Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

P3023 is Battery Block 13 Becomes Weak, so points to block 13 which is either module 25 and/or module 26.

 

Dolj,

Yeah, typo there on my part. Block 13 so module 25 and/or 26, thanks for clarifying for everyone.

Chris

 

Welcome.

Absolutely yes to all three questions. It's not magic and won't "fix" a bad cell, but it has saved lots of batteries and extended the lives of many more. And I think that it's the best way to get all the cells balanced, not to mention being a tremendous time saver.

I see that you have another hybrid. Check Jeff's web site to see if he makes one for you car. Prolong Battery Systems. Extending the life of your hybrid. – Hybrid Automotive

 

Ema update Sunday morning. I gave her a good 30 hour recharge session hoping to get Block 13 back up to voltage but it just didn't happened. I did see 240 VDC on the charger for the first time in a long time but Block 13 is still low and she is still throwing codes. I attached a photo from Techstream and you can see Block 13 is the culprit.

All the other blocks look good so its sad that one or two modules (25 and/or 26) that are in Block 13 put an end to her run at 500K. I kind of would like to take her apart and fix her but I don't have the time and the wife is not keen on the idea and wants me to let her go ... that's hard

She has easily been the best car I have EVER owned and I really did want to push for 500K. I just found this company in Charlotte:
Auto Service and Repair | Hybrid Service | Tires Hybrid Shop of the Carolinas / Auto Shop of the Carolinas Charlotte, NC (704) 525-3092

They do battery reconditioning and cell replacement. I will give them a call on Monday to see what they charge. Does anyone on PriusChat have experience with these guys? Looks like they just become a Hybrid repair shop in January. Seem to have great reviews on FaceBook and one of their videos offers a 2 year warranty. I guess it can't hurt to make a call.

Thanks for everyone's help in diagnosing and troubleshooting Ema with me.

Best Regards,
Chris

 

I see that they have been members on PC for almost a year but never posted anything. No idea how good they are.

But I do think you'll get more out of the car with a functional battery. Since you already have the grid charger, it wouldn't be very hard or expensive to replace the bad cell(s) and balance it.

 

I'll give an unscientific observation of the results of using the Prolong system. We just got back from our vacation trip.. 99% of our 6,400 mile trip was at 65 - 80 mph with temperatures between 90 and 104*F and the a/c was on 100% of the time. The car was loaded with 3 adult sized people plus four suitcases, two ice chests and other assorted bags.

1. Watching the energy flow screen, I never got a sense that the car was having a problem and the battery charge was not fluctuating rapidly like it was before the reconditioning process.

2. The car maintained speed limits without too much effort, even when cruising up passes at 75 and 80 mph in the Rockies.

3. The car would drop to the purple range for hours at a time when gradually climbing at 75 mph with the a/c on but it very rarely (if ever) drop to only one bar. The car just seemed to be much more efficient and we were very worry free about its performance.

4. I don't know if it's more related to the 12v replacement than the hybrid battery but over the same stretches of highway under similar conditions to last year the fuel efficiency was up 1-2 mpg.

5. End result was 44.2 mpg for the entire trip.

I'm very pleased with the performance after reconditioning. Now it will just be a matter of determining when to do it again.

 

If you follow Jeff's advice, every 3 months for charging cycles and every 6 months for complete reconditioning.

Glad to hear everything worked out well for you.

 

Sounds like you're on the right track! I do a full recondition (3 phases) every 6 months or so, with single "quickies" every 2 or 3 months! I've found that keeping the 12V AuxBattery on a battery-tender whenever possible, is certainly better for the longevity of the AuxBat. 44.2 sounds good! I think mine is around 44.5 overall for the 3 years I've had the car! Thanks for the update!

 

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum, but have been reading all I can get my hands on re the red triangle of death in a 2nd gen Prius. My car has 155,000 miles and I wish I had learned all that I know now, at least a year ago. Last week I got all the signals of trouble on my car. Starting with onboard checking of my aux battery, which was low, and continuing onto cleaning my hv fan, which was dirty, I thought the problem was resolved. Bad lights cleared etc. Drove it 20 miles, all good, but when I restarted it later and drove home,all the lights were back, AND there was a electronic burnt smell coming from the car. I've ordered a code reader so I can see what all I'm looking at, but I'm pretty sure I'm looking at one or more bad modules in the hv battery. Been checking all the posts about changing out one or two modules, which I can do, then read about all the balancing/equalizing set ups that sounded like more than I wanted to get involved in. Then I saw this thread about the Prolong System and it sounds great. Has anyone here replaced one or two modules and then used the Prolong System to do the Balancing/Equalizing? Was it successful? I'm thinking that may be the best avenue to take, other than purchasing a new pack from Toyota. Any comments gladly read!

 

Burned smell? That ain't good.

Not a likely candidate for any improvement with a charger/discharger.

Replacement the pack with a rebuilt/used cells.
Or one with New cells from Toyota.

Once you have the code reader it will likely be more obvious what direction to go.

 

No, I wasn't thinking the charger/discharged would take care of the problem. I think I most likely have some bad cells. I was thinking of replacing the bad ones, then balance/equalize with the Prolong, which I read in one of these posts would do the job instead of the hobby battery conditioner avenue. But I just got a message from a junkyard that said they had some 2010 Prius packs that they would swap the modules from it into my 2005 case for $800.00 with six month warranty. I'd have to take them my pack, as it's a couple hour drive away in Bakersfield, Ca. Or he has a 2006 battery pack from a car with 110,000 miles that he would sell for $500, with six month warranty. I've heard from these forums that the 3rd gen. Modules can be transferred into the 2nd gen case. Still not sure which avenue to go. I want to keep the car, but don't want to buy a new pack from Toyota for close to $2500. My thought gets are leaning toward the 3rd generation modules because they are newer and if I got the Prolong, I could keep them conditioned and happy now that I know more about what's important on these cars for maintenance.

 

If you buy used cells from a junkyard then you will definitely want to buy (or make) a charger/discharger.

Especially the pack has modules from several different packs. The charger/discharger will mask the imbalances in the modules if uses regularly.

Hopefully you also buy a tool to monitor/record the voltage of the 14 blocks of modules. That way you can regularly check in on how things look.

 

Thanks for the reply. The guy said they are packs taken from 2010's that had front end collision. If I take mine there and read the serial numbers, I should be able to see if they are all from the original pack from the same vehicle. I really wanted to know if anyone had used one of these Prolong units to balance/equalize a pack that had one or two modules replaced. The made up one from hobby store sounded like a complicated setup, and if I can get this vehicle running, I'd like to use the Prolong to keep the battery in good shape. Yes, I plan on getting software to go with the reader so I can monitor the modules.

 

@jeff652 would best be able to answer your questions. He works for Hybrid Automotive who makes the Prolong charger. Be nice to him and perhaps you can get a discount.

 

See the link in my signature.

 

Using a Prolong system will help keep things inline with each other until there is a cell failure (short/explode/vent).
I'd be nice if they are from the same vehicle.
But even if they are, that isn't a guarantee about whether they are any good.
There are plenty of crap taxicab packs floating around out there.

 

Chris -- how many miles on the battery in your 500k prius ?

Did you maintain it with the grod charger for years ?

Thanks

 

By implication, you give the impression that the burnt electrical smell came from the interior at the back, is that actually the case? Is it possible the smell originated from the engine bay and found its way to the cabin via the ventilation system? The reason I ask, is the most common reason for burnt electrical smell is the inverter coolant pump shorting out. Maybe worth a look. Check the Inverter coolant reservoir for turbulent fluid movement. You should see a signs of fluid moving from the front to back.

This is certainly the best idea for ensuring you do not go down the incorrect garden path.

 

Thanks. That was a great write up and I agree with your possible choices. I'm waiting for my reader to arrive and am going to use Engine Link, as I'm an IOS person; don't have Android. I've not decided at this point what I'll do until I see the codes and what I'm faced with. I didn't like the electronic burnt smell the last time I turned it off.