Honda MID vs Scanguage vs other

[Cobb]

I did it myself, as well as played around with various sub woofer installs.

Its basically 2 wires to the top of the IMA pack and a conenction to ground up front and I tapped the accessory fuse for power. A switched when in a blank on the dash to turn it off and on.

I found the Insight was touchy unlike the CRZ to extra power in the syste, so I turned it off and on at lower speeds and left it on above 45 mph. I also found if I left the blower on fan speed 3 it allowed me to use it at lower speeds without triggering an IMA error. It was easy to reset by turning the key off and on. Even at 117 volts and 17 amps it was fairly easy in ev mode to suck the charge down, so I would also use it to recharge the ima pack before plugging in or going on another leg of a trip. When I would park at a store I would sit for a few minutes watching the soc screen for the battey to fill up before turning everything off and going inside.

This is back when I got 103mpg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyu9r81Q2ys

Abuse of ev mode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avseEEiNnQM

[eh.ohKate]

Oh man that is so freakin cool *geeks out

Did you buy the pack from enginer or did you make it yourself? I'm totally tempted to go the diy route, of course with extensive testing. What size kit did you get, I see that's the 4kw, besides the cost difference to the 8kw did you go with it for another reason? Do you find that there would be diminishing returns under normal driving conditions (i.e. you won't drive far enough that it'll be utilized over the 4kw, and it doesn't improve your economy over it to a point where its economically viable)?

[Cobb]

Sounds like we need to meet somewhere. You ever pass through VA? i 95 passes through Richmond.

Ive been to lake Aerial, PA and the business I use to work for 7 years ago had one in Pottstown.

I purrchased the kit from Jack himself. I started with a 2 kilowatt kit from a tax return that I was on the fence about getting a Fit turbo kit. I had been in touch with Jack for a year. He offered a 90 day warranty, so I bit.

I was very impressed and found I limited my trips to 2 hours waiting for the batteries to recharge between trips. I immediately upgraded to 4 kilowatts. The kit uses 48 volts and the converter is a push-pull type.

I thought about going to 6 kilowatts later on, but he changed batteries and setups. 8 kilowatts uses 2 bms and has its own unique set of problems.

It paid for itself in 17 months and cost me 2495 in all. I have been saving up for a second converter to allow more extended ev use, but discovered this past October they went out of business inthe US. You can still get kits from Eric Powers at Green Drive Expo and a few other guys online that have the remaining US stock.

I just dont know enough about electronics to do anything myself. Maybe in a few days I can try hooking a bridge diode to an inverter and if the output is between 117 and 120 volts DC. Then try it on the leads to the IMA pack once I test it on a regular filiment glass light bulb to ensure the output is ok.

Another idea since the real force lifepo4 cells in the kit is made up of 24 volts 80 amps each box hooked in series. Each box has like 32 20 amp cells. Ive been thinking about just hooking them in series 32 or 33 or so to supplement the IMA charge and use my grid charger or make one from mean well led power supplies that are stackable as a charge for it.

Do I dare tell you about grid charging or balancing your pack?

If you dont mind sharing your email with me by pm, Ill pass it to the one and only enginer crz owner I know in TN if you would like to talk to him. He has a stick crz.

[eh.ohKate]

I'm not in Virginia very often, but I may be making trips there pretty soon depending on how a few things work out for me. But ya it sounds like a cool idea.

Oh man I'm getting really excited about this, going to have to do some serious research.

Pm inbound.

[Cobb]

Yeah, I just dont know anyone in to electronics other than those who do stereo and sub woofer installations. Heck, I dont even know a friend of a friend who does alarm installations. I thought I had someone whos father was an electronics expert, but his wife passed and he stopped all work and kind of disconnected himself from everyone. He was going to see about improving the Enginer converter if not go to a PWM. Ive attempted to make a project PWM or voltage regulator, however they go up in smoke fairly fast. I am of the opinion the max rating is just that, not the limit of the circuit. So if I hook a big load to it it wont govern itself, thats something I have to do with a right sized load. I need a circuit that will govern itself regardless of the load.

the enginer converters are rated at 3500 then 5000 watts and suffer from thermal issues when pushed to half that limit.

Ill see if in the next few days I can fool with the inverter I have and parts. I was laid off a few weeks ago, so my days are spent online applying for jobs and registering with countless employers and uploading my resume all day.

[Cobb]

Sorry, havent done any more on this. Been lookin for jobs still. I may have a lead in C'vile, thats a 150 mile round commute. Ill love to have something by then to help save gas with coal. Ill see if I can get to testing this unless you came up with something?