Custom(izeable) OBDII software for Hybrid vehicles

**Tim K** · 09-29-2006, 11:43 AM

I've got a 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid (same as a Ford Escape). It came with what Ford calls their Hybrid/Nav radio. It has an outdated DC-based NAV system with a tiny 3" screen. It was supposed to be Satellite and MP3 capable. It isn't. It also has NO Aux inputs. In other words, it is fairly useless. The only valueable features are the Fuel economy screen and the Hybrid energy screen. The FE screen displays a graph of your last 15 minutes of fuel economy, a numeric display of your average MPG since last reset, and an instant FE bar gauge. The Hybrid screen displays an engine and electric motor icon with arrows that come on and off to animate the way the vehicle is currently operating (engine drive, electric drive, both, recharge, etc) as well as a battery bar guage that shows current state of charge. I'll try to post a picture for reference.

Both the FE and Hybrid screens are valuable tools for these vehicles so I don't want to lose them....or at least not the information they provide. I want to add an in-car bluetooth system for my cell phone and I'm eventually going to need to add a DVD player and LCD screen for my son anyway, and it seems like I might as well go the carPC route. That way I get on-screen Sirius controls (not the dash-top plug and play unit), large screen advanced Nav software, hard drive music storage, internet access via cell or wifi, DVD capability, bluetooth phone controls, and OBDII info to boot. Ideally, I would have the following:
1. a battery display (like a bar graph) plus a numeric readout of the state of charge for the battery

2. a fuel economy display that has a numeric INSTANT and numeric AVERAGE fuel economy

3. an energy flow diagram like the OEM one (not necessary but helpful)

Are there any OBD software platforms that will be able to capture this data and provide it in at least a semi-custom display? There are a couple which claim to support the Escape hybrid but I know nothing about them. If I can find the link to one I'll post it.

**Bradisbest** · 02-09-2007, 04:24 PM

I have a Ford Escape Hybrid, and I too want to put a pc in my car, but I want to maintain the hybrid functionality.

Since your vehicle has the Nav system, it has Ford's ACP module (Audio control protocol). This is an RS-485 protocol. I have begun decoding the messages on this interface. Is there any specific reason you would prefer ODB-2?

Using my approach I will be able to connect three additional wires to the pc, via a serial port, and gain the instantaneous mpg, the battery state, and the mode the vehicle is driving in. Software would then be able to determine the average mpg. I could start looking into the odb-2 method, if there is a good reason. It just seems like a lot more data, thus more work.

**Tim K** · 02-09-2007, 04:46 PM

Brad,
I see you found the post on GreenHybrid. Let's keep the discussion on that thread since that's where the other info is....

Here is a link for anyone else interested:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/s...ad.php?t=10549