Update Part 2: Prolong Hybrid Charger /Discharger deluxe

Good job. Mine is running good too.

What new readers should know is this system works really good if your hybrid battery is just getting tired and has not thrown any codes yet like mine. I messed up and did a very abbreviated discharge on my first and only attempt at it and my battery really responded to it. I think in my case it was all that was needed.

I discharged to 82 volts using the old lightbulb system. That’s it no full charge after every lightbulb. Then did a full charge at 82 volts. That was it.
It’s been like a new battery ever since and back to 50 mpgs.

Original owner bought new and had 115000 miles on it when discharged.

 

To learn the full story of my 2009 Gen II and the Prolong System, all the information has already been posted, and careful use of the search function should be enough to find all you need to know, but I've noticed that recently after even a short trip (<10 miles) the SoC has been >75% (up from ~65% at the end of last year). The most recent full (three-part) recondition was done at the end of last December, and the next interim "top long-soaker" will be done at the end of March (…just sayin' )

 

Good news, @Totallylost

Just a word of caution on over-use of grid charging in case someone is tempted to use it more than needed. I had a little chat the other day with Todd at Tampa Hybrids since I'm coming up on the 1st anniversary of putting a 2015 battery into my wife's '07. He reminded me that fully charging and discharging does extract a toll on the battery's life, so he suggested not doing it more often than once a year unless you're seeing a degradation in the battery's performance.

That leads me to a question that maybe @jeff652 might best answer. (Others, please chime in if you have some facts on this.) If I use techstream or something like that to measure the highest vs the lowest state of charge, is there a threshold where I would say that it's time to hook up the Prolong charger for preventative maintenance?

 

I believe the threshold is 0.2 volts.

Here’s a Techstream screen shot of our 2010’s battery a couple of months back:


Lookin good.

Still on track for a 2 cycle reconditioning over Memorial Day weekend .

 

Thanks, Ray. What got me curious (and this kind of doesn't belong in this forum) is the Delta SOC I see on my PiP using Engine Link. It shows from 2.5% to about 3%. Since it's lithium, it may be totally different. I'm thinking about starting a thread over on the PiP forum to explore this. It would be nice to have some empirical numbers to try to evaluate battery health in the PiP and other Lithium based Prii beyond seat-of-the-pantsperformance observations.

 

In 2 weekends we’ll have a meetup out here and there should be at least 2 PIPs there (and I’ll have Techstream).

So if you can layout what you are looking for, I’m sure we could feed your curiosity .

 

Perhaps @2k1Toaster has some thoughts on that too. He works with rechargeable batteries every day.

 

What I'd like to figure out is just what Engine Link means by X.XX% SOC Delta, and at what point would it become something to be concerned about. I don't really have time now to research it, but am getting a little curious.

 

Delta soc over 20 is usually a concern for nimh pruis packs.

 

Any idea for Lithium Ion packs like Jerry's PiP?

 

Thanks, Eric. I would have guessed 10-15%, but had no way to know. I'm guessing based on performance and range, that at 2 - 3.5%, I'm in great shape with my lithium battery.

 

Going to be a long time before you need to worry about the lithium pack.

 

Thanks. I was figuring on that. Nice to hear it from a pro like you.

 

I started monitoring the csd (delta-SoC) on my 2009 Gen II about six months ago, and have never seen it change from 0%. I seem to remember @jeff652 mentioning that he was surprised that it never changed, but didn't elaborate. (FWIW)

 

Taking advantage of the imminent storm situation here in the North East, I decided to use the garage-time to good effect and started the next TopSoaker recondition yesterday evening, here are the results so far:
Date: 20180306: Prius Hybrid Traction Battery short recondition 130,050 miles
Start:
18:00 229V 356mA
after 19½ hours
247V 356mA
…the 40hour mark should be around 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, then 2 hours to rest!
…more later!

 

Later:
10:00 am (40hrs)
249V 356mA

…that's it until the end of June!

 

Looks like yours is much stronger than mine. for that. Mine topped off at 242v but it's been subjected to a lot of heat over the years....

 

Wow 40 hours on charge. Is that right? Did not know you could go that long. Most I have ever gone is 15 hours.
Which Maybe why I never see more than 241 volts.

After the 40 hours does the .337 current ever get lower or is that fixed on th display no matter what the draw?

Thanks.

 

Current stays the same.

The Prolong manual says not to leave the charger on for more than 48 hours so I figured 40 was pretty safe. I knew my HV battery wasn't in the greatest shape with the rapid fluctuations on the SOC screen. On the last 40 hour charge the last increase in voltage came after 35 hours and after the screen had stayed the same for over 8 hours.

The longer charge times made a difference in battery performance. Three months after the first conditioning (19-30 hour charges) it was starting to fluctuate again. This time, three months after 31-40 hour charges, it's not showing any weakness.

Coincidentally, I discussed the 40 hour "soaks" with the hybrid specialist that handle most of the battery maintenance at Jue Motors today. I was there for my 135k service. He recommended the long soaks for sure on an early conditioning, then keeping the three month's intermediate charge at 18-24 hours if there are no signs of weakening, just to keep things balanced. Play it by ear after that depending on what the screens are telling you.

If the signs are still strong in June I'll probably back the charges down to 24-30 hours because of the warmer weather. I'll save the longer charges for the cooler weather in December.