Is there someway to charge the traction battery without taking it out ?

I think the Gen1 has a plug to nowhere you can use. There are instructions and pictures here: http://www.mastertechmag.com/pdf/2010/10oct/201010-outofjuice.pdf

 

Great information, thanks! Now if we could have anybody who's been in the battery try to identify the function of the middle, green-white wire at the charging plug....

It stops cranking at 20% SoC, huh? Phew, I got really close to that the time my ICE didn't start. That should help me remember to do a force-charge in the future before beginning ICE work.

-Chap

 

The outer wires on the plug are direct battery voltage ~300V. Check polarity with multimeter. IIRC The reddish one is negative and the blackish one is positive....which makes no sense so that's why you should test.
Not sure what the middle wire is, perhaps a ground? I never use it.

I have the proper mating connector and pins for the Gen1 charge connector if you want to make up your own proper charger harness. $15 delivered in USA. Pmail me if interested.

 

I hate to ask, are they hot all the time?

I had the impression the battery controller had to enable the relays but I really hadn't looked at that connector. My usual attitude is if there is no safety cover, there is no voltage.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

Was originally that "plug to nowhere" was for the purpose of Prii sitting for long time in the Dealers new car parking lot and when the HV battery wound down, they would re-charge through that port?

 

The PTN connects to the battery side of the main relays. The "plug to nowhere" is hot whenever the main orange safe disconnect is plugged in.

It is a little tricky to get access to the PTN, a cover holds it in with a round orange push-pin thing that must be first rotated and removed (same type as the one covering the HV cables behind the rear seatback). They designed the round orange pin to be "spun" using the end of the main orange safety plug (forcing you to turn off power), but other tools will work.

The procedure is remove main orange plug, use it to remove round pin and release the PTN, hook up your charging equipment (since power is off now), then re-insert main orange plug to allow charging.

 

Yes but the answers are hidden in the control computers that operate the car. Time to get a Prius-aware, OBD scanner.

Bob Wilson

 

Sounds like one or more of your battery modules are weak or going bad..It will cause your battery level to fluctuate from low to full fairly quick..

 

No, mA is the correct abbreviation.

m stands for milli or x/1000
M stands for mega or 1,000,000 x
A stands for Ampere and is correctly capitalized since this is the name of the person that the unit of electrical current flow is named after
h stands for hour and in the context of "two hours at a 325 mAh" is not needed

I think you should be very cautious about the idea of charging at 0.2A for such a long period of time especially after the Prius has already force-charged the battery. Over 24 hours, this is 4.8 Ah. The battery capacity when new is only 6.5 Ah so you will overcharge and therefore overheat the battery modules, which may expand and explode.

If the car is operational so that the battery can be force-charged, I see no point in an auxiliary charge after this is done - unless you want to destroy the battery.

I would also like to discourage the concept of force-charging the battery without good reason as this practice overheats the transaxle.

 

Hi this is Roy from Canada - please contact me so I can buy the connector if you still have some.

 

Just a warning.
Sometimes the fuse related to this connector can blow, even if charging at a low rate. Not good.
In which case then you'll need to open up the battery case and charge the pack. Be careful!

 

Hi this is Roy from canada, a nnew member. Chap directed me to this post as I need the mating connector and pins you describe above. Can you please contact me if you still have them. Thanks Roy

 

Hi this is Roy-- Thanks for the warning-what is the fuse size?

 

I'm not sure, but it is higher than what you would normally use for trickle charge (for example 325milliamps).
But even though it's higher it still may sometimes blow for whatever reason.

What amperage are you thinking about charging at?

 

Thanks!

I don't remember this posting. I'll have to take a peek tomorrow.

Bob Wilson