Some problems with installation of Nexcell Project Lithium V2.

Give me a little slack. It's been almost 2 months since I did it. It was about 103F outside and it took me about 3.5hrs and I had to take it apart about 3 times. I was burnt out and speaking jibberish at points. I just wanted to try and document the problems I had. I don't remember having so many issues when I tried to fix it with Toyota modules. This is imperfect information but hopefully it will help someone else if this happens to them.

I cut a finger open and was being burned by the battery casing and bolts after they sat in the sun. I really had to make the modules align and double check their alignment. Also there is really no instructions with these. I had to basically guess where the special module went. I ended up putting them all in serial, besides the special module.

I think the special module was the 5th module from the blower. The temp sensors went in the first and last modules. Then the middle went in the 7th module, from the blower.

I basically had problems with alignment and fitment, mainly caused by a design flaw in the casing. I ended up sanding off some locating nubs with a dremel tool. The ones on the battery backplates. I can't quite remember, but I think I did it on both sides.

The battery bars got really messed up when I tried to take them off, both sides. It spun the blower side bolt and ended up messing up the the other side of the bars. Then when I was trying to put the one side of the backplate back on, it had to be done specifically or I had problems with either alignment or pushing the one bar under the modules.

Here is a video compilation of when I was installing it.

 

There was tolerance in the bolts on the bottom. It was more of a issue with everything stacking properly inbetween the backplates. I didn't want to force anything and warp or break it. The backplates also had a stud that they had to align on. The one end I mention how it has to swing to get it on. The backplates had that uneven gap even when the bottom wasn't bolted.

I now remember that I was actually drawing down the modules to the battery case. Tightening them down was the only way to get rid of the gap at the time. That's how I knew something was wrong. I didn't want to rip out the thread insert so I backed off. After I got it fixed, this part was no issue.

Once I ground down those nubs on the backplate, and the black bars scraping off the nubs at 7:20 of the video, everything aligned a lot better. So just that and the lack of information about location of modules and temperature sensors, special modules voltage is all the problems I had. Now that I'm thinking about it, I hope I put the special module in, the right way. I think the casing nubs will only allow it to be installed one way... Hopefully that's correct.

So it's high demand from what I understand. I had to wait on "pre-order" for 3-4 weeks before I got mine. iirc. I missed out on a earlier pre-order and waited like a month or 2 for the next one.. I couldn't really find any bad reviews. All I really seen is bad mpg in winter/cold. But that was fixed with the new V2 case design. In about 1.5 months that I've had it installed, I've drove 1000 miles, which is a LOT for me. With my old battery I went from 30mpg, down to 25mpg when it was getting really bad, and then had 38mpg for a little bit with the new lithium battery, but seems to have settled around 35mpg. (Unplugging the 12v reset data and it relearned)

Keep in mind I've got the bad mpg 2010 and I've also got a 1.5" lift, class 1 receiver, oversized AT tires. I have yet to experience hybrid limp. Or failing battery limp. I can't say if I've gained any performance. The hybrid system will still retard itself. It'll sometimes behave like a race car and other times it's a rubber band. Sometimes it will rev high and it will do a 0-40 in 5 seconds, most of the time it is way slower than that. Is what I mean by it retarding itself. I still get about 18mpg towing my boat.