- Jim used a different display than had been used with a CAN-View before, so Norm had to provide updated CAN-View firmware before the touchscreen would work correctly (before Jim's family came to drive their car Texas, I had used a GL629 I had available to test the conversion).
- A few of the crimps holding low power wires to the control board were poorly crimped and have been coming loose. We will need to watch out for this problem in future conversions, better validate the skills of people doing the crimps, and may even wish to solder all suspect crimps.
- Some high power output transistors on my new control board dissipate too much heat and burn up. We are in the process of redesigning that part of the board, replacing these Darlington transistors with power FETs. We will then update the layout of the control board before doing another production run.
- Jim's charger stopped working. It is being sent back to the manufacturer for inspection and repairs, and Jim is using a hacked-together manual charger in the meantime.
- A problem has developed with several people's V4 CAN-Views,
including mine and Jim's, where it periodically spontaneously reboots.
We are working with the CAN-View's creator, Normal Dick, on this issue
and expect it to be resolved in the near future.
One person is even planning for three conversions using (presumably pre-production units of) Nilar's NiMH modules. I believe we will have more information to share about these and/or Electro Energy NiMH modules as they near full production. Either company's NiMH modules will double the conversion's EV range vs. PbA, and eliminate the imperative to charge every day or two or permanently lose capacity. The control board was designed to accept a daughterboard to handle the additional control requirements of batteries such as these.
/ron
--- On Fri May 25, 2007, in eaa-phev@yahoogroups.com, Ron Gremban <rgremban@...> wrote:
James Philippi, whose 2006 Prius we converted at the Maker Faire last weekend, is now the proud owner of CalCars' latest PHEV conversion. An excellent team (named below) did a great job in public during last weekend's Maker Faire at the San Mateo fairgrounds. Ryan (eaa-phev.org's webmaster) is creating a new webpage with pictures and descriptions of the process.<snip>
-- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ron Gremban, rgremban@... California Cars Initiative, a nonprofit organization: http://www.CalCars.org Moderator & Technical Lead http://www.priusplus.org PRIUS+ PHEV Conversion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/priusplus Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news Do-it-yourself PHEVs: http://www.eaa-phev.org/wiki/PriusPlus +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ron Gremban, rgremban@... California Cars Initiative, a nonprofit organization: http://www.CalCars.org Moderator & Technical Lead http://www.priusplus.org PRIUS+ PHEV Conversion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/priusplus Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news Do-it-yourself PHEVs: http://www.eaa-phev.org/wiki/PriusPlus +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Send Email