Pontiac's Forum Comments
Showing comments 1-30 of 54 by Pontiac.
Windows vs. A/C
Although they're not exactly a... gov't recognized testing company, Mythbusters did a test on this a couple of years ago. They took a couple of SUVs and ran them with the windows up/AC on, and windows down/AC off at varying speeds. I think they ran the trucks around a race track, and just waited until the gas ran out. They filled them up equally with something like a gallon of gas, and let 'em go. The first truck to die would mean it was less efficient. The major problem with this is that even though they used identical trucks, they could get different results just on THAT aspect. But it was close enough I guess.
Their results were that in lower speeds, its better to have the AC off, windows down. Higher speeds was the opposite. Unless I'm mistaking one show for another, their reason that when the air comes into the back of the car, the air pushes against the back window within the cab, which makes the car work that much harder. Fact is that the faster you go, the more friction comes against the car proportionately. This means the faster you go, the harder the car has to push to get through the air. With aerodynamics in mind, with the windows up, the air has a `smoother` surface to run across and won't push against the car as much. With the windows down, the air gets into the cab then pushes against the back window, which makes the car have to work harder.
So AC on or off, highway speeds, windows up. In town driving, weigh the cost of saving gas against a disgruntled passenger. ;)
posted by Pontiac September 30, 2009 at 10:13 PM
fuelly mobile coming up blank
I've got an 8900 and its worked up until my last fuel up a couple of weeks ago. I'm using the internal browser, not anything else.
posted by Pontiac September 27, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Texting input request
Instead of having a dedicated text receiver, why not just rely on email? Any phone should be able to fire off an email instead of a text message. Any time I send a text message to an email address, it does get converted from a `text` message to an email message.
In order for the server to figure out who the mail came from, the end user will have to setup their Fuelly account to accept the phone number thats sending the message out (IE: 5195551234@pcs.rogers.com).
Then its up to the server to figure out what the user wants to put into their database.
Spam won't be an issue either, as the senders email address has to exist on the Fuelly server. If the message senders email address doesn't exist, the message is just dropped to /dev/null.
If it passes, then its a matter of looking for keywords, like a series of numbers, and a `unit` Fuelly understands. To be considered `valid` prior to being incorporated to the database, each fill up has to be done on a single line, and at least 2 criteria have to exist (Just as the existing web page). Anything else is discarded.
Even at THAT point, to maintain validity of the data, the user has to come online to the Fuelly web page (Think advertising) to actually accept the data sent. The web site would say "I received this text message from you on this day, and this is how I interpret the data. Is this all correct?". If the user says YES, then it gets inserted.
If a user requires help while on the road, sending an email to something like remotehelp@fuelly.com would fire off an email to the recipients cell phone containing the formats, units, and options per fill up.
posted by Pontiac July 17, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Jetta TDI 2009, Do the chips help
Don't play with the chips if you want to keep your engine. Those chips that make you magically `save fuel` just screw up the fuel flow, which makes your engine run lean and could cause problems. Those chips that claim better HP screw up the fuel flow (Notice a trend?) and dump more gas in to make it more rich, which can again cause more problems.
Your engine is tuned to the chip it left with from the factory. I've seen these magical `chips` that claim better mileage or HP but aren't even wired with electricity.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080318173624AATrX3H
http://www.tuning.wanadoo.co.uk/chips-and-chipping.htm
http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-609247.html
http://forum.astraownersnetwork.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42019
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/604959-surge-performance-chip-a-hoax.html
Save your money, put it into another account, earn interest, and just maintain your vehicles fuel and ignition system.
posted by Pontiac June 1, 2009 at 8:05 PM
MPG: gasoline, diesel, CNG, etc equivalency
Forget a drop down, that'd be useful having just a small table with each "GOV'T ACKNOWLEDGED" type of fuel conversion. ... I'm quite hesitant to put cheeseburgers in my tank since I know how human arteries get clogged off that stuff. {smirk}
*sniffs the BBQ* Speaking of cheeseburgers... Gotta go flip.
posted by Pontiac May 24, 2009 at 9:11 AM
fuel-up entry suggestion
Not a bad idea. Since I got my Blackberry, I no longer ask for receipts, so when I enter my data, I have to make sure I look back at the fill up and read what I put in. But I typically know that I fill up at a certain amount when I pull in, and I typically remember how much the fill up cost me ($30 is easier to remember than 27.456).
posted by Pontiac April 5, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Suggestions
Instead of email with a monthly report, perhaps a month by month analysis of how things are going on our home pages. Even a simple table with the headers:
Distance Traveled
Fuel Used
MPG
Delta Distance
Delta Fuel
Delta MPG
Distance Traveled would be the absolute difference of the Odo readings for the first and last fill up of the month.
Fuel Used would be the sum of all the gas purchased in the month.
MPG would be the calculated value of the previous two fields
The deltas would be just how much more or less was done this month in comparison to last month. (IE: 500km, 40 Litres, etc, just to pick numbers)
I personally already keep my mail client busy with all the mail filters I have setup. No need to add more noise.
posted by Pontiac March 27, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Fuel economy representations
Its been discussed a whole lot on here. I'm sure its in the FAQ somewhere. The reason the admins don't do KM/L and stick to L/100km is because the later is an international standard.
I know its counter-intuitive to how the US uses Miles Per Gallon (Versus Liters per KM to which you're accustomed to), but I strongly suggest switching your thinking to Liters per 100KM.
When thinking of it this way, the lower the number, the better the mileage.
posted by Pontiac March 11, 2009 at 8:31 PM
Start Odometer Reading
You don't enter a "START" odometer reading. Just wait till your second fill up. I had to. :P
posted by Pontiac March 7, 2009 at 10:57 PM
Fuel cost constraint problem
If I get what you're talking about, that field is the PRICE PER LITER, not the COST OF THE FILL UP. Or, in other words, you enter 0.885, not 88.5.
posted by Pontiac March 6, 2009 at 6:52 PM
new link for Mobile after submit
Nevermind. Found the icon in the top redirects back to a blank page.
posted by Pontiac February 7, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Blackberry 8900 - http://m.fuelly.com - Not working
A couple of other things I noticed with this BB that may help others.
First I did not have the correct data plan on my account. Although I was using wifi when I submitted this it MAY have disabled a feature or two on the phone.
That said, after I turned the plan on, I noticed that I had the option to change to INTERNET BROWSER instead of HOT SPOT BROWSER or ROGERS MALL. When I selected IB mode, I was able to get online with the built in browser. Which means I can now drop Opera. :)
posted by Pontiac February 7, 2009 at 8:31 AM
I just installed Opera and it worked flawlessly. Thanks.
Found it via : http://www.labnol.org/software/browsers/problem-install-opera-mini-blackberry-curve-phone/3390/
Direct link to the JAR: http://mini.opera.com/mini.jad?rnd=1471007645&cert=none&edition=hifi&rel=4 - Download via the built in browser, install it, answer YES to everything. Logged with my credentials, and got NOT a white screen this time. :) Thanks!
posted by Pontiac February 5, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Sorry, no, my provider is Rogers. I'll see about getting Opera installed on this BB.
Is the problem repeated with Opera for those T-Mobile users, just out of curiosity?
posted by Pontiac February 5, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Site idea, more accurate CPG
Although I can appreciate your idea on this, chances are its not something to be included. The math involved is basically taking your monthly/yearly bill, divided by your mileage for the month/year, and there is your cost per KM/Mile.
Fuelly is geared towards fuel costs, not costs external to fuel.
posted by Pontiac January 17, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Warm Up or No?
Myself, if I were to do a warm up, it'd be long enough to just brush the car off (And take my time doing it. ;)) or allow enough heat to warm up the windshield so I'm not using my glove/hands to wipe it down. (Pet peve of mine is seeing the streaks left)
Outside of that, I hop in the car, start the car, put the belt on, put 'er in gear. The car actually does warm up faster when the engine is under load anyways.
posted by Pontiac December 1, 2008 at 2:45 AM
Monthly Average Cost per Mile
Well, this site has the added feature above Excel that we share our information to compare what our cars are doing against others. On top of that, the owners can trump me on this, but they've said it before that this site isn't about tracking money on fill ups because that particular aspect is out of their control.
I do understand where you are going with wanting to separate data for billing, but, thats above and beyond what this site is really about.
Just my view.
posted by Pontiac November 14, 2008 at 3:33 PM
With a bit of effort, why not just download your data (Use Export), take the data into a spreadsheet app, then do your damage?
posted by Pontiac November 12, 2008 at 1:28 PM
Per Month tracking?
Not sure how well that would work for a lot of people, as some people would drive more in a particular month than others, or, have to fill up more often because of a trip, etc. On top of that, with gas prices going crazy, the dollars and cents just wouldn't make sense a year from now.
posted by Pontiac November 11, 2008 at 7:53 PM
Planning to save fuel
To add to that, if you've got a GPS, bring it along for the ride. Typically theres a setting to show you the FASTEST or SHORTEST route. One is based on time, the other is on distance.
I've used both, and often times the SHORTEST route doesn't give me the BEST route, but it can knock 25km off my route in some situation. Whether or not that 25km worth of fuel ends up being chewed up because I'm being told to go through a residential or commercial area with lots of stop lights, versus the 25km of highway travel, I can't be 100% certain. ;)
posted by Pontiac November 8, 2008 at 5:09 AM
Mileage trends with amount remaining in tank
A couple of references:
Weight of Gasoline
Google Calc showing Kg/L
Google Calc showing Lbs/L
Using my tank as an example, quickly looking at my stats, it seems I fill up on average with 40L of fuel. So using the second Google Calc, 1.6* 40 = 64lbs. Ok, no not quite 100lbs, but still carrying that around. ;)
posted by Pontiac November 8, 2008 at 5:04 AM
When ya fill up, you're adding a few extra lbs to the gas tank that the car has to haul around. If you keep the tank at half, thats half as much weight in fuel that the car has to haul, which would make sense that your mileage would go up. I have no idea how much fuel weighs per liter, but I wouldn't be surprised if its around 100lbs.
There are a couple of problems with keeping the tank low. First, if you're running the tank nearly dry, you've got sediment at the bottom of the tank which could cause damage anywhere between requiring to change the fuel filter, all the way up to killing your pump and fouling up your injectors. The other issue is depending on how often and far you drive, you'll spend a bunch more time getting more acquainted with who works at your local gas bar. In the long run, yes, you will save on fuel.
posted by Pontiac November 8, 2008 at 4:57 AM
Metric RSS + US/Metric in Profile
I've got nothing to do with the RSS feed, but I'm using FireFox and I never have had to switch between US/METRIC when using one computer. If I log in from another computer, the site defaults to US. I'd suggest maybe you check your anti-virus software, your browser settings, and validate that your system isn't dropping the cookie for this site.
posted by Pontiac October 28, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Option for km/L
I'm starting to learn both methods (km/litre and liters/100km).
The one thing I'm trying to adapt to is for the L/100km factor is that the LOWER the number the better your mileage actually is, but for the liter/km, the BIGGER number the better. Must have been a golfer to figure out that a lower number is better for car mileage. {smirk}
posted by Pontiac October 22, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Need help.
Inflating is good for mileage, but bad for the tires. Same for underinflating the tires. Bad for mileage AND bad for tires.
32 PSI does sound correct for most car tires. Maybe a bit more for winter driving, but thats going to matter on the regular temperatures in your area. Fortunate for you, you have a sticker. You should see something in kpa (Kilopascal) or psi (Pounds per Square Inch).
A quick google search will give you the conversion.
posted by Pontiac October 22, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Fuel Spreadsheet
I'm noticing a bit of a variance in the dollar amount. I admit its only by a few cents either way, just an anomaly I noticed. By habit I always try to fill up to the nearest dollar. RARELY ever under the nearest dollar, USUALLY AT the dollar, sometimes a few pennies above. I've noticed that I'm sometimes out by as much as a few cents in either direction. Suppose its going to even out after time though.
posted by Pontiac October 22, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Sort by Number of Fuel Ups
Weather, mostly. I purchased the car Nov 24, 2007, started tracking on here in April. So I know pretty much my mileage throughout the warm season based on the numbers I've fed your site. Now that we're going into winter, the mileages are going to be different for all cars. Looking at `GT black beauty`who has filled up between July and August, her (The car) mileage isn't going to be the same.
If we're going to compare apples to apples when it comes to something as mileage over time for a brand of car, looking at similar results would be an asset.
The downfall of this is that people in Florida, for example, who use this site, aren't going to have the same mileage as myself ANYWAYS because of weather.
BUT, taking that into consideration, if we knew where that car mostly lived, we could get a sense as to how much roughly the mileage is going to differ by because of the different climates.
posted by Pontiac October 22, 2008 at 9:49 AM
Scangauge II
I've been pondering this as I can hook it up to the PC and give me a true history recorded right from the cars computer.
The fact that it gives an audiable tone when you exceed a user set limit is rather a nice feature to keep your foot off the gas. ;)
posted by Pontiac October 21, 2008 at 1:48 PM
Sort by Number of Fuel Ups
My thought is to just to not include anyone who hasn't logged into the site for the past two or three months.
posted by Pontiac October 21, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Option for km/L
You're about the third to make this request. I made the request a few months ago.
Check out http://www.fuelly.com/forum/148/KML-versus-L100KM
posted by Pontiac October 21, 2008 at 8:54 AM
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