Gen 2 Vs gen 3 inverters - what are the advantages of one over the other?

[Jacobsmess]

As in the title, my local scrapyard has plenty of gen 2 inverters at a reasonable price, gen 3s are available on eBay at higher prices, what are the actual differences and advantages/disadvantages between the two?

[Pete9008]

They are pretty similar in functionality, basically the Gen3 can run at higher voltages, higher currents, is more compact and probably a bit lighter, the Gen2 is cheaper.

Full details are on the wiki: Gen2, Gen3

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Gen2 you can use Johannes' control board swap, which is a fairly polished solution, with at least minimal hope of future development.

Gen3 you can use Damien's control board swap, which is less polished, and probably nearly zero chance of future development.

Gen2 is slightly harder to screw up if you were to tinker with the programming directly as you can't accidentally set the dead time too low, since you only have control over half the cycle (it automirrors that on the other half of the cycle with an appropriate dead time). Gen3 is more versatile, if you were able to create new hardware around using it, specifically because you have more control over the waveform I think, it would let you do other things.

Gen3 is less robust, they do fail for some reason, in Priuses, somewhat commonly. Gen2s basically never do.

[Pete9008]

Gen3 is less robust, they do fail for some reason, in Priuses, somewhat commonly. Gen2s basically never do.

That's interesting, any more details on the failure mode?

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

That's interesting, any more details on the failure mode?

I'm really fuzzy on it. IIRC there's even somewhat of a shortage of them used, because they do fry in OEM use and junkyard ones have a non-zero amount of demand. Can't recall anything useful to even search for the thread where it was mentioned. :/

[Bratitude]

I'm really fuzzy on it. IIRC there's even somewhat of a shortage of them used, because they do fry in OEM use and junkyard ones have a non-zero amount of demand. Can't recall anything useful to even search for the thread where it was mentioned. :/

the boost converters blow

[johu]

Gen2 you can use Johannes' control board swap, which is a fairly polished solution, with at least minimal hope of future development.

Gen3 you can use Damien's control board swap, which is less polished, and probably nearly zero chance of future development.

Why so? They are both open source so could see development by anyone plus they profit from the same software updates as any other board.

Otherwise agreed, blown 2 boost converters on Gen3 and none on Gen2.

That said I have plans to make a version of the Gen2 controller that runs both inverters. Not sure when though.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Why so? They are both open source

"Open Source" is like 1% of what a project needs to see future development. If no one's developing it, then the fact that it's open source is a tiny glimmer of hope that someday someone might, but otherwise isn't a useful metric to judge future development. If basically only one person ever worked on the thing, and they haven't updated it since the day they made it, and several years have gone by, I'd say by observation that's a nail in the coffin.

so could see development by anyone plus they profit from the same software updates as any other board.

Could, but, I can't really see a pathway to development that way.

Otherwise agreed, blown 2 boost converters on Gen3 and none on Gen2.

I don't even mean in DIY use, I mean, right on the original Prius, they're known to blow.

That said I have plans to make a version of the Gen2 controller that runs both inverters. Not sure when though.

Well that would be handy.

I think the golden goose that's missing is a full development of features, all together. It's the loose ends that hold people back from acknowledging it as a finished solution. Ideally, dual-motor, charger, A/C, boost, etc. When someone asks a question about what they can use to do a conversion and you don't have to have any asterisks or caveats along with your advice, that's something I think will take off.

...

Oh, one more major difference: Gen 2 inverters have a built-in inverter for their air conditioner, whereas the Gen 3 does not (it's built into their A/C compressor itself).

[Woodfie]

: Some work progressing on ZVW30 inverter,
or Gen3 Prius Inverter.
An attempt to re use ones that have damaged Boost components and have little scrap value at present,

This post in Hyper car hybrid Thread,
But I feel is relevant here.

Hyper car hybrid
Post Mon May 08, 2023 10:30 am

from evbuilder

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑A lot of very good work done here on the toyota comms. Sorry I was tied up with the house move while it was in progress.

Well it has been a while but we have got back to it recently, and have got the wheels turning on a Prius being driven on Synchronous Serial!
Just turning over from 30V power supply, but it is magic to see an OEM ECU complying with our request!

[Woodfie]

Prius gen 3 ZVW30 inverter
Highlander MGR
and Lexus gs300h, L210 trans

Controlled by sync serial MTH, HTM, REQ, CLK

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Highlander MGR

Excited to see someone still tinkering with the MGR. We don't have the Outlander hybrids in Canada, and for my little car, the MGR is probably just fine.

[Woodfie]

The MGR seems a nice unit..
What attributes does MGR have from your knowledge?
Power, Voltage required etc.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

The MGR seems a nice unit..
What attributes does MGR have from your knowledge?
Power, Voltage required etc.

https://openinverter.org/wiki/Toyota/Le ... axle_Motor

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=190

[Woodfie]

A Summary of last weeks progress

Gen3 inverter , with defunct Boost converter removed

A Good one works also.

[Jacobsmess]

A Summary of last weeks progress

Gen3 inverter , with defunct Boost converter removed

A Good one works also.

Would you be able to give an idea of max rpm on l210 at your supply voltage? I'm wanting to know if it's possible to reach max rpm of 14000 with these gearboxes at lower than 650V thanks

[Woodfie]

With The supply voltage at 63V

Rpm at shaft 80rpm

Motor speed 1204 rpm

[chentron]

Please could someone post the external dimensions from gen2 and gen3 inverters?
(ideally with a photo, in the same way as it is in the yaris inverter wiki)
thanks

EDIT: I found this image for gen2.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

EDIT: I found this image for gen2.

Ahem. Add to wiki please.