Has anyone installed the enginer PHEV?

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by Dan.

I know you've eluded earlier as to how you were going to hook those up but could you go back over it. I thought at one point you were going to make 3 x 2KW kits and hook all converters up to the bus to try to dump 36A of current down. After learning a bit more about it, I would think that hooking all three packs in parallel behind the converter would be safer. It still only provides 12A but it provides it 3 times as long. I suspect this may have been your intent.

Actually, I have purchased two 4kwh kits, just waiting on the remaing batteries and balancers. I will have four 2kwh strings in parallel behind two converters in parallel. I will use one converter normally and turn on the second if I have some heavy EV need. I have the 52 MPH High Speed Stealth (HSS) mod also.

[Dan.]

Originally Posted by eMileage

My understanding is that unless it can be shown that the aftermarket mod was responsible for the failure, the dealer can not refuse to honor the warranty.

Well they can (and do) refuse your warranty any time they choose to, but if they violate Magnuson-Moss, they have opened the door to litigation. Most contracts in the US seem to be upheld by the THREAT of suit a lot more than they are enforced by suit. There's a long thread about Toyota refusing a warranty claim because of an EV button mod (much smaller mod than this). They later recanted and honored the warranty but REQUIRED the removal of the EV mod before they would honor the repair. I suspect they also got kinda pushy about... "Thou shall not put the EV mod back" type of declairations.

So in this example they did what they wanted first (deny warranty) and only followed the law under appeal.

References (second hand):PriusChat thread chronicling the ordeal.

Originally Posted by eMileage

(Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. )

Heh.. me either

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[kiettyyyy]

Originally Posted by krousdb

Actually, I have purchased two 4kwh kits, just waiting on the remaing batteries and balancers. I will have four 2kwh strings in parallel behind two converters in parallel. I will use one converter normally and turn on the second if I have some heavy EV need. I have the 52 MPH High Speed Stealth (HSS) mod also.

Kinda curious, did you already try running the two converters in parallel to the traction battery?

Did the car throw a DTC? What happened? Does it work? How did you wire the second converter to the existing switch panel in the front? Are you using two different switches and LEDs?

I don't think anyone else has tried this yet. If yours works, I'll be picking up a second converter(after I replace the faulty one in my car).

[Dan.]

Originally Posted by krousdb

Actually, I have purchased two 4kwh kits, just waiting on the remaing batteries and balancers. I will have four 2kwh strings in parallel behind two converters in parallel. I will use one converter normally and turn on the second if I have some heavy EV need. I have the 52 MPH High Speed Stealth (HSS) mod also.

Will that application of the second 12A (totaling 24A) fire any current monitors or voltage balancers or anything. I remember Hobbit talking about how it was cool that Enginer found out the magic current (12A) that could be added undetectably. Seems if 12A is magic, that 24A would be a bit less magic make the ECU wise to our little scheme.

I don't know this to be true, I'm just referring to other's knowledge of the system.

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[DaveinOlyWA]

so the lithium batteries are small so the dont make BIG boom if something goes wrong??

[kiettyyyy]

Originally Posted by Dan.

Will that application of the second 12A (totaling 24A) fire any current monitors or voltage balancers or anything. I remember Hobbit talking about how it was cool that Enginer found out the magic current (12A) that could be added undetectably. Seems if 12A is magic, that 24A would be a bit less magic make the ECU wise to our little scheme.

I don't know this to be true, I'm just referring to other's knowledge of the system.

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Beat you to it

[Floyd2]

I wouldn’t like to be the first one to cross daggers with Toyota in order to set a precedent.
For a far as I know there is nothing comparable to the Magnuson-Moss case in this country. Problem is there is no unified European legislation; for example, some laws in Italy can be completely different to those in Sweden. Well… problem, in this case it could be an advantage. So I have to depend on the Dutch laws only.

Originally Posted by eMileage

My understanding is that unless it can be shown that the aftermarket mod was responsible for the failure, the dealer can not refuse to honor the warranty.

You may have a good point there eMileage. I’m not a lawyer either but I know a little about ‘consumer rights’ as we call those laws here.
1.) The manufacturer has to obey to the terms as stated in the warranty.
2.) If he objects to that, for instance by claiming the damage has been caused by improper use of the product he can object to that claim. But;
3.) Rule of thumb in Dutch Consumer law is: ‘He who claims, has to provide evidence to substantiate his claim.’
The lather is a very powerful argument that is often used and was reinstated to protect the customer as much as possible. In effect this would mean the dealer and/or Toyota would have to prove that the damage had to be caused by the Enginer kit. Without any reservations. And that the problem could not have occurred had the modification not been executed.
So basically that means the law here is the same as eMilage said; I just needed more words for it…

And yes, they would notice the 4 holes in the bottom immediately on the lift. Maybe there is another way of attaching the box firmly?

Basically it comes down to this: What are the chances that the Enginer modification will damage the OEM battery or any of the circuitry in any way? I am glad to hear that Jack was allowed back on the forum again, maybe he can shed some light on this. Or anyone else for that matter, all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for responding to my question, I appreciate it very much!

Floyd

[drees]

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

so the lithium batteries are small so the dont make BIG boom if something goes wrong??

Size of the battery doesn't have anything to do with how safe they are should something go wrong.

Additionally, there's dozens of "lithium" chemistries out there and they all vary in how "safe" they are.

I don't know how safe the batteries used by the Enginer kit are, but typically many types of Lithium batteries must never be fully discharged (you'll never get them charged again - your typical lithium pack in a laptop has internal circuitry at the cell level to prevent this from happening) and can be very sensitive to thermal runaway if you over charge them. It is absolutely critical to use BMS for Lithium batteries.

Again - none of this information is specific to the lithium batteries used by the Enginer pack, but at least some of those characteristics should apply.

[kammssss]

Originally Posted by plugmein2

I had the 2kw for about 2 weeks and it worked fine. Yesterday we upgraded to the 4kw system. I haven't any problems with mine. I am sorry to hear yours is broken. After seeing my kit installed first hand, I am glad I paid someone professional to do it. It has saved me big time.

You definately need to have some Electrical and Mechanical knowhow to figure it out. I have been very impressed with how customer friendly Jack is about sending replacement parts. He certainly wont "leave you hanging". He stands by his warranty. Make sure to stay in touch with him and don't give up. When your Enginer PHEV kit works like it is supposed to, you will love it. Do you have a local mechanic you can trust to work out the bugs with you?

Good Luck,

JOANNA

Hey,

I have the know how to do something like this; it's really easy in terms of installation. However, my problems are defective/unreliable componets. I be getting a new set soon. I hope it lasts me longer than 6 charges. I guess I'll be the only one running a 2kw kit. Ttyl.

[MJFrog]

Originally Posted by kammssss

Hey,

I have the know how to do something like this; it's really easy in terms of installation. However, my problems are defective/unreliable componets. I be getting a new set soon. I hope it lasts me longer than 6 charges. I guess I'll be the only one running a 2kw kit. Ttyl.

No, I'm running a 2kwh kit now. If it does the job for me on my regular commute I'll leave it at that. If I need more range/power I'll upgrade to the 4kwh size.