Having an awful experience with a Prolong kit.

I have always had excellent service for HA.

Was it Nick with whom you dealt? I believe he answers the phones. He does seem to be very good, but if you feel you're not being heard, I'd ask to speak to Jeff, the owner and founder. I'm sure a conversation with him would get this all sorted out quickly.

One question, before you connect the harness, are you removing the orange service connect? It is a good idea to do this as it prevents a possible arching if you are not quick to insert the harness plug into the charger. It is actually hard to do a quick insert due to the screw ring on the harness plug.

 

Just in case he gets time I will tag @jeff652 here so he is aware.

 

When you returned the unit to them for testing, did you have to ship all components back to them or just the charger? Perhaps the problem isn't the charger, but a supporting item? This was one of the comments I had about the kit. The connections at the battery side terminals are pretty cheesy.

 

If you have an original 06 battery, the modules could have been manufactured in 05 so those could be nearly 15 years old! IMO, that's now too late for maintenance routines; especially a pack that's had two previous module failures. Get a new battery (modules).

Gen 3 owners are the ones who should be investing in chargers. NOW.

My 2 cents.

GOOD LUCK!

 

Sounds like this kit would be a pain for you to use in the best of circumstances, given the downtime schedule required. Looks like a poor fit for your case, and that’s without even touching the installation difficulties.

I’d return it or re-sell it and put the money towards a new traction pack. Much less downtime, much better car afterwards.

 

Sonde you are DIY, put your money toward @2k1Toaster it of new cells for $1600. That basically gives you a new pack and you can sell your old non-failed modules to recoup some of the cost.
Link is in my signature.

 

Except Gen 2 & Gen 3 use different charger models according to Hybrid Automotive's site..A charger for a Gen 2 will not work for a Gen 3.
Gen 2 charger is CO-PR-2
Gen 3 charger is CO-PR-3.

 

That's just a marketing thing... For example the charger they sell as "Master Shop Starter Kit" is the one I bought from a local shop after they upgraded to $6K system.

This starter kit charger is the highest power charger that's round, not rack-based and is good for the bigger packs in Lexus and Highlander up at 350v... This charger will work on all Toyota & Hondas they sell charging systems for... The sensors in the system will recognize the difference between max charge of an early model Honda at 168v or Gen2 Prius at 240v... HA explained to me that if you're using a more powerful charger than your system needs the final voltage climb in balancing phase will be slightly slower than a charger specific to your exact vehicle. But other than that, as long as you have the most powerful round charger all vehicles are compatible with it.

 

Two reasons for such tiny (cheap) wires and terminals:

1) The white plastic covers over live side of the relays will no longer fit if they used larger terminals. Or at least that's what happened to me when I upgraded to more heavy duty.

2) For product liability/biz insurance reasons, bolting wires into the live side of a high voltage system is sketchy, but if you build your system to make those wires tiny soon as there's a system failure that wire is going burn up if the fuse doesn't do it first and there's no danger of prolonged arcing/fire starting.

 

Just yesterday I plugged in a pack at 224v and 10 hours later Turned it off at 241v as balancing phase was wrapping up. Sounds like you have a defective charger that works sometimes and when you shipped it back them them it was one of those times when it was working.

One of the best things I like about Hybrid Automotive is that while their prices may be higher than I like, their willingness to replace a failed fan box or charger has always been extremely generous.

You're less than an hour's drive from me... I'm down in Olympia... So next time you're driving through my town stop off at my place and we can put my Prolong charger on your car and confirm the problem is in your charger. We could also double check you work, which sounds like you did it correctly, but let's get this resolved and get your investment providing value rather than hassle to your life.

 

Camper,

I have no problem whatsoever with the wire gauge on the harness. The termination is where I have heartache. They easily could have made the terminal lug be the same size as the nut that tightens against it. To me, this would maintain the integrity of the "crush" placed on the HV cable lugs, especially with the specific style nut Toyota uses on the relay terminals. When you install a "small" lug between the nut and the HV cable lug, you're reducing the surface contact area between the nut and the main HV lug. It's just low quality. Not to mention it's a cheap*** insulated crimp on. They could do much better.

My previous photos:

Just Another HV Battery Thread and Experiments | Page 4 | PriusChat

 

Actually your homework was done incorrectly, I confirmed my point direct with Hybrid Automotive when I first bought the charger... The battery packs are identical in Gen2 and Gen3, the difference is the wiring harness is configured differently (wire lengths) and the fan control box for Gen2 and Gen3 operate in a slightly different way. I've used my 350v Prolong (Pro Starter Kit) Charger on 168v max Honda packs and 240v max Gen2 and Gen3 packs without issue. The charger is smart enough to not screw that up...

If your charger is not displaying voltage correctly than your charger is not working correctly. As long as you brought this issue up with them before Warranty expired they'll replace it.

Anyways, glad to know the charger is working again, but make sure it's not at 354ma all the time, the charger is supposed to rapidly fluctuate between .999amp and zero as defined by NiMH algorithm and sensor readings.

 

If you find a terminal to replace it with that allows the white plastic covers to still correctly mount on top please send me a link to them, because I've yet to find more heavy duty terminals that fit.

Also these terminals were designed for a one time install... Unfortunately, because prius drivers are cheap and they don't want to spend $150 on their own harness I have to install my harness just to charge and balance after a rebuild which wears those tiny terminals out real quick. I've though of mounting a plug into the side of the metal casing of the pack for Prolong harness so I don't have to remove the cover to put the harness in every time, but have yet to find a plug and terminals that would be best, meaning safe from shorting out due to water or other unforseen calamities inside the car.

 

--There's no seal on my charger that voids warranty... I've opened mine to look inside and study it more than once....

--Prolong updated the discharge times to be less severe/less damaging to weak cells a couple months back... If your automated discharger hasn't been updated to new numbers on their online chart/owner's manual you can ship it back to them and they'll reflash the unit for free. This will speed up the reconditioning process big time!

--Your charge times are taking way too long... Something is definitely wrong with your charger.

 

Thanks for clarifying... Looks like you don't have charge time for non-balancing phase this time around... In my experience with my charger, the basic charge time from ~220v up to approximate start of balancing phase at 235v is super fast for pack in need of reconditioning 3-4 hours and a bit slower of 5-6 hours for a more healthy pack.

The balancing time is a different animal entirely and is going to fluctuate wildly, because that's a heat disspation thing for the modules already at full charge while the other modules catch up.

Lastly, I've never seen peak voltage charge drop down with charger still connected... Only after charging is done... So sometime between 9:15am and 10:04am your charger stopped working or came loose/was turned off? Perhaps the black soot you saw on plug is indication of an intermittent connection problem? I have replacment plugs so I can build my own harnesses if you need one, but again, you gave lots of money to Prolong already and I'm sure they'll replace anything that seems wrong at your request if warranty window is still open. Or for cheap is warranty is over. I had a bad fan controller once and it was outside of any warranty and they sold me a replacement controller for $10. That was a such a great deal I bought more than one.