Troubleshooting HV ECU burnt connector (causes P0AFA, red triangle, 'replace hybrid battery' etc

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by landspeed, Jan 12, 2019.

  1. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Not dodgy at all.
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    What year is the battery from? If you haven't installed it, take a measurement of all the modules, make sure none of the modules have dead cells.

    I would charge it before installing it, but that's just me
     
  3. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    It is fine to charge it in the car. But it is not the same as slowly charging and discharging the pack with a grid charging system.

    It's like filling up a bucket with a fire hose rather than a garden hose. It'll do the job but won't be as gentle.
     
  4. landspeed

    landspeed Active Member

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    The battery is from a 2005. However I have (for now) resolved my problem; I took the battery ECU from the 2005 ‘spare’ and installed it into my faulty battery, just plugged it in, dodgy connector and all.

    It worked fine, but I had a NiMH delta of 0.6 - blocks 1 and 2 were the ones that had the most catastrophic short and presumably ‘used’ 0.6v worth of ‘voltage drop’ (I know it is related to charge but actual joules released - I will calculate later).

    I got the NiMH delta down to 0.25 driving around for half an hour; and it kept improving. I have left it at around 60% true SoC, unplugged the 12v, the HV safety plug, and have removed the ECU.

    Interestingly, the ECU and battery worked well, and the ECU remains immaculate after inspection; no short circuits or evidence of heating, so what happened to my first ECU remains a mystery for now!

    I’ve also ordered a ‘grid charger’ (basic DIY version) for the spare battery and for general maintenance!
     
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Why keep the battery? It's 14 years old, only gets worse over time
     
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  6. landspeed

    landspeed Active Member

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    It is definitely in a lot better condition than mine, and I can probably use it for repairs (at least the good cells); my battery still has a lot of life in it - slightly newer but much higher mileage!

    Also I could use it to rebuild my Gen 1 Insight battery (although I hope it isn’t the battery that has gone), and, I want to do some experiments to try to figure out what happened to my original ECU - can make simple PCBs and see what happens when corrosion is around (nothing should happen but I want to experiment with metal vapor arcs etc) with relatively low voltages!

    Either way I will grid charge it, maintain it, and test each cell later in the year!
     
  7. landspeed

    landspeed Active Member

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    I am going to do a lot of research, experimenting, reverse engineering of the battery ECU, battery, and then more on my Gen II Prius over the coming months. I managed to make two threads covering different aspects of this problem, so I am going to put everything into a new thread as follows:

    Landspeed's HV battery + ECU teardown, analysis, experiment, upgrade thread | PriusChat

    I would be grateful if a moderator could lock this thread :) - thank you!
     
  8. fobac125

    fobac125 Junior Member

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    This was a very helpful thread. I bought a 2007 Prius from the State Government Auction that I knew had battery issues. I replaced two blades in the battery pack and still had the triangle of death. Saw someone suggesting a burnt plug so I tore into the Battery ECU connector. Sure enough, corrosion had soldered the plug together and the act of prying them apart left three pins in the female portion of the plug. Ordered a used plug cable off of the net as well as an ECU and installed them this morning. No more triangle of death. Thanks for the insight and the photos above in this string as it all helped me. I have put some photos of what I took out of my Prius. I live in a high moisture content area, Western Washington, which I take from some of the comments on these plugs, contributes to the corrosion.
     

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    CNP and landspeed like this.
  9. Barry CLEMENTS

    Barry CLEMENTS Junior Member

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    Do you remember if you had difficulty removing that cable from the ECU? I have a single code of P0ADC-226 with all the warning lights and I fear the ECU/cable may have fried themselves together.

    A little background. Had a bad module showing up on Techstream/Dr Prius at position 13 with severely reduced ICE power and all lights glowing. This is a reconditioned battery at about 41K miles and 2 years old in sunny San Diego. Took it for a Dr Prius road test to test for battery life and on the way home I heard a loud pop from the battery area and the voltage from that module dropped from High 13s to 3s. I was able to limp home with electric ozone smelling smoke in the car..
    No fire. The next morning i was still able to get the car to move to position it for the coming work.. so,, yes, it still started and without the smelly smoke. Opened up the traction battery and found one of the #13 modules had blown its top and the acid damaged the adjacent #12 module. So I replaced the 4 modules in 12 and 13 and strapped it into the car and the warning lights all came on but the car would not start...attempts to put in Drive went to neutral with the codes p0ae0 and p0afa. Yes, HV battery was bolted to chassis.. So I questioned my wiring installation, dug in and made sure all connectors were clean and tight and did not see anything suspicious then put the reassembled gear back into the car. Bolted it in place, like before and same no start but now with a new code of p0adc-226. The other codes vanished
    During that 10 days or so it took me to order parts and get around to the fix, my 2 year old aux battery went from barely acceptable to failing at 11.8 V at rest and 10.4 when powered. I attempted to jump with truck and let it charge for 30 minutes which got it up to 13V powered an 12.1 V resting but car would still not start. After charging vehicle was removed from the circuit, the charge was slightly better, but still in failed battery territory. Have it on a trickle now. We'll see just how bad it is, but I am still concerned about being unable to remove the cable from the ECU. And because I can't remove the cable, I can't get at the bolts to remove the ECU. Hoping a new or newly charged auxiliary battery starts it up but I think there may be an ECU and cable that needs replacing. Wutya think?

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  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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  11. Jair Reyes Tapia

    Jair Reyes Tapia New Member

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    Hello Any body know the name that is connector? Thanks
     
  12. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    On a Gen 2, it is the connector on the No 2 Wire Frame Assy. It might be called something different on your Gen 3 and I don't know the Gen 3 part number. Maybe post in the Gen 3 forum with your question.

    FYI as you have less than 5 posts your posts will be delayed in appearing as they are moderated.
     
  13. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    If I remember right, that wire assembly stopped being separately orderable as of Gen 3 (in the US, anyway). Not happy news.
     
  14. Travis Sanders

    Travis Sanders Junior Member

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    Kind of sounds like the time I replaced a battery blade and when I put the bolt in through the bottom that holds the blade down to the bottom of the battery tray I used one of the bolts that was a little bit too long and it pierced through the blade and grounded the blade out to the case. Of course that grounded out to the frame of the car and so I got a code saying something was shorted out. No duh! Your code seems a little different. Like as if your relay was stuck on.
     
  15. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Yep any G2 battery rebuild you must take that battery ecu out remove the pcb from the can and carefully check the board's connector pins and inspect it for any whiskers or any corrosion or change of color. It should look pristine. Electrolytic leakage of the caps is a very common failure with any electronics but not so much with this circuit board as they are using very high quality caps but still a good idea to check them with an ESR meter also. And look at the cap base very carefully too for any leakage.

    When I installed my NPB system I also went through my battery's ecu and it looked mint. Caps ESR'ed perfectly too. Finally got one break....
     

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  16. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    Hi I wouldn't normally wake a thread rather than start a new one! but this is rather on topic so to keep things tidy I will just ask here!

    Been struggling to figure out the correct method to de-pin these connectors to change pins #21 & 22 which are always nasty around here, I can "fluke" the od pin but not entirely sure how!

    I have a tiny precision screwdriver and I'm coming at the plug from front via the "T shaped" access hole but from there it's just luck of the draw, sometimes they pop straight out other times it seems impossible, any suggestions or tips very welcome

    Thanks very much!!

    Matt

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  17. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I have removed lots of terminals by combining a tiny screwdriver with the right amount of cussing (which differs, across terminal types), but back when I did this experiment I ventured out of my comfort zone and took a cotter pin and Dremeled it to the actual dimensions shown in the repair manual for the official terminal release tool, and that worked with much less cussing.

    Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat
     
  18. ozmatt

    ozmatt Active Member

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    Thanks very much Chapman, I will sus out these links and try to make a tool with a Cotter pin or the hard metal strip from a wiper blade

    Edit: any chance of a pic or reference for the correct tool, I can't find it?

    You know, I've been practising on an old 2010 Camry wiring harness frame and have released nearly every pin so far but its always just by chance and cussing lol, much like everything it's about having the right tool..

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