How difficult is it to perform one of those plug in conversions I've heard about? It certainly seems like a good idea. Thanks in advance. David
- posted
17 years ago
Plug in Prius?
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- posted
17 years ago
The folks doing it have gotten a little 'cagey' about the technology. However, my understanding is the major problem is dealing with the interface between the hybrid vehicle ECU and battery ECU.
If you tie the extra power source to the bus between the existing battery and the hybrid vehicle, the two controllers notice there is a difference between the 'used' current versus the 'battery' current. This is treated as an error and raises an error code.
If you tie the power source behind the battery ECU current sensor, the existing software reports "State of Charge" to indicate whether or not there is available battery power, not the actual battery bus value. The problem is the battery ECU doesn't realize it has a much larger capacity that has been recently added.
From what I can tell, they have reverse engineered the hybrid ECU and battery ECU interface to spoof the values needed to use the additional battery capacity. But I understand for a reasonable fee, they will do it for you.
Bob Wilson