New to the forum...with mods!

welcome.... that's ambitious... sound like you have some mad skills!!!

 

Wow!!! I'm impressed! Most newbies (myself included) come on here and start out with a first post of "Help! its broken!"

Awesome job! Hope you stick around. We need another GenI member. Most have upgraded to a GenII or III and never bother to come back to the GenI forums to help us newbies out...

 

Intriguing... I wonder if you could simply put a transmission without the engine into a gulf cart and get it to run? That would truly be a challenge of sensor and ECU foolery!

Speaking of which, I'm sure you'd be interest in this really long post: AutoSpeed - The Story of Turbo'ing a Hybrid Prius, Part 1

 

Good to find another "Daring Tinkerer". Just purchased a 2002 at CoPart auction for $2700 +fees ). Didn't have time to go actually check it out but it was undamaged and looked super clean in photos. Condition was advertised as Normal Wear (???) and mileage was 276,000 (Yikes). Being a brave sole, I just felt like it was time to catch up with my sons, who all drive Prius (2nd gen). Went and picked it up and couldn't have been more pleased. Super clean and no body damage and clear/clean title. Had come for a Toyota dealer. Has several years of maint. records. Aside from a dead Aux. battery, after jump start, every item worked perfectly. Got the red triagle in the first 40 miles but that clear while I was researching the codes and problem (possibly because I left the key on for an hour and the battery went dead. Suspect it was a loose battery connection.)

Now I want to start Tinkering and need to know if there is a EV mod pin on the HV ECU similar to what is discribed on the Gen II. I have the full set of manuals but the connector pin outs are somewhat different. Haven't been able to research or search out the vacant pins/connectors. The manual diagram only show the functions of the pins with connection already.

I like you idea of just adding additional battery capacity. Not ready to invest another $2k for a plug-in conversion.

Hope to hear more on you progress and more detail on how you added the additional batteries.

I'm considering the purchase and salvage of a wrecked Gen II just for the batteries and selling off all the rest.

I'll stay in touch.

Steve

 

No EV pin but there are some tricks. There is ~45-50 seconds of EV power while the engine heats up the catalytic converter. Also, the engine coolant thermistor can be spoofed to 70C so the car can enter hybrid mode.

You might want to consider upgraded to the newer modules. The new ones are much more robust.

The NHW20 has just 28 modules versus 38 in our NHW11s. Still, it sounds like you've got a good start.

Bob Wilson

 

Thanks Bob. Just the kind of feed-back/support/encouragement I need.
I think I will start with the similest which sounds like the "thermistor spoof" or the procedure to utilize the 45-50 sec warmup delay. Can you direct to to more information on this process??

The salvage Prius II is a 2008 so which module would that have and would there be any need or advantage to upgrading the battery control module, etc..? And will I'm on that topic, can the old and new battery module be configured together?

Thanks,
Steve (gettin out my Tinkerers tools!)

 

I would recommend joining the Yahoo Group "Prius Technical Stuff" and do 'search' of the message archives. Don't forget to look at the photos and files section. This group also has a SAT1 and SAT2 overflow area with additional photos and technical content. The "Toyota Prius" group are also good for basics and "Ecomodder.com" is another good place for engineering and technical content although not limited to Prius.

There are two styles I'm aware of the NHW11 original and improved NHW20 with stronger terminals and lower internal resistance. I understand the current ZVW30 modules are improved over the NHW20 but I don't have the technical specs.

Having matched Ahr capacity in a battery pack is just as critical as having the modules starting from an equal state of charge (SOC.) The Ahr capacity defines the slope of the voltage vs SOC as a lower Ahr capacity module will have a higher voltage at higher SOC and lower voltages as they discharge. The equal SOC (i.e., identical voltages across all modules) is critical so some modules won't 'overcharge' and go into gas and heat generation early or the fatal consequences of some modules discharging to reverse voltage . . . kills 'em dead.

One of the reasons I recommend ReInVolt for refurbished batteries is they survey the salvage modules and build up packs with balanced modules starting at the same SOC. Home builders have a smaller inventory which makes it more difficult, not impossible, to achieve equal Ahr. There are simple techniques to equalized the SOC (wire all modules in parallel and charge up to a common voltage approaching 8V.)

You've got a lot of reading on your plate and sad to say, most of it is in ad hoc postings dating back to November 2000. Please feel free to ask for clarifications of anything that on the face of it does not make sense. Often folks will invent terms like 'heretical mode', 'big hand syndrome', 'brake acceleration' and others that lack engineering precision. But some of us work hard to translate colorful phrases into engineering metrics. <grins>

Bob Wilson