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Just got Enginer kit - first impressions

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by alevinemi, May 24, 2011.

  1. alevinemi

    alevinemi Junior Member

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    2014 Prius v wagon
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    Five
    I just got a 4Kwh Enginer kit installed on my 2007 Prius. This is the only mod for the car - not even a Scangague (wife thinks it's ugly). I haven't taken any 'hard' numbers yet or made any charts.

    I'm an odd user - this is my ONLY car for a family of four, and two drivers, so this system will get a workout.

    First impressions are that it basically works as advertised. In the city if I use EV mode a lot, I can get close to infinity MPG, but the battery will go dead fairly quickly (under 20 miles). I noticed that if I go a full 5 min on EV, consuming no gas, the consumption bar reads zero instead of 99.9. I assume this is because the computer is trying to divide by zero.

    In blended mode, I can get 80MPG+ at 60MPH+ if I drive right - basically get up to speed, let go of the gas, and lean on slowly to get slow RPMs and maintain speed. Amazing how quiet and smooth it is driving this way - almost like gliding in a pluse/glide over 50MPH with the 'all yellow' arrows.

    Range seems to be a little less than advertised. Haven't taken hard numbers. I would say 30-35 blended and 12-15 EV. I might get more as I learn to drive it more efficiently.

    The EV switch that comes with the unit is not so great.
    - If you turn on the Enginer, it turns on EV automatically, even if you don't want it to. Then, you have to figure out how to shut it off (jam gas, go over 34, hit defogger...)
    - If you shut off the Enginer, it does not shut off EV.
    - If the Enginer is on, there is no way to turn on EV. You have to flip off, then on again, but it's risky.
    - If the Enginer system is dead and you use the switch to enter EV, the Enginer will come on and it will take a little while until it detects that the batteries are low. During the wait, it may be overdraining the batteries (not sure about this).

    Installation was done my Motor City Motors in Troy, MI at the Enginer facility. It went well - they installed it in about two hours and I drove home. They even let me watch and take a video/pictures, although I had to promise to stay out of the tech's way and not ask questions (they charge extra for installation training).
     
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  2. stefano5777

    stefano5777 Member

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    Congrats on the kit I am working on 3 weeks with mine and love it avg 111 mpg's so far over 780 miles and counting. I would suggest that you keep an eye on your Bms to make sure you are getting a full charge from your kit. alot of people seem to be having problems with them.
     
  3. alevinemi

    alevinemi Junior Member

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    I'm still a little fuzzy on how to do that.

    The digital readout shows cell voltages, but I don't know how to interpret that into whether a battery is 'full'. I know I am supposed to operate between 2.8 and 3.7 volts, and shut off at under 2.8.

    So far, cell 12 appears to be the weakest (usually the lowest cell, and went down to 2.53 once, but not always the lowest cell). The other cells charge up to about 3.5 for my wife's commute.

    I have also been 'topping off' before my wife's commute. Basically, I turn on the car and Enginer system to charge the traction battery to a high SoC, then shut off, and plug back in. That way, the Enginer pack and traction battery both start up close to full.

    I do have a Kill-A-Watt hooked up when charging. When fully charging, it runs a little under 1000W, and when on trickle it runs about 20-60W.
     
  4. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    You should wire the EV switch separately. All you need is a momentary switch -- the HV ECU will engage EV mode when that pin is grounded, provided other conditions are met. It will also allow you to toggle out of EV mode without turning off the kit, or before you get down to two bars, which seems to trigger a negative recal of the battery and wastes a lot of gas.
     
  5. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Congrats on the system.
    Some questions.
    Are you saying a single installer worked on your vehicle and he alone got it done in under 3hours?

    For the stock switch:
    When the Enginer system is depleted, you should take a moment and turn the switch to the OFF position. Then when you want to enter EV mode, turn the switch ON, and then back OFF. That way the switch remains in the off position and won't try to use the Enginer system anymore.

    You can use your kill-a-watt meter to measure the amount of energy you fill the Enginer system up with, too. Currently, how many kwh is a full charge taking?
     
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  6. alevinemi

    alevinemi Junior Member

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    No, two installers (one tech, one less technical sales guy) in two hours. Actually a little more, but I'm not counting the time lost when I lost my iPhone in their shop (my bad!, and it didn't have cell service so I couldn't call it).

    Just got my first full-charge metric from the Kill-A-Watt. I wasn't keeping track or resetting the Killawatt until today, so I didn't have a good total.
    3.69KWH to charge from red status in about 4 hours. I'm assuming it is full because it is only draining 40W, trickle-charge level, but I didn't check the BMS display. I'll see if I get different results from the overnight charging tonight.
     
  7. alevinemi

    alevinemi Junior Member

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    The amount of power it takes to charge seems highly variable.

    The 3.69KWH charge was a day charge (charging from Apx 9AM-2:30PM, 5.5hrs).

    The overnight charge (9PM-7:30AM, 10.5 hrs) was 5.6KWH before I topped off, and 5.8KWH after topping off the traction battery.

    This, to me, seems odd. The day charge was only drawing 40W when I checked, and 40Wx5hrs=0.2KWH. Wondering why the overnight charge used so much more power. Both times the Enginer system was red, but not chirping before starting the recharge.