How to remove Prius batteries?

My first suggestion and safety precaution is that you visit techinfo.toyota.com to obtain the relevant repair manual pages. Then you are not entrusting your life to "something you read" on the web.

In brief, you need to remove the orange interlock plug. Then you need to wait a few minutes to ensure that the capacitors in the inverter have discharged. Then remove the interlock cover over the orange cables so that you can unbolt the cables. You are supposed to wear gloves that are high-voltage rated so that you don't zap yourself.

Good luck.

 

curious, why would you part out the car instead of filing a claim on insurance??

 

do an eBay search for Heavy Linesman gloves, they seem to have what you are looking for, unless you know an electrician you can borrow some from.


Also just curious about how much did they charge you for the wrecked Prius. I have always said that if I ever wreck my car I want to buy it back from the insurance company.

 

How much is your life worth? I would buy the gloves or I would forget about it altogether.

You can get the gloves for less than $200 at mcmaster.com , search for electrical protection gloves.

 

If you have a Grainger store (or another industrial supply store) they would probably have them. Also an industrial electric supply store would probably have them.

 

I once got zapped when I was a teen working on a p/u truck. I had just helped my dad change his spark plugs and the dist. cap and rotor. After they were changed he went in the truck to start it to test it out and I noticed that one of the Plug wires wasn't fully seated on the spark plug and I grabbed it to push it on tight just as my dad turned the ignition to start his truck. I got thrown about 5 yards from the jolt and I felt it in my elbow for about 3 days. I hear on average that the voltage after the coil is about 20,000 volts.

 

Its not the voltage that will kill you, its the current.

I have been trying to find the rating for the "official" Toyota approved gloves (SPX/OTC 00002-03100 (S) -03200 (M) -03300 (L) ) but haven't found anything.

We have 00 rated gloves (the lowest grade) and they are rated to 500V AC. I think that anything rated 500V or better should be adequate.

Toyota recommends testing each time before use by blowing air (using your mouth) into each glove to make sure there are no pinholes in the gloves. I tested our set at work and they pass.

 

Yes, higher is better but more expensive. We bought a set for work from McMaster-Carr (industrial supply) www.mcmaster.com. Our set is grade 00, good up to 500V AC. The Prius HV battery is 201.6V DC.

I would also echo Patrick's suggestion to obtain the service manual sections related to removing the HV battery from TIS. You should do this before proceding any further. It costs $10 for a 24hour subscription.

 

Well, the Toyota manual prescribes an ultrasafe procedure to follow, since we live in a litigious society. If you remove the orange interlock switch from the driver's side of the battery case, and if you allow the inverter capacitors to discharge, and if the system main relays disconnect, and if there is no electrolyte leakage from the battery modules to ground, then you should not be exposed to electricity. You can measure the voltage across the battery terminals and from each terminal to ground, using a digital voltmeter, to confirm there is no voltage present. (This assumes that your digital voltmeter can be relied upon.)

Since there are several "if" statements in the above, Toyota tries to make it simple for its techs by requiring the use of gloves...

 

And if none of the damage caused by the accident compromised the HV battery or any of the internal connections.

Again, for the cost of the gloves (less than $50 from McMaster-Carr) I don't think its worth the risk.

The Toyota manual instructions are that you should be wearing the gloves to remove the interlock switch.

 

I'm glad he wasn't unlucky.

 

First let me say I'm not dissing anyone for being safety conscious.

Be aware there is a relay -inside- the battery box that disconnects -both- battery lines. There is also a "ground fault module" inside the box that will trip the relay to disconnect if -either- line is grounded.

I don't see any way you could be "electrified" in spite of what you try to do while disconnecting the battery cables! Even if you managed to touch one live cable, I would suspect you would "ground" it to the chassis through your body, disconnecting -both- lines via the ground fault circuit. In this case you would not get a "shock" as you would only be touching one side.

I think disconnecting the battery is a pretty boring procedure overall, with little or no risk. Even the inverter capacitors don't come into play as you pull the disconnect tab, taking them out of the circuit.

So enough "panicking" please.

 

Rats! You mean we can't use the 'hair raising' stories?


As David pointed out, there are internal relays that fail "open" so the external cables are disconnected from the battery bus. Also, taking out the safety interlock provides another break in the circuit. Finally, the battery bus is isolated from the frame.

It is not impossible to get hurt from a traction battery, just the redundant interlocks make it unlikely. When in doubt, probe it with a VOM and if it reads dead, it is dead. Disconnect the power cables and put the cover over the terminals until ready to reconnect.

Bob Wilson

 

Is it ok to put your tongue across the terminals? We used to do that with 9V batteries when I was a kid. :madgrin: