2005 Prius to Light Duty Pickup Truck Conversion

Thanx for your nice and complimentary comments. I also have a 2011 Ford Ranger 4 cyl with a manual shift, about as thrifty a truck as there is after they quit building the really small trucks about 10 years ago. At one time I owned a 1985 Mitsubishi Mighty-Max, a very small PU truck and I loved that truck. But above all I want an efficient parallel/serial hybrid vehicle to combat carnon/solids emissions, and I lamented the fact that Toyota, although they have one built and prototyped (the A-BAT), won't mass produce it. It won't be long before the demand for that vehicle will pick up as the more stringent emission standards take effect (and maybe also because surely OPEC will find a way to get oil prices up again .......Ruud

 

Here is an update on the “Pruck” Traction battery heat problem. As described before, the battery has heating problems when you add the heat load from sun exposure of the black coated truck bed. The battery case lies just 1 inch below the truck bed floor, which in the Florida summer often gets too hot to touch. When left to the normal cooling control circuit (VM generated by the battery controller), the lower batt temp will go as high as 122°F at which point the cooling fan kicks in high gear and doesn’t allow the temp to go any higher. That may be acceptable to Toyota, but is way too hot for my comfort.


So I hooked up the circuit below via a temporary DPDT switch in the cabin to allow switching between normal and “high” modes .During the summer months, I have been driving with the lower potential terminal of the motor hooked directly to chassis ground, which forces the fan to run at high speed as soon as the battery reaches about 98° F, and seldom allows the battery temp to go higher than 107° F which is OK with me. See the current circuit in the first illustration below:


The problem is that VM, not having a load attached, goes to a higher value and trips the P0A84 or P0A86 DTCs, illuminating the Dash triangle.


Since I know the exact reason why the DTC appears, it would be preferable if I could find a way to have the CAN bus traffic filter out those two DTCs, it seems that is not possible, but I bet some member of PriusChat would know how to do that.


But since the problem is caused by excessive temperatures in the area under the truck bed, I am now thinking about adding an exhaust fan in the under deck area, which will switch on when going to the “fan high” mode, that will hopefully 1)provide the appropriate load so that the VM level stays within the normal range, and 2)at the same time ventilate (suck the hot air out of) the under deck area. See modified circuit in the second illustration below.


If this works, the final implementation will be via a DPDT relay located in the fan area rather than a switch. I may also have to beef ups some of the wiring. As shown in previous posts, I have routed the AC air intended for the rear seat passengers into the fan manifold, so that helps with additional cooling as well.

Please note that the two diagrams were inserted in the wrong sequence. The current circuit is at the bottom, the proposed circuit is on top. I have my battles with editing PriusChat posts....Ruudh



Any thoughts or comments?

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Haha. That's pretty funny but this is a problem I really need to solveand "automate" if my project has any merit. The problem is going away temporarily due to cooler temps...I appreciateyour prompt comments........R

 

The apparent solution to my problem was suggested by lopezjm2001. It involves a circuit somewhat like my existing one but with the addition of an RC circuit to fool the Battery ECU into thinking it is still controlling the fan speed. Thank you sir !!!!
Prius OEM fan control - EAA-PHEV

 

So I have now posted most of the design detail for the "Pruck" on the family website, for those of you who may be interested. Initially, there were requests for that but I held back since I thought there might be an opportunity for a magazine to pick it up. So here it is, enjoy but please don't re-publish. The pictures are slow loading, I have not had a chance to "dumb them down" so that they will load faster, or perhaps create thumbnails for instant preview.
The location is http://www.hartog.net/pruck

Ruud H

 

Hi: I am aware of the other conversions and have posted pix on the website (http://www.hartog.net/pruck) check the "others" document. The battery cooling problem has been solved. Thanx for your interest.....RH

 

Well, all good things come to an end. The "Pruck" (as it was known) was totaled in the morning of 11 February while waiting at a red light in St. Petersburg Florida. Another vehicle collision sent a Jeep into the waiting Pruck. Luckily it appears that no one was injured although for a second I though I was a dead man as the Jeep appeared to be airborne when I first saw it coming at me.

For some time I have been contemplating publishing an article that detailed what I would do differently if I had to do it again (which I won't). I think I will still publish that on the site (http://www.hartog.net/Pruck) in the near future, because there are lessons learned from this modification.
I thank all the PriusChat readers who have followed and/or commented and gave me encouragement and valuable advice on this thread. I will try to include some (accident pix).....RH..

 

Thank you guys for your kind comments....RH

 

Several reasons, the main one is that in the near future I will not have a 1,000 SF garage to tinker in. My wife and I are moving to another area. The other reason is that in order to build the Pruck, I had to remove the side curtain airbags. After the accident, I became aware that even though they are not required by law, the curtain airbags would have cushioned the impact had the other vehicle hit me 4 or 5 feet further aft., in which case without the airbags, I probably would have been dead !!
Car crashes, the horrific sounds of crashing metal and flying glass, are horrific events. I have been driving since 1957 (60 years) and have not experienced that before. It has changed my awareness in driving. Thanx for caring and commenting....Ruud

 

It is still in the impound yard waiting insurance inspections etc.