REPLACE GEN 1 WITH GEN 2 BATTERY?

You are on the right track.
Feel free to call of you want to talk through things.
Mini vci will help you in your quest to find the bad modules.

If your cells are simply out of balance, then the maintenance charger will likely help.

 

The connector wires are quite small, probably 18 gauge, but more than adequate for grid charging. At ~300V a 1000W charger is only pushing 3.3 amps, well less than headlights which use similar gauge wire. The main thing to remember is Toyota used opposite color codes on the connector. i.e. the reddish wire is negative and the blackish wire is positive. Check polarity and don't hook up your charger wrong!

However, original gen1 packs are dropping dead like crazy now. I will not sell used Gen1 packs to customers anymore, since they all fail within a few months, even if they have been balance charged. If the OP replaces just a few modules, they'll be back in a few weeks/months playing whack a mole.

 

My interest is not in charging but house power:

• 10A * 270V ~= 2.7 kW

Now I have this spare NHW11 inverter and all it takes is a driver and some sort of cooling circuit. <GRINS>

Sure hope I don't let the smoke out!

I fully agree. The original modules have weak terminal seals and higher internal resistance compared to the subsequent ones. Guess I'll have to pickup one of my old projects and see if I can do some recovery work with them.

Bob Wilson

 

Just remember not to mix old modules with newer ones (especially Gen1 with Gen2 or Gen3) as the difference will trigger alarms.

JeffD

 

Hi Bob - looks like 18 gauge. Thanks to Paul he sold me the matching connector that I use with the HV battery charger I built. I charge at 1.5 to 2 amps and the wiring stays cool. I discharge at 2 amps. The connector could be cut off and your own male/female connector added to the existing wiring. When I charge or discharge on this connector I use my minivic to monitor the state of charge, the charging current, the temperatures of the batteries as well as the voltage on the 19 module pairs. I do not leave the charger alone while charging or discharging. The key should be in the on position and not "ready" while monitoring charging or discharging. During the last charge I go to a 60 % SOC as the computer seems to have trouble if charged to 100 % .

Roy from Canada

 

Sorry Bob just read your post about using the battery to power your home (I assume). Are you going to use the inverter/converter by itself with a battery seperate from the vechicle;

 

Paul - does the connector have a fuse in its circuitry?

Roy

 

My ultimate goal is to use the car itself by adding a power connector and spoofing the drive signals:

• House power mode - the inverter MG2 circuit operates in DC-to-AC mode to create a 60 Hz, PWM signal to feed a filter to generate a pure sine wave. The engine and car are in READY and operating the car systems as well as maintaining traction battery SOC.
• House charge mode - the inverter MG2 circuit operates in AC-to-DC mode to put a pre-charge on the traction battery. Some of the AC power goes to the block and a transaxle heater. It also monitors the temperatures and operates the traction battery fan as needed.

The first step is to replace the connector with a polarized, Amp connector and use my spare inverter for the power electronics. I'll have to spoof the drive circuits and monitors. In effect, I will be replacing the HV ECU with a custom power controller.

Bob Wilson

 

Bob, this is very interesting. I'm following this closely. What is the wattage you are designing for? I've decided to run separate dedicated 120VAC outlets in each room of my home that will be supplied by an inverter. These outlets would be for emergency lights, etc.. However, I do heat with a pellet stove which pulls about 800 watts when it goes through it's ignition sequence. Otherwise it's at about 105 watts running circulation and computation fans. That seems to be about the limit for an inverter hooked to the 12vdc aux battery.

At this point I'm planning to charge the freezer and the refrigerator with a generator which take about 2200watts max (each) unless I can get that wattage out of the Prius.

Remove a lot of my ignorance, any suggestions would be helpful.

 

Um I think Bob is talking about using the Hybrid battery (high voltage) side of the car to make 120VAC. Much easier wiring wise than trying to step up 12VDC. Inverter/software side won't be easy, but Bobs a smart guy.

 

Yep, that's what I figured too... I'm just not sure on how to do this without destroying my Prius.

 

The solar panel industry for string inverters are around 5 Kw and take in dc high voltages and put out 120/240 v ac 1 phase. May be able to pick up a used one cheap.

Hi Bob - If you could buy a cheap inverter that is used for the rooftop solar panels you could feed directly from the hv battery. These come in around 5 kw
and maybe smaller size. they take in HV DC and convert to 120/240v household AC. You could feed a maximum of 8 amps on the #18 wire (if it is not fused lower) , this would give you around 2 kw ( 8 A x 250v)
The cars inverter is I think a variable voltage and frequency system in the 575 volt range, not sure how well it would work at the lower 120 v level but would be interesting to find out.

Roy from Canada.

 

Roy,

Just make sure to get an inverter that does not require a "grid connect" to work. Many solar inverters shut down if they don't sense utility power.

JeffD

 

True you would need to find a way to duplicate this function, probably a small 300 w inverter would do the job off the 12 v battery.

 

Well that was faster than I expected. Like engine rod knock, it is not a question of IF but WHEN. Still, you've done the right thing.

Bob Wilson

 

Hi - The dorman battery likely has Gen 2 cells that have been reconditioned but are used and still prone to have problems. If you wish to keep the car for a long time you may want to think about a high voltage charger to maintain the battery over time.

Roy from Canada