Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

Thank you for sharing! I wonder how hard it was to hook it up since that process is not indicated in the thread. Does it take special tools? How long did it take to set it up? I noticed it was discharged twice and I am guessing that was necessary? Is the battery still operating well?

Thank you!

 

I believe the recommendation is generally 3 discharge cycles. @jeff652 can answer your questions since he works for Hybrid Automotive.

 

There are installation instructions on the Hybrid Automotive website:

Prolong® Car Harness Installation Instructions: – Hybrid Automotive

If by working for you mean owns, you're right.

I've installed a Gen2 harness before and it took about 1.5 hours. When @jeff652 installed a Gen3 harness on our 2010 Prius, it took him about the same, but I was asking questions along the way.

Hope that helps.

 

Not unless you think a ratchet, about 3 metric sockets (10, 12, & 14 iirc), a philips screwdriver, and a pair of wire strippers are special.

It's very easy to do, but will take at least an hour, probably closer to two hours if you've never had the panels off before to access the traction battery. Now that I've installed four of them, I would think I could do it in under an hour. I've never timed it, though.

 

I think it I might be able to handle those things.

Thanks Jerry. Do you use the manual discharge or the "intelligent" discharge? Manual might be a challenge for me but the "intelligent" discharger is rather expensive IMHO. Is there a big difference and does it require more skill to use the manual discharger? I would not like to destroy the modules! Since you have replaced the battery 4 times, have you converted to the Gen 3 from Gen 2? If so, where can you find kits to do so? I am industrious but not a mechanic and sometimes too optimistic when calculating the expertise it takes.

I should probably not bite off more than I can chew. When it comes to the costs for Prius batteries, I think it is better to buy groceries rather than an expensive meal when it comes to repair of the battery and for it to work better and last longer; in the long run.

 

I have the Intelligent Discharger and it is fantastic !

With the Intelligent Discharger, you set it and can forget it. With the light bulb Discharger, it requires more attention.

Go bulbless.

 

I have both and although the (manual) DumbDischarger¹ is a PIA, it works, but needs careful attention to be effective, whereas the IntelligentDischargers¹ are several light years ahead of the first attempt, I have one of the earlier IntelDschrgrs¹, but the latest versions have more bells & whistles (& alarums! ), but they do exactly the same thing as the good old LightBulb¹ version, it's just that they're much easier to use effectively!

¹ - if you've been following, and have read all the other threads about @jeff652 's (Hybrid Automotive) products, you won't need me to explain the difference!

 

First, I've only replaced one battery. I'm on my 3rd & 4th Prius. Bought two when we came back to the States. I put Prolong cables in both of them. A texter totaled my wife's '05. Crushed it so bad I couldn't get to the cable to take it with me. Replaced that car and that's the one that needed to have the battery replaced. It has a full set of cells from a 2015. So, I installed the new cable in it when we bought it and then reinstalled it when I had to replace the battery (which was not any extra work since the fan controller was still there). That makes four Prolong installations (or maybe more like 3-1/2?); one battery replacement. The other Gen 2 we bought, I traded in on the '13 PiP you see in my personal info. I left the cable in there.

There is a local shop here (where I bought all four of our Prii) that specializes in Prius and other hybrid or BEV cars. He transfers full gen 3 battery cells from totaled cars into gen 2 cases and ECUs, so all I had to do was swap the whole assembly. Here's a link to his page that explains his process. It also has a blurb about the Prolong charger and why he recommends it. Hybrid FAQ - Tampa Hybrids Inc.

As to the question about bulb vs automatic discharge, there is no skill at all involved in the bulb method. But there is a lot of diligence involved. You do NOT want to let that get away from you, so I think the automatic one is a real godsend. Once my wife's battery gets to the point it needs charging, I plan to get the automatic discharger.

 

have you seen that a new automatic charger is available from HA which is much cheaper than the former "intelligent" one?

Prolong® Battery Discharger – Hybrid Automotive

Thorsten

 

The link you provided is Only the discharger.

You would need to additionally buy a charger.

 

The whole package is included in the Deluxe Conditioning Package. Charger, discharger and harness for a bit over $650. That's the one I bought. The discharger in priusb78's link is the same, just a new and improved version that allows data logging. I get confused with some of the references in these threads because I thought the Intelligent version was the fancier system being sold to professional mechanics, not the Deluxe system.

Not that it matters much to a non-mechanically inclined user like me. I'm very happy with what I have and don't know what I would do with the data log.

 

Have another thing to keep you up at night.

When's the next top end charge?

I'll be doing mine over the thanksgiving weekend .

 

I did the top end charge on Sept. 16. The next full conditioning will be in December.

 

Well I ordered the Deluxe Reconditioning Package. We will see how that goes. I am now wondering whether I should order some modules in case they are bad. My car is not failing yet but has the warning lights and gas mileage has dropped. Perhaps the reconditioning will get them up to par... don't know. But I will report back after using it, hopefully, next weekend.

 

I have also ordered a deluxe recon package. It has arrived last week and I installed the harness. It was not very difficult and it fit very well. I have not done any actual reconditioning yet as we've been needing the car. Also, my car has no codes or (battery related) warning lights and the mileage is close to 50mpg. It's an '07 with 180K on the clock. I bought the kit in hopes of getting more miles out of the pack I have.

The funny thing is, that now that I have everything ready to go I am a little afraid to pull the trigger on the reconditioning. The car drives beautifully right now and shows no symptoms of any battery weakness. So I am afraid to screw things up by meddling. On the other hand I knw that 180K is not a joke on these batteries and the pack would probably benefit. Have others reconditioned (or tuned up) their packs when there were no warnings or symptoms of weakness in the traction battery? Am I going to nudge the pack closer to death by charging and recharging beyond what the car's system does? I did not expect to get cold feet on this, but I am...

 

No need to immediately start with a reconditioning but you can begin balance charging as a matter of routine maintenance.

 

+1 for a top end balancing .

Our 2010 with 165 k miles on it benefits from a top end balance. No signs of issues or trouble, but have everything I need.

Keep us posted .

 

To use an analogy, waiting for signs of battery issues is somewhat like waiting for the engine trouble light to come on before checking and adding oil.

IOW, be proactive not reactive.

 

It will be interesting to see how long these batteries go that start getting maintained/reconditioned at 150,000 , 165,000 miles . If they go 250,000 or 300,000 miles before modules start failing, triange of death codes come. That would be a good testament to the grid charger maintenance. As it is , these batteries last 200,000 anyway regularly i think right?

 

Thank you, guys for extra encouragement. Of course, I understand the whole proactive thing and that's why I spent the money on the Prolong system in the first place. Just getting cold feet at the moment of pulling the trigger since the car runs so well. I will charge it at first. See how it goes and then will do the whole cycle.