Florida PHEV-200 10KW UPGRADE

This thread is being posted as I progress through the updating of a 2 year old 10kw PIS unit installed into a Gen II Prius (2006). Pictures will be posted for clarification.

Thanks to Steve of autobeyours.com,Rob of PlugInSupply.com and Dimitry of CleanPowerAuto.com. I have received invaluable advise from these gentlemen over the past two years and have met each of them personally.

 

Left to right. Florida PHEV-200, After 2 years, making it safe for ease of maintenance upgrade and Mini BMS boards to be re-installed.

A little history. PHEV because that's what it is. 200 because this is the 200th Prius rebuild by Steve, Jenny and their crew at AutoBeYours.com. We took delivery of it at the end of March 2011, it's a 2006 and I may add, a beautiful car that will be taking it's second coast to coast trip this year. The Prius has been completely trouble free but the EV section does need checking from time to time. This was expected and after visiting Robb at PlugInSupply.com and seeing the new modular design, it became obvious that this would be a necessary maintenance tool. I am also extremely fortunate that Dimitri of CleanPowerAuto, the designer of the BMS boards being used in this system, has been available for local assistance when I needed it. It has been and continues to be my pleasure dealing with these companies and these great people. I think as a consumer in the relatively early stages of this technology, problems will occur. They also did in the early days of Henry Ford's "Tin Lizzies", one had to "mess" with them to keep them going.

 

Looks like I won't be able to get the pack lifted out until Thursday... Ho Humm will just have to bite my fingernails .
Note the two fans on top of the charger. My Prius is ungaraged and so here in the near tropics, heat is a real problem. I normally only charge the pack at night though. The white spot on the left center is boiled out fluid from a now dead cell.
Left to right.... End plates for the cells. Connector harnesses. Metal cell straps (I think). Webbing hold down straps for the completed boxes (I think). Various hardware for strapping. Box of mini BMS boards and box of series connecting straps for the cells, all removed from the old pack for re-installation.... Oh and the 608 phillips screws and washers that all have to be put back !!! All sitting on top of the new boxes.

wa4eqw

 

110 volt powered when I plug in the charger. The first charger failed and was replaced because of overheating. This one in it's present configuration has been working since November of 2011. It may be overkill but it works.

 

The fans are 110 volt ac !
I have started re-assembly. I have managed to get a couple of banks loose myself. I still have the old box and two banks of cells to remove. Can't get the box out 'til Friday now.
The Straps, End Plates and Tensioners are shown here. This is repeated 4 times.

Pat.

 

The first bank of 19 cells has been transferred and as you can see, the BMS boards are indicating happy cells. Total voltage for this bank at the moment is 62.2 volts (off load) for an average of 3.27 volts per cell. High cells read 3.29, Low cell (1) is 3.25 with the remainder at 3.27 and 3.28 volts. It should be fairly easy to balance this section.

This is my ham radio shack where most of the transfer work is done. As you can see, there isn't much room but it's adequate and fun.

Pat. wa4eqw

 

8 screws, 8 lock washers, 8 flat washers to anchor the BMS board and series connectors to every cell (76 of them). Do NOT forget the lock washers or you will finish up with a pile of sparking rattling junk in the trunk!

Yes, the battery balance procedure has been pretty well covered. The mini BMS bords that I am using have a green LED that shows whenever a cell is over 2.5 volts (don't let them get this low) and the red LED is activated at 3.7 volts (+/- .05 v). I asked Dimitri of CleanPowerAuto (the BMS designer) for that information a week ago. When the red LED is activated, a 4.7 ohm 5 watt resistor is applied across the cell as a load.

The other question from Anthony... The reason for the upgrade is that the original pack of 76 cells were so tightly jammed in that it became necessary for me to find an easier way to replace a bad cell when that occurs.... and it will from time to time.
Pat.

 

Half way finished... Old box was removed this morning and 4 cells delivered by UPS this afternoon. Nothing stopping completion now.
My wife Joyce said "Raise it off the floor or quit complaining about your back"... She was right as usual ;-). Almost finished 3/4... One more box to go. Everything smooth sailing so far and EVERY box looks like a complete plug in interface with the Charger, Contactors, Prius battery and input/output to the fully modified pack.

 

All done.

Ready for the Trunk. Installed the 4 new cells and each pack average is 62 volts and overall is 248 volts when connected (off load). Pack needs charging and that will be done tomorrow after installing in the trunk. Finished it sooner than expected thanks to the excellent design of the new PIS kit.

 

Hi Alexander... I would like to see the pics. of how you are doing the recharge. I have seen Dimitri doing it with his lab unit but that was quite a while ago and not on dead cells.

Thanks for the post, I will be putting my system back in the trunk this morning. I talked to Robb last night by email, he had just returned to California after a PIS install in Maui.... Nice .
Don't expect a long answer from Robb, but it will be substantial and completely informative. Most of his information is on the PIS website.

Sorry to hear about your drained supply though. Your pack must have been discharging a very long time in order to have it drained.
Good luck and best wishes
Pat.