Trip computer - is it me??

[Lyra252]

Hi

Am I being stupid? only the tripcomputer autoresets after about 4 hours. You can set this to manual reset, but every time you switch off, it defaults back to autoreset.

I expected manual reset to keep computing MPG, until it was manually reset!.

The mpg figures can be a bit confusing, but I've made a little spreadsheet (I need to get out more!) which gives both trip (since last filled up) and ovrerall MPG, total distance divided by gallons used.

So far individual trips are 44 and 66 mpg, - with current trip of 129 miles, and a guesstimate of 3 litres. =195 MPG.

Overall 465 miles, 6.6 gallons = 70mpg.

I think it's the oveall mpg which is probably the most relevant, as similar milage in 3.0 DCI Espace would have averaged at 30mpg.

The saving on equivilent diesel for the overall milage is about £51.00, so not too bad for the first 10days.

Any thoughts on using the PHEV trip computer gratefully received.

Cheers Chris

 

[jdsx]

Hi Chris
No it's definitely not you. The car is great but whoever designed the 'MMCS' needs to be fired. There has been some discussion of this before in various topics, but suffice to say it is not up to the job. A little spreadsheet is probably required, unfortunately... :evil:

 

[maddogsetc]

No, you're not being stupid, have a read through this thread: http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=297

You'll see that there is good and bad news. The good being that Mitsubishi have helpfully built 2 data files into the software, which in theory means that you can toggle between automatically reset data and manually reset data.

The bad news is that it doesn't work - you can reset the Manual file and it will differ from the Auto file for a while. But eventually (and usually quite soon) it 'forgets' the Manual data and resets itself whether you want it to or not. :evil:

 

[user 258]

The bad news is that it doesn't work - you can reset the Manual file and it will differ from the Auto file for a while. But eventually (and usually quite soon) it 'forgets' the Manual data and resets itself whether you want it to or not. :evil:

Hi,
No, it doesn't forget the manual data. It is just that in your particular case you use so little fuel that when the manual reading exceeds 99.9mpg it also then displays 0.0mpg which no doubt matches your auto reading.
For those of us unfortunate enough to make longer trips that drags the overall average manual mpg below 99.9mpg it works exactly as intended (for mpg at least). The real problem is that it can't display better than 99.9 correctly. It isn't even clever enough to display 99.9 rather than 0.0. Made worse by the circle around the mpg reading seeming to indicate it can display upto 180mpg.
Kind regards,
Mark

 

[maddogsetc]

Hi,
No, it doesn't forget the manual data. It is just that in your particular case you use so little fuel that when the manual reading exceeds 99.9mpg it also then displays 0.0mpg which no doubt matches your auto reading.

I'm sorry but this is just wrong :evil: . I have investigated this extensively and even on those occasions when the car has used petrol and is recording an EV%, say <80% on the Manual reset data file; the next day, even though I have not manually reset the data, it has reverted to 100% EV.

Furthermore the EV average and Fuel average figures are not the same the next day as they were at the point of last use.

And I don't get 0.0mpg either, it's --.-mpg most of the time and randomly something between 0.0 and 99.9mpg.

I'm pleased that it works well for you but please don't presume to know what it does in my case.

 

[user 258]

Hi,
No, it doesn't forget the manual data. It is just that in your particular case you use so little fuel that when the manual reading exceeds 99.9mpg it also then displays 0.0mpg which no doubt matches your auto reading.

I'm sorry but this is just wrong :evil: . I have investigated this extensively and even on those occasions when the car has used petrol and is recording an EV%, say <80% on the Manual reset data file; the next day, even though I have not manually reset the data, it has reverted to 100% EV.

Furthermore the EV average and Fuel average figures are not the same the next day as they were at the point of last use.

And I don't get 0.0mpg either, it's --.-mpg most of the time and randomly something between 0.0 and 99.9mpg.

I'm pleased that it works well for you but please don't presume to know what it does in my case.

Sorry to presume. However, your use is quite exceptional in that you have used so little fuel for the number of miles covered and I felt this was a big factor. I never said any of the other trip info was reliable (in other postings I said that this was at best unreliable) just that the mpg figure in auto AND manual mode worked exactly as it should in my case until consumption bettered 99.9mpg.

It would be useful if others who use more fuel could comment on these numbers?

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[maddogsetc]

It would be useful if others who use more fuel could comment on these numbers?

Agreed. And it would be particularly interesting (for me) to know if the average mpg, in Manual reset mode, over an extended period (ie. weeks, not days) is consistent with real world data. Or at least consistent from day to day.

I suspect that you may be partly right, in that the inconsistencies that arise in my case have something to do with my driving pattern. That's no excuse though - if Mitsubishi choose to market it as a car capable of doing 148mpg then they ought to ensure that everything functions properly at those sort of figures, whether or not they actually expect such figures to be achieved in real life.

 

[pheverish]

Manual mode provides a very accurate figure when I compare with a manual calculation after re-fuelling.

 

[thegurio]

I am a tad obsessed with fuel figures etc. so when this thing finally runs out of fuel, I'll let you know how I go. Both what the car says, and the actual...

To be clear: I press the manual mode on the trip info screen, then what?

 

[pheverish]

Change display to l/100 km. If you've used some fuel, you should get a reading, then convert back to mpg.

 

[user 258]

Change display to l/100 km. If you've used some fuel, you should get a reading, then convert back to mpg.

That's a great idea (dashes out to car to test). Changing to l/100km (in manual mode) gives 1.8, better still when I immediately changed back to UK MPG the display showed 157.1mpg!!! Unfortuneately, this didn't survive an off/on so I'm now back to 0.0mpg.

Hopefully, this will work for the rest of you

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[user 258]

I am a tad obsessed with fuel figures etc. so when this thing finally runs out of fuel, I'll let you know how I go. Both what the car says, and the actual...

To be clear: I press the manual mode on the trip info screen, then what?

Press the manual button to display the numbers from the last time you reset. When you refuel you would press the reset button while still in manual mode. This will reset the mpg so it starts again for this tankfull.

When I first filled up after using half a tank I got 86.5mpg and while I don't remember the exact number from the trip it was quite close to actual filling up numbers that I was happy.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[maddogsetc]

pheverish wrote:

Change display to l/100 km. If you've used some fuel, you should get a reading, then convert back to mpg.

avensys wrote:

That's a great idea (dashes out to car to test). Changing to l/100km (in manual mode) gives 1.8, better still when I immediately changed back to UK MPG the display showed 157.1mpg!!! Unfortuneately, this didn't survive an off/on so I'm now back to 0.0mpg.

Hopefully, this will work for the rest of you

Kind regards,
Mark

:idea: Will try this later, although annoyingly I've just reset the Manual data to test the longevity of the data file once more (going to take some screenshots tonight and tomorrow to check once again if they are the same or not). I guess it's good news that the display is capable of showing mpg over 99.9 - it gives me hope that a future software update might fix things.

 

[maddogsetc]

I guess it's good news that the display is capable of showing mpg over 99.9

Tried it, got 0.3l/100Km. Great I thought. Switch back to UK mpg. Got 99.9mpg.

As mine was one of the first UK deliveries I'm now wondering if I'm a couple of software versions behind. I Know I'm at least one behind as I haven't loaded the recent update (I don't want to risk the failed upload problem). I'm showing version U - what have others got please?

 

[user 258]

I guess it's good news that the display is capable of showing mpg over 99.9

Tried it, got 0.3l/100Km. Great I thought. Switch back to UK mpg. Got 99.9mpg.

Better than 0.0. Maybe you are getting (very likely if the 0.3l/100km is any where near right) more than 180mpg so it can't display it and rather than showing 180 shows 99.9.

As mine was one of the first UK deliveries I'm now wondering if I'm a couple of software versions behind. I Know I'm at least one behind as I haven't loaded the recent update (I don't want to risk the failed upload problem). I'm showing version U - what have others got please?

I applied the recent software update and my software version is the same U as yours.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[maddogsetc]

Ok thanks Mark, looks like 'updates' probably don't change the version then. BTW I found a Mitsi FAQ site which helpfully advises you, amongst other things, to ensure you have the most up to date version of the car's software but unfortunately doesn't tell you how or where to find out what the most up to date version is. It's certainly not on the UK website anywhere obvious. :roll:

 

[maddogsetc]

After my long-running difficulties getting some consistency from the Trip data I finally got around to conducting an objective test today.

It was a good day for me to do the test because I knew that I would be doing 2 trips (turned out to be 3 in fact) and that each trip would be significantly over 40 miles, so enough to need petrol on both occasions.

So I reset the Manual data file on the first trip at the same time as engaging Save, to eliminate the first part of EV running and make sure that it should not 'round up' to 100% EV at the end of the day.

I then took pictures of the Trip data (both main screen and Dash screen) at the end of the 1st trip, and at the start and end of the 2nd and 3rd trips. In each case I switched to the Manual data file before moving off, to ensure that the data at the start of each trip should be identical to that at the end of the preceding one. This is what I found:

Trip 1 end:
EV% 80%
mpg 45.4mpg

Trip 2 start
EV% 100%
mpg 45.4mpg

Trip 2 end
EV% 78%
mpg 94.2mpg

Trip 3 start
EV% 80%
mpg 72.7mpg

I also noticed that the mile/kwh was reset to zero at the start of each trip.

The only thing that changed between the end of 1 trip and the start of the next was that the battery was charged.

So it seems conclusive to me that the Manual trip data file is at best inconsistent and it's a bit of a lottery what you get - sometimes the mpg continues consecutively but the EV% doesn't, sometimes vice versa.

Whether the average mpg can be relied upon over a longer period with multiple trips is clearly another matter as some people seem to be getting results which closely match actual consumption. So it may be that the errors I'm seeing are a result of some variation in measurement which is significant in the short term but not so significant in the long term. Perhaps it relies on a measurement of the fuel tank level for example, which is highly likely to be fairly inaccurate and varying (but I'm not sure it could vary enough to account for the change from 94.2 to 72.7mpg :shock: )

I find it harder to understand the %EV variation - to go from 80% at the end of one trip to 100% at the start of the next? That's a complete mystery to me. :?

It will be interesting to see what the data file reads on first use tomorrow...

 

[maddogsetc]

Hmmm, so first thing this morning my readings (in Manual mode) are:

EV% 100%
mpg 76.1mpg

And these compare to the readings at the end of last use:

EV% 81%
mpg 76.1mpg

Edit - used wrong 'end' data, corrected now. So, looking at the full set of yesterday's and today's data, it seems clear to me that, in the short term at least, it's difficult to have confidence in what MMCS tells us.

 

[thegurio]

Which is why I always rely on actual figures... Today I emptied the tank 3 times, and recorded it each time. Apologies for 'Australian-I sing' the figures, but they were 5.3l/100 mix of mostly city work, recharged every day for a week, second was 8.3 with a full battery, mostly highway at 110km/h, and overtaking every opportunity, and lastly 8.3 with Eco on but flat battery to start with...

End summation - a asthmatic 2.0l pushing 1.8t @ 110 k's an hour, isn't going to be as economical as charging a battery every day lol

 

[user 258]

Hi,

I think I've made some progress with the fuel consumption problems.

In my car, in manual trip mode, and purely in EV mode, the mpg trip number did not change as I drove whereas when I put the units into km/l it did start refreshing as I drove. When I then swapped back to mpg it had updated.

My conclusion, therefore, is that at least in EV mode mpg does not update at all or at least not frequently. Maybe that explains why maddogs got one reading at the end of a trip and a different reading at the begining of the next trip. Maybe, it updates frequently when the engine is running?

It is as though the trip settings were developed and tested in km/l and everything is converted from that as and when needed but they got a bug in there.

Kind regards,
Mark