Enginer Plan B

They have a gen3 kit available? what cells are they using to get 100A assist? pretty high C rating for 4kwh.

 

AFAIK they use Headway 16ah cells which according to their spec sheet have a high enough C rating. Although in our tests they didn't perform as well as the spec sheet.

Plug in Supply uses 76 cells in series to match the Prius voltage, so no DC converter is required, a nice performance benefit though you could burn through the 4kwh pack pretty quick.

 

It appears that they are using 16ah Headway cells. These are published to do 10C continuous. I would wonder about that.

How ever I expect that the Prius really only pulls 20a continuous and the 100+a is just a peak number for what a Prius may pull. 20a at the 240v is more power that your Enginer converter can give.

So the real question is if the cells will hold up and if the Battery management that was designed and test for 40ah Thunderskys will work well on these much smaller cells.

I would like to also try this system, But I am not willing to pay for it again after already purchasing my current system.

Thanks,
Dan

 

And they have it working in gen3? I like my Enginer kit, but do want to replace with something that can provide more assist (my commute is 60mph and hilly...).

 

Does anyone know engineer DC-DC converter output voltage under load ? As far as I understood it has 242 volts on no load and it limits current to 15 amps ? Or, by supplying so small amperage, vh battery voltage depends only from vh battery ?

 

Mine shorted the Positive out to the case! Makes for a wierd dash display - I think the Prius hates it. Anyways, I opened it up (Enginers suggestion) and found the Negative wire was barely soldered in! Actually, it was soldered, but not actually connected to the board. It had a "bubble" of solder that kept it in the hole, but you could rotate it around.

It had heated up during use and probably melted / burnt the board and caused the short on the Positive side. I only say this because the short would go away when you flexed the board in that area.

I sent it back about three weeks ago and just got it back (or a replacement) and it works great!

I did take pictures of the inside, if anyone wants, replay back and I will post. Its not that exciting. Transistors mounted on both sides (thats why the screws are along the outside edges).

You can actually open yours, if its like mine, by pulling the two TOP screws on BOTH ends and lifting the lid up.

 

The standard enginer kit runs at around 80A from the battery, this is at 48v nominal. The RFE cells in my 4KWH kit are rated at 150A constant discharge. We just don't have as many cells, just 16 of them.

 

Yeah we have 80A at 48V, they have 100A+ at 220V. The Headway cells look really impressive.

 

The headway cells LOOK impressive according to their spec sheet. The actual headway cells we tested didn't even output 5C, let alone 10C which is what they are rated at. Has anyone actually observed results that match the headway spec sheets? (Maybe we got a bad batch of cells?)

 

I don't think it is so much the cells, it is the arrangement and number of them. That said I wish I could get / afford around 80 x A123 20ah pouches. I don't know much about the headway cell kit but it's inverter has much less to do if it actually has one.

 

No it has no DC converter, it's not required.

 

I was refering to amp hours and 80ah is more than the 16ah I believe the Headway's are. 100Amps maybe what they can put out in terms of current supply and the RFE's are 150Amps or 160A which would be 2c. 80ah x 48V = 3840KWh verses 16Ah x 220v = 3520Kwh
the difference is the inverter losses from the lower voltage in the Enginer kit.
Out of interest how many cells are in the other kit?

 

you now anyone already teste the amps c rating on the a123 shopping bags?

love to see pics

 

Thank you for clarifying that for me, seems the PIS kit is a better strategy, I wonder if they are available in the UK and how much they would cost

 

Hm, so there must be a some source for the early Hymotion kit, which was DC booster based system, then first gen Enginer (aka Fountainsmell DC inverter), and recently the new supplier. And that's certainly not all. Evidently someone somewhere must have these DC converters ready in relatively good quality, but used in completely different field, so it's still under our radar.

I think this simple DC booster system is still valid option as mpg enhancer with general application to various hybrids from different OEMs (not full spec tailored and much more expensive PHEV solution). So, speaking of that great developments in BMS+ A123 pouch batt. thread in this forum, I'm however kind of hesitant to believe that A123 won't sooner or later plug this leak of their batteries onto wider diy market, be it Axy or Byz grade quality with crippled connector pads.. They have done it before, yes they are evil. And cylindricals (Headway, other brands too expensive) are waste of money, the longevity in harsh automotive environment is rather poor for this design/manuf. quality, these cells are only great for short term demo/racing projects.

Better approach seem to use the most field tested batteries out there, which are CALB/Winston so far.

Perhaps one route could be to gather few interested people in a group buy fashion and commision new design of such quality booster (&compact, smart,..), if possible with some scalable voltage output, i.e. not exclusive to Toyota HSD only.

There are many opensource projects like the recent OpenRevolt DC controller or 10kW EV charger which seem to demonstrate such capability to bring it finally into market as parts kit or preassembled unit etc.
(For those who might see it as rip off, Jack can be awarded via some "mandatory" small donation from the price per each final product shipped, as appreciation for popularizing this approach.)

Peak into the Enginer DC-DC and tweaking voltage/amps, passive cooling and ducts for the converter covered here: http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-p.../89542-custom-enginer-5kw-800-miles-tank.html

 

Has anyone purchased via shanghi foutainhead.......
If this a plan b thread needs new update on everything....
The cells/battery packs @900 ebay us dollars can be sourced at a lower price
I also believe a Icharger BMS can be had more reasonable than 16 bms
the (heart)dc to dc converer I have not found a sourced replacement ,,,, only found ebay inverter/converter 48vdc to 240 vac....

 

Price is not everything. Ask any Enginer customer. Some have had repeated problems and would gladly pay more $$ for less component failures. At least Enginer honors their warranty from US soil.

Does Shaghai Fountainhead have a US office/service? If not, what will you do when their converter stops working?

 

You are the "dude" that made the horrible install train disc among other misinformation. You really have no creditablity or contribution that I have seen as of yet.... stay in colorado and spread your misinformation.......... your video acting, directing, editing, and production are confusing at best.....

Do you get a kick back from jack....... why are you so concerned about mod or source componets outside of "enginer" umbrella...........your real concern should be focused on old, pathetic, misdirected, and slighted "enginer phev" product info, ......really Mr. Paul I find you almost as bad as "PISupply" staff.

 

Chill out dude. I didn't make the video. I installed a system back in 2009 and Enginer filmed me and they produced the video. While it is "sort of" helpful, it was made many product generations ago and not 100% applicable in 2012 with the current product offering. Most of my Enginer related forum postings are in the Enginer forum, not here. If anyone bought from Shanghai Fountainhead please share your experiences....curious to see how well their stuff works...