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Planing CanView and BMS+ conversion with lithium

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by Mr-plugin, Oct 27, 2011.

  1. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    With good hand control and low speed you can expose the three different layers covering the tabs. You can see them in the pictures below. I can do one cell in a matter of minutes.

    I found a clear PVC container for each bank i.e. a food hamper container that is air-tight to keep my cells nice and crisp. You can see all the cell interconnecting links through the top lid so any hot joint becomes visible. You can buy the container from officeworks online at this link:

    http://www.officeworks.com.au/retai...ng/Food-Storage/Plastic-Containers/DE13600002
     

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  2. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    Below is a photo of my Canview screen which shows the result of having a hall sensor bypass. It shows values of SoC, CCL and DCL as reported by the original battery ECU and which are being blocked by the BMSplus and replaced by fake values calculated based on everage battery voltage. I hope that this makes the BMSplus concept clearer why you need a BMSplus if you do a hall sensor bypass. Without a BMSplus and a hall sensor bypass the Prius would not use anymore battery capacity than the OEM NiMH battery rated capacity of 6.5AH.
     

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  3. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    A new version of BMSplus will soon be available for under US$500. It can be used without a Canview and a Lillyput screen. It can just be used with a ScangaugeII. See details at this link:

    blank
     
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  4. Flaninacupboard

    Flaninacupboard Senior Member

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    Do you know if Norm is going to do any development for gen3?
     
  5. planetaire

    planetaire Plug in 20 kWh 85 km/h or > 208km range

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    Nimh Soc

    Yes, but.

    While I was waiting for bms+ to cross the ocean (I think the transporter waits until the wind blows in the right direction), I drove with my Prius with oem nimh // with my A123 lithium and without bms+.
    Because when leaving my house I have to drive up a hill, I press the Ev button and use more then 40-50A (This value is important)
    What happened was surprising. After about une minute I saw the Soc moving up from 60%.
    I was climbing the hill in EV mode, depleting my battery and the Soc was increasing ! :whistle:
    If the hill was steep enough I get more then 80%.

    This was possible only when voltage was near or above 230v. If it was lower, amperage needed to be higher in order to increase Soc.

    The higher the amperage was, the quicker the Soc increase.

    Once Soc went up to 84% and reducing amperage didn't stop the Soc increasing. I stopped my car here and disconnected lithium, because I had never seen more then 84% and didn't know what could happen over.

    So this situation may become out of control. :shocked:

    My conclusion is: Hsd saw a big amperage but the voltage didn't fall as it would have with only nimh. So the computer "thinks" Soc must be underestimated. And it increases it.

    This was before using bms+ :)
     
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  6. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    There was no mention of Gen3. You would have to direct this question to Norm. Send him an email.
     
  7. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    Interesting. I got my result from using my BMSplus with two 5kW Enginer kits in parallel with just one kit with a hall sensor bypass. Your high SoC of 84% was probably a anomaly and was not real just like my SoC of 0% was an anomaly and was not real.
     
  8. Mr-plugin

    Mr-plugin Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    I finished welding the battery tray today. Prepped it for paint tomorrow. Here are a few pics.
     

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  9. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    Hi Plugin,

    Looks great. I noticed you pulled out the Prius NiMH pack. I have thought about removing the original NiMH pack and use a 14 resistor/capacitor voltage divider network to simulate original OEM NiMH pack. This would get rid of some unwanted inefficient large NiMH battery pack weight which would be replaced by my larger A123 battery pack. I still have reservations about removing my NiMH pack but I may do this in the future.
     
  10. Mr-plugin

    Mr-plugin Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    That is actually the extra pack I have that I will be using the contactors out of. I also thought of removing the OEM pack, but I did not know what the lower and upper cell block voltage limits are.

     
  11. planetaire

    planetaire Plug in 20 kWh 85 km/h or > 208km range

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    If even you do this, why not connect directly the 15 Nimh Ecu wires to Lithium cells. 5 cells between each wire ? 70 cells = 14 x 5.
    You could even read these 14 voltages and internal resistance via the active pid !

    Removing nimh is of course interesting. Less weight, less electrical lost and no inrush curent because no more battery //.

    :)
     
  12. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    It is all experimental and I do not know enough about the battery ECU to know whether it would throw some sort of DTC.
     
  13. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    I would also get a reading of these voltages and internal resistance on my Canview.

    It is all experimental and I do not know enough about the battery ECU to know whether it would throw some sort of DTC.
     
  14. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    I ordered my Elcon PFC 1500 from EVassemble.com and 24 days later they still have not posted it. Their webisite stated they had plenty in stock. They no longer reply to my emails. Is this normal?
     
  15. 3prongpaul

    3prongpaul Hybrid Shop Owner, worked on 100's of Prius's

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    I hope you are not intending to use the Prius contractors under load and have them open/close while driving...they will not work very long. They are designed to be closed when car turns on and open when car shuts off...not cycled repeatedly under load. BTDT!

    You'll need Killovac contractors like these;
    http://evolveelectrics.com/PDF/Accessories/ev200 data sheet.pdf
     
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  16. imwoody36

    imwoody36 the prius parts guy

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    anybody else have issues with EVassemble.com??
     
  17. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc


    It is better to be on the safe side. However a 230V 70cell lithium pack correlates to a NiHM SoC of 60% so I would only expect the contactor to cut in or out during regen braking. This is not a 76 cell PIS kit.
     
  18. Mr-plugin

    Mr-plugin Member

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    Re: Nimh Soc

    I do not plan on turning them on and off, just when starting and stopping the car. The bms + will automatically revert to "normal" prius operation and not taking extra current from the batteries when they get to a lower set voltage.Then you can drive it to your hearts content with the packs in parallel. Even if my bms kicks out the relay it will stay latched until I restart the car.But thanks for the heads up.

     
  19. Mr-plugin

    Mr-plugin Member

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    Well, Like lopez, I still do not have my charger:(. I talked to them today and they said this week it should be done. It must be rocket science to set up a PFC 2500. I finished painting the battery holder and made the end plates and straps for the battery pack. Started planing wiring and contactor locations. I am still waiting for more celllogs that are on back order for my bms. I am going to hold off putting the battery holder in the car until I get the charger. I am also waiting for the upgraded rear springs I ordered weeks ago, they seem to be giving me the run around too. So many companies have such bad customer service and comunication.
     

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  20. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    EVassemble have told me they have sent my charger but they will not give me a DHL tracking number despite asking for it three times. Two more weeks I will have no choice but to open a Paypal dispute as the 45 days will be up.