Hmm...two issues to address here...
a. Engaging auto-stop vs. not, with the variable of 'continually' / 'at all' thrown in
b. Engaging VCM at idling speed
With regard to the first...the way that I interpret the OP (original poster) is that he worries about continually engaging it, for what winds up being short periods of time (and thus causing the pack, etc, hardship). I worry about this myself; in urban city driving (which I'm often in), there's not much to be done here except grit your teeth and hope that the pack doesn't get down past 3 bars (at which you'll almost assuredly be force charging, once you gain some room / speed, further taxing the ICE).
For those not aware of the differences in the AH's auto-stop logic, compared to the Insight / HCH, the AH will not initialize auto-stop until < 10mph, so there's not much coast factor here. However - it will *re-engage* after crawling forward, once the car has come to a complete stop for 1 full second. Per the service manual, it "will only do this twice" - however, I will readily dispute this, based on my experience (I may be accellerating past the re-initialize point, however, which is supposedly 12mph, but I can re-init at 10mph). The vehicle idles at 7mph, so you don't need much to re-init - more distance than speed, in my experience.
One thing that will help here - resist the urge to creep forward constantly. Try and stay behind a bit, especially if it can be made obvious to others that it doesn't make a whit of difference if you move forward 3 feet. Stoplights with a long line of cars, of which you're a bit of the way back, are good for this. Time your restart so that you're rolling up to your lead car as they're just starting to move forward. This is tricky, and I haven't mastered it yet, btw. Too soon, and you'll be auto-stopped again. Too late, and you risk the wrath of the drivers behind you, which can be disconcerting to say the least. If you think explaining the concept of 'hybrid' to the unenlightened is daunting, try explaining 'auto-stop' to someone and see if they don't think it's practically rocket science - it goes against everything they've learned about keeping an ICE running, not taxing the 12v battery, etc, etc.
That being said, I do engage the auto-stop, and don't try and defeat it, except for one instance - when I *know* for a fact that as soon as I auto-stop, traffic will move again for a good distance; ie, restarting from a light. (I'm talking sub-seconds here; you'd be surprised how often this happens to me). In this
one case, what I'll do is ease off the brake just before 10mph, and try and avoid use of the pack for < 1 sec worth of auto-stop. Again, don't do this in deadlocked traffic - only when you can see that traffic will start moving again on a continual basis. Since I've been coasting or braking when this occurs, I've had fuel-cut for a significant period of time, anyway, so that
has to help somewhat, IMO.
In short, be alert in your environment
In summary, little stops help with FE (very slightly) and the environment (more important) -
don't defeat the logic; however, the
very smallest stops are eligible for 'user discretion', IMO. This may apply more specifically to the AH, given it's revised auto-stop logic, than Honda's other hybrids. However, as I drive the AH daily, this is my experience after nearly 10K on the odo
Now....on to VCM at idle speeds... (don't worry, this one's shorter!
While I'm not an engineer, I'm thinking that there is a certain point at which VCM can't engage and maintain drivability. And I believe this is at < 15mph or so. Reasons:
- VCM doesn't engage below 18mph (20, per the manual, but I'm telling you differently, again based on experience
Given Honda's engineering prowess, do you think they would have used VCM in a narrower speed band than absolutely possible ? (yes, this is debatable for the top-end, at 82mph (ie, they could continue it past this point), but I think the lower-end is as low as they could make it work well.
- When I have VCM engaged at that 18mph, dropping 3mph will produce a *noticable* lugging on the ICE - a sure sign that it's not in an efficient operating range. When I notice this, I try and bring the ICE out of that lugging condition - for both efficiency's sake, and for the sake of a refined driving experience - especially when I have passengers in the car. Whether you recognize it or not, Honda, Toyota, et al, have enlisted us early-adopters as salespeople (ambassadors, if you will) of this technology. We have a responsibility to help 'spread the gospel' on hybridization (which most of us warmly embrace - otherwise, why would we all be on this site ?
That's all for now...I have to leave for game 2 of the AHL finals now. And for those who noted I stated I'd refrain from posting while the 'furry green monster' was still eating my posts....you can thank a certain poster's ill-devised reply on another thread for bringing me back so soon. I'll be writing my reply to that post tomorrow - and those of you who stay tuned for it may want to have a glass of ice water handy
PS: gonavy - I'll bet the firmware is in some variant of C - provides for some of the tightest code, and it's reliable enough (using one example) to keep those minutemen in their silos (until the sad day comes when we really want the birds to fly). Since Linux is a variant of Posix / Unix, which was all based on C, however, you're probably technically right...