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How many months, years, miles on your rebuilt battery?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by seabright_sc, Apr 15, 2017.

  1. seabright_sc

    seabright_sc Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    My 2005 Prius, about 160K, has given the red triangle of death with codes indicating traction battery bad, cell block 2.

    Due to age, ,milage and value of vehicle, I have decided to have a reputable independent mechanic test, replace bad cells, rebalance. He will provide a 1 year warranty.

    I know options on this process are all over the board. No need to go into that here. But what I am interested in, is for those who have gone a similar route into reconditioning your battery/replacing bad cell(s), how long did this repair last for and/or if repair is still holding strong? I couldn't find much info on this particular angle online. The only info I would was."reconditioned" batteries that failed very quickly, or people who stated that "it's all good" though apparently reported shortly after repair.

    Thanks,
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    You have to ask if the entire battery pack is guaranteed for a year or just the module he is replacing is under warranty.

    Many here in southern California give a worthless warranty that guarantees only the module they replace. Knowing that without properly balancing the battery, others will fail in the near future and they won't be covered.

    A few years ago, a simple module swap would last a few years, but now as the batteries are getting older, 2004 packs are 13 years old and getting weak, they can start failing one by one fairly quickly
     
  3. sanguis

    sanguis Member

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    I replaced 3 modules about a year ago in my 2005. 10000 miles since then and still working fine. with 187k miles, I'm not sure what would be best option when the battery goes out again
     
  4. stockdaddy

    stockdaddy Member

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    Reconditioning is smoking mirrors and balancing is overrated as well. Most people don't understand what real balancing is unless your in the rc hobby. Real balancing is charging each individual cell to the exact proper voltage EACH TIME IT IS CHARGED!!!

    1 year, 3 year, 5 year battery guarantee depends on what color they paint the battery cover i guess. Like guaranteeing a random used light bulb won't burn out next month.

    I did my pack repair myself and i'm going on 2 years now.
     
  5. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    To answer the OP's question, I occasionally sell/ship used modules to folks or do module replacement at my shop.

    I have seen simple module replacements last a little as a few weeks, or as long as a year. This is with doing the least suggested way; just removing the obvious bad cell and sticking in a random known good module. No rebalancing, no IR matching, no capacity matching. Usually it is not the replaced module that fails, it is something else. Another module, a voltage sense wire on the wireframe, etc.

    The real issue of doing it this way is that you don't know if your outcome will be the "lasts a few weeks", or the "lasts a year" outcome.

    But as long as you don't travel too far from home, don't need a reliable car, and can tolerate regularly swapping in a module maybe it's OK?

    Often I see warranties that cover the replaced cell. Not the rest of the pack. Makes sense since usually the rest of the pack does not get an in depth assessment. Just a quick in and out process.

    And noone ever balances a Prius pack to the cell level. At best the module level (6 cells).

    If you decide to replace a module, be sure to regularly report back. More data points would be interesting.
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.