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Plug-In Hybrid Error Codes.. Any ideas?

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by kiettyyyy, Jul 7, 2010.

  1. kiettyyyy

    kiettyyyy Plug-In Supply Engineer

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    Hey all,

    I'm getting a bunch of error codes here.

    I'm using a Plug-In Supply conversion based kit. It's using 76 Mottcells, contactors, Front and Rear boards with my software.

    Here's the problem.. I'm getting the following codes:

    P3000-123
    P3000-125
    P3000-603
    P3000-388
    P0A1D-390

    TIS says that when those P3000 codes go off with the 125 and 603 subcodes, the rear fuse is blown. How's that possible if my car can drive away after clearing the codes and turning on/off the car?

    Pointers anyone?
     
  2. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    You should be a little more specific of the type of conversion to better assess your codes
     
  3. kiettyyyy

    kiettyyyy Plug-In Supply Engineer

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    Any specifics? It's based off of the CalCars contactor conversion. I feel that the level of data I've given you so far is sufficient.

    It's most likely an EMI issue.

    I'll be playing with it this weekend.
     
  4. MJFrog

    MJFrog Active Member

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    Speaking of a possible EMI issue with a PHEV...I had a rather disturbing incident happen Tuesday evening. I went past a police car that had pulled a vehicle off on the side of the hwy (EMI from radar?) while at almost the same instant I flipped the power switch for my Enginer unit (battery was going low). Within 10 seconds of these nearly simultaneous events I got the RTOD along with a CEL and the icon for brake (regen, not friction) error. Not knowing (by heart) what the icons meant, I shutdown all unnecessary accessories (radio, AC, etc.) and proceeded to my destination...another 3 miles.

    The engine appeared to run fine, I was getting regen braking (BTA read negative on the Scangauge) and SOC appeared to be normal. I recorded the code (P0000) and got out the Owner's manual to figure out what the icons meant...that's how I found out the regen vs friction brake error. BTW, if the red BRAKE icon lights up, it means the friction brakes have an error and you should pull over ASAP! The one that lit up on me was the yellow circle with two small arcs on either side of the circle.

    When I restarted the car to go home, the brake icon didn't come back on, but the others did. Since my Scangauge didn't pull anything informative, the next day I went to my mechanic to have him use his $5000 scanner to pull codes--still got nothing. I cleared the codes so the indicators would go out and nothing has happened since that seems related to the incident. BTW, I checked the voltage on the 12v battery and it seems fine so that doesn't appear to be relevant either.

    One other strange occurrence since then...the AC compressor seemed to quit working near the end of a trip I made two days ago. Returning home it worked fine though.

    Any ideas/suggestions? Or just keep an eye out for anything else unusual?
     
  5. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    That's the problem. CalCars conversion.
    The system is switching contactors to often, emitting as you said, a lot of EMI. Check the contactor's contact surface for burnt pin holes or black burnt marks and resurface them with a "points" burnishing tool.
    The Cal Cars electronic interface board was remaked SEVERAL times for improvements implementations. By other user's comments, it never worked right.
     
  6. pbui

    pbui Member

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    I don't think this problem is Enginer/PHEV related. You may want to repose it on the Troubleshooting/Maintenance thread.
    I had very similar displays of lights, including the Brake icon which go off upon restart. But I pulled P0Axx code, don't remember right now, it was inverter temperature over heating. It turned out that the Inverter Coolant Pump had finally ceased. You can check the pump operation by pushing the PowerOn button twice, without the brake, pop the hood, you should hear a faint pump running, sound like an aquarium pump, humming behind the driver left head light assembly; and check for bubbling/turbulence in the inverter coolant reservoir tank. Dead silent is a bad sign.

    I don't think it's necessary to pull over with the BrakeIcon error, but check the brake operation and be on alert of course.

     
  7. kiettyyyy

    kiettyyyy Plug-In Supply Engineer

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    It is a PHEV issue. Doesn't happen when I have my PHEV engaged.

    Just FYI everyone, I spent my weekend redoing wiring, moving all HV wires away from the HV ECU, making my control board less susceptible to EMI, and finding better spots to place my two contactors. It solved those errors I was having previously.

    Stay tuned for some great PHEV software and control boards from Plug-In Supply!!!
     
  8. Mike Dimmick

    Mike Dimmick Active Member

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    Usually a PHEV kit replaces the Battery ECU with its own one. Probably your kit is putting spurious messages on the CAN bus - or not intercepting the original Battery ECU's messages - which are being seen by the HV ECU and triggering the DTCs.

    Or, possibly, it's not replying properly to queries from the HV ECU. Unfortunately Toyota claims all messages between ECUs as its intellectual property and won't release the information, so it's all about reverse-engineering the communications that happen.
     
  9. kiettyyyy

    kiettyyyy Plug-In Supply Engineer

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    Actually, most PHEV kits DON'T replace the HV ECU. The PHEV controller usually spoofs packets from the HV ECU. (This is what Hymotion, Hybrids Plus, and Plug-In supply does)

    What actually was happening was, EMI went on one of my control boards that handled charger interlocks(so that your car won't drive away with the plug). Because of this, it sent an interlock signal to my board handling CAN packets, sending a DTC to the car to disable the vehicle.

    All seems well now.
     
  10. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    As an informative, the products from Plug-in Conversions and CANView do replace the Battery ECU for the best performance of their equipment.