Hybrid automotive grid charger Install

Go this in the mail Saturday. USPS left it at the front door. Plan on doing the install sometime this week with more pics and details.

Took some pics for now.
On the wire harness there are a few round ended taps zip tied onto the wire. These appear to be there to hold the wire down.



First inline fuse I've seen covered like this.



The power supply can be used for Gen2 and Gen3 Prius but have to get different adapter cable.



Only 2 pins on the discharge kit.

Bottom of the charger

 

Please print out Hybrid Automotive - 2004-2009 Toyota Prius Grid Charger Installation and have it with when installing. The following is my own pictures,notes and video on my install.

I have wire for subs so ignore those. Also put dyno mat and sound deadening spray. Remove all covers in the trunk. On the driver side take out the battery holder plate. Disconnect the negative off the 12V battery so the car has no power.



Remove this orange plug, it's super easy just pull up, turn notch down then whole thing comes out.



After I took the side connection cover off this is what you get. Double checked the voltage on anything you plan on touching or removing a nut off. Need to take the white plastic covers off. Check for voltage there too.



Positive on the left towards the rear bumper and ground near the front. Take off the tiny nut (think it was a 8mm) and connect the wire harness. Make sure the wires will not get pinched or in the way of anything else. Use zip ties in here too.



NEXT is connecting the fan. Reach behind and feel out the fan clip. Push down and release. Don't freak out if after you cut the fan wire and see 4 wires. Just strip them and twist the same colors together.



Strip on the fan side too.



The bottom of the black box comes off, do not unscrew anything on it! There are two extra screws with the connectors that you will use on the bottom. Use the supplied end connections and crimp on the fan wires. This picture below shows only the fan plug connected to help give reference to the card diagram.



Zip tie the controller box best way you can. I used 4 ties.



Again ignore my speaker wires and subs. Now is the test. WIth the negative still off the 12V connect the power supply to the harness then plug in power. Mine has some heat/burning smells at first but not enough to cause alarm. All fans were spinning and I got numbers on the charger so that worked!!! Was at like 211 V on the charger.



Disconnect the charger then plug the negative back on the 12V. At this point I started the car to make sure it's all good which it was. Turn the car off and reconnected the charger with the harness part first. When plugging the AC power to the power supply I get a spark each time. Now the charger says about 235V.




Trunk is still apart just in case. First charge was about 15 hours long before I had to go somewhere. The battery bars on the Prius did not change. Next day I did like 8 hours. Only thing that gets hot is the charger and the controller box.


I always reset my trip odometer when filling up. Was at about half a tank at 37.5 MPG before it reset due to disconnecting the 12V battery. Now after about 2 days driving my MPG is 39.4. I will keep tracking and compare it to my previous MPG.

 

I have noticed I get more leafs on the charging screen saying I generated so much power. My battery goes in the green more often. When starting the car I've seen it has 2 bars only less often. I've learned there is no direct correlation between how long I charge that battery and what the car system shows the battery strength as. The cars shows my MPG has gone up since doing a full long charge. My last MPG was 40.89, 41.72, 34.45, then most recently 42.41 MPG using (Ending miles - Starting miles / gallons used formula. Fuelly.com shows the same improvement. So far a positive experience. I no longer worry about the battery giving out either. Next week I may do a discharge and then recharge,will keep yall posted.



Decided to charge both batteries the other day.Yes I kept he seats out.




This looks more like it. Keeping the side covers off for more air flow in general.

 

First time I've see the car get three leaves.





This was a day or so after my longest charging time. I got FULL bars for the first time.



No it's not a placebo effect of doing a new install. I like seeing what my battery is at and was concerned about it failing so always kept an eye on these things since I've gotten the car.

 

Discharge day(s)

Starting voltage with two 100W bulbs. Started around noon and finished up about 2 AM !


Once it got down to 0.5 V I disconnected the discharger and connected the charger. Sadly I havent' seen the battery go full bars green or 3 regeneration leafs in a while and havent but MPG remains in the low 40s range which is better than I was getting before per fulley.com tracking. Maybe another drain and charge will help more? Not sure this is all an experiment to me. Cool to see the prius light up a bulb.

 

It rarely went to a full green charge and would quickly go down to two bars. I've only filled up twice since doing the discharge and I put in a different intake which broke so had to go back to factory. So my MPG erratic right now. I do not see any daily increase in battery power or range yet.

 

Just did a discharge last weekend. Biggest bulb I could find around the house was 100W so I left those in the whole time this round and watched the voltage. For the first time I'd start high and do step downs with lower watt bulbs.

 

Update. Had my charger for what feels like a year now. Past few times I've used it the prius battery fan has been whiny or struggling sounding. Has anyone else reported this after prolonged use or fans in general? Should I replace that fan or wait until when and if it ever fails?


Past two charges I've had weird dash issues. Second to last charge my speedometer would not show the MPH until restarting the car and inserting the key with smart key on. After my last charge Sunday nothing came on the dash light up at all. Had to drive not knowing my speed or how much gas I had. Got to my destination,let it sit and everything started working again. Seems to be after each charge.

 

It sounds like the hybrid battery. I smacked it a few times to make sure. I can make a video if needed.

Just got off the phone with local Toyota who said it was covered under the 9 year warranty but that expired for me a year ago so called Toyota Corporate and they confirmed I'm out of warranty. It's weird that it only happens after charging that the screen goes out or acts up.

 

Haha, Weirdness all around. Can barely hear the fan when the car is on. I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens.