Damaged modules. Is it safe to use them?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Kris_Parker, Mar 14, 2024.

  1. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    Hello everyone, I just got a HV battery from 2014 Toyota Avalon through UPS shipping, the problem is during the shipping the package got damaged as well as the modules and other pieces. Based on the pictures what can you say? Can I use them or it better not to do that?
     

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  2. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Did you report the damage to UPS.
    You could take a "chance" and try it out.... But I wouldn't. Make ups pay for it.


     
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Pictures are hard to see... Looks like vent tubes were broken off but not seeing any damage to expose electrolyte. Who packed them? It's more their fault than UPS fault but I'd go after both of them for refund and insist on not wanting to ship them again and try to use them because it means a cheap/free pack. Not being able to use the vent tubes might be manageable because the hybrid battery cooling fan does that job so well that they eliminated the pipe that connects to the vent tubes in later model Gen3. They decided the fan was good enough.
     
  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You going to use all of them You're not going to use the computer the battery voltage sensor the thing smashed our car doesn't use that so you bought this predominantly for the modules You don't see any leakage any white stuff building up on the outside of the silver parts of the modules probably reasonably okay It looks like they just slipped out of the rack maybe they weren't tightened enough I don't know but you want to get them re-racked and tight before anything swells if that might be a thing then they won't rack correctly
     
  5. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    Yes, I did. Not sure if I can get anything back, but wouldn't hurt to try.
     
  6. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Did you take photos of the damaged box? You should have complained to the driver.
    And called ups to let them know..... And call the place you got the battery from, let them know.
    They can start a claim.

     
  7. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    Beside some small scratches and broken vent tubes, I didn't find anything. No electrolyte leaks or swelling. Just wanted to ask someone else before using them.

    Well the guy who sent me this battery have paid 40$ for the box and some more for the bubble wrap. The UPS worker put everything inside of the box and not him.
     
  8. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    I have pictures of everything. When I get the package I wasn't there. I started a claim myself (under the name of the seller, he allowed me to do that), with detail description and photos of damaged package and damaged merchandise.
     
  9. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    You're not wrong. I wanted to get some extra modules for the future + the price was reasonably low. No leaks or swelling. I'll re-rack them and try to charge and discharger for a few cycles to see the capacity, and if they can go up or not.
     
  10. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Yeah... UPS won't know that you can still use them, nor will they require them to be shipped again/returned. If all gets processed as a matter of routine and there's full coverage for the loss, you scored a free set of modules.
     
  11. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    I hope for that. I don't think there is a full coverage, in best case I can get up to 100$ + shipping costs, which is not bad as well, since I have paid a really small price for this modules.
     
  12. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Do your best to get as much as possible! Try to insist on more!

    It always kills me when I pay a fortune for full insurance when I ship something and the shipping happens without issue. But this is a good example of why it can sometimes be worth it.
     
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  13. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    They didn't insure it for the full cost???
     
  14. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    All I care about is if any of them are broken In the pictures I don't really see anything broken I see where the modules slid out of the rack to me dropping wouldn't necessarily do that to me it looks like some boob started to undo the rack and then decided not to continue and didn't tighten them back up slap them on eBay for sale and then ship them and didn't tighten the 10 mm back up to keep the rack tight He didn't care he sold them see that's the difference between regular human being selling something and somebody who actually gives a crap there's a big difference when you're dealing with people that just don't have the wear with all to give a crap is quite problematic actually because when you don't know that makes you what I guess kind of ignorant and well stupid is as stupid does as we say down here.
     
  15. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    No, I paid for the shipping but I wasn't aware of what happening in there and missed the moment with buying a coverage. Next time I'll do that.
     
  16. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    The modules stayed for about 5 month on a shelf, sure thing most of them got discharge pretty low. I believe only 4-5 of them were at 7.7v, 2-3 at 6v and the rest below 6v. I even had one at 3v, which is really low, not sure if I can even recover any of them. I put everything together and used grid charger for 12+ hours to charge them up, after that i discharged them to 7.6v (260v) and they do look like a normal modules. Still I'm going to check the capacity and decide from there. One more thing, after the discharging I check everything once again and I noticed some kinda of liquid under the modules. Probably the electrolyte. Doesn't have a smell, fells like aloe vera.
     

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  17. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    I filled the claim on Thursday, and on a Friday I got paid from the UPS. I got the shipping costs back + 99$ since I didn't had any coverages (unfortunately). Still, this is better that getting nothing. And like I said before, I had a good deal on this modules.
     
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  18. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    What's the charge voltage ? At like 2.4 amps? My Venice charger cannot stay on HV rack anywhere near that amount of time.
     
  19. Kris_Parker

    Kris_Parker Member

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    I have Maxx volts EL1 Grid Charger, this one use a slow rate of charge, about 250-300mA.
     
  20. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    They are damaged. Send them back and get your money back...
    You're taking a huge risk.