Prius Battery Replacement Kit (GenII/GenIII) with NEW custom cells

.13V difference that is great result, but what is the time from SOC 80% to 32% ?

 

That's hard because it will vary a bit by load. A/C cycling on/off compared to running full blast for example.

How long do you think it should take?
I'll try to plan my time accordingly.

Anything else you want to know before I do it?

 

This is a small measure, but that seems to be within specification. It's rather difficult to discern anything. Only time will tell if they hold up.

I think people want to know how do they maintain SOC from your own perspective. Anything much different from OEM? Accelerates the same, etc?

 

Now have 300 miles on the battery pack.
Took time to re-run the seat-of-the-pants test.

Parameters:
First, force charge car to 80%SOC (Parking brake on. Car in D, foot on accelerator, foot on brake)
Then immediately begin test

Car in Ready.
Parking brake on.
Transmission in Neutral.
A/C on with fan on HI.
Temperature set to MAX COLD.
Front defroster and rear defogger on.
45 degrees F outside temperature
Allow car to drain the pack down to 32% SOC

Voltage info at start of test:
Highest battery block 17.86v
Lowest battery block 17.65v
0.21v difference

Voltage info at end of test:
Highest battery block 15.01v
Lowest battery block 14.93v
0.08v difference

Elapsed time: 38 minutes
Start: 11:10am
End: 11:48am

I did not have the headlights on this time, in order to remove the variation between HID and standard headlights.

 

I went ahead and ordered the kit. I'm getting the triangle of death and it's showing #9 module is bad. I'm looking forward to receiving the kit soon.

I could have bought a used module and got the car going again, but would be replacing another one and another one ect months down the line. I'm taking a change on this new technology pack but it should work just fine and hopefully last a long time.

 

Clarification, is the elapsed time included the force charge or is it just the discharge cycle?

 

Good question.
Just the discharge.

I'll go back and make an edit.

Edit: Or no I won't. Hasn't even been 24 hours, but seems editing option is no longer available.

 

Just before calling it quits with my original battery, I did a stress test on it to see if it would throw more codes before making a long trip. So, I was more concerned about watching for dash lights than timing it but IIRC mine lasted about 15 minutes but that was also in a hot garage in July with headlights on (default setting) so apples to oranges.

I'd like to try this again with the new pack but I'll have to wait a few months (Jan?) before getting 45f temps during the day. HAH!!!

 

Yeah. It's not a great test. But I had some folks ask me offline to do this so I thought I'd share the results publicly.

Basically the car drives as it should and modules all play well with each other when driving.
Not really much to report. <shrugs shoulders>. Which is a good thing I suppose.

 

Thanks for the updates. Watching your journey closely.

 

Now is 400 miles since install.
Nothing to report.
Added a screenshot from Torque that shows block voltage, etc.

 

38 min I think that's excellent time! Thanks for your test and effort

 

EB remember what most businesses post.
"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone"




just sayin' ....
.

 

Unfortunately, that is not how it works in today's society. Somebody just needs to yell "discrimination!"

 

Glad to see an alternative battery swap, which could lead to better battery swap prices from Toyota dealers. When they have you over a barrel, the dealers could soak you.

 

Aftermarket batteries have been available for Honda hybrids for many years. It has had little if any impact on the price of OEM batteries.

 

The wholesale cost of a NiMh battery is about $500/kwh, Gen 2 HV batteries are about 1.3kwh as I recall, making the wholesale cost just under $1k. Since you *can* purchase a new HV battery for ~$2k and taking into consideration distribution costs and a fair profit, they are not WAY out-of-line.

As you correctly point out however, there are some dealers that soak their customers, but that applies even to a water pump.

 

On the road again!

Just finished installing my new battery kit. A few pics...

View from inside sliding the old battery up a board



One new battery module installed



Half done installing modules



Well, that's it for the picture show. Installation is complete and I've got a grand total of 26 miles on the new battery. The MFD display started low, and quickly went to 7 green bars. Stayed there for the first 15 miles or so. Guess the battery ECU didn't know what to do with all that capacity. It seems to have adjusted to the new cells now. The display is in the high blue bars area now.

Oh, and the triangle of death is off!