Does anyone know the range of voltages and currents that are used, or could theoretically be used, to charge the main battery? I'm asking because I'm wondering, for example, what kind of electricity the guys who try adding solar collectors, or plug-in mods, have to make in order to successfully charge the battery.
See http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/tds-priups/ We charged from a Vicor 300V DC supply using a 500W halogen worklight as a dropping resistor -- about 30 ohms if the filament was hot, feeding about 3.5 amps into the battery. With a cell capacity of 6.5 Ah that would fully charge the pack in less than two hours. Such a lashup could be and indeed has been used to bring a "discharged Prius" back to life without Toyota's supposedly mucky-muck special HV charger, but you'd really want to only charge just enough so the HV battery could come online and start the engine and then let the car and the BMS take over to finish the job with proper monitoring. . The plug-in-mod guys aren't charging the stock HV battery, they're charging additional ones. . As far as charging rate -- on a high-speed all-regen slowdown or a long downhill, you can charge at close to the 100A limit and the battery just takes it. Heats up a bit at those current levels, but the cells can deal and reaching 80% "full" capacity happens pretty quickly. . _H*
When Julian Edgar burned up his Prius NiMH battery, I think he let it have about one amp overnight. Don't be doin' that!
Thanks. You say: So, what voltage do you think you actually applied to the battery? I take it from this and the post about the 1 Amp overnight battery destruction that current isn't so much the issue (at least up to 100A), but that you have to be careful not to charge the battery beyond a certain limit then, right?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sjk @ Jun 27 2006, 10:56 AM) [snapback]277383[/snapback]</div> I am right there with you, this is my hot topic too. I have done some research on the topic and I have some general information on it. It is like having a key and not knowing where the lock is. I want to mod my car with solar and give free directions on how to do it to anyone who will listen.
Search for prior threads on this. It is generally held that the amount of energy you get from an onboard solar array is miniscule compared to what's needed to push the car any appreciable distance. House rooftop array, that's different, but even if you manage to pull 250W from a cartop array that still only gives you about one free mile per hour of insolation. . _H*
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Jun 28 2006, 01:18 AM) [snapback]277395[/snapback]</div> Above method is not recommended. We have to watch/control the battery SOC level not to exceed the 80% level, otherwise you'll see very short battery life. Please take care of the battery system with professional manners. Ken@Japan
It's okay. That whole experiment was sort of a hack in the first place, and we didn't let the pack voltage get any higher than 235. Jim's pack is unlikely to find its way back into a car anytime soon. If I was trying to recover a discharged one in a car, again, I'd charge only enough to get the system started and then let the BMS take over from there. But part of the point is that with proper care, you *don't* need Toyota's fancy charger that there are maybe two of in the entire CONUS, etc etc. . _H*
These web pages have some good information on this subject: http://www.vassfamily.net/ToyotaPrius/CAN/rechargeindex.html http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~u7224ac/www/measure.htm
i used a variac and a light bulb as a resistor to charge the hv battery in halves, 140 volts each ( this is for the classic prius ) i made it in a coffee can http://www.geocities.com/cscchybrid/hvcharger.jpg.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(statultra @ Jul 1 2006, 01:39 AM) [snapback]279161[/snapback]</div> I now know you did that. However, the point is how did you watch/control/maintain your battery SOC level? Ken@Japan
Check out this site for solar panels on Prius. http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/products.shtml They also install an aux battery array to assist the main HV battery and thus can store the solar energy for use in their own battery pack B)
