Enginer plug in conversion for a C-Max?

[Recumpence]

I just heard back from the oversees company about the inverter. They told me they could make me an inverter to my spec for $1,100 US.

Matt

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Recumpence

I just heard back from the oversees company about the inverter. They told me they could make me an inverter to my spec for $1,100 US.

Matt

I have use Harbor Freight (chinese) 12v-120v inverters for years with great sucess, the main thing you need to understand is that you can only normally use a chinese inverter for about half its rating, at least if you want it to live normally.

Good Luck

[Recumpence]

I am talking about a 50 volt to 320 volt inverter (step up inverter) to make my own plug in system.

Matt

[Cobb]

They had a range of converters over the years. THey were in the 3000 watt range, then moved on to 5000 watts. The latest mode had 2 fans at both ends. THe previous model had a single fan at either end. None of the converters ever reached their stamped output. Thinking it was a real inverter with a diode in it effectively cutting hte output in half do to the nature they operate. so a 3000 watt unit was really 1500 out and 5000 was more like 2500. I ran 17 amps at 117 volts.

Regardless 17 amps seemed to be the amp output limit, but you could crank up the voltage without worry unless you pack started to sag or dropped a cell.

The hard core prius users who went for miles n ev mode used 2 converters in parallel to keep up with demand of the electric motor. I wanted to get a 2nd converter myself, but never pulled the trigger.

Before they went out of business in the US he was selling the kit minus the batteries for 995. I think he should of done that from the start so most users would go to their local walmart or auto store and buy 4 deep cycle batteries and chargers for the power supply. Then later on team up with a good lifepo4 battery company or let end users do all the experitmenting at their own risk.

Here are some cliff notes:

1, used the gas engine to accelerate and use the electirc to maintain or glide.
2, precharge your vehicle hybrid battery before parking of a day or before you start off in the morning.
3, precharge the bat too when you leave work, business, etc.
4, start planning your route and decide if you are going to turn off the converter to regen or just coast.
5, give your battery bank a few cycles to build up and use it gentle the first 12 runs.
6, watch your vehicle for any strange behavior such as doing wasteful stuff with the extra electricity. For example the prius would use the electric motor to spin the gas engine when the soc was too high.

[Recumpence]

You read my mind as far as how best to use the system.

My plan was pretty much what you stated.

#1 Top off the supplemental pack and hybrid pack before leaving.
#2 Always accelerate with the engine and cruise in EV.
#3 Read the road and my route to use the supplemental pack when it is most useable (I.E. not when descending a long hill that would naturally charge my hybrid pack).

One thing about this;

My car seems very well suited to add a plug in system to. It is capable of running up to 85mph with the engine off, so no worries that I will overdrive the system (assuming the SOC is high enough). It has a 40hp electric motor, so it cruises just fine in EV. It has a 1.4kwh hybrid pack giving it up to 4 miles of EV if the hybrid pack is charged high. This last item is cool because in town to town driving (where I do most of my driving) I sit at stop lights and have otherwise prolonged times of very low level electric use thus giving the inverter a chance to catch up.

Odds are I can up my mpg by a significant amount using this system.

This big question is; How much do I want to spend on the battery? I hate the complexity of BEC systems. So, I may very well go with 4 big deep cycle batteries (at least for now).

Matt