Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

I think this is why I was molto confuserated when I first used the lightbulb-discharger which I got 2 years ago. I only used it to completion (3 charges/discharges) once, and after that, I saved up and bought the Intelligent Discharger (much easier to use!)

 

Yes I should have bought that as they are quite clear about the re-charge in those instructions.

Upon reflection I may have been a bit too harsh. They have a innovative product and Jeff seems like a very nice gentleman and have used the charger multiple times and the way I did the discharge seemed very successful as the battery looks great. But technical writing is a skill
and this is pretty involved so it needs to be clear so even a dope like myself can understand it. And Its hard to concentrate over 3 days on it as the wife continually asks when is my car going to be ready? ...lol...then I'm like crap where was I?

but here you go. Please see #2

How to Write User Manuals (with Pictures) - wikiHow

 

Perhaps this will make it easier to understand. I made a chart based on @jeff652's instructions a while back. It highlights the Prius bulb change points.

I didn't add to it that there are four charges involved with a full recondition because I just made it as a quick reference for myself. You charge before the first discharge. Then you charge after each discharge.

 

A good recommendation! Just completed another 17 hours and we're up to 238V, so I'll keep it going for another 2 or 3 hours and see what happens! Thanks again for the idea!

 

When I first started charging with the Prolong charger about a year ago my top voltage was 241. Never see that anymore now my top voltage is 238 also.

 

I think my observation was similar. Not sure if it's genuine or just my lack of patience.

 

No need to get down to the little details, this battery is quite robust and if you have a healthy module, even some screw ups won't do much to them. That's the beauty of grid charging the entire pack.

 

21 hours - 238V, but I've no immediate plans for this afternoon, so I think I'll let it soak. …and FWIW, I've seen 240V on previous long soakers!

 

Yeah its 3 volts difference for me but like JC said I'm not sweating it I just thought I would throw that out there.
I have never charged my pack longer than 17 hours. It hit the top then I went about 2 hours more so probably doing that wrong also..

Does the charger ever show less than its clamp current which I think it .338? Does the battery ever start drawing lower current during end of charge or will the charger always show the .338 no matter what?

 

If the voltage of the battery pack is more than 50 volts BELOW the peak output of the charger (so below 200V on a Prius), the current will fluctuate from 100mA-450mA. This is normal and nothing to worry about. As soon as the voltage climbs back above the 50V below peak threshold, the current will stabilize back at around 350mA.

 

OK, 25 hours, still at 238V, 356mA; it's been like that for the past 3 hours or so! I'll be needing the car later, so that's it for this one! (Next quickie due in Aug/Sept) Thanks for all the help, suggestions, support and good advice! - Wil

 

Ok thanks for the reply but thats not what I am seeing. The current limit number of .338 never budges even after charging for 18 hours. That amperage number never changes ever.
I would expect it to go lower at some point as the battery pulls less current. It does not. Does this mean that I have never come close to a full charge on my pack?

Are other posters seeing that amperage number on the charger go lower as the pack becomes full?
Never saw anyone discussing this.

 

I didn't notice any drop in mine. I wish I had written that down as part of my logs.

 

Do you mean you never see that ampere number change like me? I have charged about 5 times and have never seen it move.
Jeff says .100 to .450. I have never seen mine move even 1/100 of an amp after 18 hours of charge.

That's another thing that should be addressed in the information about this product. I scratched my head about this too. Why isn't the current consumption LED of the battery not changing? It just says .338. That would be the definitive statement of where you are at in the charging cycle. And most helpful. Current consumption measurement of a power supply is pretty easy to measure its just a voltage drop across a resistor.
Simple explanation is that display is not reflecting true current consumption of the battery.

 

Here are some pics of the charging cycles during my reconditioning over Memorial Day weekend:

First top up charge:


Top up after 134v discharge cycle:



Top up after 84v discharge cycle:



So to answer your question, in the times I have used the Charger and topped up the battery, it always shows ~0.349 amps. The only time I have seen it lower is when charging from the lower voltages until the pack reaches 202v, then steadily is at .349 amps.

One data point anyway.

 

I see it exactly as Jeff described it. Below 200 V and the current vacillates then it stabilises at 200 V to 344-345 mA.

Never seen it as low as 338 mA.

Are you saying your charger does not fluctuate when the battery voltage is less than 200 V?

 

Mine was wavering between .341 and .342 any time the top screen showed over 200v. of charge. I never saw anything different. Even when the final voltage of 241v was reached I have a picture of it showing .341a on the lower screen.

 

I think it keeps feeding about 338 mA after the battery is full because, at that point, the battery is basically a resistor and the power is dissipating as heat since there's no more capacity in the battery to store it, but the charger doesn't know that. And that's the big reason for that low charging current -- to minimize the heat because some cells get full before others and become resistance heaters. Once they are all full, they are all resistance heaters. Heat is a function of current.

 

Checking back through my logs I find that during most of the charging time, the current is 361mA (+/- a few mA) pretty constant, and the only time the current changes is during the first 10 mins or so of the charging immediately following a discharge - the Voltage indicator flashes anything from 200 to 400 and the current indicator flashes anything from 0 to 400. When I first noticed this, I was concerned, and so I made a short video which I e-mailed to @jeff652, but was told this is normal (see "dead-cat-bounce" comments above). …and of course, now, I can't find the video!

 

Anybody knows if there is an absolutely hugely important reason why the 12V battery should be disconnected while charging? I've completed a full charge/discharge session on a Gen2 which I will sell within a week or two. I'd like not to lose the current mpg showing after the last refill which is excellent and shows potential buyers how the car performs. Thanks in advance for any input.