[Mobilcams]

The gear on the power flow meter (indicating the engine is coupled to the drive wheels) has stopped its normal behavior on my car.. I drive 100 miles round trip daily and recently, I've noticed when on the highway - the gear hasn't been showing up. I have noticed a slight decrease in my mpg as well. Temps are the same, speeds are the same, wind is the same. No warning lights etc. It will show up a few times when I first start driving but then just disappears. I have 5500 miles on my car.. Has anyone else noticed the same behavior?

 

[hasarad]

I stopped watching the power monitor thousands of miles ago. The gear only shows up when conditions are optimal for the direct connection of engine and drive wheels. It won't show when EV kicks in or when accelerating/decelerating more than a tad. I wouldn't worry about it if everything else seems fine. As to the mpg, you'll always have a variance due to the environment and slight changes in driving style. I find if I play classical music or listen tho the news, I do well. If I play rock, my numbers tank.

 

[Mobilcams]

The problem with that is I haven’t changed anything. At highway speeds it was consistent on engaging. Now it’s not showing up at all. I’m halfway wondering if maybe it’s the infotainment software glitching.

 

[gerryzub]

Gear? What gear? I have never seen this. Is this something that shows when the clutch engages the motor to the wheels? I was wondering how to know if/when that happens. I've never seen a gear ever. 9500+ miles on the car so far.


Can someone post a pic of this gear please? I would love to see it.

 

[insightfully]

Similar question was asked in this thread.

The gas engine sometimes drives the wheels WITHOUT the gear icon showing on the power flow display. This is highlighted in the manual as "normal" for engine-only operation.

 

[Mobilcams]

Good news. I reset the infotainment center and guess what? It’s back. Looking closely at it for two days I noticed that when the gear is not showing the lines move through the center where the gear displays. When it was acting weird - the middle where everything meets was a black box. It’s another bug. Kinda sad now because I don’t have trip A’s history (showed three miles that I think were a part of testing because it didn’t show up on the overall mileage of the car).

 

[Mobilcams]

On a side note.... is the dash display controlled by the same cpu in a be head unit? I did notice it wouldn’t appear there either until I did the reset.

 

[insightfully]

On a side note.... is the dash display controlled by the same cpu in a be head unit? I did notice it wouldn’t appear there either until I did the reset.

Seems like it. I haven't seen documentation to confirm the technical specs or connection point, but the info source seems unified since several screens are available/duplicated in both the driver's interface and the head unit, and the information is the same in both places.

 

[Chipper]

Little Gray Gear

We have had our Insight for about a week and I have noticed a small gray gear that appears from time to time when using the power display. The display that shows if power is coming from the batteries or the engine. Does anyone know what this means?

 

[Mr. Natural]

We have had our Insight for about a week and I have noticed a small gray gear that appears from time to time when using the power display. The display that shows if power is coming from the batteries or the engine. Does anyone know what this means?

Is it this gear?

 

[andrew28]

We have had our Insight for about a week and I have noticed a small gray gear that appears from time to time when using the power display. The display that shows if power is coming from the batteries or the engine. Does anyone know what this means?

Is it this gear?
View attachment 2160

https://www.gen3insight.com/forum/1...ear-not-appearing-recent-drives.html#post9558
^It might be this gear? @insightfully's post explains what it means.

 

[insightfully]

I usually drive with the Power Flow up on the display as well. This manual page on Power Flow Monitor (p152) might be helpful to you, in addition to the prior threads referenced above.

Essentially, the gear shows up on the display when the gas engine is directly connected to and/or driving the wheels. When this happens, you'll also usually be running in the 'gray' section of the Power/Charge gauge (green/blue/gray colors) on the driver display.

 

[insightfully]

Also if you haven't yet seen it, the attached is one of my 'favorite' pages from the manual (yes, I'm a geek). It was a helpful visual and description for how/when the different modes kick in. Coupled with driving the car, this picture made operation feel more familiar even though I was new to hybrids.

Tying back to your original question... the 'gear' icon only shows up in the Power Flow display when the gas engine is directly driving the wheels, which is listed as hybrid or direct drive mode in the visual. However (confusingly?), even while in a direct drive, the gear icon doesn't display 100% of the time in the Power Flow display.

 

[mgldan]

However (confusingly?), even while in a direct drive, the gear icon doesn't display 100% of the time in the Power Flow display.

My interpretation of this (blue lines from engine to wheels, no gear, no line from battery to wheels) has been that the Insight is running in series mode through the electric engine, and that none of the juice is being left in the battery.

 

[Chipper]

Thank you for the info.

 

[Mobilcams]

My interpretation of this (blue lines from engine to wheels, no gear, no line from battery to wheels) has been that the Insight is running in series mode through the electric engine, and that none of the juice is being left in the battery.

That is my interpretation as well. I have had drives to work (50 miles) where at one point I thought that I had an issue with my display, the gear never shows up on the whole drive into work. After work on the drive home it is back.. Not sure why it does this but there aren't any warnings or anything so I don't think there is an issue necessarily.