any enginer users here?

[Subdewd2]

I purchased my enginer kit for an Escape hybrid and had pretty good results
achieving in the 40 mpg on my daily commute compared with 33 without.
I have sold the Escape and want to install the kit in my newly aquired
Honda G1 Insight.
Problem 1) convertor will not adjust below 200VDC by way of either trimmers.
Anyone know of a workaround? Could it be a matter of replacing the potentiometer with one that has a different range?
Problem 2) I've got 40 aH battery which is kind of weighty for this vehicle.
Anybody ever split the pack up to provide the 48 volts from one pack?
As an alternative I have considered breaking the packs up to put them in series and replace the old nimh pack, this is alot more work and from what I undrstand it has no advantage without a MIMA which is no longer available?

[Willie Williford]

Include your location in your profile and you will see probably quite a few in your area.



Willie

[retepsnikrep]

Re Problem 1

You could try that and check the pcb for resistors in series with either end of the trimmer preventing resistance being adjusted above/below a certain level. That's quite common.

Re Problem 2

If you have the skills to spilt the lithium pack and replace the nimh one with it, then you can probably make your own MIMA all the info is out there. I ran a 50 cell x 40ah pack for a few years it worked well.

A lithium pack without MIMA is not a complete waste as long as you have a BCM interceptor to keep the OEM soc at 19 bars as long as your own pack has capacity left. That way you will never see any charging except when braking/overun and the car will assist as normal. You should see a significant increase in mpg just due to the fact you never see any hidden or active low soc forced charging.

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by Subdewd2

Problem 1) convertor will not adjust below 200VDC by way of either trimmers.
Anyone know of a workaround? Could it be a matter of replacing the potentiometer with one that has a different range?

As long as you don't over charge the OEM IMA battery ... it doesn't matter much as the Engineer kit is not able to keep up with 100A discharge rates of the Gen-1 IMA system anyway ... that 200VDC will sag once it starts to try and charge ...just turn it off when the IMA pack reaches some voltage like 170 or so volts and you'll be fine.

As said above there are some other modification needed to avoid errors and such.

[theaveng]

Yes I am an Insight User who is also an engineer.

[MN Driver]

Originally Posted by theaveng

Yes I am an Insight User who is also an engineer.

Enginer, as opposed to engineer, is the name of a kit that was popular with the Prius and Escape community for adding capacity through a 48v battery pack, usually a near-junk or junk BMS depending on which revision of the kit you had, a 48v to pack voltage DC-DC converter, a case, and some other goodies.

To the OP, There are a few 1st Gen Insight owners(not many) who are users of the system. I know that there are some issues with it tripping the IMA light if you aren't careful but I think EricBecky knows it the best and has it in his car, maybe he will chime in here.

[2Slow4u]

Originally Posted by theaveng

Yes I am an Insight User who is also an engineer.

Tricked me too. I'm an Insight User who is also an engineer.

[Cobb]

Although Ive played an engineer online, I am an enginer owner.

I think you can get away with it with a lower amp setting. You just got to be mindful of your SOC and cut it off when it gets "full" I use a higher voltage to compensate for the lower amp output of my kit and turn it off when I travel slower than 45 mph.

[ericbecky]

I have installed several Enginer systems including the 2kwh kit in my Insight.

Enginer and I worked together on the prototypes, including fabricating a metal plate for mounting the cells. At the time we used Thundersky cells.

There are a few oddities that go along with putting a PHEV system like Enginer's in a Gen 1 Insight. So be careful.

That said, having a PHEV system in an Insight is fun!
Answers to your questions.
1) Your converter may not allow you to go down far enough. Usually Enginer had to do the setting "at the factory" to make sure it went low enough. I may have a 5000w one with the correct voltage for ~$600. Can you email me a pic to eric@evpowers.com , then I can see which one you have. Specifically I want to see the bullet connectors, side view, end views, and other connectors.

2) You can always split up the pack. Not that hard, but just need to go slow and be careful. But they aren't really too heavy for the car. I assume you have RealForce cells in "sealed" metal boxes with big anderson connectors on them, right?

3) You can split them up and as a replacement for the nimh pack. No one has done it yet, but it sure is tempting.

I'm not sure of the status of MIMA at this time. Check in with 99mpg.com. I may have one coming for sale soon from a customer that I am removing it out of a car he is selling. I'll let you know.

[Cobb]

Eric, you are saying inside the metal boxes of the 4 kilowatt kit there are 16 40 amp pouches vs 8 80 amp pouches?


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