Enginer 2010 PHEV Technical Information

I don't think Medusa is going out of business...just not selling direct. I got mine from one of the model aircraft supply houses.

The 2 red wires are just for the + side of the power pack. They are connected to the same place...so I just cut one of them off. The black wires are connected in series with the shunt. I replaced the #10 wires with #6 and added an Anderson connector.

The other option would have been to remove the shunt from the board and move the display to the front of the car.

The hardest part was de-soldering the display from the board to access the shunt.

The software is easy to use, logs the data, and the display can be customized by selecting from menus.

I've ordered 2 of the thermocouples (?) to add battery temperature.

 

Just heard from Jack...the GenIII case is on it's way....I'll be posting the install photos when it gets here....

Jack B

 

Progress ! Finally used the monitor to get a discharge curve for the Mottcells. The result is surprising. It looks like the charge and discharge voltages are too low. The chart shows the average discharge curve for a balanced (low) set (16 cells) of 40AHr Mottcells. The vertical lines are the open (no load) voltages at those points. Ooops...the horizontal axis is AmpHrs.

 

Next step....charge curve of Volts/cell vs Amp Hours for the same 16 cells. The vertical lines are again the open circuit voltages. Note the constant current then constant voltage type of behavior.

When I checked the cells after the initial discharge and sitting overnight, they were in better balance than I started with !

I'm going to do another discharge curve then balance the second string of batteries. Finally, I'll do the same thing w/ the full 4KWH pack of Mottcells.

The discharge is done w/ a nominal 2.5 ohm nichrome resistor.

 

This discharge curve completes a full cycle starting w/ the discharge to 46V (pack voltage cutoff for the DC/DC converter), charging w/ the Enginer charger (~35AH) and discharging again to 46V (~32AH) If the cells are in great balance again tomorrow I'll be getting rather enthusiastic about this balance low business.

PS: The new case is due here Nov. 30......

 

Here's a shot of the installation the new case for the 2010 Prius.



The "x"ed out areas are pieces I removed for my first attempt at a fit w/o cutting any of the Prius plastic. It fit, but wasn't really centered. Jack suggested cutting back the plastic exhaust vent. I cut it back 1.5" and thinks fit ok. You want to note that the hold down for the wire harness had to be removed and I will have to put some sort of pad there to keep that harness from chaffing against the case.

I also cut away the forward leg of the 12v battery cover to give more room for the muffin fan exhaust out of the case. It only supports that very small area.

 

OK, here's the way I installed the prototype 2010 case.

I decided that the nut plates that came w/ the case would be tough to get into the support beams from the inside so instead I used KLIK Rivet Nuts that I had on hand.



Two problems, the sheet metal is not thick enough for the grip range on these nuts and the metal can flex around a hole of that size. The cure to both of these was to add 2 fender washers under each nut (and drill a 1/2" hole instead of 17/32 and drive the inserts in w/ a hammer)

To set these inserts, I use my homebrew setup....



I use a socket head bolt with a heavy nut and 2 spacer washers ..... lubricate w/ grease ......this picture doesn't show the fender washers.

Installing looks like this......



Notice that there are 3 torque arms in this picture: the allen wrench to hold the bolt from turning, the wrench w/ a pipe on it to tighten the nut and draw the insert into the locked position, and another arm (I used one of the mounting rails) which keeps the nut from turning the insert while you are setting it.

Here's the right hand anchors as installed....



Here's the right hand rail bolted in position. Note the bent up flap to clear the 12V battery tie-down mount.



The left side inserts installed....



The left mounting rail (adjustable) bolted in w/ more fender washers ...



AND it all fits !

 

Here's a shot of the "buddy" cell setup. The Anderson connectors are for testing and balancing, NOT the main current flow. This cell is a left-handed setup. I'll use 4 right and 4 left to minimize the length of the high current wiring.

 

The full set... (note the 5 temporary "straps")

 

Made up some permanent straps (Jack is out of them) to replace the temporary ones. Made from scraps of 0.065" copper electrical buss strap.

 

Playing the initial balancing game.....

 

That's 0.4 ohms..or ~15 amps on a 6 volt "battery". (~7.5A on the 3 volt parallel cells)

The load I use on the whole 48V pack is ~ 2.5 ohms or ~19 amps.

 

That's what I should have done, but I already had a well balanced 2KWH string...it took 4 days anyway.....with a little luck it will be back in the car this weekend, or at least given a full bench cycle.

 

I get virtually everything on EBay.............