Gen 2 sat for 1 1/2 years

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by lex, Feb 22, 2021.

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  1. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    We're an extended family currently owning 4 Prii, the most recently acquired one, a garaged 2008 with 70K miles from elderly neighbor-friends ending their driving period as essentially a giveaway. I've read on forum here that the NiMH battery should be "soak charged" before attempting to drive and might survive the hibernation fine, but not if charged from the engine (at 50 amps+). Unfortunately, this info was acquired before a family member replaced the starter battery and had driven the car for a few short trips, 1-2 hours in total. They did not siphon the old gas in the tank first, and I'm concerned the pack cells are now unbalanced by the driving and will fail sooner as a result. Is it recommend now to stop all usage until the traction battery is properly examined and charged from the grid by a technician? This major faux pas on handling the pack pains me to learn of. Stan & Iris Ovshinsky, the founders of Ovonics where the battery chemistry was developed, are (were) one degree of separation away from me.
     
    #1 lex, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    my opinion, since it started and drove fine: buy a prolong charger and drive the heck out of it until the battery is up to snuff.
    eventually, it will need to be replaced, but on a mint car like that, i would be willing to spend the 2k on a new battery.
    maybe skip the conditioning, and invest the $600. into a new battery when this one quits. who knows, it could be years.
     
    #2 bisco, Feb 22, 2021
  3. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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    Owning 4 Prii, why not invest in a grid charger or build one for $75, maybe get Stan or Iris or descendants to help build one. Invest in a Dr Prius app and/or Hybrid Assistant on Android phone. Android apps preferred.

    Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus

    Hybrid battery diagnostic and repair tool for Toyota and Lexus

    Hybrid Assistant: OBD

    Check page 6 and 7 on this thread for $75 DIY charger.

    Can I borrow your battery charger/balancer/reconditioner? | Page 6 | PriusChat

    Another DIY charger

    DIY Grid Reconditioning Charger | PriusChat

    Go to Home Depot get in-wall speaker wire 50 cents a foot instead of electrical wire. Speaker wire rated for 300 volts.

    Southwire (By-the-Foot) 16/2 Grey Stranded CU In-Wall CMR/CL3R Speaker Wire-56911499 - The Home Depot

    Basic schematic for Meanwell APC-35-350 power supply charger.
     

    Attached Files:

    #3 alftoy, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
  4. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    If you are dedicated hobbiest and wish to play whack a mole with used battery cells every few months go for it. The battery is 13 years old and working, why spend more money and hours of downtime labor?

    Toyota does not recommend that kind of recharging, they only occasionally will do it for a relatively young battery that is excessively discharged. Toyota does not recommend cell replacement either. Just because there are private companies selling a charger and diy enthusiasts does not make it the best course of action on a working battery.

    If I can't afford to get a genuine oem battery (recently $1650-$2200) OR if I want diy it, I would buy a third party new cell and wiring kit ($1600).
     
    #4 rjparker, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Since this car has only 70k miles on it and was a giveaway item, you should invest into a new battery now for around $2000 and have trouble free, worry free driving for another 10 years.
     
    #5 JC91006, Feb 22, 2021
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  6. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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    Then why spend $5-700 on a Prolong charger if it can be done for $75? If there are no trouble codes then why not rejuvenate and balance the existing HV battery, may get 2-3 years or more extended life. For that matter the existing battery might last 3-5 years on its own. We aren't clairvoyant to predict how long the current battery will last.

    Hardly any difference between oem battery and third party new cell. $300.

    Whack a mole is with Hobby chargers rather than a pack charger, esp if there are no check engine lights or red triangle of death.
     
    #6 alftoy, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
  7. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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    Existing battery may be trouble free on its own for another 3-5 years, better to get the Dr Prius app or Hybrid Assistant and know for sure instead of having Prius Chat members guess, or take it to a Toyota dealer and pay $200 for a diagnosis and be told that the battery is on its last leg and the dealer will happily charge $4000 to replace a perfectly good battery.
     
    #7 alftoy, Feb 22, 2021
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    First thing I would do with that battery is balance it with a grid charger. Many members in NorCal has a grid charger and can probably help do it for you. A dealer will not balance that battery for you, they'll just help you replace it.

    Don't go out and buy a prolong battery reconditioning system, that money could just go towards a new battery that will give you 10 years more of trouble free driving.
     
    #8 JC91006, Feb 22, 2021
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  9. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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    Lots of suggestions to replace the battery for $2200, well if its $2200 or $1600 for a third party battery, then that means he has the ability to DIY. If he can DIY then he has the capability to build a basic grid charger, or borrow a grid charger but still has to have DIY knowledge to hook it up to the HV battery.

    Similar to this video instruction, beware 250VDC voltage.

     
    #9 alftoy, Feb 22, 2021
  10. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    A grid charger may not work at this point, so that's why he shouldn't go out and buy one. Build one for $100, maybe
     
    #10 JC91006, Feb 22, 2021
  11. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    There are lots of opinions and "suggestions" (philosophies) on what course of action you could take. We don't know your DIY capabilities, budget constraints, intentions for the car, etc. Might want to consider the route of purchasing an OBD2 adapter and the paid version of Dr Prius app (also Hybrid Assistant) to allow you to monitor the HV battery (and perform a capacity test) and see what general condition it is in before doing anything.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #11 mr_guy_mann, Feb 22, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
  12. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    Firstly, thank you for the responses. To clarify, I personally do not have the DIY capabilities, nor does the family member who acquired the car, however she has someone who routinely works on older Prii, though I cannot vouch for his degree of expertise, and so we were turning here for resources/info. She also has a son with 5-year electro-mechanical engineering degree, though no prior experience with these cars; he has the aptitude but not the time. Mention of the Ovshinskys stems from my work on Who Killed the Electric Car? (Sony Pictures 2006), which featured interviews with the charming and influential couple. It sounds like the most reasonable and likely approach for us is to have someone with tools/devices to read the status of the battery and proceed from there. It's a given that any dealer would take it in the direction of a full OEM replacement. Once the battery's status is read by this local fellow who routinely works on Prius systems, assuming he has the tools/software and capability to do that (not really a useful 'expert' otherwise), then we will be onto the next step.

    Further advice might be geared to my admittedly limited knowledge. Several types of chargers have been mentioned here and I'm not clear as to the differences and purposes of each. I won't be undertaking even minor DIY work (I'm in Asia).
     
    #12 lex, Feb 23, 2021
  13. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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    You're in Asia and the car is in Fresno? Maybe get in touch with the the family member's friend that works on older Prii. I think you are too overly concerned with too much info, if there are no warning lights the battery should be OK. Maybe wait until you find out what her friend's Prii mechanic capability is, he may have the charger and diagnostic capability.

    The chargers do the same function at different price points. The diagnostic apps are for an iPhone or Android phone utilized with an OBDii reader. As noted above.

    Hybrid Assistant: OBD
     
    #13 alftoy, Feb 23, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2021
  14. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    I'm in Taiwan, btw, a nation which has handled the pandemic with extraordinary competence (1 fatality over past 9 months), but in non-covid times I travel to California every 3-4 months. The fellow who worked on the car is a former Toyota mechanic, and it seems to be running okay. However, asking family about his work, they described his response to my urging the HV battery looked at and possibly balanced by a charger with "He said that at the dealer, the mechanics are afraid to use 'that machine'." Yeah...sounds odd. Asked if it was hooked up a laptop or phone to merely look at the battery's condition (Dr Prius app or similar), the answer was no. There's no reason not to have done at least that, so he appears not to be versed in matters outside of the ICE realm and/or lacks motivation to maintain the battery when there's more to be made in replacement, something even a dealer mechanic can still get away with when the average Toyota hybrid driver still sees the HV battery as a black box which either works or doesn't. We're still living in the ICE age.
     
    #14 lex, Mar 15, 2021
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2021
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