Recall upgrade

I have just had 25000 mile service which included a recall item, relay change in the ECU.
Now the paddle behind the steering wheel which brakes the car and regenerates charge is much less effective. Is this normal or has someone messed up? B5 is now about as effective as B1 used to be. I am told the relay was changed because the original could overheat.

In my car, B5 used to be much stronger than B0. Especially when adding a little pressure on the brake pedal. Since about a year or so not anymore. The immediate effect of B5 is still stronger than that of B0. But once adding the brake pedal, they end up being the same (more like what B0 used to be). I have always thought that the ECU had decided to limit max regen power (which effects B5 much more than B0) because my battery is in a rather bad shape. Maybe you are right and they did something to it ....

Thanks for the response. I phoned Mitsubishi UK earlier today. The polite lady said she would find out and ring me back. No ring back yet. Actually mine only has B3,B4 and B5. I wonder if I should permanently drive in B5. It doesn’t really brake now, but does regenerate more when I take my foot off the pedal. I thought I had mastered the paddles. I guess if they don’t get back to me there is something they don’t want to tell me. I can live with it. I’d just like to know what is going on. I really love the car.

jshp said:

Actually mine only has B3,B4 and B5.

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:shock:

jshp said:

Actually mine only has B3,B4 and B5.

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Are you sure you only have these options. Have you used the other paddle to go up again from B5, it should go to B0. I'm hoping you're like me and have been initially confused by the fact that the starting point of "D" before you press the paddles is actually B2 so it may look like it only has B3,B4,B5.

Really useful post by the way so thanks for taking the time. My PHEV's in for the same recall and I really am not keen for it to impact the car negatively!

I had the ECU relay changed a couple of weeks ago and have not noticed any difference in the regenerative braking performance. From speed B5 puts the "power meter" at about 70% recharge which increases to 100% on initial light application of the brake pedal. Further pressure on the brake pedal then brings in mechanical braking - or that is how it feels to me.

Mitsubishi got back to me and I have trawled through other posts.
The upgrade does not cause a problem
The ambient temperature affects the braking efficiency and the weather has gone cold here
The battery has to be partly discharged for maximum braking and regeneration. This was my problem, as the braking effect was much less on full charge.
Someone has posted that the paddle system learns from your style of driving. Not sure about this
Thanks for all the responses. This forum is great. I would even say essential.
I now understand that B2 is the default setting. I just pull the right paddle for a few seconds. It may be better to give it a few short pulls to get to B0.
Not sure which setting is likely to give more battery mileage. Presumably the default B2 is best.

Of course a full battery is the obvious cause for reduced regen, but I thought it made no sense to bring this forward, as I assumed that after 25.000 miles you would be well aware of that. Sorry.

This business of no-regen with a full battery is causing me some mental concern I live at the top of a long/steep hill and have always geared down, especially near the bottom when it is icy/slippery. With a full battery my only option are the friction brakes. We'll see how it goes over the 1st winter. Mind you, I guess the way the car sucks battery juice for the heater after going down the hill for nearly 1km I have have some room in the battery

mellobob said:

This business of no-regen with a full battery is causing me some mental concern I live at the top of a long/steep hill and have always geared down, especially near the bottom when it is icy/slippery. With a full battery my only option are the friction brakes. We'll see how it goes over the 1st winter. Mind you, I guess the way the car sucks battery juice for the heater after going down the hill for nearly 1km I have have some room in the battery

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I can imagine you would be concerned with brake pad wear and / or efficiency (you cannot recover the energy stored in the car when you drove up the hill at the end of the previous trip). But why would you be (extra) concerned with the hill being slippery? For sure you must control your speed on the way down, but your tires and the road surface do not know whether you used the e-motors or the brake pads to do that.

mellobob said:

This business of no-regen with a full battery is causing me some mental concern I live at the top of a long/steep hill and have always geared down, especially near the bottom when it is icy/slippery. With a full battery my only option are the friction brakes. We'll see how it goes over the 1st winter. Mind you, I guess the way the car sucks battery juice for the heater after going down the hill for nearly 1km I have have some room in the battery

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Why not pre-heat after shutting off the charging. That way you start with a warm car and capacity in the battery for the downhill regen. Save on energy costs, as well. :idea:

@ Bladevane / JSHP - thanks for the reassurance it wasn't the ECU recall work that caused this, I was thinking for a minute I may just not get my recall work done.

@ jshp/mellobob - I have similar, that I live on top of a hill and 3 of the 4 ways off it result in no regen braking. My only concern there is lost efficiency but thankfully the shortests distance to work is the 4th option, along the ridge, using up battery before leaving the hill.

@mellobob - hmm, i've been having problems with demisting the screen without using the heater. I've found that the use of any heater results in the petrol engine kicking in. Do you not find this?

VillageIdiotDan said:

@mellobob - hmm, i've been having problems with demisting the screen without using the heater. I've found that the use of any heater results in the petrol engine kicking in. Do you not find this?

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It's not been all that cold yet so I don't know

VillageIdiotDan said:

@mellobob - hmm, i've been having problems with demisting the screen without using the heater. I've found that the use of any heater results in the petrol engine kicking in. Do you not find this?

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Set at 15c the aircon (i.e. not the heater) on my Gx3h (no electric heater) clears the screen without the ICE kicking in.

greendwarf said:

VillageIdiotDan said:

@mellobob - hmm, i've been having problems with demisting the screen without using the heater. I've found that the use of any heater results in the petrol engine kicking in. Do you not find this?

Click to expand...

Set at 15c the aircon (i.e. not the heater) on my Gx3h (no electric heater) clears the screen without the ICE kicking in.

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Thanks, I'll have to give it a try. From what I can tell, on my MY16 (well, 2015 but new shape) 4HS, anything other than "off" activates the petrol engine powering the battery (series)

And on mine: setting it to 15 doesn't work for me if it's freezing outside. Turning it off keeps the engine off, and the car freezing. I've started to preheat mine while plugged in, but the charger doesn't seem to have kicked in once the heating's finished the past few times :roll:

mellobob said:

This business of no-regen with a full battery is causing me some mental concern I live at the top of a long/steep hill and have always geared down, especially near the bottom when it is icy/slippery. With a full battery my only option are the friction brakes. We'll see how it goes over the 1st winter. Mind you, I guess the way the car sucks battery juice for the heater after going down the hill for nearly 1km I have have some room in the battery

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Why just not set timed charging to specific amount of time, which is less that full charge time?
let's say usually it takes 8 hours to charge your car. Set timed changer to change from 12 to 6 am (6 hours) this should stop charging at ~75%. Then you can use regen brakes, You can also consume less electricity at home. This is Win-Win for you. Give it a try!

Demon2030 said:

mellobob said:

This business of no-regen with a full battery is causing me some mental concern I live at the top of a long/steep hill and have always geared down, especially near the bottom when it is icy/slippery. With a full battery my only option are the friction brakes. We'll see how it goes over the 1st winter. Mind you, I guess the way the car sucks battery juice for the heater after going down the hill for nearly 1km I have have some room in the battery

Click to expand...

Why just not set timed charging to specific amount of time, which is less that full charge time?
let's say usually it takes 8 hours to charge your car. Set timed changer to change from 12 to 6 am (6 hours) this should stop charging at ~75%. Then you can use regen brakes, You can also consume less electricity at home. This is Win-Win for you. Give it a try!

Click to expand...

I think @greendwarf's suggestion is better at this time if year, as it kills two birds with one stone. Run preheat, which stops the ICE kicking in when it's cold, and it also drains the battery to allow some regen :mrgreen: