Has anyone installed the enginer PHEV?

Hello everyone,
Yes Enginer has chosen to keep their system low cost. This is what is needed to bring PHEV more into the mainstream. Most people will not pay the costs that we had a year ago for a PHEV install.

Please reallize that we see "warts and all" in these Priuschat posts. In spite of issues posted, most who have installed Enginer kit are very happy with what they have.

Enginer has corrected their converter heating issue. I am told that they have improved the week cell issue to a small fraction of what it was. More important, Everyone has stated that they are getting great responciveness from Jack. Anytime there is a problem it gets adressed and resolve quickly.

As for the fire extingusher. I am sure this is a safety measure in case of a crash. One would have to expect that you could have shorts in a crash that could cause an electrical fire until the batteries are drained. Maybe the other kit suppliers should include a fire extingusher?

Thanks,
Dan

 

i just found this

YouTube - BenjaminNelson's Channel

 

Jack is great. I've had to replace 4 cells already and perhaps 5 more are questionable. He's sending me 5 but it'll be two weeks.

So what's causing my cells to die prematurely? If they weren't just from a bad batch, it's the charger. I've always had great balance. I've never run the kit without being within at least 0.020 on the std dev. Most often they are under 0.010. Sometimes this requires waiting an extra day before using the kit.

What I realized too late and what Jack has admitted to is the charger can easily overcharge the cells. The impression I got when I purchased the kit was that it has a smart charger and that you can plug it in and walk away which is exactly what I did for the first month.

Turns out, I was probably overcharging my cells a lot. I never heard the alarms because I was never in the garage when it happened. It turns out my kit only needed about 1.5 hours to charge. Now I use a count down timer. Also, Jack said he would send me an improved charger in the future.

Notice in the video that dutchman provided, that the customer made a point to turn down the upper voltage on the charger. Smart.

 

i expected that the balancers where there to shutdown the charger when a cell gets overcharged.

but that was not correct information.

the charger shutsoff at a total pack voltage.

fibb222
when you where overcharging the cells at what voltage where the cells?
because you balance them correctly i think its odd that there will be cells overcharged that mutch that you damage them

are you getting the new cells for free? or just at shipping cost?

 

The new balancers they are reportedly working on will shut off the charger I believe, but yes, at the moment the charger is pretty dumb. The one or two times I caught the charger sending the cells too high, I heard the audible alarms, I quickly unplugged the charger. Checking the voltages soon after I saw a few 4.0 V and some 3.8 and 9s.

The cells and shipping are free. USPS. I did nothing wrong, and Jack knows that.

 

Hmmm...the thunder-sky / mottcell batteries are technically rated up to 4.2v (100% capacity damage point), so you probably didn't destroy them by charging to 4.0v. It just probably decreased the lifespan of the batteries a bit (a higher DOD% yields a smaller cycle life).

I think the over-arching problem is that the charger isn't aware of the individual voltages of the cells--thus if the batteries themselves have differing capacities (NOT the same as out of balance. You could have your batteries in perfect balance and still have differing capacities--this commonly happens if you mix and match batteries from different shipments / manufacture periods) then you end up over-charging some because the batteries with the smaller capacities will shoot up before the rest do.

I think it's important to note here that it's not the charger that is at fault--if anything it is the BMS (or lack there of) since it is it's job to monitor each cell to prevent damage.

In an ideal world the BMS (or balancers or whatever they're called in that kit) would be aware of all the voltages and would trip a relay to the charger when it detected any of the cells going above the maximum voltage. I understand they are working on something to this effect?

The problem with this...ideal...approach is that it ends up being a lot more expensive to make =P.

I would be careful mixing different cells together without an intelligent BMS monitoring system (like mentioned above). Even if you have hawk-like reflexes you can still end up damaging the batteries by over-charging them...

One thing you could do would be lower the charge cutoff voltage a bit--that way the charger would cut off sooner on the up-swing curve even if the batteries have different capacities...

Andrew

 

Who knows what they got to, the charger could have been cycling down. And after the charger is unplugged, the cell voltages drop quickly. Yes to the rest of your post.

 

wy not connect a wire to the audioable or light output and use this to trigger a relay that will interrupt power to the charger.

ok its a bit DIY but this kit is a bit DIY to.

 

Hey People,

I have logged 66 charges or so on my 2kw unit. It's been working with out any overheating problems. I am using it at temperatures of 35F-50F. And getting a 5-9mpg gain for my particular commute. Also, I've notice a decrease in my battery. It runs out like a mile before my destination. Anyone seeing a decrease? I now really don't have faith in these batteries. There suppose to last 2000 charges? I hope to just get 1000. Will report again when I get 100 charges. Ttyl.

 

Cold weather will cause the decrease. As an example I did a 6 mile EV only with my Hymotion battery last week and it used about 420 watt hours per mile. In the summer I would use about 250 or less watt hours per mile.

Winter sucks.

 

the capacity of the battery go's down when cold but the prius uses more electric power when cold?

 

Since TheForce drives in electric mode, yes. Its just like gas mileage, except electric. It requires more gas in winter to go the same distance, likewise with electricity.

 

It doesn't use more power actually, the big difference is the increased internal resistance of the battery in the cold. A higher internal resistance means more energy is lost as heat. The sitting voltage is also lower in the cold requiring more current to obtain the same amount of overall electric power.

This would be evident on both the OEM battery pack and the auxiliary battery pack--but with TheForce's A123 battery pack the internal resistance is already so low that an increase due to temperature isn't much of a factor (the OEM pack internal resistance most certainly is though).

Thundersky / Mottcell is another story =). I haven't profiled a Mottcell battery, but if its anything like the Thundersky battery that it's technology is based on it's somewhere around 30 mOhm per cell of internal resistance at low temperatures...

Andrew

 

Folks,
I'm trying to decide if I should get a gen 1 OR a gen 2 specifically for the PHEV conversion. I read that gen 2 has better improvements from the enginer site, but how much better? ( I read the gen 1 forums on what to look for on the old gen 1s - I am figuring on a rebuilding HV pack with gen2 modules.)

How any converted gen1 vs. gen 2 are there? Anyone have a feel on this other than looking at the enginer forum posters car data?
thanks.

 

Hi wasEVer,
I would vote for a Gen2.
1. You can force EV up to 35mph in a gen2. In Gen 1 you have to just be light on the gas pedal.
2. You can put 4kwhr under the back deck in a gen2 and still have all the above deck space. In a Gen1 you use 1/2 the trunk for the batteries.

I have a 2005 Gen2 with a 4kwhr system.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Gen 2 is definitely the way to go.

 

Hey People,

My fuse just blew on my charger, which I hope is the only reason for it not working. This happened after 70 charges. Anyone with the same problem? Also, where can I get a replacement? I've never seen a 250v fuse of this size. I tried Kragen auto store and Wal-Mart but nothing came close. Thanks.

 

Hi Kammssss,
I would send jack and Email. He has been very responsive. Also You could call an installer near you to see if they have one. You can go to the Enginer web site and click on the installer tab to get a list of them.

What is the total voltages on your balancers? They should be between 24 and 27 volts at rest. If these voltages are right then you probably do not have a short. If they are not in this range, you have a deeper problem.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Hey,

I got my fuses for the charger on e-bay; they are dirt cheap. My 2kw unit is up and running. Here is what I noticed when the fuse was faulty: the red light on the switch seems to blink sporadically. Also, the unit will not turn on if the fuse on the charger is blown. Ttyl.

 

That is really strange. How can a fuse in the charger keep the converters from turning on??? The two devices are wired in parallel aren't they?? They don't communicate with each other in my KIT, I can completely disconnect the charger at the gray anderson plug and my kit still turns on.