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First Enginer PHEV Installation in Portland Or Area

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by dan2l, Dec 29, 2009.

  1. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Dec 29th
    Hello Everyone,
    I have tracking numbers for 4 FedEx boxes. This is my first Enginer PHEV kit, I have 2 more kits coming when Jack gets them.

    There are no installations or installers in the Portland Or area. So I want to make my installations public so that anyone who is interested can know about it. If you are in this area and want to see what I am doing or just chat about it, feel free to do a private message to me and we can figure out how best to communicate and/or get together. I do welcome others to come by and see what I am doing, but be forewarned that I may put you to work helping me to lift battery packs into the back of my car.

    I will try to do an update every day. I will try to run this both on Priuschat and on the Portland HSD site.

    First some history. I bought my first Prius for my wife in late November. I soon fell in love with the car, and my wife was saying that I never let her drive it.

    I learned quickly how to get good mpg. I was getting 60-70mpg for sections of driving as long as 5 miles. Of course I was then down to 2 bars and the average mileage went back down to 55mpg as the Prius system recharged the batteries.

    I was appalled at 40mpg during warm-up. And warm-up took longer as it got colder. So now I have grill blocking and an Maxitrip version of scangauge.

    I can do EV for the last 2/3 mile home so I always park the car in the garage at 2 bars. Then cannot do EV when I leave the next day because the battery is low. This does however work to warm up the car and charge the batteries at the same time when I leave the next day.

    So you can see from this account of my driving habits, I am in need of more battery to further optimize my mileage. Thus the Enginer kit.

    More tomorrow,
    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    First off, I congratulate you on taking on the task. One of the moderators over at Ecomodder.com is also going through Engineer kit installation. Don't get me wrong, there are many clever technologists hanging out at PriusChat ... folks with deep technical skills. But Ecomodder also has an impressive ratio of 'gear head' technologists. You might want to check out the thread under "Hybrid" forum. For example, user "Daox" is already into the power supplies tweaking the charging voltage limit. He is taking a very careful, methodical approach and documenting it with plenty of photos.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  3. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Hi Bob,
    Thanks, I am monitoring the Ecomodder site. I am not a member there. I have had several PMs with Doax. We are all learning a lot.

    Thanks again,
    Dan
     
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  4. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Hi Again,
    FedEx says I have 2 boxes in Ohio and 2 in Kansas. So My PHEV kit is on the way.

    I am a degreed Mechanical Engineer. I retired after 30 years with HP. I did a lot of small electric motor and servo stuff. I worked closely with Partners, Contract Manufactures, and Suppliers in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. I have been to China over 100 times.

    I have always been interested in EV. But I was not willing to invest the money. I looked at PHEV Kits for $20,000 in early 2008 and then for $10,000 later that year. So I was really interested when Enginer had kits for $2000 and $3000 Last summer.

    I started doing research as soon as I got the 2010 Prius and I found the Enginer special price for $1495 and $2295. These prices are what is needed to really bring PHEV to the public.

    So more research. I contacted Enginer and PacificEV and 3ProngPower and Manzanitamicro. I found Priuschat and read all the PHEV threads. I started looking for an installer in the Portland Or area and found none. I joined both Priuschat and The Portland area HSD meetup group. I communicated with an independent Portland “Green” auto shop and a person that had installed kits from Hybrids-Plus (now eetrex) and Plug-In Supply. To my surprise, no one in the Portland area had done anything with this new low cost Enginer kit.

    I am retired but still very active. My third car is an MGA Roadster. British sports cars require you to stay active. I communicated with Jack at Enginer. He confirmed no installers in my area He suggested that I might consider this, So….

    I am now in the process of investigating the possibility of a retirement/side business in PHEV. It is not for the money, but instead to keep me active in something I enjoy.

    More tomorrow,
    Thanks,
    Dan
     
    3 people like this.
  5. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Hello everyone,
    So I decided to go for it. That is, I am investing in learning to install PHEV kits in the Prius. The decision on whether to a retirement business or to do install for others is still out in the future. I am doing this at this time for my own personal pleasure and to learn as much as I can about it.

    To fund this project, I put my 1999 Miata up for sale.

    I spoke to my brother who has a Gen1 at 108K miles. He was very enthusiastic about putting an Enginer kit into his car. He even offered to send me the money up front. I communicated with a couple of others who were interested also.

    I did not really want to do my first installation in my wife’s 2010. I really wanted to do a Gen2 or Gen1 first and then do the 2010. So I planned to buy a Gen2 with the proceeds of the Miata sale. This meant that I had installations lined up for between 3 and 5 cars.

    I ordered 3 kits and an extra converter from Enginer. I sold the Miata and I bought a 2005 Prius with 65K miles.

    I have done a lot of research on the installation. I am sure that I will want to be able to measure voltages and currents and to easily remove and replace components. So I have ordered Anderson plugs and several other minor pieces of electrical hardware. I also have ordered a clamp-on DC ammeter.

    I saw the rising concern over battery anomalies. I became convinced that one of the big problems is over charging an imbalanced cell. I investigated the Chargery DB8 balancers. The DB8 has a charger shut down that is limited to 36v10a. This is not used in the Enginer system because they charge at 48v15a. I do have power supplies that put out 19.5v4a. I will look to see if I can find a way to have the DB8 do a safety shutdown to protect my cells.

    So I have most of my stuff. I am still waiting on the Enginer kit and ammeter and 2 extra DB8’s.

    More tomorrow,
    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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  6. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Jan 1st 2010
    Hi Everyone,
    Happy New Year,
    I now have 4 boxes in Portland. The problem is that today is a Holiday, So I do not expect delivery until tomorrow.

    I have been doing research on Battery issues over the last few days. Thanks to all of you that have answered my PMs. Having data from as large of a group of people as possible is important for getting the issues sorted out.

    I have also contacted both Mottcell and Enginer on this. I expect Jack (at Enginer) may be travelling and so his reply may take a little longer than normal. I find that Jack has been very responsive in the past so I expect his reply soon.

    This is a shorter posting today. I hope to have a picture of my 4 boxes in tomorrow’s post.

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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  7. Tom183

    Tom183 New Member

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    I'd be very interested in seeing the results for short (10mi) trips in cold weather - PHEV might be a good way to address the MPG decrease from engine warming.
     
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  8. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Hi Tom,
    I hope you realize that I am in Podtland Or. Not Portland Maine. I will publesh my performance but it will not be in as cold of weather as what you get. Others in Canada may be able to help you. I do know that Pacific EV in Seattle installed a EBH in their PHEV and had good results with a week of 24hr/day sub-freezing weather.

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
  9. a64pilot

    a64pilot Active Member

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    I'll show my ignorance here, but wouldn't that be capable on battery only if you went without heat?
     
  10. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    maybe its a good thing to put a shortcut link to the topic on that forum and the pics from Daox?
    also then i dont have to go and look for it:p:D
     
  11. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Hi a64pilot,
    The enginer system does not overide cold ICE startup or any other Pruis logic. I do not think it will run EV only when cold. Also it is not designed for 100% EV only operation. This system provides Electrical suppliment to gas to improve the gas milage. This is done by recharging the Prius HV battery on the fly.
    You May go to...
    Enginer | Solar Powered Prius Plug-in PHEV Conversion Kit with Lithium-Ion | Hybrid
    to get more details on the Enginer system.

    Having said this, We all try to push to get the most we can and I know some have modified the Enginer system to come very close to what you are suggesting.


    Also for the Flying White Duchman....
    2nd Gen Prius PHEV Conversion (Enginer plug-in lithium ion battery kit) - Page 7 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com
    I think this is the last page of Doax's Ecomodder thread.

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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  12. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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  13. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    Your wish is granted, Daox's thread on "Ecomoder". Everything for a friend....:rockon:
     
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  14. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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  15. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Yes, It has been posted in at least 4 priuschat threads now.

    Tim Is doing a good job and being very careful.

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
  16. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Jan 2nd 2010
    I got my kit today. I also got an Email from Jack. He is in China.

    I got everything in the Kit. I got 4 balancers but no jumpers for Buddy Cells.

    I have not yet gotten my DC Ammeter, So I need to go out and buy an Ammeter and the jumpers for the Buddy cells.

    This message is short but I hope to include Technical data in my next post.

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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  17. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    and i posted it there
    just wanted to be sure people reading the other topics did not mis it.
    ;)
     
  18. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Jan 2nd 2010 end of the day.
    Hi Everyone,
    I checked my cells. They are lot code 090813021. I am Guessing that means they were built on August 13th 2009 the 21st bath or line 21 or something like that.

    If some of you could check you lot code and get me that along with the approximate date that you got your kit, then we can compare and be sure that we have the correct way to decode the lot information. This will be helpful if MottCell ever has a bad lot.

    All my cells except one were 3.30v out of the box. The one oddball was at 3.22v. I put on all four Balancers and check the cell voltage against the Balancer voltage. The balancers are reporting correct voltages.

    I went out to Sears and got a DC Ammeter (about $60). I also got the material for jumpers for the Buddy Cells.

    I put all the batteries together into 2 strings of 16cells. They were about 0.5v different. I put the cables onto the end of the strings to tie them together and go about ½ amp flow from the high voltage string into the low voltage string. I made up a few Buddy Cell jumpers. I put one on each side of the cell that had been 3.22v. I got 0.3amps flowing in one jumper and 0.6v in the other. I put a 0.5 amp trickle onto the cell that had been 3.22 for about an hour. Things are much closer to balanced now. I took the trickle charge off and left the balancers connected. Then I decided I was done for the night.

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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  19. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    ok thx great info and your doing a good job.
    hope to see the next info.
     
  20. dan2l

    dan2l 2014 Prius v wagon

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    Jan 3rd 2010 afternoon
    Hi Everyone,
    I got all the Buddy Cell jumpers in place. I got the charger going and I am watching it like a Hawk. The Jumper on the plus side of the cell that was at 3.22v is carrying 1a. It started at 1.1a and has dropped 10% in 20 minutes.

    The charger started at 54.6v16.4a after 20 minutes it is at 55.4v15.83a. So I think I have pumped in 1/4kwhr so far. Cell voltage is 3.44v to 3.48v. All is well.

    Everything is cold to the touch(60-63degF) except the balancers(80degF) and charger(90degF with the fan running).

    Thanks,
    Dan
     
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