Battery Reconditioning Options

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by JollyRoger, Feb 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM.

  1. JollyRoger

    JollyRoger New Member

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    So I got the red triangle of death, and embarked on fixing/reconditioning the battery. Thus far I have removed the battery assembly and stripped it down. Using Dr. Prius I identified an issue with module 1, and testing the voltage on the individual blades confirmed that blade #1 was low. The rest were fine, but I realize this is not the full story. My next step was going to be to recondition each blade using the rc charger method, but there are other alternatives such as the Prolong system or just buying an OEM battery (I'm not really interested in reconditioned). With your collective wisdom here, which of these routes would you suggest? Although I already bought the rc charger I'm starting to lean towards the Prolong system instead (seems to recondition faster and would allow me to repeat the process every few months).

    Realize this is a question that probably gets asked a lot, but appreciate any input you might have.
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    The weekly question seemingly here. The smart move is a brand new Panasonic EV battery that's generally sold by Toyota If you can find one of those that you can buy from not Toyota and get a better deal by all means don't know who that would be there are a few other batteries you can play games with but none so far has had the longevity of the factory original Panasonic battery that comes in the gray case that came in the car when it was new so there's always that I've seen people pay $750 less for a reconditioned battery to me that seems just not the way to go but then again if you're only looking for a stopgap measure so you can sell the car and pawn it off on somebody else so you can get a new payment well there you go New is the best from the original manufacturer that made the battery All these other companies that have tried have generally been pretty reasonable to large fails including the round cell conversions and all that there's hundreds of pages you can read here If you do that sort of thing.
     
  3. MAX2

    MAX2 Active Member

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    You have two ways to save money or save your time.
    If you want it fast, buy a new battery.
    If you want it cheap, spend time restoring the parameters of the old one.

    As they say, time = money!
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Individual charging and discharging of the modules is the cheapest and most effective way to recondition for maximum longevity along with replacing bad modules.
    Done properly, it is very labor intensive and time consuming
     
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  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Whatever battery module (blade) that's low has failed. You're not going to bring it back.

    Doing any type of charge cycling IS "reconditioning" (refurbishing) the modules.

    Not too many options.
    Replace the bad module(s) and cross all your fingers.
    Replace the bad modules and "recondition".
    Buy reconditioned pack.
    Buy (good?) used pack.
    Buy new (Toyota) pack.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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