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Custom Enginer PHEV (8kWh)

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by krousdb, Aug 29, 2009.

  1. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    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.

    It's been a long day. I will post pictures tomorrow.
     
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  2. Dan.

    Dan. MPG Centurion

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    :eek: Whoa! This gives me great hopes! The fact that you can measure the current (ie it's Visible to the ECU) means I get my own coulomb counter. Pen+Paper+SG. Fantastic work Dan and many thanks for the data analysis!

    Revision: Did you get a chance to see what the pack voltage read on the CAN bus while the Enginer.us kits were providing power. If you made it to 77% SOC, I suspect it was above 240, but I can't be sure. During a brake / regen test I've seen the inverter bring the bus up to about 260 with 95A flowing in from highway speeds.

    11011011
     
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  3. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    As the SoC approaches 80%, the output of the converter drops. Probably because the voltage on the bus becomes closer to the output voltage of the converter. With two converters running, at 75% Soc, the BTV was at 245V. At that point, I shut down one converter. The BTV dropped to 243V, where it stayed until I shut down the second converter at 77.5 SoC.
     
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  4. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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

    Preparation

    Prepping the chargers
    [​IMG]

    Mounting the 48V to 240V Converters
    [​IMG]

    Reinforcing the battery carrier cover
    [​IMG]

    Increasing the depth of the box (to accommodate batteries standing up)
    [​IMG]

    Battery carrier with cover. 1" clearance over battery terminals.
    [​IMG]

    Battery carrier with cover (rear view)
    [​IMG]

    Installing the Chargers
    [​IMG]

    Battery Carrier Installed
    [​IMG]

    Batteries Installed
    [​IMG]

    Switch Controls Installed (HSS 52MPH, red button)
    [​IMG]

    Installation Complete (rear)
    [​IMG]

    Installation Complete (front)
    [​IMG]

    Test Drive
    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.
    [​IMG]

    SG shows 106 MPG. :eek: SoC finished the same as where it started at 77%.
    [​IMG]

    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.
    [​IMG]

    Needless to say, I'm a happy camper.:D

    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.:rockon:
     
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  5. Dan.

    Dan. MPG Centurion

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    Can't even begin to say how cool that is :cool::D

    Any way I could get you to punch up "ccl" and "buc" (or "buf") XGauges. That will give you your Traction Batteries charge limit (that drops with temp and SOC) and your Traction Batteries internal temperature.
    GAUGE: BATTERY TEMP (UPPER READ)
    CONF?: YES, BUT FAILS OF "UPGRADED" SCANGAUGES (3.15*)
    UNITS: DEG C
    ->TXD: 03 C3
    ->RXF: 01 03 02 CB 00 00
    ->RXD: 30 08
    ->MTH: 00 01 00 01 00 00
    ->NAM: buc
    NOTES: (PRIUS) °C MAX FOR THE 5 MS CYCLE

    GAUGE: BATTERY TEMP (UPPER READ)
    CONF?: YES, BUT FAILS OF "UPGRADED" SCANGAUGES (3.15*)
    UNITS: DEG F
    ->TXD: 03 C3
    ->RXF: 01 03 02 CB 00 00
    ->RXD: 30 08
    ->MTH: 00 5A 00 05 01 40
    ->NAM: buf
    NOTES: (PRIUS) °F MAX FOR THE 5 MS CYCLE

    GAUGE: CURRENT CHARGE LIMIT
    CONF?: YES, BUT FAILS OF "UPGRADED" SCANGAUGES (3.15*)
    UNITS: AMPS
    ->TXD: 03 C3
    ->RXF: 01 03 82 CB 00 00
    ->RXD: 18 08
    ->MTH: 00 01 00 01 00 00
    ->NAM: ccl
    NOTES: (PRIUS) MAXIMUM AMPS THE TRACTION BATTERY CAN RECIEVE

    One last question... how do the struts rear seem to be handling the weight?

    Once again absolutely FANTASTIC job on the install. Can't wait to watch your daily's.

    PS. Did you manage to get "charging privileges" at your office?

    11011011
     
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  6. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    "CONF?: YES, BUT FAILS OF "UPGRADED" SCANGAUGES (3.15*) "

    I will try but I think I have an upgraded SG. Need to make sure I do it on the other one.

    I just came back from running some errands. Before leaving, my kilowatt meter showed 1.4 kwh added. The 15 mile trip was well over 100 mpg even though the SoC limit had dropped to about 68%. I guess that sitting in the hot garage, my OEM pack didn't cool sufficiently. I could not evoke EV mode and the ICE wouldn't shut off when it normally would. I just had to adjust my technique, keeping the SoC below 68% which required switching one of the converters off and on.

    [​IMG]
    Not so bad. The batteries weigh in at 222 lbs and the rest of the stuff was about 75lbs. Close to 300 lbs totl.

    On Tuesday a contractor will be quoting the job to install power at the far end of the parking lot. If the quote is affordable, they will install it. If not, they won't. Guess I will have to wait and see.
     
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  7. eMileage

    eMileage Member

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    Wow, nice job, Krousdb! Congratulations! Just wondering how your balancers are installed/mounted? Are the batteries restrained in the box? Also, how long does it take to charge? Thanks.
     
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  8. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    The balancers set on top of the batteries. There is sufficient room under the cover. The batteries are held in place by blocks of wood between the batteries and box sides. This prevents movement left/right, front/back. I have not yet figured out a good way to constrain them in the up direction. I'm thinking three steel straps, left to right, insulated with heat shrink tube.

    I don't know how long it takes yet, I havent charged from empty yet. But according to the enginer website, 2kwh takes 2.67 hrs. So 8kwh should take 10.67 hrs with one charger and 5.33 hrs with two chargers. I will normally charge with one charger. The slow charge rate keeps the balancers happy.:p
     
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  9. Dan.

    Dan. MPG Centurion

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    If you can do "btv", then you can do the other ones. They are the same CAN format.

    11011011
     
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  10. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    I have these programmed. So can you provide more detail on CCL? How do you use it?
     
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  11. Dan.

    Dan. MPG Centurion

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    PHEV discussion on CCL. CCL tells the Inverter the maximum regen ampage that the pack can consume. It boots at 125 then will bounce around in the low 100s. When the pack gets real hot or real high SOC it will drop pretty low. I've seen it as low as 30 on a force charge. If CCL gets too low, you may waste some regen chances for "free energy" from the road. On my typical highway exit into a red light my regen ampage peaks at about 25 amps. If I am really easy on the brake and keep a good constant decel I can keep it under 20. Obviously you want your CCL to always be higher than your expected regen load for any portion of your commute.

    11011011
     
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  12. Dan.

    Dan. MPG Centurion

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    Think I may have forgotten to add the decimal point on "buf". Just change the high nibble in byte 2 of RXF to 8 and I think that will fix it.

    11011011
     
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  13. kiettyyyy

    kiettyyyy Plug-In Supply Engineer

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    Kinda curious,

    How did you wire the chargers together?

    Did you just parallel them to the + and - buses? How many amps are pulled while using 2 chargers?
     
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  14. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    I assume that you mean the converters. Yes, I wired them in parallel. It is difficult to tell how much they put out maximum, but in park they put out 18A. Probably more when there is more load on the system.
     
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  15. plugmein2

    plugmein2 New Member

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    Awesome!!! :bounce:I am impressed! Your install is amazing and well thought out. I am excited that it performed better than you anticipated. Yes, the Enginer PHEV conversion kit "does" work. I wonder how far you can go on a single charge?

    JOANNA
     
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  16. MJFrog

    MJFrog Active Member

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    Is that 18A enough to allow for extended EV mode (short distance)? My 2kwh system only stayed in EV mode for about 1 1/4 miles before the main pack SOC dropped too low to remain in EV mode. This is only about 10-15% farther than without the kit.

    Apparently, one converter is not enough to keep the main pack from draining too fast. I was hoping to be able to run short errands using only EV mode, but the setup I have is not robust enough to do that.
     
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  17. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    I disagree that the Enginer kit is not robust enough. You are trying to use it in a way that it wasn't designed to be used. This kit is not going to turn your car into an EV. If you read the FAQ's on the enginer.us website, it says as much. It is suitable for motor assist. On longer trips it will give you results similar to hymotion.
     
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  18. MJFrog

    MJFrog Active Member

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    I understand what you're saying. I wasn't asking for design limitations...you're going well beyond that yourself. I know the kit won't take me all the way to work in EV mode. I'm looking for the quick trip to the drug store or grocery store and back...maybe 2-3 miles one way, and not more than about 30mph.

    I'll ask my question again:
    Short distance being...to the limit of the charge in the Enginer pack. And I have a 2kwh pack.
     
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  19. krousdb

    krousdb NX-74205

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    8/31/09 Morning Commute

    Charge Info
    Begin Charge Aux Pack Voltage = 51.7
    End Charge Aux Pack Voltage = 54.5
    Actual kWh used = 8.84
    kWh to Aux Pack = 7.66 (87.6% Charger efficiency, does not account for balancers draining charge)

    Readings
    Beginning Aux Pack Voltage = 54.5
    Beginning OEM Pack SoC = 67.0
    Miles Driven = 67.6
    End Aux pack Voltage = 51.2
    End OEM Pack Soc = 70.5

    Driving Conditions
    Moderate rain, and wet roads.
    Ambient Temp = 68F
    Winds = Calm
    Windows Closed
    Fan set to level 2, 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 = 95.5
    Trip MFD MPG = N/A ***
    See note
    Current Tank = 61.6 Miles
    Tank ScanGauge MPG = 98.4
    Tank MFD MPG = 97.8

    Analysis
    Wet roads, rain and cooler temperatures than my first test drive yesterday. Under these conditions I would normally get 61 MPG on the way to work. The ending Aux Pack voltage is promising. Yesterday I ended at 50.0V. Still plenty of juice left for the drive home.

    PHEV Performance
    95.5/61.0 = 56.5% Improvement

    Notes:
    *** Filled up the tank 6 miles into the drive, MFD ended at 97.8 MPG for 61 miles and does not reflect the cold start this morning.
     
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  20. imwoody36

    imwoody36 the prius parts guy

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    Thanks for sharing Dan! ( and thanks for your regular maintenance business last month) By comparison I wish to report we installed a Plug In Conversions kit last week here at AutoBeYours.com The 13500 dollar kit arrived well packed 6 weeks after we paid for it as expected and promised.
    Missing installation diagrams were emailed by Kim at Plug-in Conversions quickly.
    We spent a day locating the Brusa charger profile software, and the rs232 to usb adapter. finally resolving to use an old laptop with an rs232 plug.
    we spent another half a day locating the 70 dollar tool to crimp Anderson connectors.
    Ewert Energy overnighted a missing Hybrid energy module ( that thing to make the prius go 70mph in all electric mode).
    They then emailed the missing software to allow the driver to turn the system on.
    ( fortunately I owned a Candapter required to use said software on a laptop).
    the first 7 miles were over 255 mpg. then an engine racing issue came up.
    selecting normal phev mode resolved this for now.
    I expect to post more results as they are available....probably on a new thread.
    I believe picc is experiencing growing pains, and will give them the benefit of the doubt to improve the final product.
     
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