Gen II Prius Individual Battery Module Replacement

I think someone has had a little too much conspiracy theory soup.

None of the things you have mentioned seem necessary, and as the car seems to last well beyond the designed life, I doubt the Toyota engineers care very much to add any of your suggestions.

As for NiMH, it is horses for courses. Your rant just shows you don't appreciate a proven technology.

Actually, this thread is about individual module replacement, not how much NiMH sucks. So, perhaps if you want to discuss the latter, perhaps you could start your own thread and not hijack this one.

 

Yeah,

@@my bad on the wrong thread pasting, certainly having the 'green EV button' added within the last ~25k miles, will be the failure blame, though they came with the car in the EU

--- again, sorry for the interruption but the light here is there is a wealth of info here about copper terminal corrosion in hot/humid climates which could be the only problem, not the modules if indeed the life is 300k miles ... Search Results - Green Car Reports

 

With regards to cooling the NiMH HV Traction battery in hot climates, the vehicle is fitted with effective climate control, which when used, does offer some degree of cooling to the battery pack.

During the summer months in the relatively temperate climes of London UK, I am most certainly aware of this, and always aggressively use my climate control systems to cool the HV battery pack. So, Toyota DID think about extra cooling for the NiMH batteries - you just have to remember to turn it on when it's really hot.
That's what being a Prius II pilot is all about.

All EU models came with the EV button, but the 1KWh battery pack was never really designed for prolonged EV Traction usage. I've used it to reposition my car silently in a car park, but, that's it.

I've used it to awe the odd friend by driving away from their abode in electric mode, but once around the corner, out of sight, I revert back to hybrid mode.

In truth, that EV button should be sparingly used.

Lastly, in a world where malicious lies STILL abound, about how the NiMH batteries in a Prius will inevitably fail after only three years, I'm delighted that mine are still going strong after 8 years, and fully expect to get at least 10 - 12 years out of them, with my present regular commute mode of use.

When they do fail, I'll consider that entirely fair. Transmission systems in some cars last a lot less than that, and can cost as much as a new NiMH pack to repair. Nothing lasts forever, but the Prius II really was over engineered for a vehicle designed and built using technology from 2003 or prior.

No, I really don't think the NiMH battery set up sucks


iPhone ?

 

ok, i have disassembled the pack covering and found all modules within spec save 1 that was instead of about 7.6 was about 6.4 .. it is # 10 block from the left or block 5 from the right as you are looking forward from the backof the car, it is the leftmost battery of that block.
significant corrosion of the blue /white powdery kind found on many of the screw(nickel? terminals) of the modules.
I have charged it , I am attempting to use one of my rc charges to 'balance' it though i havent really used that before and am trying a discharge on it to see what kind of capacity it is giving compared to a healthy one. perhaps i can 'reverse' the 'reverse' from a low pack condition and bring the cell and module back without taking the whole blessed thing apart.
I am going to try and get some of those zinc 'nordlock' washers, some vinegar and baking soda - the voltage sense tabs just fit on top of the copper terminal tabs and it doesnt appear there is a lot of contact surface area which is bad especially in low voltage connections.

also, it sucks that they put about a 1/4" thick filter about 3x5" area with RIVETS !!! so i have drilled them out and have it soaking in water, --- no wonder, that thing looked like a cabin air filter that needed replacement-- really poor design for user service on toyotas part

i have some pics to upload after dark if i have time ..

 

The 6.4V module is bad (one of the cells is shorted out) and you will need a replacement. Don't bother trying to rejuvenate it - it won't bring it back to life.

 

Yep. Remove the 6.4v one. It is dead and will not come back.
Buy a replacement.
Send the bad one to the recycler.

 

well i have been charge and discharge cycling, what kind of amp-hour rating are these modules supposed to show - ? will the rc charger show the amp-capacity when it does a D-C cycle ?

so bottom l/ine is once a NiMH cell has reversed, there is no bringing it back.. and i am wasting my time to try and recover the module ?

(i was hoping to avoid the big pain in loosening the pack as that is more time , bolts adn all that to undo and then removing one out of hte sandwhich was challenging on the Gen1, maybe not so bad on Gen 2 ...

 

Purchased a few dead packs for parts, the newest is 2010 and its full of rubbish modules it might yield 3 or 4 mizzles worth putting back in use, the gen3 prius and camrys are definitely much harder on batteries than the gen2, i quit buying failed gen3 packs they are a complete bust, a total waste of time and money! cant be bothered spending days properly processing a failed pack to be rewarded with 4 reasonable modules! I want 20 good modules not 4 reasonable ones!

there is heaps of contact area, jags! the copper terminals are very conductive they work great, contact is not via the nut side its via the battery side. Maybe you could contact Toyota and get a job on their engineering team fixing all their apparent mistakes!

I never noticed any crud or rivets.

junk! throw it out

 

chronon,

Have you been watching WestWorld on HBO this fall? You remind me of one of the hosts. They are programmed to be blinded to things clearly in their path. The last episode, one of them (who is not actually a host but is manufactured just like one) cannot see a door in a wall directly in front of him.

Bottom line - the module is toast.

This cell is no more! It has ceased to be! 'It's expired and gone to meet it's maker! ''It's metabolic processes are now history!
THIS IS AN EX-CELL!!

You can have someone else do it for you. There is no other way around it.

 

Duplicate

 

.

Servicing of the HV battery is designed by Toyota to be removed and replaced as a complete unit. At a lower level, it is not designed to be Tech serviceable, let alone user serviceable. I guess they don't want their techs to be exposed to high DC voltage, any more than necessary.

That is interesting, do you have any photos of this filter?

 

ahh i think hes talking about the filter built in to the ducting behind the back seat, I usually remove the whole duct and blow it out filter n all with compressed air

 

Yes, that is the one, the air filter for the battery fan (which is tucked away so that you cant see the fan blades and barely can touch the motor, I presume the blades are not gunked with cat hair, I dont beleive there were pets and the pad is dirty not full of hair. pictures coming.

 

&&&FRONT AND BACK (1st) OF ~4MM THICK PAPER/CLOTH MATERIAL AIR FILTER FOR BATTERY BLOWER FAN&&&(which is not anybody friendly replaceable)

 

the before pics (1st 2) of back and front of pack, the voltages i recorded with multimeter,(all good except the one), my charging of the bad one, which when it doesnt behave like the others (takes charge and V rises too quick too fast), means bad.
V detect lines
closeup of the Vdetect after prying up from terminal connector.
I will be adding 6mm zinc lock washers under hold down nuts when i get the replacement module. have cleaned somewhat with vinegar soak/rub and baking soda/water and pad , though the corroded part is not touching the connection area, but is still usefull in general.

 

Why do you feel you need to add zinc lock washers? The nut already has a built in washer that functions adequately when torqued to 48 in-lbs. The service manual recommends replacing them after removal but most probably don't bother and reuse them at the same torque.

 

I have terrible trouble cleaning the corrosion on my nuts the coating just flakes off if I use chemical cleaners and of course without the zink they go rusty ..considered replacing with stainless but hard to find with built in washers and dont want to use seperate washers that just seems annoying and toyota didnt use separate washers so I don't really want to either, then again I guess the built in washers are simply convenient for machine production nothing to do with safety

 

manual says 48 ? what if its #15 on the dewalt drill for removal - would that then be close enuf 4 install /\?
I read that the sacrificial zinc would then not allow all them electrons and such to build up their corrosion, am in a very humid environment most of the year so maybe it will help as well as less jiggling loose from vibrations and bumps..

 

The nuts are zinc coated anyway mate forget the washers! Dont waste your time just clean everything up replace the bad modules do a couple cycles and put it back together! Its VERY easy to waste time on this

You cant properly gauge torque undoing the nuts but you can get an idea how tight they were "according to your drill" not ideal but if your happy with it and its only your own car ......

 

Yeah, I won't be taking the 1/4" torque wrench out on each of them, but I might try the drill correlation (slip clutch) with what one or two with the TW indicate to 'guage' the accuracy of the drill -

taking apart the pack to remove the 10th one from the right is not going to be a walk in the park though .. .;(