Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

Hello everyone! I wanted to share my hybrid battery reconditioning experience with you. I purchased the Hybrid Automotive Prolong Deluxe Reconditioning Package. It has the Prolong charger and automated discharger.

2005 Toyota Prius Base Model

Start: Thursday 05/11/17 9:00pm
Finish: Monday 05/15/17 6:30am

1st cycle:

• Charge and balance (Started at 225V; Ended at 241V): Thursday 9:00am - Friday 10:00am --> 13 hours.
• Discharge to 134V: Friday 10:00am - 3:00pm --> 5 hours.

2nd cycle:

• Charge and balance (Started at 165V - Voltage went up a little after discharge was done. Normal per Hybrid Automotive; Ended at 237V): Friday 3:00pm - Saturday 7:30am --> 16 hours.
• Discharge to 84V: Saturday 7:30am - 12:45pm --> 5 hours, 15 min.

3rd cycle:

• Charge and balance (Started at 170V - Voltage went up since I didn't check earlier to see if it was done; Ended at 238V): Saturday 12:45pm - Sunday 6:30am --> 17 hours, 45 min.
• Discharge to 17V: Sunday 6:30am - 11:25am --> 4 hours, 55 min. *I was actually there when it finished.

Final charge and balance:

• Charge and balance (Started at 82V - Voltage went up quickly after the discharge was done; Ended at 239V): Sunday 11:30am - Monday 6:30am --> 19 hours.

Total time: 81 hours.

The whole reconditioning process was very easy due to the simplicity of each Prolong device. I think I would've cut back some time if I checked on the charging and discharging more. Since finishing on Monday morning, I only drove about 15 miles to work and back. I believe that my Prius might still re-calibrating after the reconditioning. I have heard that it could take some more driving until it is done. I will update this post with some more thoughts and findings later.

 

Not a problem! So sorry for not posting my total miles! It has around 171,900 miles. I did not have any codes. I did the reconditioning as a preventative maintenance. I'm looking forward to reading your post if you document your experience! Can you please elaborate more on "better battery life waiting in traffic?" Thank you!

 

I wondered that too. I'll let @jeff652 answer that. I hope it's nothing is wrong because I spent a lot of time doing it.

 

Very nice! I need to drive my car more and report back findings. It seemed that I used to get into the green area easily. I heard it's rare unless you're going down a steep hill. Even a small hill would get me into the green. I'm going to see if it's still happening.

 

That sounds like a good plan! It's really "set it & forget it." As for the discharges, I would say start maybe checking it around the 4 hour mark to see where it is at. If the car is close to you like in a garage, you should be able to hear the beeping alert telling you that the discharge is done. I couldn't hear mine because my car was in my neighbor's garage.

 

Here are some some thoughts and findings from the morning drive to work:

1. Battery stayed between 5-6 bars. I mainly noticed the drop down to 5 bars when I was stuck in some light traffic.
2. I've noticed going into the green bar area (7-8 bars) once. This is when I was cruising down a small decline while exiting the freeway. I used to get in the green area easily even without any hills. We shall see if it still happening as I drive some more.
3. Electric engine is lasting a little longer than just 10mph. It's most likely due to me being gentle with the gas pedal.
4. I've noticed that the engine would force charge the hybrid battery when it is around 5 blue bars and idling. I could hear and feel the engine running and also see the MFD show the force charge from the engine to hybrid battery. I am not sure if this is happening due to the reconditioning. It used to only force charge when it was at 2 bars.

I will update again when I have more things to share!

 

Thank you! I'm sure @jeff652 will chime in soon regarding the voltage climbing up. I know I've read that it is normal for it to climb back up but not sure if my situation is normal or not since it was a lot.

 

After work drive thoughts & findings:

1. The battery is still staying mostly in the 5-6 blue bars area. It went down once to 4 blue bars. That was due to being stuck in traffic waiting for a train to pass.
2. The gas engine shuts off quicker than before. Prior to reconditioning, the gas engine would shut off about 5-10 seconds after coming to a complete stop. Now, the gas engine shuts off even before a complete stop (Like around 1mph).
3. Battery bars did not go down driving up a hill. I was around 4 blue bars when I started to go up a hill. More than half way up, I actually gained one bar for a total of 5 blue bars. Prior to reconditioning, I used to lose battery bars going up a hill.
4. I went down a big hill and the battery did not go into the green area! It stayed at 6 blue bars the whole way down. Prior to reconditioning, even the smallest hills would cause the battery to get into the green area (7-8 bars) quickly.

I would have to say that I'm actually starting to notice positive results from reconditioning the hybrid battery!

 

I'll have to see what the average mpg will be over the next couple of fill ups. It's mainly been city driving since the reconditioning. Once I do some highway driving, the average mpg should go up. I think I've only driven about 30 something miles since filling up on Monday. The average mpg has been fluctuating quickly since there isn't many miles driven yet on this tank. Interesing thing to note is that my last tank averaged 44mpg. That was the best I've seen since buying my Prius back in February. 44mpg is within the Fuelly average for 2005 Prius. I'm wondering if I'll continue to see an average of 44mpg or maybe even an increase. Stay tuned!