Florida Plugin Question

Yes I got my Hymotion installed on June 29, at Foreign Affairs Motors in west Palm Beach. I am not a techie, but I believe the install is not working right as the red light that they put in to show the install IS working, is blinking on and off and various intervals. I have logged this for the past week and have sent the results to Jonathan Ortiz, who is in charge of the program.

I will follow up as I learn more. As I live near Cocoa Beach I am not enthralled with driving back to West Palm Beach. But, such is life.

Best

Hal

 

Hal, you don't state the year of your prius. If it's older I would suspect the 12v battery. Flashing led at the switch is not normal. Since getting the latest firmware last fall I've seen the flashing led maybe twice.
Chris

 

Did you qualify for the Florida rebate? Do you know which number you were (from 1 to 90)? I want to do it if I can get one of those 90 rebates I read about.

 

With the price of the Enginer system so low now for the 4kWh, I recommend buying one and putting it in yourself. If you are a techie type, you'll have a ball with it and won't be disappointed with all the unburnished edges of an after market PHEV system.

Also, man, in Florida, you will have all sorts of heat related problems with the Prius BMS system itself. If you want to drop me a line, I'll tell you of my experience running a 2G prius with a 4kWh system in the Fort Lauderdale area through the first half of the summer.

Don't get me wrong, would I buy one again. Sure thing. In a heartbeat. It's all a matter of managing your expectations.

 

Octane,
I live in Coral Springs Florida and I am thinking of taking advantage of the Enginer sale this month.
What exactly have been your experiences in South Florida with the Enginer system? Since the Engineer system still requires the Prius to decide on whether to use the EV mode or not, I am concerned that the high heat in South Florida does not allow the Prius to stay in EV mode. I believe that the Prius software monitors the battery temperature, and if the temperature is > 114 deg, it will not allow EV mode.
I would love to upgrade my wife's 2007 Prius with the Enginer system. She does no freeway driving and drives 4 miles to work. It would be great if she could do this in EV mode and use no gas at all.
She would have no trouble going to work at < 34 MPH, but I am afraid that the heat issue would not allow her Prius to stay in EV Mode. What do you think?

Regards,
Larry

 

Larry - I view the Enginer kit more like an electric assist, rather than to drive in pure EV. From a total energy point of view, any amount of electric energy you use, displaces almost the same amount from gasoline. There is always conversion & storage losses.

So, even if the Prius can't be in EV mode when it's hot; the electrical energy is still contributing to propulsion. Your wife Prius would probably get to work in the morning in EV.

I wonder if there is a modification we can make to keep the stock battery cooler ? like turning the fan on earlier ? or put in a beefier fan. It doesn't take much to get to 114F in the summer heat though. I like the feature of some Gen3 model with the solar powered fan to circulate outside air to keep the inside temperature down while parking in the sun.

IMHO, get the Enginer kit; it's a fun toy.

 

Chris,

It's a 2007 with 31K miles.

Hal

 

Chris,

I also failed to mention that in a week of driving , at night. It's tough to se the red Led light during the day. Each night I would drive the car on the local roads keeping as close to 35MPH as possible and I never got more than 23miles on a charge before the light went out.

Hal

 

Hal, 23 miles is about right especially at lower speeds you consume more battery, in my experience. I've found that the faster i warm the ice I can get into SHM and can easily see 9999 MPG while traveling >41mph. My commute is 10 miles one way and I will make the round trip easily. With the warmer weather I'm getting about 125mpg just by driving the car. Also as far as the light goes I don't check it much. I know that the display will go from purple bars the green or blue from the stock battery when the hymotion is empty.
Good luck.
Chris

 

Yes, I had mine installed on June 29 by Foreign Affairs Motors. I turned in the paperwork the next day and had the $5k rebate in my hand about 4 days later. That is amazing in Florida. It took them over 2 years to get my $20K rebate on the PV system I had installed.

Best

Hal

 

I got the install done about the same time that HalBurke did down at Foreign Affairs Auto - yes it is the only place in the state to have it done because the Hymotion system is the only one that qualifies for the state rebate and they are the only installer in the state. I'm not sure what number I was in the list, but it was kind of funny - a few months after I had it done I got a postcard in the mail telling me about the rebate and trying to solicit my business in getting my Prius converted.
I did receive the rebate in a fairly timely manner but not as quickly as HalBurke did. My rebate took a little over a month to get. My conversion was done June 20something, don't remember the exact date, but I deposited the rebate on July 31.
Oh, and yes I had a blinking LED on my dash also... I charged my 12v battery (I have my 12v outlets modified for always on and bought a
12v to 12v charging kit - allows you to connect between 12v outlets from one car to another - I hooked it to my battery charger instead of another car) and haven't had the problem since. Actually the blinking LED is kind of a nice thing to have as it warns you before you start getting other anomalies when your 12v battery is low.
Of course I guess it's possible something else might be causing your LED to blink but it was the 12v battery in my case.

 

Sorry this is so late, but yes I got the Hymotion installed in June in Florida and got the $5,000 rebate.

Hal

 

I got the blinking red light the first two weeks I think and it has never happened...I did not charge nor change the batttery. I've got a 2007 with 34,000 miles, virtually all of them at the 20 miles a day level.

Hal