Prius Battery Replacement (GenII) Like you've never seen - NEW Cylindrical Cells

My guess is plated copper (nickel plate?). @2k1Toaster ?

 

If it's not copper, then it better be gold or silver. There is a reason wires are copper. It's the best conductor that is not gold or silver.

 

yes, I just received my kit it is plated copper.

 

My 2005 battery appears to be giving up the ghost. After four years of custody fighting, I have little money. I was looking at this solution, but I see that the new batch isn't going out for two months, which won't get my son to school in the mornings. I was also curious as to why there is only a two year warranty. I would expect this solution to be a good one that would last much longer than that.

 

Toyota OEM replacement hybrid battery only has a 12 month warranty if you install it yourself.

I bet that the OEM replacement battery can last as long as the original if not longer.

Warranty does not necessarily corrolate to quality.

 

I was just going to say that you could get a three year warranty from Toyota if they install it. But it'll cost twice as much. +1 on the quality being more important than the warranty.

 

Yep. Battery is pulled off parts shelf at the dealership.
If you install it,12 month warranty
If they install it, 36 month warranty.
Same exact part.

That's why when I install OEM batteries for customers, I just provide a 36 month warranty, even though Toyota only proves me a 12 month warranty.

The quality is top notch. No way it is failing within 3 years years ever.

 

I'll make a post of my install from newpriusbatteries later and give updates if it helps people. I'm only after a few more years at the least for this car. as for the Toyota warranty. I wasn't having any luck locating a reasonably priced Toyota battery and wanted it fixed. this seems like a great solution for me and for what I want out of the car. obviously most of our cars have outlasted the factory warranty so just because it's a one year or whatever doesn't mean it's not going to last.

 

When your car was brand new, the warranty on the non-hybrid portion of the drive train was only 3 years/60K miles. I think everyone expects any Toyota will last much longer than that.

 

After reading through all this post I came to a conclusion. I realized this is just 14 x 12 = 168 D cell Nimh batteries soldered together and shrink-wrapped. This reality took some time to sink in. As an amateur pack builder from my RC days and Electric scooters in Asia lifestyle, I am really interested and confident in possibly sourcing my own D cells all 168 of them and then trying to purchase the shrink wrap and plastics without batteries from newpriusbatteries or one of the other Chinese suppliers.

If money were no object (google link fail insert powerex-d 10,000mah 1.2v best D cell batteries of 2020) 4500$ Could build one heck of a D cell pack and I'm curious what the AH rating could be using different D cells such as to get 10ah plus in one module. I know this may or may not make a difference based on stock ECU usage and charging. But my common sense tells me a pack with more capacity will last longer as it takes longer to deplete from fully charged and it lasts longer so recharges not as frequently but still think about it, if you built a 12ah module then 5 years down the line when the battery is operating at 50% original capacity or 6ah then yeah that still might just be great. Who knows what could happen but since no one has tried it or done it yet (as in sourcing premium grade US or Japanese Made Nimh D cells not Chinese made D cells) this is pretty interesting new D cell DIY experimental territory. I remember A123 cells were desirable, imagine if DIY pack module building became a thing for Prius owners although tedious it might make for some awesome results and customization options of having an open D-cell market with possibly certain cells being desired in the future similar to what happened with the a123 cell phenomenon

 

Update I was wrong on my calculations and went past the 15 minute edit time so here's a new post about the above. It's much cheaper than I thought. Powerex D premium 10ah D cells are 25 for 2 so about 2400usd for all 168 and the other lower cost premium d cells are 9.5AH and 18 a two pack or about 1500USd for all 168 of them. For 1500USD for premium grade D cells not made in China that's pretty good and at 9.5AH it might just outlast an OEM battery rated which is 6.5AH

It's hard to say since no packbuilder has any multimeter photo or video of any prius pack at 8ah 9ah or 10ah but just sales claims so if someone does build a real 8ah or 9ah or 10ah D cell pack and verifies it with picture/video multimeters reading then does a 5-10 year longevity report, then finally we will know that yes it is possible to build your own D cell pack and after 5 years with the battery at 50% operating capacity its still outputting in the 5-6ah range then that just might go on another 5 years ultimately meaning for those who have low mile prius or plan to rebuild the ICE or keep it long term this premium D cell option of building your own d cell pack might be worth it.

 

(more info about tenergy D-cells supplier of cells to Panasonic and samsung)

Tenergy is ISO 9001 certified, approved pack manufacturer by Panasonic and Samsung, TUF approved manufacturer of TUV certified products, and Intertek approved manufacturer of ETL certified product.


Tenergy Corporation was established in 2004 in the heart of Silicon Valley, California. As a pioneer in providing total power solutions, Tenergy has enjoyed rapid growth by working closely with our customers to develop comprehensive battery and charger products. Tenergy serves a world-wide spectrum of industry clients through technical strength, innovative products. Our customers benefit from Tenergy’s broad product and technical capabilities in NiMH, Li-Ion, Li-Polymer, LiFePO4 and NiCd batteries, chargers, power management and other emerging power technologies. Tenergy products touch a wide variety of products in the rechargeable battery market, including industrial, consumer products, storage, transportation, medical, communication, military and many other special applications.


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And that would still be much more expensive that the pack here. You need some sort of bracket structure and, as @2k1Toaster has said a few times, the majority of the cost is in shipping.

 

New member of Priuschat or new sales rep?

 

This is a terrific idea! Imagine if we can get the plastic pieces, we can use quality D cells that have the latest low discharge chemistry.
Just unsure if these cells can withstand the regular 20-30C that HSD pushes thru.

 

Why?

Probably 90%+ of the OEM HV batteries last well over 10 years. They're available all day long to be purchased for $1650-2000 new from Toyota. 2k1's is 1600ish. I can gaurentee you, that an OEM pack, even at a reduced 3000mah capacity, if still well balanced between the 14 blocks, is very difficult to differentiate from a brand new pack in regard to how the car operates, other than you can run the AC longer with the engine off. Going from 6500 mah to 10k mah will have the same result.

I seem to remember seeing ~157 amps discharge rate and 115-120ish? charge rate a few times on TechStream. One sketchy "solder joint" (likely a welded joint?) or not so great D cell and "poof".

 

Quick question. When installing into the car where do you connect the battery acid hose that goes into the car chassis?

 

are you talking about the vent hose fir the auxiliary 12 volt AGM battery? If you have the proper battery it has a place for the vent. If there is no place for it that is the wrong battery fir the car and dangerous to people in the car.
This thread is about the high voltage traction battery pack.

 

I’m talking about the high voltage. And I would also like to know if this is a lithium ion battery?