Has anyone installed the enginer PHEV?

I think that the red light means that Kammssss was trying to run the converters with the cells drained. Because he could not charge the cells stayed low and will not power the converter.

If this was done, It is very dangerous. The Enginer system is not failsafe with low cells. It is possible that doing this can kill the cells.

Thanks,
Dan

 

You can run the kit with low cells with safety as long as the kit is completely balanced on the discharge. If the kit was balanced the pack voltage would prevent low cell deaths. If the light was flashing, I think that usually means he pack voltage is really low.

 

I've had a flashing light a few times and it was always one really weak cell that needed replacing.

 

The light flashing means that the total voltage drops below 46v and then the converter goes off and the cells recover enough to turn the converter back on. Then this cycles over and over. This may happen more when the cells are out of balance at the bottom. Also it happens more if you do not have Buddy Cells.

There are two choices for being safe. One is to have good balance at the bottom the other is to have a good "lowest cell" alarm. If you do not have one of these. Then you need to turn it off promptly and leave it of until you get the cells charged.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Did anyone pass the Annual State Inspection after convertion? Do the dealers check Federal highway safety regulations?

 

Annual state inspection? You mean like emissions inspection or safety inspection?

Andrew

 

As one of the pioneers in the PHEV movement in the USA, in my last four years I never had any inconveniences with the NY State Emissions and Safety Inspections at all; while carrying my PHEV conversion.
It is a completely another issue with the Toyota servicing dealers.
They think to believe that "they" own your car as long as the manufacturer's warranty is in force and that we are voiding all warranties as soon as we add an screw to the vehicle.
Imagine what would it be my expression to that statement.....

 

This is my first post in this really long thread...

I had a 4kWh Enginer system installed by 3ProngPower in December. There have been some hiccups, but now it's doing better.

If I leave the car "ready" with the PHEV on, in park or stopped with the brake held down, the OEM SoC will go to 8 bars. Then it will got out of EV mode (if it was in EV mode), and the ICE will continue to start and stop, which I assume is the car trying to drain the excess charge. In order to prevent this, I watch the SoC bars carefully and turn the PHEV off when it gets to 7 bars.

Question: Does the DC-DC inverter need to be adjusted to turn the voltage down?

I have been driving the 2 miles to and from work entirely in EV mode. Sometimes I can't quite make it if I don't watch the acceleration close enough, but I got 75 MPG out of the first full tank since the installation.

 

Yes, Have 3prong do this adjustment for you and have them put some nail polish on the pot so that it will not creep up again. My converter did this. and the adjustment and nail polish did the trick.

Thanks,
Dan

 

How can I do this myself? (I really don't want to drive an hour each way.) I'm thinking I could just turn in down a bit and then see how it works. Is there documentation on the DC-DC converter available?

 

The DC-DC converter documentation is officially only available to authorized installers.

Do you have a 300v dc voltmeter and a clamp-on DC ammeter? You need to be able to monitor the results of what is beeing done so that you do not make it worse by accident.

If you have the tools, 3prong or Enginer may be willing to guide you through the process in order to save you the drive.

I think you still need to contact 3 prong to get the information. I know that they are very helpful.

Thanks,
Dan Lander

 

darn, i forgot to use the nail polisher !

 

Hey! I just got mine installed. Eric Powers did it for me. Here is a picture of my first fill up at the Mariot in Beloit! I called to make a reservation and asked if I could plug in. They basically said there was a plug on every light pole in their parking lot and to help myself!

 

This was an extremely interesting thread. Anyone in the UK using/installing the Enginer kit?

 

Yes, PluginPlanet is listed
http://www.enginer.us/installers/

I have done Emails with a person in the UK that had an install before the first of the year.

Thanks,
Dan

 

when does the 500$ discount end?

 

Have these become plug an play yet? I thought about one last year but after reading about them decided I'm not savvy enough to do the installation. Also not sure I could figure my way through some of the problems down the road. Maybe my types should just wait till the Toyota Phev becomes available. Any thoughts?

 

Your safe way will be to wait for the original Prius PHEV coming in 2012.

 

I am curious as to whether or not Toyota intends to extend the capacity of the traction battery along with the plug-in feature. As things stand, a fully charged pack and an EV button combined do very little to increase its mpg. The Enginer system OTOH adds considerable enough boost at lower speeds to effect mpg considerably.

And yes. If you can install a car stereo and have a general understanding of how to read a simple diagram, it is pretty much P&P.

 

Yes, Toyota's Plug-in Prius will have approx. 4kwh of battery capacity on top of the standard hybrid battery. It is expected to get approx 13-15 miles of pure-EV driving. The good news is that you can even drive on the highway in pure EV with Toyota's system (although you may only get like 8 miles)