Prius 2 inverter as 200V battery charger

[clanger9]

This may be a dumb question, so forgive me: could a Prius 2 inverter be used to charge a 48s lithium battery?

Why am I asking this? I need a small/cheap/light ~3.6kW AC charger for my electric bike project - and OEM 96s chargers are very bulky compared to this unit...

[Dilbert]

In theory yes and it could definitely be used for testing, your main problem is that it won't have power factor correction, so the rectifier will only be conducted at the top part of the cycle.

[arber333]

In theory yes and it could definitely be used for testing, your main problem is that it won't have power factor correction, so the rectifier will only be conducted at the top part of the cycle.

Like i said before i use Prius gen2 main cap and inductor to charge my car from 3phase rectified (600Vdc) down to 380Vdc...
I am sure you could make it work at lower voltage, but i think from single phase 320Vdc you could efficiently go down to say 60Vdc.
I have tried to charge 200V battery before and i could get maybe 8kW from 3ph before 16A fuses dropped
From single phase there would be terrible PF and i measured i would get like 65% efficiency to 200Vdc. From 3ph however all phases are loaded symetricaly.

You should search for more data, Damien made some schematic on how to drive gen2 inverter.
1. You would use MG1 phase outputs to connect 3phase in. Keep transistors off. Diodes on transistors will rectify voltage to 600Vdc
2. You would use Buck/Boost unit to buck down to your 200Vdc. Everything is already setup that way.
3. You need to prepare some control mechanism to maintain CC function
4. You could also use 12V dcdc regulator inside to charge your 12V battery .


HINT: Or you could charge directly through autotransformer. I use 10kw 3phase variac at home for testing purposes and for charging my car in case my charger fails. I made a small box with 6bridge rectifier and foil capacitor to get stable DC voltage from variac. Then i turn the knob on the primary side so i have higher voltage and positive current flow. I can charge that way safely up to 80% SOC. It is a good backup...

[arber333]

This may be a dumb question, so forgive me: could a Prius 2 inverter be used to charge a 48s lithium battery?

Why am I asking this? I need a small/cheap/light ~3.6kW AC charger for my electric bike project - and OEM 96s chargers are very bulky compared to this unit...

You could get a Eltek charger unit from a broken Volvo V60 hybrid. It is a small 3kW unit and it works down to 200Vdc. I have tried. But here it makes like 2.5kW. It is watercooled and CAN controlled.
Then there is TC charger 1.8kW and 3kW units are very compact and can be prepared for 200V...

[Dilbert]

This may be a dumb question, so forgive me: could a Prius 2 inverter be used to charge a 48s lithium battery?

Why am I asking this? I need a small/cheap/light ~3.6kW AC charger for my electric bike project - and OEM 96s chargers are very bulky compared to this unit...

You could get a Eltek charger unit from a broken Volvo V60 hybrid. It is a small 3kW unit and it works down to 200Vdc. I have tried. But here it makes like 2.5kW. It is watercooled and CAN controlled.
Then there is TC charger 1.8kW and 3kW units are very compact and can be prepared for 200V...

Have you a part number for that volvo unit?

[arber333]

Have you a part number for that volvo unit?

Eltek Valere IP67 charger 3kW
Volvo 3kw charger
P/N 30659929
P/N 31394702

https://www.proxyparts.com/car-parts-st ... /12933434/

Here i posted the CAN protocol
https://leafdriveblog.wordpress.com/201 ... w-charger/

[Dilbert]

Have you a part number for that volvo unit?

Eltek Valere IP67 charger 3kW
Volvo 3kw charger
P/N 30659929
P/N 31394702

https://www.proxyparts.com/car-parts-st ... /12933434/

Here i posted the CAN protocol
https://leafdriveblog.wordpress.com/201 ... w-charger/

Thanks that is interesting. I've been considering doing something similar with the outlander charger, as there is lots of them available on ebay etc... I'm not sure if anyone has got as far as you in terms of decoding the CAN communications.

[clanger9]

Excellent, thank you! Good point about the PF when using the Prius inverter. It'll be rubbish.
However, the Volvo unit looks *perfect* for my needs

[arber333]

Excellent, thank you! Good point about the PF when using the Prius inverter. It'll be rubbish.
However, the Volvo unit looks *perfect* for my needs

It will work up to 10A as i see in manual. 200V x 10A = 2kW. Maybe not the best but you may try to find a unit from Eltek that was wired for 200Vdc. It should work with 16A. Volvo model should sutdown below 170Vdc.