Prius Gen2 Inverter DC Motor Controller

[Ev8]

Ok bear in mind I’ve not extensively tested yet! Could still die yet! Lol

[Ev8]

I do tend to stress test things though as I’d rather they break just round the corner! How far were you managing per inverter?

[JackTerminus]

first one popped when revving the motor in my garage second one blew about 5 blocks down the road....

Yep, scoped the Damien card and its putting out 8.9khz.... hmmmmmm.....

[Ev8]

Interesting I know the gen3 inverter runs at 5khz from Damiens original reverse engineering work but can’t find any such info on the gen2

[Ev8]

Just back from a 18.5mile test drive all behaving well, hit my software current limit many times so more tweaking needed there and tripped the Toyota protection once really giving it some, drifting out of a junction from standstill in 2nd gear was unexpected!

[Ev8]

for anyone interested my controller code is here https://github.com/EV8-Steve/Prius-GEN ... controller
it needs work but id never done any coding until 6 months go so its a start!
will draw up the schematic when i have a chance but its pretty simple stuff, 12v digital inputs are opt isolated, pwm pins drive low side switching logic level mosfets, analog inputs use appropriate voltage dividers, current sensor inputs have a diode and voltage divider as for a dc motor we are really only looking at the positive side of the sensor (no regen for us!) throttle pedal input for me i used 4 diodes in series ans the pedal output is 1.4-4v this let me get full resolution without a voltage divider

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Sweet. I'm pretty sure you're the first one to get this working.

Is there a wiki page on it yet?

We need performance specs! Amp draw?

There's not overly too many people doing DC conversions these days, but there are a bunch of "blown controller, now what?" posts wanting people to diagnose specific arcane proprietary controllers and their failure modes. I think "Prius Gen 2 + Cheap Control Board" is a better answer than "no one feels like troubleshooting your glitchy bullshit, not even the people who made it and charged you for it".

[Ev8]

Will do, need to fix the bms and get more testing done and some video, but currently my software hard current limit is 1000a and I can hit that without tripping the hardware protection (except one time), and I can max out the cab500 current sensor on the bms so with a 300v norminal pack it’s at least 150kw .no wiki yet, I’m hoping someone might want to help design a Pcb, I’ve got design spark and can draw up a schematic but have the first clue about proper pcb design!

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I’m hoping someone might want to help design a Pcb, I’ve got design spark and can draw up a schematic but have the first clue about proper pcb design!

Damien's trying to slim down his commitments as he's moving this year and won't have the same-size shop at his new place.

If you have something that works then that's better than nothing, and, more than someone less knowledgeable than you could contribute, so I would share it regardless and just disclose that you're a beginner and this is a very novice PCB design that you'd welcome improvement on.

Also, Cunningham's Law: "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

People are probably more likely to refine your bad design because it's wrong, than to create one themselves

1000 amps eh? Sa-weet. That's on par with the Zilla, which are *still* to this day snapped up for $1000 any time anyone's selling one.

[Ev8]

Fine points,I will crack on with a design and hope people chip in advise and improvements

[SRFirefox]

I'd be happy to help out with a PCB design, though I use KiCAD instead of DesignSpark, but a PDF schematic is readable in anything.

[Ev8]

Cool thanks any help would be greatly appreciated, it’ll be a little while as I’m away this week then I need to work out equivalent smd components as the prototype is all perf board and through hole!

[Ev8]

60 miles of testing and tweeking complete, no sign of issues with the inverter. 4.4khz switching is a little bit like squeaky brakes though! One day I will try raising the frequency and see how things go

[JackTerminus]

Awesome! lets see some pics of the inverter configuration! I think taking out the boost block and inductor is required for this to work as i popped a leg of mg1 trying to spin the motor at 4.4 khz.... I still have one more 100% intact inverter....

[Ev8]

Will take some better pictures next time to lid is off, but yes no chance of keeping the boost inductor in there I’m afraid, basically the setup it all mg1 phases and mg2 phases and bolted to their own 4.5 x19 mm bush bars which are joined together by another bus bar which runs to the motor positive. As in my earlier photos but minis that stupid big diode idea,
Motor negative another bus bar that loops around the case to battery negative and picks up on the capacitor negative,
Battery positive a short bit of bus bar picking up on capacitor positive straight to inverter positive,
All capacitors linked to work together rather then being separated so some linked to boost converter and some linked to inverter

[carsondarling]

I just picked up an inverter to test it out as a DC motor controller. I'm currently building out the mechanical side of things (11" GE series wound motor), but am currently getting set up for bench tests.

I'm still getting up to speed on these inverters, but I do have an oscilloscope and a small amount of electronics background. I'd be happy to help test out the differences between the 8kHZ and 4.4kHz PWM signals, as well as try to figure out what's causing them to let out the smoke.

@Ev8, I would love it if you could describe the modifications you've done in a bit more detail, to make sure I'm testing the same thing. My understanding so far is:

• Remove boost controller
• Remove boost reactor
• Custom bus bar connecting all 6 phases of MG1 & MG2 togetherSingle 4.4kHz PWM signal connected to all of GUU, GVU, GWU, MUU, MVU, MWU
• Single 4.4kHz PWM signal connected to all of GUU, GVU, GWU, MUU, MVU, MWU

I have yet to look through Damien's board yet, but my understanding is that the "Speed signal wave" lines are pulled to ~12 via internal pull-up resistors and need to be driven low to enable.

Thanks!

[carsondarling]

And as a super quick update, after an afternoon of playing with it, I've been able to control power to a small lamp. I still need to join the 6 phases into 1 bus bar, but it's certainly looking promising.

I'm hoping to get the bus bars fabricated tomorrow and then will start working on an actual controller that I can use. Once that's done, I can start inspecting some of the waveforms.

[Ev8]

My latest code is on my GitHub if you want a look, seems like you’ve got the basics covered

https://github.com/EV8-Steve/Prius-GEN2 ... controller

[esoneson]

• Remove boost controller
• Remove boost reactor

I don't know what these two parts are or look like.

Are they bolted in and can be unbolted and removed?

Can they be seen in your picture of the prius controller?

Thanks

Eric

[Ev8]

So boost components must be removed, the capacitor bus bars must be modified so all capacitors connect to the same dc bus at the main inverter brick

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

So boost components must be removed, the capacitor bus bars must be modified so all capacitors connect to the same dc bus at the main inverter brick

Added that image to the general Prius Gen 2 wiki... which is kind of a sloppy mess right now, with all the different specific instructions for boards no longer being made, etc.

Needs an overhaul when someone gets a car running using it.

[Ev8]

Still a lot of useful info on the wiki, I’m currently working on a gen2 dual motor board that’ll use 2 blue pills a bit like damiens through hole board did but with all the level shifting For current sensors and resolver exicitation like I’d board, just as a personal project to test a rx400h transaxle I have with a gen2 I also have.

[Ev8]

So I’ve been driving the dc gen2 for the last couple of weeks at a much more ear friendly 6khz with no ill effects
Just about to clock over 300 miles on the Prius inverter DC controller, I am happy to call it a success, as soon as I get time to finish a schematic on my board I will share it

[GE11]

Hey

Is there any new updates on the DC controller?

thanks

[GE11]

Im excited to see the progress of this... Please share code and schematics when available.. I want to do something similar


thanks