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Prius Plus

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by Cheap!, Nov 14, 2006.

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  1. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Bogart Engineering? I had to google it to see if that was for real. Whoooah !!

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Nov 18 2006, 10:22 PM) [snapback]351541[/snapback]</div>
     
    #21 hill, Nov 29, 2006
  2. Roly

    Roly New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ Nov 30 2006, 03:26 AM) [snapback]355550[/snapback]</div>
    m'I missing something here???
     
    #22 Roly, Nov 29, 2006
  3. Cheap!

    Cheap! New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(My Prius and I @ Nov 29 2006, 10:46 PM) [snapback]355568[/snapback]</div>
    "My Prius and I,"

    I think that "hill" was referring to the picture of the amp meter and he did not believe it was a real device that did anything in a Prius Plus. Like this whole project was a joke. Maybe I am wrong in what he was thinking, but if I am right it shows a lot of ingenuity on his part.

    First history and then some good news.

    When Ron first started tinkering with the deadly voltage of the Prius, he had all sorts of parts to do all sort of things to make this bugger work.

    Now for the good news.

    Since that time he had be refining the Prius Plus conversion slowly. He started with three $80.00 contactors (Big Relays) now he is down to two. He started with three circuit boards, now he is down to one. Four fans down to three. Four double plugs for powering things in the battery pack area, now he is down to three double plugs. He use to use two relays on those double plugs to turn them on, and now he is down to one. 22 batteries was what he used for his pack, now that is down to 20.

    Now guess what. Two days ago, Ron tells me I don’t need to buy an amp meter for my conversion as it is not really needed. So no big grey box on the dash. The nifty LEDs next to the amp meter are for diagnostics and while very helpful, they will not necessarily be needed. Sorry Darell. Also, the expensive 15 feet of ribbon cable to run those LEDs is not needed.. And guess what the latest Pi-Prius was made without the three heating pads for heating the pack while charging, so take those out and another two double plugs for me since I live in the south and will charge my car in the garage.

    The point here is the price is slowly coming down, as this system is refined.

    Side note here the Pi-Prius is an offspring of the Prius Plus. It uses a different more expensive charger that doubles as a DC to DC converter, so you can use larger amp hour batteries, but fewer of them at the same time.

    You see each battery pack type is different so it needs different things.
     
    #23 Cheap!, Nov 30, 2006
  4. elecblue

    elecblue New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(My Prius and I @ Nov 28 2006, 11:57 PM) [snapback]355108[/snapback]</div>
    Just send me an email and I'll give more details.
     
    #24 elecblue, Dec 2, 2006
  5. Rangerdavid

    Rangerdavid Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Nov 19 2006, 09:55 PM) [snapback]351915[/snapback]</div>

    AMEN to that one!!! :D
     
    #25 Rangerdavid, Dec 2, 2006
  6. FireEngineer

    FireEngineer Active Member

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    If you want to see some pictures of elecblue's conversion go here.

    Wayne
     
    #26 FireEngineer, Dec 2, 2006
  7. sub3marathonman

    sub3marathonman Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ken1784 @ Nov 24 2006, 01:07 AM) [snapback]353607[/snapback]</div>
    I had seen that too, but now with more research I have found more information.

    The batteries they chose were 20 Ah 12V SLA batteries. In defense of the batteries, they were not used for their intended purpose. Even CalCars says, "for our first prototype, we used low-performance, short-life but resilient lead acid for testing purposes." Also, those batteries are inexpensive for the purchase price. Which make them a logical choice for the CalCars experiment.

    With a better choice of batteries I think the cost/mile will come down significantly.
     
    #27 sub3marathonman, Dec 3, 2006
  8. ken1784

    ken1784 SuperMID designer

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sub3marathonman @ Dec 4 2006, 12:01 PM) [snapback]357196[/snapback]</div>
    How significant will it be?

    Ken@Japan
     
    #28 ken1784, Dec 4, 2006
  9. sub3marathonman

    sub3marathonman Active Member

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    I would think significant starts at about 33% cost reduction, or about $0.24/mile for batteries.

    Here are some calculations I've done for a couple of CSB batteries that I've been able to find data on. Also, this is assuming that the information provided by CSB for service life is accurate. The batteries are supposed to get 1900 cycles when discharged 30% (70% remaining). I've figured on 20 batteries of 12V. Also, I've figured 330 W/mile. (Others may be able to provide a more accurate energy/mile figure.) And I haven't done the calculations to see if the batteries would actually fit in the rear cargo area, so that would be something else to consider.

    There are two choices.

    EVX 12200, which ends up costing $1476.60 including tax and adds 290 lbs to the Prius. With that battery you can go 4.36 miles (not very far) per discharge. That would be 8284 miles total, and a cost of $0.178/mile for the batteries.

    EVX 12340, which ends up costing $1690.60 including tax and unfortunately adds an almost axle breaking 516 lbs to the Prius. But that battery is much more economical. You can go 7.42 miles per discharge. That would be 14098 miles total, and a cost of $0.120/mile for the batteries.

    You also start to run up against the time limit factor of the batteries at 1900 cycles, or just over 5.2 years at 1 cycle per day. Of course, people may be able to do two cycles per day if they could recharge at work for 8 hours. Since the batteries wouldn't be deeply discharged this could be possible.
     
    #29 sub3marathonman, Dec 5, 2006
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