Hey. So far, I love the HCHII. Yesterday I did a 37 mile trip @ 54.4mpg, with only 200 miles on the odo, love it.

Anyhow, the one thing that has seemed silly to me, is that when I come into my driveway, because it is sloping down towards where my carport is, I am coasting/braking for the last 30 feet or so and the car usually goes into auto stop until I am in parking position. Which seems great but then I shift into Park and it starts up again, only to be shut off by me. I know this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it seems wasteful to have a startup for no reason.

Any way to prevent this? Turn off car in Neutral and then shift to Park? Is that ok?

Thanks,

Limey6413

 

Yep, that is what I usually do now.

 

Does seem silly doesn't it, I have a hump at the begining of my short driveway, I go into auto stop when I slow down for the hump then start back up for the last 20 feet....too bad I can't coast in or use electricy for that but, thats the way it is made...
in response to your question, I don't see any harm in your roll forward & turn off in auto stop as long as you don't mind unlocking the doors manually.

 

I have the exact same set up. I coast into the garage in Auto Stop, shift to neutral shut the car off and shift to park. I never shift to park before shutting the car off.

 

Alright - cool.. i'll start doing that then

Oh and when driving around at 35 and under, there seems to be a sound that comes from the dash area, kinda like I would expect a motor that moves some of the air vents from floor to dash vents etc... anyone else have that? It just comes on for 3 or 4 seconds every now and then, a light buzzing type sound.

 

Yep, that's completely normal. Has something to do with the electric motor. I hear it when accelerating and when breaking. No worries.

 

It happens when coasting too though for me - just randomly as i'm gliding along.. just silence then buzzzzzzz then its over

 

Mine may too. I've gotten so used to it though, I don't really notice it much.

 

I have never noticed it, I will have to listen for it.

 

Slightly Technical Explanation:

Whining is a characteristic of Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) DC speed controllers. What happens is that at low speeds (and high motor current), the commonly used large motors do not have the inductance or resistance to let the current fall back into line during the "off" time of the 15 kHz pulse width. Over time, this current buildup can degrade the operation of the PWM speed controller. Motor controllers are generally now built to change to a lower pulse frequency (1.5 kHz) at lower throttle settings. This is called "frequency shifting." This gives the current time to fall off, so that the next pulse doesn't just increase the current more.

The whine comes from the fact that the 1.5 kHz frequency is right in the middle of the audible range (15 kHz is at the high end). The motor windings "sing" in tune with the PWM'ing of the controller.

Something similar happens when a large AC industrial motor is ramped up to speed using a typical AC drive. As the drive steps up the speed, the motor can be heard to actually play a scale (albeit a little off key) as the frequency changes in small steps.