How important is it to buy and install a "Grid Charger"

I followed the story of a guy on CleanMPG: installed and used a grid charger on a second gen civic. He was experiencing very frequent recalibrations: Honda-Speak for a dying battery and the car's computer attempts to reassess it's state of charge. Anyway:

He hung in there for a while, charging sessions, research and discussion. He had a good attitude, stuck with it, but within 6 months or so gave up, sold the vehicle.

The IMA battery is a real debacle though, not sure regarding Prius.

 

It seems that batteries in hybrids don't fully charge in the first place for longevity. I think one would be chasing pennies with dollars so to speak.

MT2L03 ?

 

there is no proof that grid chargers work on healthy batteries. it's only people who are having problems that use them. and then, we have nothing showing rate of success.

it's like the post: i through a bottle of techron in when i fill up, and my car runs better.

 

Buying and applying the product endorsement stickers may be all that's required.

 

Running and driving your car will charge the battery the same as a grid charger if not better (when using regenerative breaking). Grid chargers are good if a battery was depleted because it has been sitting unused for extended periods. Other than that there's no need to have one unless you are in the hybrid battery repair business.

 

I let the v sit for many months. No problems. Just kept a AGM battery charger on the jump points under the hood.

MT2L03 ?

 

It's in your owner's manual. At the back of the engine bay fuse box, covered with a red plastic cover is the positive terminal jump point. Negative is any good bolt or bracket nearby.

 

Positive is like xliderider says. Pop the lid of the fuse box. There is a little red cover you flip open to access. The neg is a metal piece sticking out just to the bottom left, facing the car, of the engine cover.

It is definitely in the manual. Sorry, I'm tired, it's dark outside, and I'm not very good at attaching photos....

MT2L03 ?

 

good idea.

 

At least one sober comment about that useless device ....
Better call it "greed charger" - sounds similar but better reflects the essense ...

 

love the self sustaining.

 

I found I may have left the rear dome light on, for many days. Been out of town, too! Luckily it didn't die on my mother!



Don't forget it's AGM....

iPad ?

 

ouch! was your battery in the 'purple zone' too?

 

I'm not sure about, well any of your points. Again, I've only just read up on it, and not that much, but my take is: a grid charger can rebalance a pack, level out the voltage of modules, in a way that in-the-car charging won't do, or not as well.

That said, they're expensive, install is involved, and effectiveness is up in the air.

FWIW, our car sat, new, for about 15 months before we bought it. The hybrid battery's been fine, knock on wood.

Not sure what I'm saying, lol. There's some use for them, but not much?

 

I'm most concerned with older batteries that sit for a long time.
For us in Wisconsin, this happens frequently with snowbirds whose cars stay here while their owners go south for the winter.
The pack can dip below the voltage needed for starting the car.
Then at that point it is a real headache. The pack gets out of whack. And most dealers do not have a high voltage charger on site. (I do!)

If people have an older Prius and let it sit for long periods of time, a high voltage maintenance charger is a good idea.

 

I don't think so. Had to take my cousin to have a surgery this morning so I didn't check. My mother drove it to work and back....

 

Toyota's procedure suggests running engine once a month to charge the battery.

It looks like the issue with depleted packs is happening (rarely) with some other old hybrids.

I was asked few times this year (one request came from the warm state with no winter) about building higher voltage rescue charger for Lexus and Highlander (288v nominal, either 40 x 7.2V or 30 x 9.6V). Why being bothered inventing the wheel, when Toyota have made those (actually parts are made by Denso and Matshushita). Quite expensive but quality is awesome as usual with those manufacturers. Toyota's rescue charger provides about 1 Amp, constant current and powered by 12V DC (requires about 30 amp power supply). I am currently repackaging them into a small form factor boxes with the plugs compatible with my HV Battery Analysers to accompany my 20-channel Analysers.

Back to the topic headline:

Do not buy (waste of money) or install (extremenly unsafe) grid chargers into your Prius.
Baloney, useless devices for anything else but charging the pack after it has been accidently depleted because of the long storage.