Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

…but what about if you're running the A/C? I did this test yesterday, and found it to show around 55-60 (several times) when the A/C was turned "off" and about 48-ish with the A/C running. (BTW I just started the mid-year "Full-Monty" about 2 hours ago!)

 

Well, it's that time of the year, so here we go again:
1st Charge:
20190611 14:15 224V 360mA
20190611 21:38 237V 360mA
(…to be continued)

 

I had originally planned on my full session this week too but Mother Nature has interfered. 100*+F here a couple of days this week already. If the extended forecast doesn't cool off some before the end of the month I'll only be able to do a "charge and balance only" session during the night before we go on our cross country trip.

 

Mine gets 55 with the air on. For how long I don't know but so far so good.

 

…and
20190612 08:57 240V 360mA
10:25 240V 360mA (20 hours)
Discharge to 134V:
20190612 10:30 240V 2.2A
14:30 192V 0.41A
16:30 done, plus bounce back to 192V
Charge2:
20190612 16:40 198V flickering current (normal)
…onward and upward!

 

…and on we go!
20190613 07:25 232V 360mA
09:05 234V 360mA
12:15 239V 360mA
14:40 240V 360mA (22 hours)

Discharge to 84V:
14:45 240V 2.24A
…watch this space!

 

18:59 156V 0.22A
19:13 134V 0.22A<<<<<<<<<<<<< ~5½ hours (data point)
19:47 084V 0.22A
Charge3:
20190613 19:50 196V flickering current (normal)
.
.

 

Maybe I am misreading, but the discharge to 84V started at 14:45 and the "data point" occurred at 19:13. Should that be ~4 1/2 hours instead of 5 1/2?

Is the significance of the data point (at 134V) to compare it to the first discharge down to 134V...which took 6 hours (assuming the 16:30 end time was exactly when the discharger finished)? Comparing 6 hour discharge1 to 4 1/2 hour discharge2? Does the discharger perform identically down to 134V when set to different termination voltages (134 and 84)?

Please forgive my ignorance. I'm very new to battery reconditioning. I performed my first recently and am trying to make sense of the data. Understanding the process and equipment is a huge help. Thank you, in advance!

 

Ah! My bad! (…ooops! ) you are correct!

The readings I posted are (and were) for reference points only, with a view to giving me (and anyone else) a better plan the next time! If you take the time to look at all my previous postings (no, I don't have the time either) you will find that for several of my earlier FullMontys, I miscalculated the anticipated discharge time to get to 134V, but that each subsequent time I got closer!…

…and to your last point - I think you are correct and that the discharge path is similar no matter what the target is! (…based on my observations so far! (…I think this to be my 11th or 12th FullMonty) (…shouts of "…and he still can't get the bloody thing right!")

 

…ah, I think I see what you're getting at…

16:30 done, plus bounce back to 192V

…the bounce-back happens after the target is reached, and is a normal occurrence. According to Hybrid Automotive's @jeff652 that behaviour is perfectly normal, and is nothing to worry about. The extra time in there was the time it took to get up to 192, and then back down to 134V. I'm sure that eventually Hybrid Automotive might even add some smart features to their "Intelligent" Discharger which sends a signal to your SmartPhone (c,mon, guys , this is the 21st Century!) allowing you to control the device, or at least display the current voltage/current?) @jeff652 ?

The discharger I have is an early Mark1 model, (I also have the Mark0 (Lightbulb) version, but mine has the fiddly little knob to select the discharge voltage which can hardly be accurate having such a small scale! At least the later models have preselected voltages (or so I understand)!

 

Charge3:
20190613 19:50 196V flickering current (normal)
20190614 09:45 232V 360mA
15:10 238V 360mA
17:15 241V 360mA. (about 21 hours)

Discharge to 17V:
17:15 239V 2.28A
21:20 162V 0.22A
22:32 17V 0.22A. (5h 17m)

Final Charge:
22:37 186V 360mA flickering current (normal)

…should be finished later today

 

This is correct. The bounce back happens because when you remove the load, the cells will try to revert to their nominal voltage. Of course if you were to re-apply a load, they would immediately drop back down.

Interesting idea . . . ;-)

 

…later that day:
…19:18 239V 360mA (20h 43min)
22:40 240V 360mA (24h)
cool off for a couple of hours...
Job done until the Autumn! Have a great summer!

 

I've got the Prolong kit. Last year I tried to perform the reconditioning, I did the initial charge up, but when trying to discharge, something was wrong with the discharger so it had to be sent back. After letting it rest and running the A/C for a bit to discharge a little, I drove and found to have a bad cell, maybe 2, I forget. Did the charging process kill it? The cells have since been replaced with reconditioned ones. Currently I have a cell considerably weaker than the others, but since several have been replaced the voltages are all over. No red triangles yet though. We got 49 mpg over about 200 miles, crossing the Coast Mountain range twice, last week.
We'll be driving 5000 miles round trip across the country in a few weeks, the mountain passes over the Cascades and then the Rockies can really tax the little Prius so I'd like to have a stronger battery.
Is there some sort of gentle reconditioning to get a bit better performance from the battery?

 

If their are weak cells that were borderline, then a deep discharge process could cause them to go, but not a charging/balancing process. With your new weak cell are you getting recalibrations? How long has it been showing symptoms of weakness? After getting your discharger repaired, have you done any discharging of the battery? It might be good to do a two cycle on it, only going to the second lowest setting, but not the third.

BTW, 49mpg is pretty good average fuel economy!

 

Yeah, I was pretty chuffed with that, especially going over the mountains twice.

I never got around to the discharge, only the charge. I bought the kit used, the seller, whom I trusted, said it was fine so I'm guessing something happened in transit.
No discharging done yet. That's the conundrum, I don't want anything to go wrong before our trip, but I do want a reconditioned battery I guess I'm just a bit nervous after having that cell die.

What are recalibrations?
Weakness isn't showing on the MFD, but when I drive the wife's car I use hybrid assistant and could see it was the lowest cell and has been for months.

So you reckon do 2 cycle charge/ discharge. To the same voltages as normal?

 

FAQ "The second warning that your hybrid battery is failing is called negative battery recalibrations. This is initially seen when parking the car for a few days (such as over a weekend) or when parking the vehicle overnight . . ."

Yes I think at least one discharge cycle ideally two would be very good for the battery. Three deep discharges are probably not going to help the weaker cell, and might even kill it so I'd avoid that for now.

 

Good o see you around again.

Hope your travels have been fruitful.

Maybe one of these days we could meet up and I could show you my new ride.

 

Cheers Ray, those Primes are pretty slick.

 

You mentioned you know someone with a NiMh Gen4? I'd be real interested in taking a look at it. We are going to be in SJ for about two weeks next month . . .