Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - 2nd gen Honda Insight parallel portable plugin hybrid battery pack build thread

RedDevil · 02-25-2016, 05:19 PM

The car has had its 80.000 km service two weeks so I had removed the harness as to not cause concern with the mechanics.
And I wanted to tidy up the harness anyway and build and install my volt- and ampere meters for the hybrid battery, plus the diodes.

As luck would have it conditions have been fair, more than compensating for the lack of PHEV support. Which was mild anyway, but I do see a lot more of recharge on the go now.
Thanks to the relay in the lamp shunt (switching between a 6P and a 2S3P setup for the 12V lamps when the current gets too strong) the forced recharge on the go is all but gone, except for the occasional recalibration, cold start or after a long stint of EV use. Even so, it uses about 300 Watt on average, judging by the recharge time of the batteries.

I have soldered in the power and sensor wires, a pesky job as the solder refuses to bond with the on-print contacts if it gets half the chance. And when it was done one of my meters had a failing segment..
But I had a spare one, the one I blew up on my first attempt when I did not realize the power feed had to be isolated from the sensor wires as they share a common 'ground' (actually the power + is connected to the sensor -, weird... but it works).
I took the blown and the faulty ones apart and swapped the LCD display, and hey presto it works! My first LCD meter hack

I will feed the meters by a 9 volt battery, switched by a micro relay fed by the 12 V keyed system. I got some parts here, after testing:

The meters will go to a box somewhere in the dash area, obviously, which means bringing 100 Volts into the passenger compartment.
But I'll put 100 kOhm resistors on the negative wire and a 10 MOhm one on the positive one; if the wires would short with the car or amongst each other, it would still dissipate no more than a milliampere or some 100 milliWatt over that resistor.
I calibrated the Volt meter to compensate for the extra resistors.

This will not bring more support yet, but at least I'll know what's happening better than I do now.

This is not the fastest of builds... but I am confident I'll get there in the end, or at least somewhere.

02-25-2016, 05:19 PM	#73 (permalink)
RedDevil Master EcoWalker Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Nieuwegein, the Netherlands Posts: 3,998 Red Devil - '11 Honda Insight Elegance Team Honda 90 day: 49.01 mpg (US) Thanks: 1,711 Thanked 2,245 Times in 1,454 Posts	Harness out, testing LCD meters The car has had its 80.000 km service two weeks so I had removed the harness as to not cause concern with the mechanics. And I wanted to tidy up the harness anyway and build and install my volt- and ampere meters for the hybrid battery, plus the diodes. As luck would have it conditions have been fair, more than compensating for the lack of PHEV support. Which was mild anyway, but I do see a lot more of recharge on the go now. Thanks to the relay in the lamp shunt (switching between a 6P and a 2S3P setup for the 12V lamps when the current gets too strong) the forced recharge on the go is all but gone, except for the occasional recalibration, cold start or after a long stint of EV use. Even so, it uses about 300 Watt on average, judging by the recharge time of the batteries. I have soldered in the power and sensor wires, a pesky job as the solder refuses to bond with the on-print contacts if it gets half the chance. And when it was done one of my meters had a failing segment.. But I had a spare one, the one I blew up on my first attempt when I did not realize the power feed had to be isolated from the sensor wires as they share a common 'ground' (actually the power + is connected to the sensor -, weird... but it works). I took the blown and the faulty ones apart and swapped the LCD display, and hey presto it works! My first LCD meter hack I will feed the meters by a 9 volt battery, switched by a micro relay fed by the 12 V keyed system. I got some parts here, after testing: The meters will go to a box somewhere in the dash area, obviously, which means bringing 100 Volts into the passenger compartment. But I'll put 100 kOhm resistors on the negative wire and a 10 MOhm one on the positive one; if the wires would short with the car or amongst each other, it would still dissipate no more than a milliampere or some 100 milliWatt over that resistor. I calibrated the Volt meter to compensate for the extra resistors. This will not bring more support yet, but at least I'll know what's happening better than I do now. This is not the fastest of builds... but I am confident I'll get there in the end, or at least somewhere. __________________ 2011 Honda Insight + HID, LEDs, tiny PV panel, extra brake pad return springs, neutral wheel alignment, 44/42 PSI (air), PHEV light (inop), tightened wheel nut. lifetime FE over 0.2 Gmeter or 0.13 Mmile. For confirmation go to people just like you. For education go to people unlike yourself. Last edited by RedDevil; 02-26-2016 at 04:15 AM..