Adding Enginer PHEV system.

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by ericbecky

Can you point me to a link about the dc-dc enable mod?
Also, I can't picture what you mean by a small heating element. My mind keeps drifting back to the thought of a electric stovetop heating element. Care to provide a link for that, too?

See Mike's post about the DC-DC... he pretty much covered it.

The unit I have I got from a GoodWill years ago... but the basic idea is just a DC powered electric heater.

You don't want to pull too much electrical power ... don't want to blow a fuse , or cause problems , etc.

But with non-Gasoline electrical power from your Plug-In power ... you can begin to heat up the cabin and even begin to put warmer air to heat up the battery pack without waiting for waste ICE heat.

Of course the PHEV system is limited in Wh and Watts ... so doing so would have pros and cons... on what you want to spend your limited Watts and Wh on... but it is at least an option.

As an Example ... here is a ~150Watt version.
The amount of heat will depend on how many watts you want to throw at it... I would recommend against high watts... like more than 500Watts would seem excessive... The cons would out weigh the pros.

http://www.amazon.com/Ceramic-Heater...3939959&sr=8-7

[retepsnikrep]

I used electrical heating on my old solarvan project. 150w max or something. I had the lithium cells in an insulated area and used an old electric blanket underneath them. You can even dissasemble the blanket and route the heating wire around the cells/battery/box. I used a vivarium habistat thermostat to control it. Worked very well.

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

A waterbed heater with thremostat is another nice flat surface heater.
It is designed to sit under the water bag but in direct contact with it. It is a waterproof assembly with a digital thermostat for under $100. I dont know how well the thermostat will work if the thing is not in contact with the water bag, In that position it has a virtually infinite heat sink,and the heat is evenly distributed.
Under the Insight pack, it would be in only in partial contact? So it would depend on the mechanical design.

[ericbecky]

While heading on a long trip the other day I removed the Enginer system from the car.
Pretty easy to do. Unplugged the converter (two wires), unplugged the cord to the charger, and then hefted the whole assembly out of the car. A bit heavy and slightly awkward, but doable. Oh, and I did need to unbolt and slightly move the cover from the stock pack so that the mounting plate would fit past.
It'll be a little while before I put things back in. No hurry for now, especially since the weather is back down in the single digits.

[retepsnikrep]

Originally Posted by ericbecky

While heading on a long trip the other day I removed the Enginer system from the car.

Why Remove it ?

[ericbecky]

Mainly because I was making a long (1100) mile trip in a short amount of time and didn't want the extra weight. Also I planned to take some more photos of the mounting plate while the plate was empty. I didn't take the pics when I first put it in, so I figured I'd take it apart and do it at this time. Lastly I just wanted to try moving things around to see if I could try some other possible configurations.

[gpsman1]

Originally Posted by Mike Dabrowski 2000

The Insight has a special mode for warming up the batteries. Instead of a constant charge, it pulses current into the pack with a sawtooth waveform while watching the temperature. Once the pack gets to ~40degrees f, charging becomes constant.

My Ford Escape Hybrid does something similar.
It will deplete the battery using forced assist, then charge using forced charge, over and over until it is over 40 degrees F. And it does this at 15-20 amps @ 350v.

With a steady foot and steady flat terrian, I watch MPG cycle between 50 MPG and 25 MPG during this process. Don't do this often enough to be able to tell if the average of all the cycling is advatagous to overall MPG or not. It seems to not be any worse since long term MPG is about 36-37 MPG in mild weather!

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

I remember that you had access to some ford escape battery packs last year, what is the status of that?

[Cobb]

You can get a battery mat heater or heated mats for growing plants. Worse to worse,a light bulb like the olden days for water pump sheds.

Seems this kit and mima can double your fuel economy? I read in another thread it was only 10% til the charge was used up. I was offered a 2kw kit for the i2 for 1400, but was told by others it was not worth it. Id love to get or exceed 100mpg. Best I can do is 67 at highway speeds and no ac.

[RobertSmalls]

Double your fuel economy? No, more like give you a dual-fuel vehicle.

The implications of that depend on where you get your electricity from and why you want to save gas in the first place.