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

[ericbecky]

Running into a few defective components can be frustrating. I had a bad dash switch on the last 8kwh install we did. Fortunately I had a spare around. Enginer quickly sent a replacement.

For the modular cord, you could simply have Enginer send you a new one.

It's up to you about the toolbox tray. Some people leave it in, some people modify it, some people leave it out. As you noted there are pros and cons of each of these options.

The best option is what works for you and still keeps the system with adequate airflow. Basically if the system is often shutting down because of overheating, then you'll want to increase the airflow.

[GeneralAnarchy]

Here are some pictures. You can see the dual plugs poking out of the grille and after trying it out it seems convenient enough. On a 20 minute drive the kit does not put many amp-hours into the stock battery. Much of the time in seems to contribute only a few amps on the highway, and no noticable impact on mpg. It seems like I would have to drive for hours to deplete the LiFe battery. The data on the SD card is quite interesting.

I left the tray out for now, but I will probably stick it back in for the winter to hold all my wiring.

[kaval]

What sort of plugs did you use for the front grill?
How do you like the arrangement?

[GeneralAnarchy]

My charger cord is just a black extension cord with rubber block heater cap on the end. One side is EBH, the other is charger. The gap in the grill is wider toward the center and seems to hold them well by selecting a horizonal position with the right grip. There are windup "cord reels" which have black 105C rated cords, and I just harvested the cord replacing it with a cheap 60C cord. The 105C cord is routed through a grommet in the firewall.

It seems convenient to plug both in at the grille, I like it so far. My hope is plugging it at a random parking lot (I spotted a few stores with outlets), people will assume it's a block heater. Kill-a-watt says my Enginer charger uses just over 1000 watts, dropping to 300W after a cell hits 3.6V and the charger "shuts off". That seems wasteful to me. I plan to set up a pair of X10 switches to toggle from charger to EBH at some fixed time in the middle of the night.

[epa5epa]

Originally Posted by ericbecky

usually attach one side of velcro on the back the BMS screen and then affix that to the passenger side rear deck panel.

It's a good idea to affix the BMS screen to there! I will install my kits in this manner next month whenever it's shipping to Taiwan.
A few defective or bad components should be very frustrating to an international buyer. Do that often occurs?
thanks

[kaval]

Thanks for your respose.

Did you put the auto-reel windup in the car anywhere specific?

Was it hard to thread the cables from back to front; and how did you get through the firewill? Did you end up drilling a new hole?

[GeneralAnarchy]

It was a manual reel, the cheap kind with a handcrank, not the fancy spring loaded one. I got one just to scavenge a high-temperature cord. The reel itself can be discarded, or preferably, restored with a cheaper cord. The standalone extension cords at home depot and lowes are not very good so I did not use one for the engine compartment. The cord is tied behind the grille so, like the block heater, it only pulls out a little bit so an extension cord can be plugged in.

I drilled through with 3/4" bit and one of those Harbor Freight right-angle drill chucks, and then I fit a rubber grommet. It is slow and time-consuming, and it's probably worth it well in advance to make a wish list of add-on electronic accessories you want to feed through. On my setup, most of the 25 feet or so of extension cord runs along with the Enginer cord.

[kaval]

Another thought might be to put the plug behind the front license plate with a fold-up or fold-down plate as another hidden option.

I was also exploring the possibility of putting the plug on the back hatcharea near the license plate lights although the space looks cramped.

Where exactly did you get your high temperature cord from?

[GeneralAnarchy]

A few questions. I'm starting to get the knack of using my 4kWh system. After driving 120 miles yesterday with Enginer switched on about 80% of the time, the red light never came on. I was expecting depletion at 40 miles.

After recharging, my kill-a-watt says the charger used 2.9kWh. I am guessing there is some overhead for the charger, so 2.9kWh input is not exactly 2.9kWh added to the pack. What should be the full recharge kWh reading on the kill-a-watt from red-light to charger shutdown for a 4kWh pack? It should be about 5, right?

During my drive, and I have 2G prius, the converter output fluctuates from 2A to about 12A, but mostly on the low end. SOC stays at about 68-70. Does the Enginer pack get overly cautious about dumping amps into the stock battery when the temperature is too cold?

Usually my cells show nearly balanced just after recharging. But I also saw in the morning about 7 hours after recharge completed, my low/high is 3.29/3.40. Is that OK and do you expect drift like that while sitting several hours?

[ericbecky]

I would have expected the red light to come on by 120 miles as well.
You should be able to dump the data from your SD card and see how your system was utilized on your trip. (battery voltages, pack voltage, etc) Of course there is always the possibility that your red LED does not work. After a drive you can check the LEDs on the left side of the converter and confirm whether they coincide with the LEDs on the dash switch.

You can watch your stock Prius voltage via a scangauge. The Enginer system bases how many amps to put in based on the stock pack voltage (as opposed to SOC). as the stock pack voltage increases, the Enginer system ramps down the amps it is putting into the stock pack.