Archives

Originally posted on 7/29/09 at PC

I've started this thread for those who want to customize the Enginer.us PHEV kits for longer range and higher performance. I have started with two of the Enginer 4kwh kits. Depending on the way my custom configuration performs, I might add more converter(s) for higher speed EV and/or more batteries for longer range.

I have just finished mounting all of the components. I have not yet run the wires to the dash and mounted the switches. I just used a 12v battery and some jumper wires to provide power to the switches. Everything works fine except that one of my two battery chargers has an internal short that took out a circuit breaker in my load center. Amazingly, the fuse in the charger didn't blow.

I started up the car and engaged Ev mode. The OEM pack SoC was 58.0, voltage at 216, BTA at 1.4A. When I switch on the first converter, the BTA reversed to -7.5, meaning that the converter was putting out about 9A. Then I switched on the second converter. The BTA jumped to -15.5A, or 17A total. Not the 24A that I had expected but the battery voltage was at 240 and the SoC was above 60%. I expect that under load or if I charged the OEM pack when it was vary low, say 200V, then I would see 24A. I will try that soon to confirm.

I let both converters run until the SoC rose to 75% then shut one down. The shut the other one down at 77.5%. No component malfunctions (other than the charger) and no MIL or DTC's.

Here are the pictures of the component perparation, installation and test drive.....

Preparation

Prepping the chargers
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2672-prepping-chargers.jpg

Mounting the 48V to 240V Converters
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2670-prepping-48v-240v-converters.jpg

Reinforcing the battery carrier cover
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2671-reinforcing-cover.jpg

Increasing the depth of the box (to accommodate batteries standing up)
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2674-prepping-battery-carrier-added-2-height-acommodate-batteries-standing-up.jpg

Battery carrier with cover. 1" clearance over battery terminals.
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2675-battery-carrier-cover-1-clearance-over-battery-terminals.jpg

Battery carrier with cover (rear view)
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2676-battery-carrier-cover-rear-view.jpg

Installing the Chargers
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2673-installing-chargers.jpg

Battery Carrier Installed
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2677-installing-battery-carrier.jpg

Batteries Installed
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2678-installing-batteries.jpg

Switch Controls Installed (HSS 52MPH, red button)
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2668-controls.jpg

Installation Complete (rear)
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2667-rear-view.jpg

Installation Complete (front)
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2669-front-view.jpg

Test Drive
http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2680-66-mile-trip-similar-one-way-my-daily-commute-50-miles-55-mph-interstate-16-miles-35-45-mph-suburban-driving-66-miles-total.jpg
66 mile trip, similar to one way of my daily commute. 50 miles at 55 mph on the interstate, 16 miles of 35-45 mph suburban driving. 66 miles total.

http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2681-sg-shows-106-mpg-soc-finished-same-where-77.jpg
SG shows 106 MPG. SoC finished the same as where it started at 77%.

http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2682-started-66-mile-drive-53-7v-end-drive-51-3v-under-load-2-converters-50-0v-converters-shut-down-46v-lots-juice-left.jpg
Started the 66 mile drive at 53.7V. End of drive was 51.3V. Under load with 2 converters, 50.0V. Converters shut down at 46V. Lots of juice left.


http://priuschat.com/forums/members/krousdb-albums-enginer-us-phev-conversion-picture2679-after-adding-300-lbs-rear-sag-not-so-bad.jpg
After adding 300 lbs to the rear, the sag is not so bad.

Needless to say, I'm a happy camper.

No component failures (except for one charger), no balancers beeping, no MIL's and no DTC's. The converters were putting out about 9A each, no overheating. I started up with 53.7V on the Aux pack. After switching one converter on, 52.1V. After switching on the second converter, 51.7V where it stayed until about the 50 mile mark. At 66 miles, just before switching the converters off, 50.0V.

So what was the improvement with the Custom Enginer 8kwh PHEV? As I stated earlier, this test drive was very similar to my daily commute one way. Normally on that one way commute, I get 65 MPG. So 106/65= 163 or 63% improvement. This is twice what I had expected. I will report back after tomorrow's commute.

Awesome setup !!! :D

... and pretty encouraging results, which will only increase the drool factor many of us will be experiencing.

I particularly like the red ejector button !!! :D

Cheers;

MSantos

Can't wait to see your set up in person.

Awesome setup !!! :D

... and pretty encouraging results, which will only increase the drool factor many of us will be experiencing.

I particularly like the red ejector button !!! :D

Cheers;

MSantos

I like the ejector button. I was thinking of something along the lines of a laser to eliminate tailgaters.:D

And it's all in parallel, huh? That's really interesting. You
might want to take clamp-on to various interconnects and check
for stray cross-pack currents under various conditions.
.
_H*

Today, on the way back from the beach, I picked up my car and drove it home. I used up what was left in my Aux pack and only got 70 MPG on the way home. The 15 MPH headwind and heavy rain didn't help much. That bought my tank down to 90.2 MPG at 640 miles or so.



I decided to install the second charger which arrived on Friday. Everything had to come apart because I have the chargers under the battery carrier. Before removing the batteries, I cyced through all of the cell voltages. I knew that I had 3 weak cells because earlier in the week, I saw them down at 2.4-2.5V before charging. Today they were 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7V. Just my luck, each was in a different pack. So I spent most of this evening replacing the bad cells with some spares that Jack sent me. Then I tested the new charger. Now I am letting the cells balance in the rebuilt packs before putting them on charge. So tomorrow, and possibly the rest of the week, I will be non-PHEV.

9/09/09 Morning Commute

One Converter only!

Driving Conditions
Dry roads.
Ambient Temp = 64F
Winds = 4 MPH tail wind
Windows Closed
Fan set to level 1, no AC.

Route
12.0 Miles suburban at 25-45 MPH
52.0 Miles in the Interstate, CC set to 55MPH
3.6 Miles suburban at 45 MPH

Results
Trip ScanGauge MPG = 80.6
Current Tank = 61.6 Miles
Tank ScanGauge MPG = 82.0
Tank MFD MPG = 81.8


Analysis
Very similar to yesterday's morning commute with no PHEV, 65.5 MPG

PHEV Performance
80.6/65.5 = 23.0% Improvement using one converter only.

Filled up on Wednesday. Added new PHEV vehicle and first tank info.

Finally had some quality time for PHEVing today. I went on two errand runs. The first 28 mile run, speeds 25-50 MPH yielded 128 MPG. The second, a repeat of the first (what I bought was defective) but more under 40 MPH time due to less traffic yielded 168MPG! :D

Total for the day, 56 miles at 148 MPG. The last 14 mile segment, from the store back home, was 205 MPG. :eek:

The last time I did that I was somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma sweating my a$$ off.:p

Hi Dan:

___I remember Oklahoma similarly ;)

___I was going to ask about the Enginer capability for pure EV around town. With the pack coming back up to 70% or so from the Li-Ion's, can you drive 2 miles under 34 mph in EV, go shopping for 20-minutes, come back out and be back at 70% if still booted up? How many minutes to transfer the energy to bring the SoC back up?

___I will be creating an Enginer forum specifically for Q&A with your thread leading the charge :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Dan:

___I remember Oklahoma similarly ;)

___I was going to ask about the Enginer capability for pure EV around town. With the pack coming back up to 70% or so from the Li-Ion's, can you drive 2 miles under 34 mph in EV, go shopping for 20-minutes, come back out and be back at 70% if still booted up? How many minutes to transfer the energy to bring the SoC back up?

___I will be creating an Enginer forum specifically for Q&A with your thread leading the charge :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Wayne, that is an excellent question and one that every perspective Enginer buyer should ask before making a purchase.

The standard Enginer PHEV conversion comes with ONE converter. It doesn't matter how much battery capacity you have, it's the converter that moves the energy from the batteries and injects it onto the DC bus for use by the MG or storage into the OEM battery. While the converter is rated at 3000W max, on average, the output is 2000-2500W or 9A. After subtracting the 1.5A parasitic load of the Prius HSD system, you only have 7.5A left to work with. In EV mode, that might give you 10-15MPH.

So in your hypothetical situation, if you drive 2 miles, starting at 70% SoC and arrive at say 50-55%SoC and leave the car booted up for 20 minutes, you might come back finding the ICE cycling to bleed off the excess charge in the OEM pack. I'd say 10-15 minutes is the time it would take to bring the pack up to 70%. If you time things just right, you might be able to get through the whole Aux pack in EV. But for most others, it wouldn't be worth the effort.

But the beauty of the Enginer system is that it is highly scalable. You can parallel batteries in 2kWh increments and you can parallel converters. That is what I have done with my CUSTOM conversion. Basically, I have parallelled TWO 4kWh conversions into one 8kWh conversion. So I have TWO converters that put out 16.5A after subtracting the parasitic load. This is good for 20-25 MPH in EV.

I have a third converter that I will be installing at some point, which should give me 30-35MPH in EV. The only unknown is if the HSD system will throw a DTC with so much extra current appearing magically. Other PHEV pioneers know that 60A will definately throw a code. I plan on working my way up until a code stops me.

So to any prospective Enginer buyers, if you are buying mainly for EV use, you would be better served by Hymotion. But if you want increased FE in a blended mode (motor assist) then this kit is a very good value. If you don't mind the added complexity and DIY nature of a custom Enginer conversion, then shoot me your questions and I will help you choose a configuration that will fit your needs.

Drove about 50 miles today with the family on board. Church, lunch, movies and back home. With 4 passengers and 300 lb of PHEV, we were close to the max weight limit. So about 5 minutes into the drive, I get into the crazy charging mode that I spoke of before, exept this time, it didn't stop at 75%. When I hit 77% SoC, a code flew and got the christmas tree lights. Before clearing the code, I noted that it was "P0000".



My search found several hits on P000. So I guess it's not even a real code? If anyone knows what it is, please let me know.



Anyway, after clearing and rebooting, the SoC showed 59%, exactly what happened the last time. My guess is that all that crazy high MPG driving yesterday had something to do with this. Maybe we shouldn't be concerned so much on how much current can be tolerated at any given time, but rather the total current mismatch over a given period of time. I have driven a thousand commute miles, about 2/3 of them with 2 converters running and no DTC. The two times I get a code have been either right after grid charging the OEM pack or after a few long drives with a high percentage of EV. Back to work tomorrow so lets see if I stay code free on my commute.



Anyway, after the code, we proceeded to point A 15 miles away, stayed for an hour and proceeded to point B 5 miles away, stayed for an hour, proceeded to point C 20 miles away, stayed for 2 hours and back home, 10 miles away, 50 miles total. The whole time I had no access to EV mode, perhaps a result of the code and the fact that it was warm and I parked in the sun each time. We had A/C on for the 20 miles between point B and C. Total trip, 50 miles, 92.1 MPG. Not bad for not having EV mode and AC use.

I couldn't help myself. Last night, before plugging in for the nightly recharge, I decided to go for an all EV mode drive. The OEM battery had cooled sufficiently to allow EV mode. So off I went, both converters injecting about 18A onto the DC bus. I stayed on gently rolling rural roads, speed limit 35-45. No one was out last night so driving around at 30MPH didn't cause any road rage. So I managed to go 8.7 miles before a low cell alarm went off (the pack was largely depleted when I started so I was happy to get that far). The trip average was 23 MPH, much of it at 30-33 but dropping down to 20 going up the hills. The OEM pack SoC did drop from 72 to 60% during the drive. Overall I was pleasantly surprised at the ability of the two converters to keep up with the demand. No codes thrown last night, and none thrown on the way to work. I am starting to form a theory on what is causeing the P0000 code, but I need some time to prove it out.

Filled up this morning. 800 miles, 89.3 MPG.

Hi Dan:

___89.3 mpg for an assist based system and 75 + % highway drive cycle is pretty damn amazing in my book! Especially since this is your first tank using it. What was your kWh in and what do you pay locally per Wh?

___Additionally, Mike Sirach posted the other day that Coloradoan's are receiving a $6,000 tax credit for conversions and what a Christmas gift for a Colorado citizen!

___When you were installing the system, were the directions pretty good or did they need some cleanup? I passed along the FAQ cleanup to Jack so hopefully that is copied in and Dan B. added some more to the FAQ. Just seeing if we can help others with what appears to be an excellent highway segment driver – PHEV system!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

This seems to be a good system. I think that once you ginea pigs work out the details, it will be a very viable system.

Hi Dan:

___89.3 mpg for an assist based system and 75 + % highway drive cycle is pretty damn amazing in my book! Especially since this is your first tank using it. What was your kWh in and what do you pay locally per Wh?

I recorded the kWh in the mileage log. It is usually 9.1 to 9.2 kWh per day. The rate is 0.10/kWh so I spend less than a dollar per day on electricity.


___When you were installing the system, were the directions pretty good or did they need some cleanup? I passed along the FAQ cleanup to Jack so hopefully that is copied in and Dan B. added some more to the FAQ. Just seeing if we can help others with what appears to be an excellent highway segment driver – PHEV system!


The instructions are pretty weak, mostly pictures with very few words. I have mentioned that to Jack. Maybe they have been improved since I received them.

Installed the third converter today. Since I didn't get a cable and switch assembly, I decided to use a 2 to 1 phone adaptor and daisy chain the signal power between converter #2 and #3. That way they will both turn on with the second switch. So for one converter, switch #1, for two converters, switch #2 and for all three converters, switch #1 and #2. But for some reason, daisy chaning doesn't work. Both converter have a green LED, but only the first converter provides power. I reversed the connections and again, the first converter in the daisy chain worked, the second had a green LED, but no power. Need to talk to Jack about what he suggests.

Anyway, I went out for some EVing today, two converters only. I used EV mode and began climbing a pretty steep hill. The converters were putting out 20A combined and there was another 30A coming from the OEM pack, then I got a code, P0A90. I cleared the code, rebooted and got another code, P0000. Cleared, rebooted again and all was good. I finished climbing the hill but used only 20A from the OEM pack and had no more codes.

Next I engaged the 52 MPH hack for the first time. I was limited to where I could go with ony two converters but did manage to go 21 miles total before I arrived back at home. Judging from the LiFePO pack voltage, I would guess that I was at 3/8 remaining capacity. So I would guess the total EV range is 32 to 35 miles.

Just to summarize my results so far, on my normal commute I can make the 135 mile round trip running one converter without completely draining the pack. My guess is an 80%DoD. In dry, warm and not too windy conditions, I normally see about 80 MPG on the way to work and 88MPG on the way home. The difference is due to warmer temps in the afternoon and a different (less highway) return route. The average is about 84MPG. On the weekends, I run errands and go to chrch, movie etc. I have been able to average 100 - 150 MPG over 100-120 miles. The average this tank so far is 89.x, about the same as the last tank. Total highway miles is about 60%, 40% city. Waiting on some parts before I can try three converters at once.

Hi,

Why are you running just one converter now.

Hi,

Why are you running just one converter now.


Because if I run 2, I run out of juice half way. When I am able to plug in at work I will run 2.

Any Prius Gen II performance updates?

EDIT: I just found out that this retrofit IS NOT covered for a rebate by the Illinois EPA.

Any Prius Gen II performance updates?

EDIT: I just found out that this retrofit IS NOT covered for a rebate by the Illinois EPA.
I may have some updates to add in a few weeks.;)

I wonder why they didn't use a higher battery voltage for lower resistance losses. If I were to design it, I would connect all the batteries in series to get a 192v pack, which would be much more efficient to convert to 240v.