Custom Motorcycles – Made In India

if custom motorcycles interest you, visit http://www.vardenchi.com/. a neat website worth your visit.

Using the ScanGauge to save fuel

according to the us federal government, the way you drive can affect fuel economy by up to 33%. see http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drivehabits.shtml.

most of us are aware of how you can drive a vehicle in a matter to significantly reduce fuel economy. it is surprising though, how many don’t realize how many subtle things they can do to improve fuel economy. part of the problem is the poor feedback we typically get about what improves fuel economy and what makes it worse. calculating the fuel economy at every fill up is like going on a weight reduction plan but only weighing yourself at your annual medical checkup. the nagging of the bathroom scale at the morning weigh-in is what drives us to make the necessary changes to reach our goals.

years ago, some vehicles added an “economy” gauge to indicate when you were using more or less fuel. these were based on manifold vacuum and couldn’t really tell you your fuel economy at that moment and would often tell you that you were getting better mileage when you actually weren’t. for instance, shifting to a lower gear would move the gauge higher into the economy range. actually, shifting to a lower gear almost always lowers fuel economy.

as cars became more computerized, some vehicles added fuel economy gauges that really did show fuel economy. this was a big step forward, but still lacked the kind of feedback that would show the overall effect of different driving habits. you easily saw that when you stepped on the gas, the economy dropped and when you let off, it went back up. this something you already knew, but now you had some real numbers to go with it.

the next step to improve the feedback was to show the average fuel economy as you drove. this allowed you to see what adjustments in your driving styles could be used to actually raise your average fuel economy. when you stepped on the gas, the average would start decreasing. when you let off the gas, it would start increasing. it became easy to figure out how to make the economy go down less when it was going down and up more when it was going up. you could make it into a game to see how high you could get the mpg. the best part was, you got to redeem your points at the gas pump!

although some cars have this feature today, many don’t. the solution to this problem came from emissions requirements called obdii. starting in 1996, all cars and light trucks sold in the us and canada were required to follow standards on how to report information about what the engine was doing in the way of emissions. a gadget could be made to plug into the obdii connector inside the car that could provide all kinds of data on how the engine was running and if there were any problems. the scangaugeii is a commercial product that can be plugged into this connector and provide real time information on the vitals of the engine as well as retrieve the codes when there was a problem and the “check engine light” was on. another neat thing came from this – the vehicles fuel use and economy could also be determined.

the scangaugeii provides real time mpg just like the factory options. more importantly, it also shows averages. it shows fuel use and economy for each trip you make, for all the trips in days driving, for all of the previous day’s trips and over the entire tank of fuel. each time you start driving after the engine has been off for at least three minutes, the “current” trip reset to 0 mpg and starts increasing as you start driving. you will see the mpg value go up and down as you drive. it will become very apparent what you can do to maximize the value. at the end of the day, you can see the average for the day in the today selection and compare it to the prevous day values.

in order to get good real-time feedback, you would set up the current trip mpg as a gauge. you could also display the actual amount of fuel used on the trips, since using the least amount of fuel is the actual goal. this allows you to compare different routes to places you often travel to, like work, school, the mall, etc.. when you fill up, you input the amount you paid per gallon. this allows the scangaugeii to show the actual cost of each trip as you are driving. this is a good way to see what each trip is costing. you may find that driving further to get a lower price on gas is actually costing more then you save.

who knows, you could even become a hyper-miler. these people use every trick that they can find to get trip mpgs that are more then double the epa ratings! at hybrid fest in madison wisconsin at the end of july in 2007, dozens of hybrids did a mileage challenge. the course was 28 miles through downtown madison, out into the country and back through the city. scangaugeiis were used to measure the amount of fuel it took to cover the course. one prius used 0.19 gallons (147 mpg) most of the others got well over 100 mpg. these people don’t lose sleep over the price.

source: http://scangauge.com/support/savefuel.shtml

ScanGauge II Standard Documentation

standard documentation available for scangauge ii can be downloaded from here

ScanGauge II User Manual XGauge Codes XGauge Coding – HOWTO

i am looking for hyundai verna 1.6 petrol specific codes for scangauge ii to make the most of the device. any suggestions where i can find more information?

Green Driving Quiz

take the quiz to find out how green is your driving – http://auto.howstuffworks.com/green-driving-quiz.htm

Hypermiling Tips

here are some tips i follow as a novice hypermiler:

regular maintenance – i get my car serviced as per the schedule in the user manual. other than ensuring i don’t get stuck when i least expect, it ensures my machine works as intended and gives a consistent fuel economy

tyre pressure – i keep it at 31 psi when driving alone and 34 psi when fully loaded. i check the pressure every two weeks.

fuel – i use normal and high octane fuel alternatively. i try and buy fuel from one pump only and stock just enough in the tank to ensure i get from a to b and back with some reserve. tank full adds additional weight to the car and it effects the fuel economy. i get fuel mostly when it is cool outside either early morning or late evening. i get more fuel for the money spent

coasting – during my cycling days, at turns or when stopping at a red light, i would stop pedaling some distance before and would glide for that distance and then brake slightly to come to a complete halt. i do the same now in the car, gauge the distance, shift to neutral/control through the cluth with the engine idling and let the car glide at a turn or at a red light and then brake slightly to come to a complete halt. this takes some practice and lots of patience. don’t switch off the engine during the glide. mechanical power steering works only when the engine is on.

speed – i start slow, maintain consistent speed just enough to keep braking minimal. this was scary when i started but now i don’t use brakes much.

air conditioner – i use it only when i must. a big fuel waster.

stop sign – i switch the engine off when possible.

more tips coming shortly.

Hypermiling

hypermiling - my current passion. with fuel prices rising, trying to work at driving methods to optimize fuel consumption. installed scangauge ii, a car computer to see how i am doing while driving. with roads in new delhi and gurgaon at its worst most of the time, even a small improvement is great. currently getting a hang of the product, calibrating it. find out more about the product at www.scangauge.com

there is a huge amount of information on how you can maximize your fuel economy. there are some methods that in my opinion IS NOT FOR INDIA, others needs a lot of effort and patience to master.

been doing it for some time now. visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy-maximizing_behaviors to know more.

about my car - i drive a hyundai verna 1.6 litre petrol. my current fuel consumption is approximately 7.7 litres/100 kms with a mix of air conditioner and without air conditioner driving. some more calibration is needed of scangauge ii to get accurate fuel economy figures.

my current search - additives (i know of acetone) that can boost fuel economy without affecting the engine. also read and watched a lot of videos on brown gas. not experimented with it yet. autogas india is currently working on a hho based product that works along with petrol to boost fuel economy.

google keyword – “hypermiling”

happy hypermiling !!!