Can Hybrid Battery be bypassed and start the ICE?

Ao that’s for a harness and charger. Here’s a link to the same Prolong setup:

Prolong® Battery Charger - Hybrid Automotive

Definitely not half price.

 

Not to sound negative but you have gotten quite a bit of free help here. Help that is partially paid for by Hybrid Automotive a sponsor who pays to keep the site afloat. Rather than bash them how about you build your own charger and post a how to here. I’m sure lots of people would look at it.

 

Did the OP ever get his problem resolved? He started this thread in 2016 and not much has happened other than a discussion about how cheap some think they can charge the HV battery.

 

I've not needed to do any re-builds… (…so far, touch wood! ) but I'd be interested to learn how he gets on! (…grabs case of beer & several bags of popcorn) - Good luck!

 

Guys I am sorry for my earlier comment above. I used to own a computer business and if I were to say I'd ordered over 20,000 cpu power supplies to fix, replace, or build new computers, I'd still probably be underestimating. Yes these "look" like normal power supplies and NO they aren't normal power supplies. I look at the materials used in the Prolong kits, and I honestly see $30 worth of materials there. But I know, most of the money goes to R&D. If you have a niche little market and you want to stay in business, you have to make a lot of money on each unit. Heck I might even buy one for myself! So, to Prolong, sorry for negative words. I have been posting in multiple threads because I have multiple issues with the Prius. Some of the people that have helped me have also helped me to go off topic in certain threads. I don't believe I have done so in this thread. Under advice from some members I have made a new thread with the intentions of getting as many people on here to help me with my problems as I can. I will continue to monitor and post on threads that I need help and info on, but I also am asking everyone to stop by and post on my thread. Thank you again to you all. Here is my new thread.Tedh1979 2005 Prius Project with multiple issues looking for help! | PriusChat

 

@Raytheeagle could you help me and explain this whole process on hybrid batteries? I've never had a hybrid vehicle before and I want to learn. I know the eBay charger and the Prolong battery charger can charge a dead hybrid battery but that really isn't their main intention is it? From the little I've researched doesn't it stay on your battery forever, after it is charged from being dead? What is battery conditioning? And what is battery discharging? The company on eBay is telling me to NEVER discharge my battery. Prolong sells a kit TO discharge the battery. I'm starting to think the company on eBay is lying to me because I've read several posts from people with Prolong kits and they all say good things. I don't even understand the difference between your kits. The charger on eBay honestly is larger and "looks" to be higher quality. Freedom of speech, don't get mad. But the Prolong product being smaller may actually be a benefit if it needs to stay in the car for the rest of it's life. I'm curious as to how this works. Let's say in the beginning I have a completely dead HV battery. Does this Prolong charger plug into the wall like a regular battery charger? If the Prolong product is well supported on this site and the other product is unheard of, then it seems Prolong is the better choice but I would like to learn the whole process or charging and discharging and conditioning and more that I don't know. Is there a link on this maybe that explains the whole process? Like for example, how long does it take to charge a dead HV battery? Thank you!

 

Here’s my thread on the reconditioning I have performed on our 2010:

2010 Prius II HV Battery Reconditioning

Additional information can be found on Prius Chat and on Hybrid Automotive’s website.

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

Thanks. I sent a link of your website to my cousin. He has owned many Prius cars before and he just bought a 2017 Camry Hybrid. He is in love with Hybrids so there is a good chance he'll buy a kit off of you.

 

Well he won’t be buying the kit from ray. He is a consumer with no interest in the company. He just believes in the product. You actually don’t see the owner of the company interact here too much. One thing I can say myself though is I would trust his opinion 100% over some eBay clown. Plus there is a ton of information on how the system works and the experience people have had, both good and bad. You won’t get that from some guy on eBay.

 

Ah, I misread. @Raytheeagle said he owns ownership along with two other people. I thought he meant that him and two other people owned the company. The link he provided does have a bunch of Prius people talking about charging and discharging and discharging again and conditioning, but none of it is explained. What is discharging and why do people do it, especially multiple times in a row? What is reconditioning? I'm interested in it don't get me wrong, but I need to know how to use it, what to expect, and what is the purpose of doing all this to your battery especially at the rate these people are doing this to their battery? Maybe if I could own ownership with two others guys I could buy it as well without paying a ton. But I know nobody in my area with a Prius. Also, if I bought just the charger, it sounded like you could still do the discharge but using another method that wasn't as easy. And finally, the Prolong charger is $59 more than the eBay one. I like the eBay one, minus the feedback on it as it is not known around here. The company said, NEVER discharge a battery so maybe he doesn't know what he's talking about? The Prolong charger compared to he eBay charger is $69 more. But then when I click on the Prolong website and see the $359 charger and then select my Prius as my car, the price jumps to $409, not cool at all. Maybe there is a used one out there for a good deal? And since I don't know what discharging means or conditioning means, I think the charger will be fine unless I get smarter on how a hybrid battery is to be cared for and how it works.

 

@jeff652 is the owner of Hybrid Automotive and he’s responsive to Private Messages .

If you start a conversation with him, he’ll get back to you. Alternatively, he’s the first poster to respond in my linked thread above, you could click on his profile and review his old posts. He answers your questions and more when he’s around.

As for the price, I bought the equipment directly from Jeff (I live 70 miles from him so when I was interested in buying his equipment, we agreed on a date and I met him at his shop). I thought the price was reasonable for the equipment given the capability. I looked at his equipment this way:

• It maintains my healthy battery well
• It can restore a failing battery
• You can use it to rebuild a pack once modules are swapped out

Once I had bought the charger and Intelligent Discharger, 2 other members here see similar value in the equipment and paid a portion of the cost to me to “get in on it”. The equipment sits on my shelf in the garage, so why not allow others to use it rather than my once every so often.

If you want to see what others go through to rebuild batteries, check out the Gen2 maintenance area where there is plenty of threads but one of over 117 pages is a go to:

Gen II Prius Individual Battery Module Replacement

Happy reading.

 

Yeah I've watched and even participated in helping my cousin remove his HV battery, open the HV battery, remove all of the cells, replace all the cells, reassemble the HV battery, and reinstall the HV battery. This was even before there was an excellent detailed step by step video on the internet. It is a big job, not impossible, but a big job. I'm getting more and more interested in the Prolong setups and I'm thinking I might need one because I think, actually know, from the looks of my Prius once I opened the hatchback today and saw and ton of leaves and tree debris, that I'm thinking the car has been sitting for a long time. One thing I am confused on....the company on eBay that is selling a charger says that you install the charger on the HV battery and leave it. At least I'm pretty sure that's what he meant. So I've been thinking that you install this kit permanently, am I wrong? If it's to be installed permanently, how do you share it with multiple people?

 

The harness is the permanent part .

The charger and Discharger are what gets connected only when you intend to use them.

Works out well for us here as we each have a harness (two Gen3’s and one Gen2).

 

I think he means you leave the cable, not the entire charger. That’s what you do with the prolong system. I know people are saying your battery is most definitely dead but if you search around you will see cases of cars sitting for a year and starting right up after charging or replacing the 12v.

 

Ah, that makes sense! Thank you!