First Enginer PHEV Installation in Portland Or Area

After 3 drives the range is holding up. I am still surprised how much differance a single 3.3ah cell makes when it is put in the right spot.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Hello Everyone,
It snowed today. The snow may not be important but the cooler temps do have an effect. The Prius ICE never warmed up. It did get above 150degF several times but if I did much EV then it dropped right down.

So, I got 73mpg for 34miles. Still not too bad.

When I get 80-90mpg the ICE is running about 50% of the time. Today I estimate that the ICE was running 75% of the time.

It is important to realize that a PHEV is not and EV. Too many people try to put a PHEV addition into a Prius and then expect it to act like and EV. Sometimes it will get close, but sometimes there is no way. I think that I and many others are willing to accept performance like I got today in exchange for the comfort of the Prius being a regular car.

Anyway, I am still Happy.

Thanks,
Dan

 

I have worked with people that think like accountants for most of my career as an Engineer. I have come to the conclusion that you need to do the accounting to understand the numbers but then you need to make your choice considering more than the accounting.

Anyway no PHEV system will pass an accounting pay for itself. test. Enginer does come the closest of all the PHEV systems

Also conceder that the Prius itself would not pass that test if compared to a lower cost non-hybrid.

Anyway that is a subject for another thread.
:focus:
Thanks,
Dan

 

Hi Abasile,
Yes, all the Enginer systems have a switch. It is connected to a 12v line that only has 12v when the READY light is on. This switch then drives a relay in the converter to turn it on or off.

The green light is on when the system is on. the red light comes on when the system batteries have been drained. No lights when you turn the switch off.

I drive down a 500ft elevation drop all the time. If I have 8 bars at the top, I turn off and drive the last 1/2 mile before the drop in electric only and then turn back on at the bottom. This is no problem when you know where the hills are.

Thanks,
Dan

 

No, This will not work. The 12v to 120vac inverter would need to pull close to 100a from the 12v battery and Prius dc/dc converter. This would damage the battery and dc/dc converter.

You could set up a 12v to 60v dc/dc converter with a current limit but that would probably only put 4a or so back in so if you run it for a 5 minute regen hill you get 1/3ah into the 80ah battery pack. This is a trivial amount and not worth the effort.

Thanks,
Dan

 

:focus:
Hi Everyone,
Sometimes I am not sure of the topic myself.

It was still right at freezing yesterday. This is an unusual early cold spell for us. I was able to get 90.2mpg for 26.4 miles yesterday. I am adjusting my driving stile a little and that allowed a little better mileage.

It is interesting that The drivers learning process has so much effect on mileage when you get into the 90-100mpg range.

Thanks,
Dan

 

My wife just drives it with the switch on all the time.

Note that the Enginer does not change or spoof the Prius programing in anyway. So if the Prius sees more power in the HV battery that it thinks is safe, the Prius finds a way to burn it off. So there is not safety or reliability problem if your wife leaves the switch on. She just does not get the full benefit.

Thanks,
Dan Lander

 

Hello AB,
No, I have not had any issues with handling. The car is designed for 4 adults plus normal luggage. That is up to 1200 pounds. So the 180 pounds is small compared to what you could be expected to put into it.

I did a trip from Portland to San Francisco and back with 2 adults plus luggage plus the Enginer system and had no issues with handling or climbing hills. We still got 50+ mpg with the system off. So the addition of the 180 pounds was not noticeable for mpg either.

The 2010 Prius will keep up with the fastest normal traffic going up the hills even with the 180 pounds. The issue is always that you have more regen than you can use coming down a long grade, but the "B" setting on the gear shift takes care of that.

There are people out there that have installed 8kwh systems and they report a need for improved rear springs. But with the standard 4kwhr system that is not needed.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Hi Everyone,
This car had a BMS16C balancer with a trickle charger(<100ma)to keep cells 1-4 in line. It has stayed pretty well balanced with out me needing to do too many adjustments.

Jack just sent me two BMS16C+ balancers, so I put one onto this car and took out the trickle charger. This balancer is only for MottCells with overcharge protection, but it is supposed to keep all 16 cells balanced with out letting cells 1-4 go low as we have seen in the past.

So far so good. I did a drive today, 34miles at 81.2mpg. I got just a little more range than I was expecting and had a red light at the end. We will see how it goes.

If anyone is having cells 1-4 go low, I would suggest that you contact your installer or Jack.

Thanks,
Dan Lander

 

Hi Ab,
If you have a good installer, they know the bugs and have already worked them out. When you hear of people having difficulties today, generally they have installed the system themselves thinking that they have more understanding or cappability than they actually have.

So The key to happieness with Enginer is to have a good installer.

Thanks,
Dan