2nd Gen Prius PHEV Conversion (Enginer plug-in lithium ion battery kit)

[bennelson]

In general, I would recommend a fire extinguisher in ANY and ALL cars, gasoline, electric, or otherwise. (Make sure it is an extinguisher rated for electrical fires though.)

General precautions, like a good main fuse and disconnect are standard and MUST be used.

In my EV conversion, I told my insurance agent exactly what I had planned to do with the car, and she had no problem with it. In most ways, it is just like when someone takes one engine out of their truck and puts a different one in.

I would imagine that insurance would cover the CAR fine, but simply WOULDN'T cover the PHEV kit. Many insurance policies clearly state that they don't cover after-market items added to the car.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by hugho

Good luck buying Chinese junque. I hate to throw cold water on someone willing and brave enough to be out there in front of the Pack. What happens if it catches fire? Will your insurance cover it? Probably not. I would keep my mouth shut. Unless cost and reliability show some positive direction, the Lithium battery future will be a dead end. It is so far. But good luck and good on you for trying to push the envelope.

It probably won't catch fire, although I wouldn't stick around to inhale the magic smoke. Insurance also won't cover it, but at least w/ these batteries I don't think there's much to worry about.

[Daox]

I started and mostly finished the coding for the arduino during lunch today. I added a lot of comments (everything after the //) so hopefully someone other than me can understand how it is operating.

If it is complete gibberish I can type out how it is working.



/*
PHEV Automatic Charger Disconnect
This program monitors a signal from an alarm. Upon
getting a verified signal that the alarm is going off,
the Arduino disconnects power via a relay.
*/

const int AlarmPin = 1; // pin to monitor alarm signal
const int RelayPin = 2; // pin to signal the relay
int AlarmPinStatus = 0; // relays AlarmPin status
boolean RelayPinStatus = true; // RelayPin on/off
boolean AlarmCheck = false; // makes sure alarm goes off before counters can increment again
int AlarmCounter = 0; // counts alarms to verify true/false alarm
unsigned long LastAlarmTime; // time since the last beep
unsigned long ChargerOffTime; // time since the charger was turned off


void setup() {
pinMode(AlarmPin, INPUT);
pinMode(RelayPin, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(RelayPin, HIGH); // turn relay on
}

void loop() {

AlarmPinStatus = digitalRead(AlarmPin); // read AlarmPin status

if (AlarmPinStatus == HIGH && AlarmCheck == false) { // check for alarm & alarm check
++AlarmCounter; // increment alarm counter
LastAlarmTime = millis(); // set last beep timer
AlarmCheck = true; // prevent AlarmCounter increment until alarm turns off
}
if (AlarmPinStatus == LOW) { // verify alarm is off before counters can increment again
AlarmCheck = false;
}
if (millis() - LastAlarmTime > 20000) { // if it has been more than 20 seconds since the last beep
LastAlarmTime = 0; // reset last beep timer
}
if (AlarmCounter = 15) { // if alarm has gone off 15 times within 20 seconds
AlarmCounter = 0; // reset AlarmCounter
digitalWrite(RelayPin, LOW); // turn charger off
RelayPinStatus = false;
ChargerOffTime = millis(); // set charger off time
}
if (millis() - ChargerOffTime > 3600000 && RelayPinStatus == false) { // wait 60 minutes with charger off
digitalWrite(RelayPin, HIGH); // turn charger back on
RelayPinStatus = true;
}
}


Wow, thats really messy and hard to read on a forum...

[ericbecky]

Good to see that you are making progress.
How'd you decide "..15 times within 20 seconds".
Was that just a random choice?

[Daox]

It is based roughly on the beeping speed I've heard while they are going off. It appears the balancers beep roughly twice a second. I just put that together with a specified time to weed out the false alarms. Its completely adjustable and may need to be.

[Daox]

Well, timing is going well. I received the VOX circuit tonight. The kit is pretty small, so I went ahead and soldered it up tonight.

Kit and contents.





The assembled kit. I must say, the kit is pretty straight forward, but there are no step by step instructions. So, you really have to be careful about getting things in the right place (only had to move one item I had soldered down), and getting polarity right and things like that.





Its getting late for me (wake up at 4am for work blah), so I'll do some testing later this week. I'll get some video and adjust it or something.

I'll be going to the local EV build this weekend. At that point I'll be picking up a solid state relay from a member of the group.

[Daox]

I've also been thinking about how to automatically disconnect the dc to dc converter and I think I have it figured out. The idea is to tap into the ethernet line that goes up to the switch up front. This can be done with connectors so install is very easy and no wire cutting is necessary. The switch up front sends a 12v ready signal to the dc to dc converter. I will use that 12V to power the arduino and another relay. The relay will disconnect 12V power after the arduino thus keeping power to the arduino, but cutting it to the dc to dc converter. This will also prevent the arduino from drawing 12V power while the car is off. Thusly, if you turn the PHEV switch up front off, the arduino will power down. When you turn it back on, it will restart the program canceling the 60 minute timer currently built in to the program.

Thoughts?

[MetroMPG]

Makes sense to use the existing circuit.

Have you tried the VOX thinger yet? Any way to test it?

[Daox]

Nope, its not tested yet. For all I know it could blow up like the pwm controller I built a few weeks ago. I hope not.

I'll probably test it in the next few days. The LED lights up when the relay is triggered, so all it needs is power.

[MetroMPG]

I love that you're essentially making a version of The Clapper for your PHEV Prius.