One of our Prius camper friends Wendy recently purchased the OBD2 device I recommended and asked which apps and what’s next.
I immediately asked her what type of device does she use an Apple or an Android device? Thankfully she said Android and I was able to tell her the below, Unfortunately, Apple blocks the device and the device and the data that applications can read from.
For instance, the applications I use to locate cell phone signal towers and know my cell phone strength cannot be used on an Apple device. You have to punch in a bunch of numbers to get to a diagnostic screen where you can only view this data from your phone. With my Android devices, I can triangulate cell phone signal towers, know which direction I should be pointing a directional antenna when using a signal booster, and know the signal strength as well. I can view a lot of data and store that data to use later but I can’t do that with an Apple device.
For some reason the majority of the Prius owners that I notice online are all concerned with their battery this is a major Achilles heel that I have to monitor it because if I don’t it’s gonna go out on you… I think they need to just let that go because the battery is a battery and it goes out it is not that big of a deal.. But what is a deal is all of the other miscellaneous parts that are on the Prius that affect not only the MPG but how it operates.
For instance, one day I was going for a hike and the location required me to go up a long steep hill on the highway. I use the app hybrid assistant to monitor all of the little details about my Prius so when I noticed the car’s internal temperatures starting to rise, I immediately pulled over. The thing with the Prius, you will not get a check engine light or any other if the system notices that your water pump is going bad and you can drive the car will start to overheat and you still will not receive any notifications until it’s the last minute and by then it’s typically too late. With no check engine lights on and the OBD2 device that I use I was able to run diagnostics for any status code inside of the car and sure enough, it gave me a code that represents I need to change my water pump. Through my overlanding adventures I have noticed my car would get in temperatures above 300 degrees and if I’m not mistaken the check engine light and/or temperature warning comes on when you’re out about 323 or 330ﾟwhich is way too high! By that time most people may still try to push and drive their car and then that’s when you have motor issues because the car didn’t warn you until it was right at the Max time that it should be warning you..
That said, Hybrid Assistant is the app I use all of the time to monitor the vitals of my Prius and with the OBD MX+ Bluetooth Adapter.
