The PHEV is installed for those who haven't followed that decent sized thread. However, it has some major problems and needs some help in the battery management system department. So, I'm not getting a ton of use out of it yet. I am working with some guys on priuschat to fix this and we think we have a solution. More info in that thread though.
I am posting here to say that I took some time tonight to install a block heater in the Prius. I've had it for months now, I've just debated using it since the Prius has a coolant thermos that holds warm coolant when the car is powered down. This coolant thermos works nearly as well as the block heater did on my Matrix, so I didn't see a huge need for it. Also, if the engine coolant is warmer than the thermos coolant temps, it won't dump the thermos coolant into the engine on power up. So, a block heater wouldn't be very useful, right? After a bit more thinking, I came to the conclusion that it definitely will be useful, and used right it will work very well in combination with the coolant thermos. I just have to run the block heater for a short enough time to keep the coolant temperature under what the thermos temperature is. That way, the coolant thermos will still dump into the engine upon power up, and I get the benefit of both. So, I installed it tonight and set the timer to run approximately 2 hrs before I leave for work in the morning. We'll see how this works.
Here is the kit contents. Installation is a pain in the butt, but not really that hard.
So, I now have two extension cords going to the car. When I get the phev kit automatic disconnect setup, I'll likely work on getting the arduino to be an onboard timer to power up the block heater too. But, that is a project quite a bit down the road.
And, yes Darin, it is about time.
