Is it possible to plug charge reg battery?

cpr,
Do you still think there is something to PWR mode in a Prius?

And,,
Aren't the stock battery modules rated at 6.5 Ahr?
You are slamming them at close to 3C .
That can't be a good thing.
What does the thermal management system of the car think of that?
It can't back off the charge when it is not making the charge.

Oh well, if it works for you all, go for it.

Me,?, I'm doing a leap frog of this old technology.
I'm selling my Prius and buying a Volt.


Sayonara, suckers !!

 

I don't drive in PWR anymore since I dismantled my default PWR mode mod and used the timer relays for my speedlock bypass. And yes, I still do think there's something to PWR mode. It gets just as good if not better mileage than any other modes.

3C is nothing compare to the full regen the HV battery takes. Some have reported that while regen, the HV battery takes in well over 100 amps. I honestly, I don't know what a the thermal management system of the car think of that. I didn't know an ECU can think. Enginer converter is a smart charger. It senses the battery voltage and adjust its output accordingly. If the battery is empty, it charges, if it's charged, it backs down the charge rate and maintains the full charge state. I sold my Enginer kit while it was in its prime condition so I could start my nav bypass project.

Volt is a great car, no doubt. I wish the PiP has the same range as a volt. But, it only seats 4 people and that's a deal breaker for me. I'll wait til a plugin with 5 passengers with the same or better range than a Volt before I switch. For now, I don't mind spending $60 a month a gas.

 

Hi szgabor,
The Gen2/3 HV battery is 1.3kwhr. So between 45% and 75% you are adding about 0.4kwhr. The charger will start at about 200v and end at about 240v. So you are adding about 110amp-minutes. My charger runs at about 15amps, so that will take about 7 minutes.

The problem is that the charger turns off based on voltage. The Prius ECU makes choices based of SOC. Voltage and SOC are related but not the same. If you let the system charge too much, you may shorten the Prius HV battery life and you also can confuse the Prius ECU so that the next warm-up cycle is not predictable.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Here's a video on setting up a "grid charger" on a Honda Civic hybrid, just as an example. Definitely not simple:

(caution, LONG video)

 

thanks for the explanation ... I would have no problem to sit in the car for 7-10 minutes to recharge and watch...

but isn't the system "calibrate" at start up ??? especially for a longer shut down period ?? I know that during operation it "tries" to count the electrons going in and out and that is the way it shows SOC... this is NOT at all accurate .. just too many variable starting temp, amps, unknown "capacity" of the individual cells and group of cells ...

but again 0.4kwhr would worth that much time for me ... but the investment is just out of proportion of the gain ... I do this time of the year around 60mpg overall 51-52mpg maybe little bit better ...... so 10 minutes a day improve especially in colder days would worth my time

 

You guys should put a $ figure on:
1. your time watching batteries charge.
2. The cost of the SMALL amount of electric power you add to the stock battery.
3. The SMALL amount of gas saved while you....
4. dick around driving less than 25mph to try to use what little electric power you may have added.

Or you can live the dream by buying a Volt and go ~38 miles in EV,,, as fast as you want to !!
Way faster than any Prius.
As Lutz said, It's a technology leap frog.

 

too small, unknown long term reliability.

 

Hi Bill,

The theory for having a full charge on a cold-start is to mitigate some of the engine warm-up costs. So while the engine runs at 'idle' fuel consumption rate, the car still gets down the road a mile or so at speeds higher than 25 mph. The charge above 60% continues to off-load the engine while it warms up. But this is theory as I don't know of anyone who has 'done the experiment' with a stock Prius.

Good for you. Although I'm not interested in the Volt nor shopping for a PiP, I have no problem with others taking that path.

One of the things John1701a pointed out is the PiP engine can fully warm up while the car is under battery power. Once the car is in the +60 MPG region, the remaining EV battery capacity can be saved to use later . . . say for the trip home. So I'm curious about using the normally idle battery SOC between 60-80% to mitigate warm-up but I already have a full plate. If someone else does the experiment I'll be interested in following what they learn.

Recently I did a marathon drive and one key technical aspect was to extend every drive to an hour. This extra travel diluted the warm-up costs to insignificance. This is what using that slice of unused but existing traction battery capacity might achieve. It is the traction battery equivalent of a block heater.

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, I can feel that transition to engine power during warm up, but it usually happens less than a 1/8 mile from my drive.
If you really want to mitigate fuel usage during warm-up, install a block heater!
400 watts of insta-heat luxury on a cold morning !! I typically run it 3-4 hours before departure.
It makes life easier for the ICE. And I don't have to dick around with lethal HV DC for a very small return..

I'm selling my '10 Prius IV w/Solar Sunroof,Nav,JBL, (The second most expensive Prius after a level V w/ATP).
I forgot I have a block heater installed. I need to get that into the listing ! Thanks for the reminder!

 

There are impressive technical challenges which is one reason few have attempted it. For example, charging is exothermic and needs to happen only with fan operation and temperature monitoring. When I tried using a forced charge with our 2003 Prius in hot weather, it later threw a soft, traction battery code. One of the reasons a forum like exists is to address these technical issues and share observed risks.

During the marathon drive, the engine would run at these fuel consumption rates:

• 0.02 gal/hr - engine is off and the small value is probably there to avoid a divide by zero problem when calculating MPG.
• 0.20 gal/hr - the engine is in no-load idle. I saw this often during rare occasions when the in "N" and the engine was at idle rpm.
• 0.20-0.60 gal/hr - a 'forbidden' zone where the engine does not operate. The car has to be at a slow speed to notice that this fuel consumption rate, power setting, does not happen. The car is either running the engine at a higher setting, 0.60 gal/hr, and banking the excess energy in the traction battery OR using stored traction battery energy to sustain speed.
• 0.60 gal/hr or more - the lowest engine load, not idle. This was typically seen when the car was in speed sustain mode and the excess power was banked into the traction battery.

I'm still seeing the car take about 5 minutes and 1.5 miles to warm-up to 65-70C, minimum operating temperature. So the potential fuel savings:

• 0.017 gal - warm-up at 0.20 gal/hr, ~88 MPG
• 0.050 gal - warm-up at 0.60 gal/hr, ~30 MPG

So there is an advantage if the extra traction battery capacity can be used. In effect, mitigating the largest Prius overhead, warm-up, diluted in the marathon drive by extending each trip from 20 to 60 minutes. This is the type of technical information we can share for those who with the skills and interest in Prius experimentation.

No problem. I wish we'd had the option of getting ATP for all levels. I would have paid the extra $2,500 for just that option. You might toss in the cold-weather, radiator block if you have one.

We also have a block heater in our 2003 Prius but I never saw the value for our 2010 Prius. I'll use the 2003 Prius block heater when temperatures are 40F and lower. The radiator bock is used when temperatures reach 70F or lower. However, the exhaust heat, coolant loop in our current Prius saves nearly as much warm-up time as the block heater and works away from a wall plug.

There is a lot to be said for buying a stock solution like the Volt, Ford Fusion Energi, or Plug-in Prius. But even in a world where there are 'off-the-shelf' solutions, a few of us still 'turn-a-wrench.' So our 2010 Prius has:

• ScanGauge II - engine and vehicle metrics, light-weight diagnostics
• full-size spare - so trips continue and repairs are scheduled
• tow bar - to handle oversized loads
• dash cam with GPS - documents driving and routes
• navigation GPS - corrects for tire wear, diameter changes, avoids OEM lockouts, and easy map updates
• sine-wave inverter - handles 1.5 kW surge from traction battery and sustains 1 kW for power outages

But this is what a technical forum does, allows Prius 'gear heads' to share what we've done.

Bob Wilson