Prius EV

[Aether glider]

Anyone bought the Coastal Tech EV mode

I'm considering this upgrade but I'm concerned about the install. I'm willing to try but this stuff makes me a little nervous. I found an install video.
Just curious if you guys had a similar install experience. It went pretty smoothly.

[hobbit]

Personally I'd go with a simple hardwired switch instead of
Coastal's widget. I've heard quite a few reliability problems
with the cruise-control thing, and I like instantaneous
response rather than waiting for a timeout.
.
_H*

[Dan]

Originally Posted by RyanDodgeRam

Anyone bought the Coastal Tech EV mode

I'm considering this upgrade but I'm concerned about the install. I'm willing to try but this stuff makes me a little nervous. I found an install video.
Just curious if you guys had a similar install experience. It went pretty smoothly.

Come down to Texas and I'll do the mod for you, but spend the $50 and get the nice shiny Factory EV button they put in all the European models. It was a breeze so long as you get the pin from the steering column. Main problem I have with the Costal mod is the 2 second delay. I use some pretty exact timing on my EV switch and a 2 second latency would drive me batty.

Factory EV Howto: http://evnut.com/prius_ev_mode.htm

If you can make it up to Madison on for Hybrid Fest you could get both the EV mod done and the block heater. I really need to borrow a Prius with a instantaneous EV switch for the challenge, so I have a bit of an ulterior motive.

PS... Did I see an 83 MPG commute in your sig! Man keep that up and you get your KiloTank before you log 5k.

11011011

[JimboK]

I did the home-grown approach using a Radio Shack switch. Total cost for parts about $3.

Do some research on Coastal before you buy. Customer service record is spotty at best; stories abound on PriusChat. Some folks have been happy, others have had poor or non-existent response on customer service and tech support issues. There was a thread just this morning, in fact, where a customer couldn't get them to return calls or e-mails. Seems that when an item is in stock it will ship promptly. When that happens and the customer likes the item (and it works), everyone's happy. If not ... well, buyer beware.

[brick]

I have the coastal switch and I really can't recommend it. It works most of the time, but occasionally it flakes out and doesn't trigger. One day I'll get that nice factory switch.

[JimboK]

Here's the writeup of my install. For some reason, I couldn't put my hands on it with my earlier search.

[Aether glider]

Originally Posted by Dan

Come down to Texas and I'll do the mod for you, but spend the $50 and get the nice shiny Factory EV button they put in all the European models. It was a breeze so long as you get the pin from the steering column. Main problem I have with the Costal mod is the 2 second delay. I use some pretty exact timing on my EV switch and a 2 second latency would drive me batty.

Factory EV Howto: http://evnut.com/prius_ev_mode.htm

If you can make it up to Madison on for Hybrid Fest you could get both the EV mod done and the block heater. I really need to borrow a Prius with a instantaneous EV switch for the challenge, so I have a bit of an ulterior motive.

PS... Did I see an 83 MPG commute in your sig! Man keep that up and you get your KiloTank before you log 5k.

11011011

Thats very tempting about coming up to the Hybridfest. I'll try to make it happen.

Yep. 83 mpg commute. I had 87 but theres a big hill that i have to climb at the end. I have to go pretty slow to pull it off and i've already had several roadragers voice their opinion about my hypermiling. Of course I used to be them only a few months ago so I halfway understand.

[Dan]

Just put in the order to Sigma earlier rather than later. Takes a few MONTHS to get the part from Japan.

11011011

[bestmapman]

Hobbit installed mine in Oct 07. It is the Radio shack type. It works perfect.

[Aether glider]

My wife just gave me the Coastal EV mode as a anniversary present, along with the power on all the time to a cigarette lighter. So that will be the one i'm using. I'm gonna try to install in the next few days.