Torque OBD reader shows HV battery charging at 14kw

While it might seem like the mounting bolts under the modules are not needed and 4 clamping bars are enough. Under high temps when battery is at its limits that pack is going turn into an accordion on you... I'm sure other battery rebuilders on here will agree.. There's actually a thread on Prius chat about it here: BULGED BATTERY MODULES? NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE | PriusChat

And here's a pic @ChapmanF posted in that thread of what your not bolted down idea might end up looking like:

 

I'm going to disagree with the importance of the mounting bolts to prevent swelling. All those pictures of ridiculously swollen packs are the result of massive overcharging and no cooling. It's the bars and end plates that resist swelling. The bottom mounting bolts are just not in the proper location to resist the force of swelling.

 

We've already had this conversation in a different thread... Here's some basic information to explain why it's really bad advice to disagree with the value of bolting a pack down and how specifically it will ruin a pack:

 

Also here's a direct experience I had:

The 4 rods are designed to prevent outwards pressure on both ends and in extreme cases they don't even do that very well (see pics below). What the four rods aren't designed for is the center of pack bending in half, which is why there's 28 bolts holding the modules in place. If this wasn't structurally needed in high temps there would be no need to have a chassis to bolt the pack securely to...

In the case of my pictures below the pack was brought up to a hot lava-like liquid because the pack had a cell failure and the car kept shutting everything down and the driver kept resetting everything by disconnecting the 12v to get home and it's middle of Summer during a heatwave and it's over 100 degrees out and the car is then shut down in full sun with windows rolled up before cooling fan had a chance to exhaust all the heat.

It literally heated the thick plastic end caps up near their melting point and gravity and expansive outward pressure at the bottom of the modules bowed out to fill in the space the overheated failing plastic end caps made.

You have to take these very real types of failures serious and keep everything bolted down. Had this pack not been bolted down it would of bent upwards like an accordion and would of been irreparable. On this particular pack I replaced the bad module #13, the end caps and the two bent modules #1 & #28 on the ends. The bent module damage went six deep / 12 modules total and I snapped a few bolts trying to remount the warped modules to the chassis again.

Fortunately, just replacing the end caps and end modules caused the 10 remaining modules to fully re-flatten out under normal operating hot weather temperatures thanks to the forces of the rods and the chassis bolts. Additionally, there was no notable long term damage to module functionality.

 

Your photos don't show the circuit you're making to get those numbers? I can see one red attached to the chassis and what about the others? None of this makes any sense? You still seem to be associating voltage leaks and electrolyte leaks as the same thing?

Never once in all the times I've worked on packs for years have I ever looked for voltage leaks like this, nor have I ever once read on here an expert suggesting to do this? Either the modules are load tested and discharge tested correctly or they are not. Electrolyte leaks out of cracks, but that's not a viable circuit that creates voltage. I've never once on here read of voltage leaking out of cracks. If someone has a link to any post on here regarding a diagnosis like that, or someone who regularly tests for that I'd like to read all of it and learn as much as possible. So please post it! If no one has a link to that, then I rest my case, my point has been proven.

What's more I have direct experience with your gear and It's extremely vulnerable to anomalous readings... It may well have proven with a 12v that the meters are ok with a solid current, but those are junk meters you get for free from Harbor Freight with a coupon.

I built my first diagnostic rig with those meters and quickly realized that they are total garbage and constantly give false readings, lose calibration and the insides of them quickly break if you bump the plugs. You don't have to spend alot of money on this, these ones for about $6 on ebay work much better. It's what I use, at least until my next upgrade: DT 830B LCD Voltmeter Ammeter Ohm Digital Multimeter Battery & Leads Electric 660960088069 | eBay

 

Mounting threads are isolated in plastic, I've pulled them out before. The are not part of any circuit, they are solely mounting the module to the chassis. Again that's your cheap volt meter giving you anomalous readings.

 

The origin of this picture is from this thread PHEV mod under way, Bristol, UK. | PriusChat in post number 177. Here is what that pack looked like before the mishap, from post # 116



And what it looked like in the car from post #121 at 10:20 in the video.

This pack had all the bottom mounting bolts installed when in blew up from over charging. That makes it a very poor example of what can happen or will happen to a pack with the bottom bolts left out. The failure point was the plastic end cap. The mounting bolts for the compression rods ripped out of the end cap allowing the modules to expand and bend.

From the thread BULGED BATTERY MODULES? NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE | PriusChat here a shot from Dxta showing another battery that had the end cap ripped apart.



This shot shows the modules still bolted to the frame.



Nikki installed another battery in her plug in conversion and managed to blow that up also. From post number #323



At first glance that might look like proof of the need to install the bottom mounting bolts. Note that the failure point was the plastic end cap just like the other examples.

This is what the pack looked like before the failure. The modules were bolted to an aluminum angle iron.




All of these packs had the bottom bolts installed and failed because of massive overcharging with out cooling. They are not examples of what will happen if a DIY'er leaves out the bottom mounting bolts while working on his pack.

So, If a DIY'er wants to leave out the bottom bolts while working on his own battery it's just not a big concern.

For my customers packs all bolts get installed to factory specs.

 

The silicone and insulation is at best a band aid that will quickly fail. It's also possible that leaker is a module that you did not attempt to seal.

When the leak returns take several voltage readings between the case and different points along the buss bars. This will help pinpoint the source.

For a good explanation of the voltage leak detection circuit read this thread.

HV battery isolation question. | PriusChat

 

The water build up in 12v battery well is a known problem with roof seams leaking... I fixed mine simply by cleaning all the debris building up under the right black roof trim strip that easily pops up. Also there's a rubber drain plug under the 12v battery... Pull that out to insure water drains rather than fills up. Most people don't have any problem with marinating their 12v in a puddle of rain water, but it's not the right way to cook your dinner.

 

Drill a small hole at the low point. It's an old car.

 

Sometimes you can buy a pack at the wrecker for as low as $50... Then you can fix that pack up and swap it... Then fix your original pack again so you always have a spare pack on shelf waiting and ready to go. Alternatively, a new pack can be had in the $1700 range, in which case you can forget about this issue for a decade or longer.

 

Todd at Home - Tampa Hybrids Inc. might be able to set you up. I know he has Gen 2 batteries ready to go with full sets of Gen 3 or Gen 4 cells in them. He might have a set available that's not yet been installed. Then again, if you get the whole battery from him you know all the work's been done including balancing with a grid charger. It'll save you a ton of time. Tell him I said, "Hi."