Enginer PHEV

Eric, just found the problem. The HV form the 5000 W converter has 0 ohms to the cars ground! I tried a new battery, no help, disconnected the EV switch, no help, but everytime I disconnect the HV wires to the Prius pack (and the battery was charged) it starts charges and goes into gear!

So how do I fix a +HV wire being shorted to ground?

P.S. Electric Chevy S10's can kick a Prius's butt anytime! (Until you try to go over 80 miles!)
Brian Mathis' 1994 Chevrolet S-10

 

A use for those floor mats!

I finally got it! The 5000W converter's HV + is somehow shorted to the case, and when installed in the car, it shorts to the cars ground!
This causes the Prius's battery to drain, you get the triangle of death, a beep with a warning that the airconditioner is not on, the brake pedal pushes back up at your foot, there's a check engine light, that other "you did something wrong" light, and the car wont go anywhere except neutral. You may even get the " brake actuator thingy is malfunctioning, go to a level place and set the parking brake full on" on the MFD, except you can't drive anywhere!

So, I finally found a use for those Prius mats that were removed to prevent a runaway Prius. I put one under the 5000W converter! Its crappy, but its isolated from the cars ground.

I started the Prius, switched on the PHEV, got the beep for " your in EV mode" and drove the car 1.8 miles to a store, then 1.8 back. It was neat seeing the main pack voltage actually go up while driving!

My next move is to see what regular driving gas mileage goes up to. Before PHEV it was 52-60 depending on driving...

 

I would want a new one to install before I returned the one I have working. I did pop her open and wiggled some stuff around, tried pulling the circiut board further away from the case and always had the short. I gave up, used the floor mat to isolate the case from ground.

BTW gas mileage has gone from 52 to 67 allready, starting with nearly full tank.

Was thinking I might start installing these on weekends, or if they're not in a hurry, on weekdays. Looks like you can re-configure a few things to make it look better.

 

I know I should remove it, its a safety hazard, but I'm not. I've driven 8 miles allready without a drop of gas, although I drive 30 miles a day in my electric chevy S10, its the fun knowing I can do some electric only with a Prius that makes it fun. Over 99.9 MPG @ 8 miles.

Its the middle of the weekend, so i don't expect a response from enginer yet, but we'll figure something out soon I'm sure!

I'll just keep my kids from playing around on all those electronic do-hickies in the back!

 

I might do that also. Before PHEV I used the EV switch to turn the engine off and on, (when it would let me), and even with the PHEV in, I'm realising you can charge the main pack then recharge the PHEV batteries, so everything is fully charged, but when driving, you probably don't want to use the PHEV to charge the MAIN battery pack, as much as you just want it to give an extra boost when driving in EV or Stage 4. Otherwise you'd just be using batteries to charge batteries. Thoughts?

I drove 8 miles EV only, then drove probably 50 miles city/hwy and ended the day with 76 MPG! Not as good as I was hoping for, but then I only have the 2kw pack... time to upgrade?

 

I was going to wait for an upgrade till I can see the MPG improvement of what I have VS what I use of the PHEV pack.

So far four charges, 3 EV drives, and one stage four drive, total about 50 miles @ 76 MPG.

I'd like to send my converter in for repair, but how long I'd be without it worries me. I've got friends that can fix stuff like this.

 

Opps!

 

I only did one drive in stage 4, the rest has been strickly EV mode. On the Stage 4 drive, the pack ran out before I got home, though it was a longer drive than I'd normally make. So I thought, why charge a battery with a battery? If I'm going to run out anyways, why not just use it when in electric mode? Sure the main pack will go down some, but it wont be needed as much since the PHEV is adding to the acceleration, I'll use the Prius pack less, in effect extending its usefullness on the drive, then as the gas engine needs to turn on, the Prius WILL charge the Main pack, even if the PHEV was on all the time, so whats it matter? Though a mostly depleted Prius pack would be easier for the PHEV to charge....

I'm still trying to figure it out, but I wish I'd have gone straight for a larger pack. I figured most of my driving is highway, I wouldn't need that large a pack. I thought I would use some of the 2kw for about 3 miles before the highway, let the engine warm up a little before getting on, then after exiting, I have about 3 more miles where I can EV or stage 4 then charge it up while working. Also, when driving my EV S10, my wife could use the Prius to drive 1 mile pure EV to drop off the rug-rat every morning instead of using her gas guzzler.

We're way off topic here. I'll search for a topic that covers PHEV standard operating procedures!

 

Pulled the HV converter out and sent to an electrical engineer to look at. He says the HV Negative wire was not soldered onto the board, and the board is bad in that area. It keeps shorting the HV Positive to the case. Also, my 48V pack Positive wire shorted to the packs metal case and burned up both 48V wires. Enginer has asked for pictures to see if its safe to ship back to them, but they must be busy as I haven't heard anything back in several days. At this point, I'm ready to give it back.