Is there a way to charge HV battery

Statultra charged up a salvage battery with a very simple homemade setup and cleverly charging the battery one half at a time (safely).

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-technical-discussion/53175-pictures-major-parts.html

 

There are four options:

1. Toyota charger - get the car to the local Toyota service center and ask them to get one of the few floating Toyota traction battery chargers and charge it up. Advantage: OEM recommended practice. Disadvantage: no survey for weak modules; expense.
2. Bench charge all modules - put the traction battery on a bench, remove the cover, jumper the safety relay, and use a 202-210 VDC, constant current charger on the end terminals. Advantage: all modules get the same charge. Disadvantage: no survey for weak modules.
3. Bench charge banks - same as above but runs the variable voltage, constant current to charge each set. Advantage: lower voltages. Disadvantage: no survey for weak modules; risk of one bank being more charged than the other.
4. Bench charge modules - put the battery on a bench, remove the buss bars, and charge/discharge each module using a smart, RC charger. Advantage: health of each module is tested and left in a known charge state. Disadvantage: takes longer, smart charger cost $150, self-discharge makes module balancing tricky.

Charging NiMH batteries is quite a bit different from lead-acid batteries. You really need a sensitive temperature cut-off to avoid destructive over charging but done right, it also detect the dV/dt change that signals end of charge. It can be done but it is different.

You may want to visit "Prius Technical Stuff" for more details from those who have dealt with NHW20 batteries. I've just had NHW11 traction batteries and they are different.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

u shoudnt need to charge it unless its been sitting for like 2 years in snow and rain and ice and horrible conditions like mine has been, its not like the battery is completely dead, upon connecting the 12 volt battery it seems the battery ECU takes some time to "get used" to the SOC so my guess is you can start it within 5-10 seconds of connecting 12 volt battery even if SOC is less than 40 %

also, you can check SOC by connecting 12 volt battery and putting ig-on to see how many bars on the HV battery

 

Hi Bob,

I have a 2001 NHW11 Prius and I need to charge the HV Battery. I was thinking about just (3.) bench charging the banks, but I want a charger that can also (4.) bench charge modules if needed. Can you recommend a good charger that can do both? Thanks in advance.

Prius Ireland

 

Unless you know for a fact the battery is too low to start the car just disconnect it with the service plug and don't worry about it. On the ol' salvage car I let it sit for almost two months disconnected and it did not change the SOC at all that I could tell. I did, however, have to charge the little 12V battery several times.....

 

Hi jelloslug,

The Prius I am working on is a japanese import, when it arrived in Ireland the HV battery was so low the car would'nt start. It was lying up for several months. I tested the battery and it is definitely to low to start the car. I already have the HV battery out of the car and I am looking for the easiest way to charge it. Would you be able to recommend a charger that can charge the two banks of modules and can also charge the seperate modules?

Prius Ireland

 

I cannot recommend a specific charger but if I were to charge a dead pack I would charge the cells individually so I could check their health before I reassembled the battery pack.

 

Take whatever generic high-ish voltage power supply you have,
figure out how many modules' worth is just under its output
voltage under load, and charge the pack in pieces. Assuming
there's nothing bad along the string, of course. Use a dropping
resistor to limit current and MONITOR current and voltage really
closely. Quit below 8.2 V per module. Once you get it to start
the car, provided everything else is working right, the car
should take over pack management reasonably well although a little
manual balancing might still be needed later.
.
You've got 240V power there, right? A simple half-doubler using
a couple of rectifiers ad a cap would give you a simple low-current
power supply that could do the whole pack [albeit slowly].
.
_H*

 

After a bit more research I have decided to buy the MRC Super Brain 989. Does anyone have a step by step (idiots) guide with photos if possible on how to charge the HV battery one bank at a time? I have decided to do it this way to get the car up and running as quickly as possible, if it is still giving trouble when I have done this I will take it apart again and charge each module individually.

 

did the op mention that this is a NHW10 prius? If it is i think theres a charger built in the trunk for the HV battery.

 

Looks like the OP checked out.

 

If a used pack, make sure that each cell hasn't dropped below 1.0v if you can. Nickel Metals will typically self-discharge at a 25-30% per month, so something that has been shelved and not maintained needs a careful checkout.

 

Can someone suggest an RC multi-port charger discharger for Prius Gen 2 battery balancing?
I want to go multiport so I can get through the hole battery all 28 modules in just a few days

 

No, the decent budget models that used to be popular are now discontinued. You will have search via google. Just be sure to look at the specs. Most all cheaper units can only discharge 5W of power (0.7A for a 7.2V module) which slows the process down a bunch. 10W discharge - minimum. And some units need an external power supply.

It can still take 5-6 hours to do one disharge/charge cycle on a module. It can take 3-6 cycles (or more) per module to restore capacity to 5000-6000 mAh. Times 28 modules (plus any additional replacements needed during the process) = a whole bunch of time to do a decent refurb and balance job.

Some folks who do this kind of repair as a business have 7 x quad chargers so they can cycle all modules at the same time (which = lots of money in equipment).

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