Hi All, I thought I would record this in a separate thread so others looking for Prolong Reconditioning experiences can readily find it. I previously reported the dreaded P0A80 code for my Camry Hybrid in the below thread: P0A80 on a 2007 HyCam | PriusChat As reported toward the end of the above thread, it looks like the Prolong Reconditioning did a wonderful job of rejuvenating the HV battery, especially bringing the errant blocks into a reasonably tight Voltage band with the other blocks. The before-reports can be found in these posts: P0A80 on a 2007 HyCam | PriusChat P0A80 on a 2007 HyCam | PriusChat The after-reconditioning reports can be found here: P0A80 on a 2007 HyCam | Page 2 | PriusChat Per the advice of a gentleman named "S Keith" on Greenhybrid.com, I terminated the 3rd discharge at 0.5V per cell (102V), the same as the second discharge. A couple of cautions I would like to note: 1. I thought I could just rotate the harness end on the back of the charger/discharger and once it starts to go in then I could just push it in and then tighten with the ring on the plug. Well, I found out that this is not how it works. It's designed such that the plug needs to be aligned and then will only go in as the ring is turned. 2. I ran into an Arc Flash trying to connect the Bulb discharger to the harness, causing some damage to the harness and discharger plugs, but luckily no injury. When I called HybridAutomotive, I was told that the bulbs should only be installed AFTER the discharger is connected to the harness. But I wish there were a CAUTION against connecting the discharger with the bulbs already installed. I suggested to them to add the caution to the guide and also to improve the product by adding a switch inline to the plug on the discharger or on the wooden base. @jeff652 please take note of the above suggestions. From then on, I started rotating the orange HV disconnect switch on the battery off and on, between bulb changes, based on a tip by S Keith on the Greenhybrid forum. The HV battery switch can be left in the unlocked position during reconditioning, and simply rotating it 90 degrees one way will act as OFF and rotating it back 90 degrees will switch it ON. I turned it to OFF anytime I was changing the harness connections or the bulbs. Attached are the photos showing one of the holes in the harness burned by the Arc Flash and soot on the poles of the discharger plug. They currently still work, so I don't want to go thru the labor/expense of returning them for repair, but I sure hope the manufacturer will cover them under some sort of extended warranty (considering the above situation) if they happen to fail in the future beyond the normal 2 year warranty period. All in all, I am very much satisfied and highly recommend the Prolong system based on the rejuvenation of the Camry Hybrid battery. I will update this thread with any reports in the future.
Yes the bulbs need to go last due to arcing. Where on our website do you think this warning would be most helpful? I am guessing the light bulb discharger user guide but would appreciate your feedback to make sue I put it in the best place possible to help future users.
S_Keiths is the best out there. He's at Phoenixhybridbatteries.com if you want to buy anything from him
I guess I never noticed that there was not a warning. If you follow the step by step instructions, there should be no arcing of the connector. Note the following paragraphs from the Light Bulb Discharger Guide. See the parts I marked in red. Note the sequence of steps. ( Prolong Simple Discharger User Guide – Hybrid Automotive ) The car should be turned off while discharging. While not required, we recommend disconnecting the 12V AUX battery to ensure it is not accidentally discharged by interior lights while the discharge is occurring. The discharge process begins after finishing an initial charge/balance cycle. Disconnect your charger and connect the discharger. Turn on the volt meter by rotating the selection handle either one or two clicks counter clockwise. To begin discharging, use the recommended wattage light bulb that corresponds to your vehicle and current battery voltage. Install the light bulb into the base to begin the process. When the battery voltage reaches the minimum value for that wattage bulb, unscrew the bulb and replace with the next lower wattage bulb. Repeat this until you reach the desired termination voltage. At that point unscrew the bulb and immediately reconnect your Prolong Battery Charger. If you accidentally discharge too far, it's OK, the batteries are actually very durable and should recover without issue. It would seem to me that a prominent warning at the beginning of these instructions might be helpful as a heads up that this sequence is important for protecting the connectors on the cable and the discharger. Might even save a scorched finger.
yeah... high voltage is way too scary for me. I think if I were to do this I'd disassemble the pack and charge smaller groups of cells individually
Once the harness is installed (this occurs with the orange safety plug out), there’s no interaction with the pack. Everything is done at the harness pig tail end. Makes it safe and easy.
Hi Jeff, Sorry for the delay. I think a prominent warning in the Safety Precautions section of the below manual as suggested by Jerry below, would be great. Also perhaps add a reminder to make sure bulbs are not already connected, for the instruction "Disconnect your charger and connect the discharger." Prolong Simple Discharger User Guide – Hybrid Automotive I believe, it can be made more idiot-proof if an inline switch is installed for the discharger, and then the instructions can call for making sure the switch is OFF before the connection is made. Thanks.
Thanks for the web-site for S_Keith. I benefited greatly from his wise counsel and encouragement, every step of the way, as you can see here.
No where in the instructions for use of the Prolong charger did it state to disconnect 12V aux battery. I just completed the process of reconditioning my HV battery and discovered my 12V aux battery (which is BRAND NEW) is now dead. Has this happened to anyone else? Did I miss something?
From the overview found at: Battery Reconditioning Overview You can get away with not disconnecting it if you make sure the doors are all closed so no courtesy lights are on. There are other lights besides the dome lights, so just turning them off may not be enough to eliminate drain on the 12V. When I've done it, I kept the doors and hatch closed and also put a trickle charger on the 12V to keep it topped off just in case I missed something or just in case it needed topping off.
I did ensure not only were all lights were turned off but all the doors stayed closed. I did have hatch open with cargo light turned off for a bit but for the most part I brought cord through rear window with all doors closed. Looks like I'll be jumping it off later today and putting on charge after I take it for a ride.
Bummer. I wonder what drained it. The grid charger powers the cooling fan, so something else must have been on, but if you for sure made sure all lights were off, I don't know what it would be.
How long was the back hatch open? There is a reason it drained, just need to figure out the cause. I have a garage and have all windows down and run the cord through the back window to the charger and Discharger. I do not leave any door or the hatch open.
Old post my my two cents here, there’s a light bulb in the dashboard that shows when a door is open, that should be the culprit if everything else was off, someone may think that little light it’s not enough to drain the battery in the time needed for the process but do you really know what SOC the 12 volts battery was before starting the process, 25, 50, 75, 100%? most of the times battery is not 100% or even close to 100% if the car didn’t came from a long drive before it was parked.
