1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Who to choose for Refurbished HV battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by kouki420, Jun 16, 2014.

  1. redbarron55

    redbarron55 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2014
    48
    16
    0
    Location:
    Mobile, Alabama
    Vehicle:
    2002 Prius
    Model:
    I
    The battery in the car is a different one the pull out from a wreck with 4 years on it
    The other one I am going to sell the parts on ebay.
     
  2. Nyfan

    Nyfan Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2014
    4
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    What about batteries from LKQ online? There's one for $1000 with 75k 2009 Toyota Prius. Is that better then a rebuil battery? I know there's different rebuilt options but in general if this is a used OEM part is this a better way to go?
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    110,133
    50,050
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    who can say? there's no way to test it, or know it's quality. could last years, might not work from the get go, or anything in between.
     
  4. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2005
    3,872
    1,871
    1
    Location:
    Trumbull, CT
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius
    Model:
    LE AWD-e
    NY,

    Steve at Prius hybrids sales and service Scottsburg Indiana can supply a tested, rebuilt, salvaged HV battery at a reasonable cost.

    JeffD
     
  5. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2004
    4,379
    3,238
    1
    Location:
    Madison, Wisconsin
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    You never really know what you get out of a junkyard.
    Could be a pack that has been disassembled, and then stuffed with all a rebuilders junk.

    Usually the yard will tell you it has voltage.... but that doesn't really matter sometimes.
     
  6. gdanner

    gdanner Member

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2007
    86
    39
    0
    Location:
    Central Illinois
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    If I was to purchase a salvaged HV pack I would want to see it INSIDE the donor car first.

    Having repaired my own HV pack i can testify to the ease of taking out individual NiMH modules and putting in different ones. In my case I took out bad ones and put in good ones. But who knows what might get put into an HV pack that's labeled "used," "remanufactured," or "rebuilt?"

    I'm very skeptical of the vendors who spray paint their HV battery cases to make them look like "new."

    -EB
     
  7. strawbrad

    strawbrad http://minnesotahybridbatteries.com

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2011
    953
    1,002
    0
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Not exactly the whole story. On discharge a weak or low capacity modules voltage will drop farther and faster than its stronger pack mates. However, on charge the weak modules voltage will climb higher than other stronger higher capacity modules. At rest a weak modules voltage can often recover and fall in line with the rest of the pack. That is why a voltmeter on modules at rest is not a good complete test. It is the swing from highest voltage to lowest voltage that is the identifier of weak modules. If a module block shows a consistent difference on both charge and discharge then its SOC is out of sink with the rest of the pack. Both Torque and a Mini VCI can be used to spot this. Here is a short thread about using a charge and discharge test to find bad modules. Unable to determine the cause of the triangle warning | PriusChat
    Brad
     
  8. royfrontenac

    royfrontenac Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2014
    247
    100
    0
    Location:
    Kingston Ontario Canada
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Roy from Canada here:

    If you have the toyota software (mini vci) so you can record the battery modules, run your car up a steep hill with as hard an acceleration as possible (wait for no surrounding traffic). Depending on the " state of charge " of the battery at that time you will get from 60 to 90 amps of current flowing through the modules, the weaker modules will drop their voltage more the the stronger ones. If the difference in voltage is great enough the cars computer will trigger the the code for the weak module pair.

    When you install new or used modules to replace the weak modules it is almost impossible to be sure they will have the same capacity as the rest of the pack. This may result in your car throwing codes and thus the "triangle of death" coming up on the dash - if you drive the car gently for a few trips, ie no high currents, the modules will gradually come closer in capacity through the normal charge and discharge process of daily driving and the codes will stop coming up.

    The dynamic test of creating high currents is the only way I know that an amateur can effectively detect weak module capacity.
     
  9. Priusrebuilders

    Priusrebuilders Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2013
    2
    0
    0
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    We have addressed the issue that Redbarron55 had with our product and have issued a refund.
     
  10. Falcon Hybrid

    Falcon Hybrid Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2017
    13
    2
    0
    Location:
    Hawthorne NJ
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Two

    So this post definitely caught my attention. After looking into it I found that we have refunded this customer fully once we were in direct contact. Please feel free to message me directly as well as posting on the forums guys.

    -charlie
     
  11. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2023
    100
    16
    0
    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hahaha, looks like the Redbarron55 won after all.
     
    bisco likes this.