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I f'ed up my car

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Corfish, Aug 30, 2019.

  1. Corfish

    Corfish New Member

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    hi all,

    I attempted to do a pedestrian half-assed attempt on reconditioning my failing battery and unfortunately I bought a cheap chinese piece of crap and I don't think it did me any good. I ran discharge/charge cycles on several of the batteries but really couldn't find any consistency in the discharge capacity, most likely because it was just a piece of shit reconditioned charger. I know this because one of the buttons didn't even work out of the box.

    Anyway, I digress. The cells now have various voltage levels and capacities.Tried reinstalling it and ALL warning lights on and only shifting to neutral. Replaced the 12 volt because that was indeed failing after sitting for a few weeks, but I still have the same symptom. Any suggestions on how to correct this? I am willing to purchase a decent quad charger if anyone would like to make recommendations.
     
  2. greasemonkey007

    greasemonkey007 Active Member

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    Did you make sure to press the service plug down after rotating it up 90 degrees? After you fold it upward to pull the service plug in, you have to press straight down on it to close a switch.
     
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  3. Corfish

    Corfish New Member

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    Thank you. Yes, the switch is firmly in place. I have the full 220+ volts when I measure across the battery pack, but when I measure the terminals, it's 0. does that mean anything?

    edit: i measured the individual voltages and i apparently i discharged one to like 6.4 volts.. would that really stop the car from going into drive?
     
    #3 Corfish, Aug 30, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2019
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i would start with a proper code reader
     
  5. richmke

    richmke Member

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    Are all your cells reading the same voltage (+/- a fraction of a volt)? If not, I think you should somehow get them all to the same voltage before you try to use it. I'm guessing the ECU sees them as a bad cell, and won't risk using the entire pack.

    If you don't have a way to bring all the cells into balance, then try and borrow/rent a Prolong unit from someone close by. First discharge the pack so all the cells are the same, and then fully charge the pack. That should hopefully balance the pack. Then try to see if that clears your errors. If it does, then you might want to take the pack though an entire 3 cycle reconditioning (it will take 4-5 days).

    BTW: I presume you had to disassemble the pack to get to the individual cells. Did you double check that you put it all back together correctly?
     
  6. Corfish

    Corfish New Member

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    good points. i'll bring them all up to ~7.5 and see if that changes anything. will update. thanks!
     
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    All modules must be very close in voltage when fully charged if not the ecu sees a delta and it will fail.
    Next is all modules must be close to each other in current providing capacity because if the one module discharges much quicker than the rest it will fail also.

    So one soft module will take the whole pack down. So it’s a painstakingly long process to test the entire pack,
     
  8. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Thank you. Yes, the switch is firmly in place.
    Firmly in place is great, but will still not satisfy the interlock if the third step of the installation procedure is not performed. After being rotated upward to pull the disconnect into the socket, the handle must be pushed straight down about 1/2 inch to insert the shorting wire across the interlock terminal located inside the disconnect socket. Otherwise the ECU thinks the disconnect is not yet installed.

    I have the full 220+ volts when I measure across the battery pack, but when I measure the terminals, it's 0. does that mean anything?
    Full voltage is available at the battery side of the relays as soon as the disconnect is installed about 2 millimeters into the disconnect socket. Having full voltage at those terminals means about nothing as to whether the disconnect is installed correctly or completely. You should always have zero volts on the car side terminals of the relays until the car is placed in ready condition. This is when the relays close to place power to the HV cables.

    edit: i measured the individual voltages and i apparently i discharged one to like 6.4 volts.. would that really stop the car from going into drive?
    This could also be a bad module that has self discharged due to one failed internal cell. I have plenty of these failed modules on my core shelf that can take less than a day to go from what looks like a full charge/full voltage, to 6.3 volts due to self discharge. If so, that module needs to be replaced.