirties.

I did a quick test drive after the disconnect and it did seem like the car goes into EV mode easier now at highway speeds and for longer periods. Keep in mind this is one quick test run, so I can't fully draw conclusions.

 

My clock reset. I lost EV+. i also noticed that the DTE went up to like 495 initially. It was around 400 before.

I did not lose my trip statistics.

 

 

Try going fast enough to keep the car out of EV mode on the hwy. I get a solid 42.5-43 when I do that. usually 68 or 69 will keep it out.

[fusionTX]

Try going fast enough to keep the car out of EV mode on the hwy. I get a solid 42.5-43 when I do that. usually 68 or 69 will keep it out.

 

I was within Houston city limits (Houston is a big city), but I seemed to get better mileage with cc set at 70 (mid forties) to my usual

62 to 64 MPH. It's a little early to draw conclusions though, but i am encouraged.

 

BTW, thanks to Terryb for showing me how to do this yesterday..

[B25Nut]

 

 

Try going fast enough to keep the car out of EV mode on the hwy. I get a solid 42.5-43 when I do that. usually 68 or 69 will keep it out.

 

I do the opposite. I feel the fact that I can get EV time at speeds between 65-75 mph is the primary reason I have seen a 6+ mpg increase in my average mileage. When I see that I'm still getting 42+ mpg with the battery charging (which I never saw before the update), I don't try to kick it into EV. A trip last night that included going up a very long, steep grade, which in the past yielded 33-34 mpg, got 40.9 mpg.

[Eddie Sessum]

 

I do the opposite. I feel the fact that I can get EV time at speeds between 65-75 mph is the primary reason I have seen a 6+ mpg increase in my average mileage. When I see that I'm still getting 42+ mpg with the battery charging (which I never saw before the update), I don't try to kick it into EV. A trip last night that included going up a very long, steep grade, which in the past yielded 33-34 mpg, got 40.9 mpg.

I agree the ev helping on steep grades and Hills is a plus. You sure when you see ev mode your not on a slight downhill grade?

[B25Nut]

Probably 70+% of the EV time I get at higher speeds is on highways that appear level but may have a slight downgrade, but I also see EV time when I know there is a slight upgrade. These are all "free" miles that I never got before the upgrade, and with the change in the charging cycle, I see a lot less time below 25 mpg when the HVB is charging. In my area it is rare to have heavy traffic so before the update my ICE was running 98% of the time I was on the highway. I think the fact that my a average MPG has gone from 37.0 to 44.3 proves that EV time at higher speeds is advantages (Lolder may disagree). This increase has come at a time when the average high temperature has been 93 degrees, so it should be even better next month.

[corncobs]

The first commute to work after "hard reset" my FFH definitely behaves different than before I'm just not sure if for the better or worse.

 

There are a few stretches of interstate with ECC @ 65 MPH where it went into EV mode every time not so this morning. The behavior is the same as the first time driving to work after they did the PCM update.

 

This leaves me to believe that the default "mapping" parameters are not bad but the car learns to improve on top of them based on daily driving. If this "hard reset" now works for most underachieving cars it seems more and more prove that these cars when driven correctly have messed up "mapping" tables.

 

It's like a very slowly changing memory and it seems to like what it learned within the first 10 miles or so.

 

Btw the MPG yielded 51.7 right in line with the previous week results slightly on the lower end.

Edited September 9, 2013 by corncobs

[terryb]

I had 14 miles showing on the car when I signed the paperwork. It seems it must have been handled badly during its infancy.

It also seems that the car still doesn't like short <5 mi. trips from cold engine conditions. There are still low 30s showing up, but return trips have shown up to mid 50s. So I still love the effect of thee hard reset. Wish it had been thought of 10k miles ago.

[hybridbear]

Interesting results corncobs...

 

Gry Sql - what did your dealer have to say about doing such a reset? If I remember from one of your posts before their response was: "Why didn't we think of that?" right? Did they have any more to say about the merits of doing this type of reset?

[MaineFusion]

I thought it might be a good idea to try and systematically track whether or not the hard reset is helping to improve MPG for folks so I started a poll to help track everyone's results: http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/7532-how-did-battery-hard-reset-affect-your-mpg/

[corncobs]

The first commute to work after "hard reset" my FFH definitely behaves different than before I'm just not sure if for the better or worse.

 

There are a few stretches of interstate with ECC @ 65 MPH where it went into EV mode every time not so this morning. The behavior is the same as the first time driving to work after they did the PCM update.

 

This leaves me to believe that the default "mapping" parameters are not bad but the car learns to improve on top of them based on daily driving. If this "hard reset" now works for most underachieving cars it seems more and more prove that these cars when driven correctly have messed up "mapping" tables.

 

It's like a very slowly changing memory and it seems to like what it learned within the first 10 miles or so.

 

Btw the MPG yielded 51.7 right in line with the previous week results slightly on the lower end.

Update:

This morning my LiR went back to EV mode @ 65 MPH on the same stretches of interstate where she wouldn't yesterday under the same conditions. It took her a bit longer but then she stayed in EV for some time.

 

Just based on the last two days and the fact that the days after the PCM update were the pattern it almost looks like the FFH learns the daily drive and adjusts parameter based on that.

 

I think most people with very good MPG have the same commute route day after day (+ they know how to handle a hybrid) which results in excellent FE.

 

Today's result 56 MPG but I had to fill up and was now 5 min late right into the crazy traffic was might have helped ;-) The 2 miles to the gas station I also saw a good 38.9 MPG.

[DrewFM]

I've actually done the hard reset a few times as the community guinea pig. Bearing in mind that our FFHs learn new tables after the reset, I've noticed that if you do the reset while the HVB is anything less than 100%, the results are not as good. The differences I have observed are: 1.) EV power assist to the ICE while climbing a hill will be less. 2.) ICE kicks on even under light acceleration from a stop. These conditions are repeatable and can be verified by watching the power guages in engage mode AND they correlate directly to the HVB SOC when you do the reset. Sort of acts like the difference between resetting your MPG at the pump, or cheating and resetting it after you're already at cruising speed. Soooo...I force charge the HVB to 100% by pressing the gas pedal down in park, just to where ICE kicks in. Let ICE run until the charge arrow isn't lit and the HVB is 100% Now turn the key off. Do the reset. Like someone else mentioned, drive it like a baby for the first 10 miles or so while its doing the lionshare of learning. Should be running way better as I and others have experienced. Egg on my face if I'm wrong, but I've done this over and over again trying to figure out just what was affecting what and why. My FFH has already told me that it wishes to donate itself to science when it dies. lol I hope this helps if you have one of the less than 40mpg FFH. Like its been said in here before, you're not hurting anything with the 'reset' and if you're not getting at least 40 mpg at 70 mpg flat road, something is just not right.

[Eddie Sessum]

I'll wait to hear others before I reset again.. Than again I had prob 80+ soc when I reset

[clummus]

I've never seen the battery at 100 percent?.. so I guess it's possible. I'll try it.

[DrewFM]

 

Now we don't have to feel like stepchildren to some of the overachievers around here. I say that with the greatest respect for the aforementioned.

lmao

[GrySql]

Interesting results corncobs...

 

Gry Sql - what did your dealer have to say about doing such a reset? If I remember from one of your posts before their response was: "Why didn't we think of that?" right? Did they have any more to say about the merits of doing this type of reset?

Not too much except that with the Hard Reset he thought it might allow all the new PCM recalibration parameters to work with a clean slate.

He and the SA want to know what this is doing on the Forum to cars that had negative results after the PCM upgrade.

MaineFusion's Poll will help, I'll email him that Poll data in a couple weeks.

 

With Drew's new theory on having 100% SOC before doing the Hard Reset this is mighty interesting, I did mine with about 40% SOC.

I'm going to force 100% SOC and do another Reset on Thursday when I get some free time. Then go on a trip on Saturday.

Edited September 11, 2013 by GrySql

[terryb]

I did the Hard Reset with about 30% SOC and was pleased with the 43MPG to the owners meeting here in Houston. My <5mi. coffee runs have been as always mid 30s outbound and mid 40s return after warmup. I'll try the 100% SOC version tomorrow morning.

[DeeCee]

Just completed a 1200 mile road trip post PCM update. Most of the trip was done using Eco ACC set at either 65 or 70 mph depending on the posted limit. Ac was on Auto for 75 deg. The car's computer reported 45.5 mpg for the trip. Actual mpg was 44.3. I have not attempted any battery reset since the update.

[B25Nut]

Just completed a 1200 mile road trip post PCM update. Most of the trip was done using Eco ACC set at either 65 or 70 mph depending on the posted limit. Ac was on Auto for 75 deg. The car's computer reported 45.5 mpg for the trip. Actual mpg was 44.3. I have not attempted any battery reset since the update.

 

I'd say you're good to go! No battery reset necessary.

[hybridbear]

Just completed a 1200 mile road trip post PCM update. Most of the trip was done using Eco ACC set at either 65 or 70 mph depending on the posted limit. Ac was on Auto for 75 deg. The car's computer reported 45.5 mpg for the trip. Actual mpg was 44.3. I have not attempted any battery reset since the update.

That's some awesome MPG! :yahoo:

[terryb]

Just came back from the first trip after the 100% SOC reset.

 

Trip from 100% SOC state hard reset:

14.0 mi.

9.3 EV

1.3 regen

 

52.9 mpg

0.2 Gal

98% braking

 

DAMN I wish I could plug it in and start from 100% SOC every day.

[B25Nut]

 

DAMN I wish I could plug it in and start from 100% SOC every day.

Let's hope that Ford is listening and makes this an option for the 2015 FFH. With the plug-in, using EV+ will have a real advantage.

[milleron]

Just came back from the first trip after the 100% SOC reset.

 

 

DAMN I wish I could plug it in and start from 100% SOC every day.

 

After-market HVB charging kit?? If such a thing existed, I'd gladly pay for the hardware and installation.

[Eddie Sessum]

Just came back from the first trip after the 100% SOC reset.

 

Trip from 100% SOC state hard reset:

14.0 mi.

9.3 EV

1.3 regen

 

52.9 mpg

0.2 Gal

98% braking

 

DAMN I wish I could plug it in and start from 100% SOC every day.

Starting at a full charge makes the numbers high for sure. Do you do the same trip on a regular basis? If you do maybe just save a couple of mpg numbers from the same trip for us starting at whatever the car begins at. Let's see what it does at that point.

[murphy]

If you want to be able to leave home with a high SOC disable EV+.

EV+ is doing the opposite of what you want.

[jcg1005]

I wouldn't disable EV+ for that at all. Your overall mileage will drop.

 

The point of EV+ is to charge when you are getting close to a place where the car "rests" often, and subsequently cools. Since the ICE has to run when you leave those places to warm everything anyway, you might as well have low SOC state and allow the warming run time to charge the battery as well. If you have high SOC charge, you will just be topping it to the extreme or wasting energy.

 

This will be particularly important as the weather cools and the engine takes longer to warm. This morning it was 48 when I left for work and the batter was nearly full by the time I could go into EV mode at all. Imagine what it will be like when it is below freezing.