Enginer PHEV Technical Information

[krousdb]

Updated first post with Chargery DB8 Cell Balancer info.

[atfsi]

Received my 2010 II yesterday. I'de sent a query to Jack about getting a kit for it or at least being on a list, but as yet have received no reply.

Is there any news on a 2010 (non-cardboard) kit yet, and will that mean a new thread ?

Anxious in NH

(Putting in backup camera while waiting)

[krousdb]

I received my second DIY kit and 6kWh of batteries yesterday. All three crates of batteries had the bottom falling off. I advised Jack to look into a better shipping container. This is probably why my other 2kwh of batteries was sent back (before delivery) due to damage.

The first thing I did with the batteries was to measure the voltage of each cell. The Thundersky manual says that normally there will be a 0.2V difference between the highest and lowest cell in each pack. I currently have 12 packs of 4 cells, 48 cells total. To my surprise, the highest cell of the 48 was 3.308V. The lowest was 3.300V. That is very good!

While taking the measurements, I noticed that one cell was damaged. The top was pushed in.


There was no leakage that I could find. Amazingly, the cell voltage was 3.302. A good reading from a damaged cell. Who would have guessed?

[atfsi]

Originally Posted by atfsi

Received my 2010 II yesterday. I'de sent a query to Jack about getting a kit for it or at least being on a list, but as yet have received no reply.

Is there any news on a 2010 (non-cardboard) kit yet, and will that mean a new thread ?

Anxious in NH

(Putting in backup camera while waiting)

Heard back from Jack yesterday.....spending weekend downloading service manuals !

[MJFrog]

Originally Posted by krousdb

I received my second DIY kit and 6kWh of batteries yesterday. All three crates of batteries had the bottom falling off. I advised Jack to look into a better shipping container. This is probably why my other 2kwh of batteries was sent back (before delivery) due to damage.

The first thing I did with the batteries was to measure the voltage of each cell. The Thundersky manual says that normally there will be a 0.2V difference between the highest and lowest cell in each pack. I currently have 12 packs of 4 cells, 48 cells total. To my surprise, the highest cell of the 48 was 3.308V. The lowest was 3.300V. That is very good!

While taking the measurements, I noticed that one cell was damaged. The top was pushed in.


There was no leakage that I could find. Amazingly, the cell voltage was 3.302. A good reading from a damaged cell. Who would have guessed?

Nice pic of your finger.

[toddwking]

Originally Posted by plugmein2

This is why it is a good idea to check your balancers during charging for the first couple of times. Once that has been established, you can be more relaxed about it.

JOANNA

When you say "check your balancers," do you mean:
1. check to see if they are measuring the voltage of each of the cells properly (e.g. via a voltmeter)?

Or

2. check them to make sure they don't overcharge, or are dissipating the charge appropriately?

If #2, how do you check that?

[Dan.]

Here are the manuals as best I could piece together.

Is this the Mottcell Battery (from mottcell.com)?
LiFePO4 Battery 3.2V 40AH (note only 1000 cycles spec'd here, surely that's wrong.)

Thundersky Battery (from thunder-sky.com):
TS-LFP40AHA (note that 5000 cycles are mentioned!!)

Battery Balancer (from chargery.com):
Chargery DB8

Still looking for the info on the DC/DC inverter and the Charger. If anyone can give a model number google might flush out the manufacturer.

11011011

[Dan.]

Crosspost I know... sorry guys, PC was down for a bit.

Here's my best attempt at a connection diagram of the kit. Please let me know if there are any errors. I was unclear from the docs which connection should be tapped for the main (+) and main (-) lead into the charger and inverter/converter. By my math the main leads have 4 connections (charger, inverter, balancer, pack-interconnect). Can that get spread around since It sounds like that terminal would get kinda crowded. Also in the pics I'm seeing, it looks like people are leaving some terminals uncapped. Isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't every terminal (once tapped) be capped to prevent some random piece of junk making a connection?



11011011

[plugmein2]

Originally Posted by toddwking

When you say "check your balancers," do you mean:
1. check to see if they are measuring the voltage of each of the cells properly (e.g. via a voltmeter)?

Or

2. check them to make sure they don't overcharge, or are dissipating the charge appropriately?

If #2, how do you check that?

To check to see if each battery (cell) is measuring evenly, not too high or too low, press the "right" black button on your balancers. When the numbers start coming up, watch the readout of each cell and simply observe the first two numbers. e.i. 3.358 and so on. The very last number is the most important. This tells you whether the cells are balanced. Jack says that last number should read .02 or less for optimum balancing, however, you can still use the Enginer if it isn't. You just want to balance the batteries out in the first few charges to lengthen battery life. There is lots of info on this in another thread about battery balancing.


JOANNA

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by Dan.

Crosspost I know... sorry guys, PC was down for a bit.

Here's my best attempt at a connection diagram of the kit. Please let me know if there are any errors. I was unclear from the docs which connection should be tapped for the main (+) and main (-) lead into the charger and inverter/converter. By my math the main leads have 4 connections (charger, inverter, balancer, pack-interconnect). Can that get spread around since It sounds like that terminal would get kinda crowded. Also in the pics I'm seeing, it looks like people are leaving some terminals uncapped. Isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't every terminal (once tapped) be capped to prevent some random piece of junk making a connection?



11011011

The leads from the charger and the leads from the batteries both terminate at the converter terminals. Also, it would be accurate to show the converter output connecting to the DC bus, which connects the OEM pack to the Prius Inverter.