It's 20 degrees and the engine goes on so offer that I can't even drain my battery on my commute. Is there any way to override that?
Could you rig this with a remote that can set the resistance high too, which would do the reverse and force the engine to run? What electrical power does it generate when it is running, and does it rev up and down with the throttle, as if it is in hold, or does the battery capacity drop over time?If lowering to 15F still doesn't cut it for you, guess you could always get ahold of the $3 AMBIENT TEMP SENSOR mounted behind the passenger's side front turn signal and hard set it for the Kohm value necessary to never drop below the point that triggers the ICE to run!
My approach to the engine running due to low temperature is different. I just put a piece of cardboard on the lower grille and some transparent tape on the higher grille. This way, the temperature sensor is not exposed to the cold air directly. it works as now the temperature on the DIC is 2degC higher than the outdoor temperature and the engine kicks in 2 degC lower.somms,
Thanks again for getting this ball rolling!
You have a workaround.
My only concern is the battery TMS and where it gets its temp sensing from.
This quote is from the following linked thread:
These passages permit the cells to be cooled or heated depending on operational requirements. The coolant inlet to the battery housing includes a debris filter, and a variable high voltage heating element that operates directly off the 360V Lithium Ion battery, and able to accurately heat the coolant when the battery cells are too cold. http://gm-volt.com/2010/12/09/the-chevrolet-volt-coolingheating-systems-explained/
How do you know your battery is happy?
That's exactly what I have. Works perfectly. I've brought my Volt in twice and they never noticed the switch I had hidden in the engine compartment. I really would not like to be going in and swapping it out twice a year. It was painful enough to get to the sensor the first time. Hopefully, I will never need to swap out the modified temperature sensor I have installed.so a simple switch rigged somewhere in the engine compartment that's easily accessible would be a simple, effective, and clean setup.