Hello, I wonder if there's any service mode a technician can enter in to allow the Volt to display realtime diagnostic or technical data on the center display while driving. If not, this would be an awesome hack if someone could figure out the software. I would love to see motor RPM of both electric motors, currant flow both in power and regen, clutch operation to visualize power flow through the transmission, ICE RPM and throttle position when running, and anything else related to propulsion. Does anyone have any thoughts?

-Eriv

Hello, I wonder if there's any service mode a technician can enter in to allow the Volt to display realtime diagnostic or technical data on the center display while driving. If not, this would be an awesome hack if someone could figure out the software. I would love to see motor RPM of both electric motors, currant flow both in power and regen, clutch operation to visualize power flow through the transmission, ICE RPM and throttle position when running, and anything else related to propulsion. Does anyone have any thoughts?

-Eriv

I completely agree. I suggested this earlier...and even made a 'prototype' display that was the type of info requested.
See this thread...
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?5900-Data-Display

Stilgar

That looks real good. Perhaps a little more GUI eye candy or color...lol I imagine those NASA telemetry screens don't have much fancy GUI.

Do you work in Florida or Houston? As I understand once the shuttle clears the launch pad all control and telemetry transfers to Houston, is that right? I can't imagine how complicated those systems are, especially flying with 30+ year old electronics.

-Eric

I wouldnt hold my breath with respect to ever seeing this. At the dealership the dozens of diagnostic data screens for the Volt are displayed on a laptop via a special interface. During on-the-road crisis, Onstar personel can observe certain diagnostic data as well.
I can understand the interest and all, but there's so much data without a ton of training and experience the data is subject to far too much misinterpretation. Those that are serious about getting access to this data could certainly purchase an MDI from Bosch and get a subscription to GM-TIS/GDS software like the dealer has. ~$3000 should cover it.
We have a thread on this, with a more complete description to the available datasets somewhere...
WopOnTour

That looks real good. Perhaps a little more GUI eye candy or color...lol I imagine those NASA telemetry screens don't have much fancy GUI.

Do you work in Florida or Houston? As I understand once the shuttle clears the launch pad all control and telemetry transfers to Houston, is that right? I can't imagine how complicated those systems are, especially flying with 30+ year old electronics.

-Eric

I work in Houston. And we get LOTS of training before we use Shuttle data displays etc. Hence WOP's comments are correct, many folks would mis-interpret this data.
Hence I doubt we ever get it....

Stilgar

I work in Houston. And we get LOTS of training before we use Shuttle data displays etc. Hence WOP's comments are correct, many folks would mis-interpret this data.
Hence I doubt we ever get it....

StilgarYea, dont get me wrong. I agree it would be a cool feature, and certainly some of the data isn't above the heads of most anyone.(after all it's not rocket science ;) )

It's just there has to be sound rationale for GM to potentially expose themselves to increased customer concerns (and potentially increased warranty costs) due to simple data misinterpretations. There's sooo much data, and sometimes there's "normal" things that occur that might get misconstrued. I think everyone can agree the Volt already displays a fair amount of practical end-user data as it is, so it's a simple case of need to know vs. nice to know.

Still, we had those types of "on-board" diagnostic display capabilities in the 90's Cadillacs and even some older cars like mid 80s Rivs and Toros. So the concept isn't inconceivable...
WOT

One thing the I have wanted for years is a screen showing the actual fault codes in real time. This would let me tell the service tech exactly what I and the Volt were doing when the code appeared. This is particularly important for intermittent problems where the tech has to spend time on the road trying to reproduce the problem when the driver isn't sure about the trigger.

BTW, I thought you need a dealer number to get the latest GM-TIS/GDS software subscription. It certainly was required to sign up for a GM course. The hardware without the software is useless.

If I'm wrong, I'd be happy to pay for some Volt service courses, many of which are online and reasonably priced. And no, I'm not going to actually open up my car.

Would love this. Our old '86 Buick Riviera with touch CRT had this "feature". You could put it into service mode and see every output from every sensor in the car!

Would love this. Our old '86 Buick Riviera with touch CRT had this "feature". You could put it into service mode and see every output from every sensor in the car!
If you want it that much, check out the DashDAQ.

I'm suggesting GM add it as a standard feature, not an aftermarket product. It's software, not hardware, so the costs would be in design, programming, testing, and updating the owner's guide. These are all one-time costs.

The Volt already warns drivers to visit their dealers when important fault codes are created, so it shouldn't increase the warranty costs but decrease them in the case of intermittent problems. Harmless fault codes would be filtered until a serious fault code appeared, but they would have the original time stamps so that the driver could correlate them with driving and road conditions.

Two questions a computer tech always asks:
2. What has changed recently?
3. What were you doing when it happened?

Question 1 is: Do you have power? That kills well over 25% of the complaints. :)

If you want it that much, check out the DashDAQ.

I'm suggesting GM add it as a standard feature, not an aftermarket product. It's software, not hardware, so the costs would be in design, programming, testing, and updating the owner's guide. These are all one-time costs.


Understood. I'm very familiar with scanning tools and live-feed OBD-II gauges. I'm just saying that the touch screen reminds me of the old car, and that way back in 1986 you could view all the sensors, live, right there on that touch CRT (which happens to be about the same size!). Now with more than one color! So it's not such a big stretch of the imagination to allow it...

So far I have no desire to see that much information from the Volt. I've acquired a pretty solid understanding of the car since watching it excitedly for years and reading the great information on this forum! I'm happy using the three hockey sticks for now. Later if it becomes high maintenance, I'll consider a DashDaq, etc.

One thing the I have wanted for years is a screen showing the actual fault codes in real time. This would let me tell the service tech exactly what I and the Volt were doing when the code appeared.While the questions will still be asked by the service advisor, the reality is when a DTC fails a "snapshot" of vehicle data is also stored in non-volatile memory (called a freeze-frame and/or fail-record) so that the tech can review how the vehicle was being operated at the time of fail. In fact there's TWO files, one for the initial fail and another for any subsequent fails. (so data relating to first and both first and last fail is available)
Quite simply the "Check Engine" lamp (or warning message w/chime) is the driver's primary indicator that a DTC as failed and can cetainly note what was occuring at the time if relevant.


Would love this. Our old '86 Buick Riviera with touch CRT had this "feature". You could put it into service mode and see every output from every sensor in the car!I dont think we'll see "OFF & WARMER" diagnostics like your old Buick Riv (and other cars mostly Cadillac) employed ever again. It essentially died with OBD2 regualations in 1996 when the "interface" for diagnostics became standardized and legislated.Plus there's just too much data to attempt to portrait here without the use of various data parsing and manipulation tools that GDS2 affords.

WopOnTour

To the OP: Get a Dash Daq. You have all sorts of neat Volt-specific data in real time.. Its really nice for the pre-2013 Volts without the power displays. Better, its a data logger so you can simply pop the SD card and look at the history in an XL spread sheet. You can make custom gauges with math functions. Some of what you find is a surprise.

Most of the misinterpretation concerns have to do with battery aging. Obviously Nissan threw batery capacity data up on the dash and it started coming down, it hit the fan. Newer Volts just report SOC (not capacity) which has caused its fair share of threads. There is an estimated battery capacity PID, but GM treats it as I'll have to kill you if I tell you.

The DD isn't cheap ($600+), but $3,000 for the full GM data software is obviously dealer territory.