Looking for Links to HV Battery Repair or Replace

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by born2pdl, Sep 7, 2012.

  1. born2pdl

    born2pdl Junior Member

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    2005, 116k miles, HV battery fan has become noticable, occasionally driving weird with low power, SOC drops rapidly. From what I've read, my symptoms indicate HV battery trouble. I'm sure this info is somewhere in this forum but I've looked around and haven't come across clear answers to the questions below.
    1. If I replace the HV battery with a used one, what years have compatible HV batterys (2004-2009 or newer still?)? I'd look for one from the latest year that's compatible.
    2. Could someone point me to good comprehensive threads or other sites describing in detail how to rebuild/refurb my own HV battery?

    I'm leaning toward repairing my battery. Used batteries were cheap and plentiful 3 years ago, not anymore. We have a spare car while this one is down, just need instructions so I can do it right and stay out of trouble. Thanks in advance.
     
    #1 born2pdl, Sep 7, 2012
  2. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    #2 fotomoto, Sep 7, 2012
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    does it have the original 12 volt battery?
     
    #3 bisco, Sep 7, 2012
  4. born2pdl

    born2pdl Junior Member

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    Good point, the 12V battery is less than a year old, but even so I will check its voltage level tonight.
     
    #4 born2pdl, Sep 7, 2012
  5. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    Do you have any DTC's? What kind of mpg's r u getting?
    I don't doubt that your battery seems to be losing capacity but, usually one or two cells will go bad. If you're not getting any DTC's it will be very difficult to determine which one is bad w/out running load tests on all of them. If it were me, I would wait to get a DTC (as long as I was still getting good mpgs).
    To answer your questions,
    1) You can use Gen II (04-09) cells and I believe you can use Gen III cells as well (not sure of the complications involved with that (if any)).
    2) I don't remember seeing a step by step guide to rebuild an HV battery anywhere but there are numerous posts from people who did it. To me, it doesn't seem that hard to do just time consuming. You can just replace the cells with used cells or install a Reinvolt or other refurbished battery. If you simply rebalance your current cells (which may be an option since there are no DTC's), jdedenberg is the man for that info. Look for posts by him.
     
    #5 usnavystgc, Sep 7, 2012
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  6. born2pdl

    born2pdl Junior Member

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    12V battery measures 12.47V. I need to buy a code reader, don't yet know if there are any codes.

    I've found more related threads, learning more. There's a HV battery nearby, 2007, 80k miles, slightly bent case, $250, for donor modules. Or maybe I can find a couple of matching modules out there, once I know what I need to match.
     
    #6 born2pdl, Sep 8, 2012
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