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550 mile drive in 120f weather with Battery pack @ 50% life

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Bryanesk, Jul 12, 2024.

  1. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    Hi so I’m driving to Vegas next weekend. I got a hybrid battery that I have replaced the bad cells multiple times. First time lasted me a 2 years. The next was in December of 2023 then had to replace it again in march and has been running since. Been doing basic maintenance to prepare changing coolant today. But my main concern are these screenshots from dr Prius. My first two life expectancy test for the battery was about 50%. But the first testing couldn’t get it in the green at first and the 2nd test couldn’t get it to charge all the way just till like 7 bars. I also noticed that my pack is running hot. Although I am in a hot climate regularly. My temperate sensor did break as well for temp 1 so I replace it with some Amazon 10k thermistor from Aafruit. Full battery test indicated that the battery was running warm. I’m unsure if any normal ranges for any specification on the battery. This is the screenshot I got from dr Prius I guess my main concern is is it worth it driving to Vegas for 3 and half hours in temperatures 110+. Would my battery be able to take that drive? I also have a code p0137 but had it for months and not really noticed any performance issues. Any advice is great thank you.
     

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  2. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    Also I did clean the fan around a year ago
     
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Who cares you're going anyways it'll run on the ice engine all the way there and back at 36 to 39 mi to the gallon if the battery can't do anything but apparently it's doing something more importantly what's your gas mileage at right now in the hot weather in California and what have you well there you go If it's acceptable then off you go I mean what the heck what are your other options if somebody told you no? Exactly doesn't seem like anything is wrong there I didn't remember your mileage but apparently you have some idea what you're doing You're changing out temperature sensors with resistors and what have you and all of that so you do some electrical work a little bit so there's always that I'm pretty sure that you know as well as I do your car will probably go out there and come back home unless there's underlying other things going on front wheel bearings about the fall out or anything like that those are more probably likely to not have you coming back in one piece then the 50% life battery pack I mean generally a hybrid battery lasts around 8 to 10 years so it 8 years in I would think it would be 20 or 30% not 50 even though you've played with cells a few times and or modules a few times and what have you and sensors so either you done real good or your battery's just holding up reasonably well because your original battery that you started messing with I imagine is original or rebuilt or not new? And you're sitting at around 50% sounds to me like there's not a problem I'm assuming this is a California car that the air conditioner works ineffably on and you're going to travel all the way there with the air on and the wind is up enjoying that low coefficient of drag and all that kind of nonsense correct? So that should help keep your battery reasonably good and cool or cooler if you're not a pet owner and you don't ride a pet in your car regularly then you may not need to look at the fan but if you do any of the above or camp in your Prius or whatever goes on You may just want to have a quick peek in your fan or see that when you call it up with software that it's actually sucking and blowing out the where it's supposed to go You can check that right at the battery because there's a big square cut out of the ductwork that's right over the battery You can just put your hand there and feel the air someday maybe you'll close that big hole up with some zip tape have it all blow out of the car through the duct work and the plate provided not blow on top of the battery I'm sure that's there for cold weather or some kind of nonsense.
     
  4. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    im just more concerned about the temperature cause if its getting to 115-120 F at 90 degree weather im worried about 120F degree weather. I currently get about 41-45 MPG. I’ve done a good amount of handy work on the car. Knock on wood only major issue I had has been the HV battery failed 3 times over 3 years and was strong for 2. I guess another question is what is the optimal discharge and charge rate. I see that modules 12 and 11 are a bit low but compared to others but that’s all I know regarding it. I don’t know what anything else means or what is normal
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i would take some new modules and tools along for the ride, no one can predict battery life
     
  6. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    Sheesh I’d rather not risk it then
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    rent a new prius or tesla, they're an awful lot of fun
     
  8. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    I have another car to use just love mine since the windows are tinted and ac blows really cool
     
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  9. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    I would be concerned that the A/C might not be able to keep up with ~115F ambient, plus the "rolling metal oven" bonus, and the extra heat in the cabin might push an iffy battery over the edge. So bringing extra modules does seem prudent. Also, a lot of drinking water. A person can get dehydrated really fast sitting on the side of the highway at those temperatures. We can't know the weather for next weekend yet, but the trend through Tuesday is down to a more modest 105F.

    Can you go at night, or at least late in the day? Much easier on the car if the outside air is only in the 80's. Or you can wait a hypothetical 4 more years and take the fast rail. OK, not really an option now, but it may be nice if it ever actually gets done.

    At least you're starting from San Bernardino. It would be at least an hour more for me, potentially much more than that depending on the traffic.
     
  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I think mine would do okay but I would hate to live in 115 standing temperature anywhere I'll be considering moving personally but anyway it gets to 103 104 here a bit and of course more with the heat index which has nothing to do with the car I generally won't stand for my air conditioning being out and the only way that's going to happen usually in this model is the evaporator goes out The rest of it I can fix on the fly practically while the car is moving but not the evaporator.
     
  11. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    I’ll be leaving Friday night coming back Sunday morning. So I’d beat the heat Friday but Sunday not so much. I’m coming from Riverside though as picking up someone to come with me
     
  12. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    I have a good feeling mine would too I mean I’ve driving thousands of miles without a hiccup knock on wood. Just scary since it’s so far I’ve done hour and a half drives since changing the module. I’ve also driven it to Laughlin the first time the battery went bad after a year. Just all unfortunate
     
  13. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    Now that I think about it what if I switch out cells in modules 7-11-12? Since those look like are about to cause a problem soon
     
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  14. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yeah Why not maybe a good idea to go over some things like before you leave rather than while you're out in the middle of the trip so you don't have these problems while you're out in the middle of the trip kind of makes sense I generally go over my car before I go on a long excursion so then I can thin the tools that I'm going to carry with me out a little bit Wait does matter. I even know when I'm traveling to places where junk yards and tow lots are that do lots of business in those areas so in case I need a part while I'm gone I got a good shot at it without having to call Toyota or do anything too silly so I'm generally not going to any real strange places or anything like that not out for real new adventures
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's what i would do
     
  16. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    Do you know perhaps anyone in the socal area (OC IE area that sells the blades for a fair price perhaps?
     
  17. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I have two balanced battery modules that I got from my battery guy after he built me a battery and about 4 weeks into the new battery It had the isolation fault The battery was built very well and very clean and I found the fault and I changed one module out of the three he gave me I have these two left over they've been sitting in the shop they're very clean and this guy does really good work so I know that they are probably in very good shape I don't know how fast they would get to you I wouldn't hesitate to use them at all this guy that does my battery work is really anal about his work and a really good guy I call him up in the middle of the night and tell him whatever one of the batteries is gone funky He will either have me bring the whole battery to him and drop it in his lock box outside his shop behind his house and at that time I can pick up another battery all ready to go or he can fix that one or he will leave me modules out in the lock box If I want to change them myself It doesn't really matter to him He knows what I do and makes my job in life easier however I want to handle it. You're more than welcome to them
     
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't, but there are threads here from people who have asked and received the info, if you can find them. or ask in a new thread.
     
  19. Bryanesk

    Bryanesk Junior Member

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    I’ve gotten some batteries from 2nd life battery and worked great I leave the 19th but want a couple of days with them in so I can get a feel for them I know newer batteries can cause older batteries to deteriorate if not balanced
     
  20. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    This guy does everything to these modules before they're racked and ready for use He processes like 60 at a time if I'm not mistaken or 56 or something like that That's quite a decent setup I couldn't tell you about what goes on after their racked up and the balancing and all of that business I don't really have much to do with that All I know is that these two modules that I have were all tested and in his arsenal ready for racking and making another battery for whichever Prius prismatic battery he would be working on That's all I know The one that I changed out in the pack that he built cleared up the isolation fault and the battery's been running stellar since it's been about 13 months now still going strong and fine I look under the hood of my batteries all four of them about every 8 months I undo the rear edge of the cover facing the spare tire and lift up on the metal and shine a light and then look at my bus bars in the nuts on the one side and they should match the other side or they always do