Gen II batteries -- a worrisome trend

throw in a new 12v while you're at it.

 

When I replaced the front struts and rear shocks last year (7 years, 127,000 miles later), I cleaned the HV battery fan. Rear panel was already off to get to the rear struts so why not.

You will be surprised how much build up there is on the blades. A computer air duster's won't cut it. I used a 10gal air compressor with adjustable PSI output setting. This got rid of most of the build-up, but stuff was still sticking to the blades. Using q-tips was too time consuming and cumbersome b/c of the tight spacing between the fan blades.

I discovered a spray bottle with water, and the nozzle adjusted to "stream," worked best. It got all the junk off the fan blades. You just have to orient the fan, so the water stream hits the blades, then drips off onto the ground; no water will touch any of the electronics, esp if you cover the center hub with plastic and tape. This procedure is easy to visualize with the fan in hand.

It would have been ideal to simply detach the fan cage from the motor, and super easy to clean. However, the fan cages is attached to the motor with a giant locking plastic tab, that most likely was intended to be mounted once. Attempts to try and remove this tab had me convinced that the tabs would break off, and Toyota dealers don't sell a replacement locking tab.

 

What screen do you look at to determine the amount of battery charge?

 

there is an icon of a battery with bars that show the level of charge. it is in the power flow screen.

 

Hi trader. Look at the following screen on the LED "multifunction" display. The battery icon shows 6 blue bars in this case. It can show anywhere from 0 bars up to a maximum of eight depending on the state of charge. Six, as shown, is the "nominal" level that it prefers to be at.

 

Thanks! Found that screeen. Looks like everything is good on my newly aquired '07 Prius!

 

Has anyone tried car-part to source junkyard batteries?

 

I see you're new here, but the general consensus on PC that I've read is that junkyard batteries are very risky unless you have a lot of electricity know-how. I don't have an opinion on this based on experience. But I'll say do your homework before going this route.

 

I found my battery on car-part.com from an 08 with 120 xxx miles for 500$ and installed it a few weeks ago runs great and sold the battery with 238xxx miles for 250$. feeling thrifty

 

Sold the working battery to Penn state for battery research. Isn't that cool!?!

 

That is cool. Interested to follow the story on this replacement.

 

On my replacement? I'll definitely post here if I have any issues. Hopefully I won't! *Runs and grabs my grid charger*

 

Now that the patents are expired any battery manufacturer could knock off replacement batteries. I don't know if the quantities are there, but if you had an older factory you could bang out some universal fit modules for gen 1, 2, and 3. There's the cell matching problem, but the formation charger could bin cells easy enough. I've been to battery factories in China that are too old and too small to chase the latest lithium ion techology. Prius battery replacement could be a nice fit for such company especially if all their equipment has long been written off.

 

In the back seat on my 2011 Prius 2 there is a vent on the passenger side. The car manual states that one should never block this vent because it is used to keep the 201 volt battery from over heating. I would suspect that if your 201 battery should fail the 12 volt would need to be charged up. I'm not sure on this, but I think all 201 batteries from different year models are not the same.