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Battery questions on gen 1 prius

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by stoyan79, Jul 10, 2009.

  1. stoyan79

    stoyan79 New Member

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    I did not see a Gen 1 sub forum, so I am posting this here since I am a newbie. :p

    My battery went bad on my 2001 Prius and since the car is out of warranty and the new battery was over $2K I have to find a cheaper way to fix it.

    So, I took the battery out of the car and took it apart. Then I measured the voltage on all the cells and found out that I have 33 cells that are measuring 7.80-7.88 volts and 5 cells that are measuring about 6.5 volts.

    Right now I think I wave 2 ways to go:

    1. Drill holes in the weak cells, fill them with 90cc of water and reinstall the battery and hope it will get better with driving.

    2. Purchase 5 cells from eBay at about $40/piece, put the battery back together and hope for the best.

    Am I on the right track?

    Has anybody done any of this?

    Please help the poor newbie. :D
     

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    #1 stoyan79, Jul 10, 2009
  2. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    As far as I know you are the first on this site.

    I applaud your efforts. I have never had a Prius battery apart so your pictures are interesting. I have done that sort of thing with sealed lead acid batteries used at communications sites, fortunately they had caps on them so I didn't need to drill holes. But I'm not at all sure what worked on sealed lead acid batteries will work for Ni-MH.

    But if you do add water successfully you could recharge the battery and run a load test with the appropriate size resistor bank and see how it does, or just try it in the car. If that doesn't work you could buy the new cells.

    Good luck and be sure to let us know how it works out. If you succeed you may be be the battery expert here.
     
    #2 tumbleweed, Jul 10, 2009
  3. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    Bob Wilson has done some experimentation with both of the above. Also, there are some others on the Yahoo Group - Prius Technical Stuff (PTS) who have some experience with DIY refurbishment of the Gen 1 batteries. You may want to email or PM Bob Wilson - he posts under bwilson4web on this forum.

    http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...sion/62640-traction-battery-failure-113k.html
     
    #3 dogfriend, Jul 10, 2009
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Note that a Gen 1 subforum is located within the Gen 2 parent forum...

    1. If you drill holes you will need to figure out a leak-proof way to seal those holes since gaseous pressure builds up when the module is in use.

    2. One problem with buying used modules is that you have to get the SOC of the various modules in line when under load, or else the battery ECU will log a DTC. Also, it appears that this is not a long-term solution; expect that additional modules will fail over time.

    Are the five bad modules located together or spread through the battery pack? If the latter, local overheating may cause adjacent battery modules to fail in the near future.

    May I offer a third and fourth alternative for you to consider:

    3. buy a complete Classic salvage traction battery; however those are relatively rare and will be pretty expensive since only 53K Classic units were sold in the US from 2001 - 2003.

    4. buy two 2G salvage batteries for around $400 each or so. Those batteries have 28 modules each so you'll end up with 56 to choose from. Pick the best 38 modules (in terms of modules that have no electrolyte leakage and have similar voltage readings) and install in your battery case. Then you can try selling the other 18 modules on eBay for $40 each, which will recoup most of your investment... :)
     
    #4 Patrick Wong, Jul 11, 2009
  5. pinky

    pinky New Member

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    This makes me wonder about the third party battery upgrades that I've heard about.

    What types of batteries were used in the Prius and what could one gain by replacing the batteries with a different type.

    Also I noob question: In a 2010, where is the battery anyway? I assume under the back somewhere? Is there an access panel?
     
    #5 pinky, Jul 11, 2009
  6. stoyan79

    stoyan79 New Member

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    Well, after further research I have decided to buy used cells from eBay and replace the bad cells. I decided to go this way because the removal and installation of the battery is so labor intensive, and I would have to experiment and play around. I have to unscrew probably about 500 bolts to get to the point shown in the pictures and the battery weights quite a bit, I could not get it out of the car by myself. Once I get the new (used) cells and put everything back together I will let you know how it worked out. Thanks for all the help.
     
    #6 stoyan79, Jul 12, 2009
  7. Ogo

    Ogo Prius Owner since 2008

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    Stoyan, keep us informed on your progress. We wish you good luck.
     
    #7 Ogo, Jul 12, 2009
  8. stoyan79

    stoyan79 New Member

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    Last week I purchased a used battery from eBay. The battery came few days ago. I measured the voltage on all cells and they were all about the same, so I assumed that this is a good battery.

    The new battery however came completely stripped, just 38 cells in the casing and nothing else, so I took out the computer and the rest of the stuff from my original battery and installed it in the new battery casing.

    Once I installed the battery in the car, I stared the car and drove it for about 10 miles. The new battery charged well and the car was showing improved gas mileage (high 40s to low 50s), so I assume the new battery is in good shape.

    I have 2 new problems that I have to resolve now though. The ABS lamp is blinking, and I am getting code P3030, which means I have a wiring problem within the battery.

    Anybody had similar problem?
     
    #8 stoyan79, Jul 20, 2009
  9. stoyan79

    stoyan79 New Member

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    Guys, I took care of the P3030, the BUSBAR (the orange plastic thingy with orange connector with wires in it that hooks up the batteries to the ECU) had 3 broken connectors that hook up to the battery.

    I found a very nice site full of technical stuff for the Prius (hybrids.ru), but the site is in Russian, so if you don't know the language, it might not be useful.

    I still have blinking ABS light and no OBD codes.

    Any ideas?
     
    #9 stoyan79, Jul 20, 2009
  10. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    All 4 wheels have speed sensors (for ABS among other things) and cable connectors at the wheels. With your blinky I'd be checking that those connectors are clean and tight. In other words, possibly unrelated to your HV battery work. Good luck, you sound like an intrepid DIYer.
     
    #10 tochatihu, Jul 20, 2009
  11. hybriddriveguy

    hybriddriveguy Member

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    Check out this website: Remanufactured Hybrid Vehicle Battery Packs
     
    #11 hybriddriveguy, Sep 23, 2009
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