Nexpower/Project Lithium Battery Issue - Blade #12 Failure?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by JasonMRC, Aug 11, 2024.

  1. JasonMRC

    JasonMRC Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2023
    9
    3
    0
    Location:
    Washington, GA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Background:
    • Bought the car in January 2023 with 218k miles. Pretty good condition overall. After testing, the traction battery was on its way out, so I looked into the ProjectLithium batteries. This is my first Prius, but I've learned a fair bit about them over the past two years.
    • I installed a NexPower first batch V2 lithium battery in July of 2023. The car has been driving great since then.
    • Occasionally the dash display fails to light up, but this usually resolves after a day. I believe this is related to the combination meter and unrelated to the present issue.
    • On 8/7/24 I replaced the 12v auxiliary battery because I had deduced it was the cause of a recent no start, and an issue I had in January 2024. That battery was 6 years old.
    The present issue:
    On Friday 8/9, I drove to my work (10 miles, mostly highway 55mph) and it drove fine. When I left in the evening to go home I stopped by a friend's house briefly (about 1 mile from my work) and left the car on with the AC on while I talked with him. The engine never shut off during this 5-10 minute chat which seemed a little odd. I then left and began driving home. As I started accelerating after a stoplight the display beeped and said "Problem" and showed a red symbol, and the HV battery fan in the backseat shot on at high speed. The car drove but seemed to have no acceleration power, so I limped to a nearby gas station. I plugged in the code reader and checked Torque and it showed a 1.2v reading difference between module 12 and the others. The SOC also dropped randomly from 60% to 30%. I turned the car off, waited a minute, and then turned it back on and the issue remained. I switched it into drive and it could still move, but in limp mode. I moved it to the side of the parking lot and then parked it again. The module voltage difference had gone back down to a normal level (0.1-0.2 difference). I thought I would try clearing the code and see if it would let me get home. So I cleared the code and immediately the HV battery fan turned off and the car seemed to be acting normal. I test-drove it around the parking lot a bit and then decided to drive home. I thought it might just be a fluke because I recently replaced the 12v aux battery a few days before (although it had driven fine since I replaced that). I was able to drive all the way home fine (10 miles) and then as I turned onto my street I tested a quick stop and then hard acceleration. After the hard acceleration, the car threw the error, fan on, and lost all acceleration strength. The SOC dropped from about 55% to 30%, then after a moment began rising rapidly 1-1.5% a second until it reached 100%. I parked it and then switched to the Dr. Prius App and received the following reading. Note that Module #12 has double the delta voltage and resistance of the others.
    Dr Prius Reading 8-10-24 Friday Night.jpg

    The codes the system provided both times were: P0A80 and P3024.
    At no point during either issue was the HV battery temperature outside of range.

    Today, Sunday 8/11, after letting the car sit for a day and a half, I went out to run some more tests. When I turned it on it still had a fault code, but this time the code was P3022 and P3000. I cleared that and the car seemed to be idling normally as I watched the stat readouts with the Torque app. I then switched to the Dr. Prius app to see what those readings were.

    Dr. Prius reading 8-11-24 Charging.jpg
    Note that module #12 is showing yellow.

    Dr. Prius Reading After charging.jpg

    Once the car turned the engine off and stopped charging, #12 was still the highest voltage reading, and the delta voltage on it was also 1.70, compared to the others 0.53-0.59. A few seconds after this picture was taken, the car threw the error again (only P3022). I wanted to try a driving test, so I switched to monitoring it on my tablet for a larger screen. I cleared the codes, got everything connected and loaded up the Dr. Prius app and while I was still idling in park with the engine off, it threw the code again (only P3022) - turning the fan and engine on. The following picture from my tablet is directly after this.

    Dr Prius Tablet after code before driving.png

    All of the Sunday tests were taken while idling in my driveway. I never actually drove it anywhere. I haven't driven it anywhere since I got home Friday night.

    I have contacted Jack at NexPower and now come here for suggestions and solutions. Are there any other tests I should try? Are these all symptoms of a bad #12 blade, or something else?

    All help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
     
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    25,076
    16,343
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    it definitely looks like that module has seen better days. The pack is around 12 or 13 months old? How long do you have coverage from NexPower?
     
  3. AzusaPrius

    AzusaPrius Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2020
    2,078
    875
    0
    Location:
    California
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I have notified Jack of your issue, he should get back to you shortly.
     
    JasonMRC and PriusCamper like this.
  4. jacktheripper

    jacktheripper Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 2017
    245
    501
    4
    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Hi @JasonMRC ,

    Thanks for the screenshots, it looks like the M8 nuts at blade #12 is loosed causing the double IR. I would recommend to open up the metal case and make sure all M8 nuts got secured to 3 ft-lbs. of torque.

    Also, if you have the V2.0, we will upgrade you to the new V3 sodium-ion battery, feel free to send pictures to [email protected] and we will help you get back on the road.

    Best Regards,
    Jack

     
    JasonMRC and ericbecky like this.
  5. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    10,683
    1,849
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    That's pretty good check that out and see if that's the case seems perfectly reasonable but not good but reasonable assumption.
     
  6. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
    1,283
    482
    0
    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    @JasonMRC , Please give an update if you found any loose nuts on the blade terminals?
     
  7. JasonMRC

    JasonMRC Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2023
    9
    3
    0
    Location:
    Washington, GA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Thanks for the responses, everyone!

    Today I took it apart and checked all the nuts. They were all tight and there was no corrosion anywhere except for a very minor amount on the main negative terminal wire, but not the contact portion. I inspected all of the blades and they all looked good - no signs of bulging, burning, corrosion, wear, etc. Unfortunately, I did not have my meter to check the voltage of the blades, so I'll do that another day.

    Shoutout to @jacktheripper for superb customer service! He had a new Sodium V3 shipped out to me on Monday and I received it Friday - just 7 days after the blade 12 failure. I installed the pack and did a basic test drive and all systems seem to be working properly. I will do a more thorough test tomorrow.
     
    Brian1954 likes this.
  8. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
    1,283
    482
    0
    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    So Jack sent you a v3 battery on Monday 8/12 even before you checked for loose nuts today, Saturday, 8/17. Jack knew it was not a loose nut and that it was a bad blade. Hopefully, the v3 sodium-ion battery will work better than the v2 LiFePo battery. I assume the v3 that you received is a prototype battery and not the production v3.
     
    #8 Brian1954, Aug 17, 2024
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2024
  9. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    25,076
    16,343
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I don't know if it's certain Jack knew that, or just wanted to get a replacement en route so the OP could get back on the road promptly in any case. Could be read either way.
     
  10. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
    1,283
    482
    0
    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Yes, I agree with you. I applaud Jack for being very proactive in sending the v3 battery so quickly. I am guessing that Jack has seen this problem many times with the v2 battery, and he wanted to take care of this customer. From what I have read in this forum, Jack is very good when dealing with warranty issues for his batteries.
     
  11. JasonMRC

    JasonMRC Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2023
    9
    3
    0
    Location:
    Washington, GA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I can't speak to whether he "knew" or not. I was pretty confident that everything was going to be tight because I know I secured them well when I installed it. I do live on a bumpy driveway though, so anything is possible.
    Either way, I appreciate his swift service.

    I don't think it's a prototype version, as it doesn't look like the pictures of prototypes that I've seen.
    So far it seems like the v3 isn't giving quite as much "oomph" as the v2 lithium did, but I've only driven about 70 miles so far. Hopefully the computer will learn the new battery and use it more soon.
     
    Brian1954 likes this.