Hello, I live in a country, where Toyota Prius service is not available because these cars are imported. I have Prius 2011 S LED 1.8, I purchased and installed refurbished battery back around 1 year ago. The seller sold me as li-ion battery which they have build themselves using cells from a different car. Today I went to my mechanic for battery service and he told me that it is a fire/explosion hazard. He told me that he is using only two wires instead of 14 wires used in original battery. Furthermore, he has soldered resistors on the board of battery. He also reported that he scammed me and these are not li-ion but cell from Toyota estima. He said, the battery has been bypassed and it will not give error but it can catch fire or explode. I had no issues since l installed the battery. It is giving me mileage of 21km/ l. Summer can reach 50 c in my city. So, is it save to use this battery? If no can I change something to make it better. The video is not in English but it is showing the modifications he made.
Yes, these are NiMH battery modules from an Estima. not lithium-ion. And you're right— that crazy bypass at the battery ECU is a serious risk. It is a voltage divider that spit out fake voltage numbers, it will continue to drain power from the battery 24 hours a day, and when battery cells are out of balance, battery explosion might happen due to overcharge. Be careful ! Regards, Jack
