Enginer PHEV Technical Information

Wanted to know if there is anyone in Houston that could help me trouble shoot my enginer install. I am on my third converter and still can not get output volts out of it. Jack has been extremely helpfull, but we can not figure it out. I am fixing to give up as it has caused much aggrivation. We have tried just about everything, to the point that I am on my third converter. I have checked and rechecked many times the ev connections, and to the OEM battery terminals. On the ECU connections, All three connections have conductivity to the switch. I am getting voltage to the converter via the 6 pin connector. Also, the batteries are very well balanced and all of the bolts on the batteries and on the converter are secured and tight. The batteries are fully charged at 54.0 volts. Please help! I have had the kit for well over a month and connot get it to work. Alex


Just an update. I started to trouble shoot my issues, when I saw the little green light on the converter flash. I give up! It is hard to find help in a state where pHEV's are extremely rare. I am send Jack back two converters as he has been helpfull, but we were still not succesfull at getting my system working. My experience has been awfull to say the least as my Idea of plugging in has never materialized. Needless to now say I have a 2kwh system that is useless- an extremely rare converter. I don't expect Jack to keep supplying me converters, as I have already gone through three of them. Sorry Jack. After all that has happened, I don't know what I am going to do with this kit as as I know the batteries are going to go bad in the trunk of my prius. I also now have a very expensive stainless steel box in my truck. Any Ideas? Comments? COncerns? I give up.

 

That sounds very maddening. I'm not skilled or knowledgeable enough to help but I'm hoping you get the problem figured out soon. Best of luck.

 

My guess would be you may be getting voltage at the convertor but you may have the 12v on the wrong pair which can light up the green LED but not activate the converter.

 

This sounds like a frustrating situation.
There is a knowledgeable person in your area who may be able to troubleshoot. I'll give him a call and see if he can help out possibly after the holiday.

In the meantime, I'll call you if you PM me your phone number. Let's talk it through and see what's up.

 

Anybody ever being hangin' around your kit at the end of a charging session and find that some of their cell voltages spiked up to (and even over) 4.0V?

I charged a balanced, but not very empty kit and that's what happened to me last night.

 

This is exactly what has been happening. Unfortunetly I now have a enginer kit with out the main component. The converter. What do you mean by having the worng pair? The LED does light up but the converter would not out out power. Very, very frustrating!

 

I had a nice conversation with Alex. We'll get some photos up of the install and have you all give some feedback if you see anything out of place. We'll probably want to start a new thread though.

 

There are 4 pairs of wires going into the converter. One pair lights up the green led on the dash switch. If your 12v is hooked up to that pair your green led on the converter will light up but won't put out any voltage.

 

Also, when the switch is toward the LEDs, the system is off.
When the switch is away from the LEDs it is off.

 

cabledave, do you mean that two of the six wires from the switch to the converter are supposed to have current. My system only had one pin that would measure 13.9 volts. All of the other pins were dead. One question, you mention 4 pairs of wires. Does this mean that there is eight wires total that go to the converter from the switch? My system came with a 6 pin wire that is to be connected from the switch to the converter.

 

I meant to say 3 pairs. I pair is supposed to have the 12v (or 13.9 in your case) from the dash to the converter to activate it. The other 2 pair are for the leds, red and green. If you have the 12v hooked up to the green led pair the led will light up but the converter won't activate.

I would double check to make sure you have everything at the switch hooked up properly and don't have the polarity switched.

I would be surprised if you actually had 3 bad converters out of the box.

 

Thank you, Cabledave. In my particular case. Only one lead of the six is putting out 12.9. All of the other leads are dead. I have checked my connections at least 15 times. Everything looks well, but not enough to get the converter to put out.

 

Bump:

Anybody ever being hangin' around your kit at the end of a charging session and find that some of their cell voltages spiked up to (and even over) 4.0V?

I charged a balanced, but not very empty kit and that's what happened to me last night.

 

Yes, this happens frequently to me. I have one cell that almost always goes over 4.0v, and another that gets close (~3.8-3.9v).

[edit]Those same cells also tend to read lower than the other cells BEFORE I start charging.[/edit]

 

You would need 2 leads for the 12v DC. Looking at the side of the converter which two leads have the 12v? And which one is the +?

Have you checked the voltage, from the batteries, into the converter? What is it?

 

Have you checked the fuse for continuity?

 

I have checked the voltage to the converter from the batteries. The reading was 54 volts. As far as the 6 pin leads to the converter goes, only one had 13.9 volts on it. This was pin number two, though I don't know exactly which side it is on. All of this I thought this was normal.

 

If you are talikng about the fuse that goes from the converter to the OEM batteries, Yes. I have checked it. If their is another fuse I might not know about, please let me know.

 

The DC/DC converter has an internal fuse, but seems that you had already replaced the converter..........but I will check that anyway, it's a possibility that somehow the fuse is blowing.

 

Speaking of the wires from the converter to the OEM battery, have you checked the voltage there? Be VERY CAREFUL...it should be in the neighborhood of 240v for GEN2. Jack had me check it by turning the car OFF; disconnecting the lines TO the OEM battery; starting the car back up with the unit turned on; measuring the voltage across the black and red wires at the connector.

And while you're at it, have you verified the 100A circuit breaker is in the ON position?