Prius Gen2 Transaxle

[kalebludlow]

Hey so I'm planning on a Mazda 323 conversion with a Gen2 transaxle and a Gen3 inverter with Damian's board. This is still in the planning stages and as someone who bumbles their way through DIY projects I'm trying to try and sort out as much as possible mentally before I start. My question at this point is how will I be able to get the transaxle to shift into the gears? I am looking at the wiring diagram for the Shift Control System but can't wrap my head around it as I am not an EE. Would buying a transmission ECU be the correct next step in getting this working? I've got a transaxle in the mail that I can start working with next week

[sfk]

My question at this point is how will I be able to get the transaxle to shift into the gears?

The Prius transaxle doesn't have "gears" like you may be thinking.

You command the motor/s to turn in one direction for forward and the other direction for reverse.
And if you want to go faster you give it more power.

Best to have a look at the internals of the Power Split Device (as Toyota calls it).
Watch these videos -

[kalebludlow]

I've watched those videos and understand that they don't use gears in the traditional sense, but with commanding them into drive is this done at the inverter with the Damian board or is there something on the transaxle itself that needs to be commanded, and then how do I get those commands from my shifter to where it needs to go

[sfk]

There is nothing in the transaxle itself. The phase sequence, amplitude and frequency output by the inverter is what controls the motors. The plug-in boards are what control the inverter. I understand the gear selector of the Prius generates particular CAN messages which are listened for by the board to set the state forward, reverse etc.

[kalebludlow]

I think I'll wait until the plug in boards are more mature or we are given some more direction as to how to implement a gear shifter. I simply don't have the mental capacity to be able to reverse engineer the CAN codes