2011 Prius HV Battery Cell Replacement

Did you use some type of prolong charger to charge up the packs to the same levels after replacing the affected packs?

 

Welcome to Prius Chat .

You’re playing a game commonly referred to as “whack a mole”.

If you do not charge and balance the modules, you’ll be doing the same activity you are now frequently .

Where in the great state of California are you located?

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

Hello Guys,

I own a prius 2012 (gen 3). Recently got a P0A80. Did some research and found a way to create log and extract information via torque pro.
During charge cycle didn't find any obvious culprit but at the end of discharge cycle block 8 dropped very low (please see attached image).



I ordered the charger below (Turnigy Reaktor QuadKore 1200W 80A (4 X 300W 20A) Balance Charger now with NiZN and LiHV) and did a test run on some scrape modules from gen 2 battery.

I am shocked to find out that this charger doesn't show capacities at the end of charge/discharge cycle. Without charge and discharge capacity at each cycle how am i going to gauge and rate each module.

Any comments please to help proceed with battery pack build or anything that graph tells you.

Thanks in advance

 

I'm kinda shocked your battery only went 6 years. Turd gen cars must be really hard on batteries

 

ProffesorX,

I find it VERY unusual that you would have your first ever P0A80 code and it shows Block 1, 2, 3 all showing as coding out. That alone is very suspicious to me of something else going on, as the outer blocks are normally the least stressed (thermally) and are normally the highest capacity when tested. You replaced all 6 (?) modules in those blocks (which should be the 6 modules furthest from the ECU end). Works normal 2 days and then codes out for Block 9? My first impression is No Way. I would fully believe Block 9 to be a culprit, as that is a very common one for failures (middle of pack).

I just have an odd feeling something isn't right.

 

+1

I have yet to see a first failure (failure of original pack, not a refurbished pack) that is on the outer modules. It's the center of the pack that gets hot and that's what's going to die first.

Please make sure you know what you're doing. The charger you linked to seems to support what you need. Does up to 17 cells in series for NiMH, that's good and has variable charging. But my guess is the default is "charge as fast as possible" because that's what their marketing touts it as, a fast charger. You will balloon the modules you have by charging it like that without keeping them clamped so they don't expand. So, don't do that.

As to measuring capacity the easiest would be to measure a discharge cycle. Using a constant current sink, set the discharge limit to something easy to do math with like 1A and time it from full charge to empty. If it takes 6.5 hours to discharge, then you have a brand new cell. More likely it will take 1.5-2 hours to discharge at such a low constant current. If you use something resistive, like a light bulb, you'll need to monitor the voltage across the module and/or current through the bulb to get an accurate reading. Because as the voltage droops, the load will droop with it throwing off your easy math with a constant current sink.

 

His failure is block 9 right?

 

It is now, but it wasn't at first. From the original post:

Which is suspicious.

 

Maybe his failure was block 9 and not the other 3 blocks. So it came back after he reset the car

 

It would make more sense but he did actually have the codes.

 

Yeah, it has just done 110,000 kms.

 

Here is what I plan to do. Charging Cycle 2amps with auto cutoff (1.48v per cell) and Discharge Cycle 1amp until voltage drops to 6.3v per module. Planning for three charge/discharge cycles and aiming to see capacities around 7500mAH charge/ 5500 mAH discharge.

 

TMR-JWAP can you please shed some light on why block 9 is more susceptible to damage because of heat? In my case it is block 8 which drops very low at the end of discharge cycle and block 9 is better.

 

The middle of the pack keeps the heat. That's where it gets hot, that's where it fails. Out of the 14 the middle is 7/8 and that's the center of where we see most failures. Blocks 6/7/8/9

 

X2
He nailed it..I would expect no less

 

MMM perhaps they should have a battery back rotation? After 150,000 miles you rotate the inner and outer cells!
Then they'll get even wear!

 

Sounds like a fun project.
Maybe I should promote that as a service for my customers.