Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

(…for those who might be interested):

242V 358mA (13:30) Oct 3rd (~25 hours)

- Wil

 

Yours is stronger than mine. I just unplugged mine since it was still sitting at 238v. That's 24 hours of charge time.

238v also happens to be where it was in June after the full conditioning with longer soaks so I'm not worried about it. After all, the car performed really well on our trip to Colorado in August and has been really solid since. I'm interested to see if the voltage goes up at all in December when the weather is cooler.

 

What’s the temperature in NH versus So Cal?

 

The discharge is important as well.

Unless it simply a lack-of-time issue, I would not skip the discharging step.

 

Is it ever prudent to skip one or more of the (instructed) graduated discharge steps when reconditioning, either the first time or during subsequent sessions?

 

According to the manufacturer's directions, no discharge cycle is done at the intermediate 3 month charge cycle. Only every 6 months. If the goal is to break up some newly formed crystallization at the top end, a discharge really isn't necessary. As for skipping an occasional discharge cycle, I don't know that it's really necessary to take it all the way down to 17v every 6 months. It just seems to me that there's a pretty good risk of eventually reversing polarity in an older cell if I were to take it that low every time.

Raytheeagle- right now my garage is still hovering around 80 degrees. It would appear to be bout 20 degrees cooler in NH. That difference isn't the the reason WilDavis is getting higher numbers right now, though. He has consistently had higher numbers than me. I suspect my lower numbers are more a result of 10 years of the car's exposure to the warmer climate here, including the many trips during the summer with temperatures well over 100* and having to park the car for hours at a time in the desert.

 

Ah, I see.
Sure I'd just doing a routine topping charge to an already healthy baytery would be fine. Was thinking this was an initial session for a pack.

 

It's ok. Simple misunderstanding. Actually, I've been using the Prolong system on this battery for 1 1/4 years now.

 

Do you use Torque Pro to watch battery and car data in between charger maintenance sessions?

 

No. I'm not all that buried in the details. I originally went with the Prolong system because of the rapid fluctuation of the SOC screen and having multiple multi-state trips in the near future at the time. After having a battery crash under warranty on our first Prius I was afraid of having the pack crash on this car in the middle of the Mojave Desert when it was 118* and I needed to be somewhere.

I know there's a lot of value in it, especially for those who can work on their own cars, but I'm not that mechanically inclined. I keep my cars maintained on schedule and try to have a few things done proactively before they fail.

For what it's worth, I am looking at putting a Scangauge II on this car so I don't have to rely on idiot lights to tell me if something's wrong like the coolant is getting hot.

 

Torque Pro is waaaaay Les expensive than a scangauge. $6
Adaptor is $15?

Download the app and set up any gauge you want plus read and clear codes.

 

Thanks for the tip. I had no idea there was that big of a price difference. I have an old Android tablet that only gets used for playing music through the console jack. Will it work for that too?

 

Yep.
Elm 327 OBDII Bluetooth adaptor from Amazon.
Torque Pro app from Google Play store.

 

Thank you. Financially, the Scangauge was going to have to wait while I replace a Smartkey chrome logo fob. I'm ordering the fob (and a leather protective case for it) from Amazon (Toyota OEM) and planning to do the chicken dance soon. I'll tack the adapter onto that order.

 

And seriously, get he Pro version of the torque app. Not the free version.
It comes preloaded with many Prius specific data fields. You just have to go into settings and activate them to make them available.

 

Here's the summary of the latest shorty:

220V 358mA (12:34) Oct 2nd
241V 358mA (22:30) Oct 2nd
242V 358mA (09:35) Oct 3rd
242V 358mA (13:30) Oct 3rd (~25 hours)
242V 358mA (03:15) Oct 4th
242V 358mA (06:30) Oct 4th (~42 hours)
…STOP!
…allow to cool off, all done and dusted until the end of December!

 

Where in the NiMH literature does it say that crystallization is broken up by charging the battery? All the literature and experiences of hobbyists I read say the crystallization is broken with careful discharging below 0.4V per cell. From what I can tell, the charge soak is only for balancing.

There are 28*6=168 cells in the Prius battery pack. 0.4 V per cell = a total voltage of 67.2V. It seems to me the 17V discharge is critical for breaking up crystallization.


Pixel XL ?

 

First, I'd like to apologize to anyone I may have misled. Further reading shows I was wrong and mjoo is absolutely right about the deep discharge breaking crystallization.

This morning I've been reading through some "very easy for the layman to understand" literature on batteries from the Battery University sponsored by Cadex Electronics.

Battery Information Table of Contents, Basic to Advanced

A top end pulse charge can help battery performance but is not as effective as a discharge/charge cycle. Crystallization breakup can only happen through deep discharge. I found this particular page very helpful.

BU-807: How to Restore Nickel-based Batteries – Battery University

They talk about NiCad a lot but reading through various topics at the site the NiMH maintenance should be pretty much the same procedures.

After reading as much as I have this morning (I have a lot more to read) it's apparent the 17v discharge IS critical and NEEDS to be done for long term battery health. The Battery University even refers to doing it every three months instead of Prolong's recommended six month schedule. I'm not ready to change Prolong's schedule without further reading.

 

My first Prolong recondition happened last week. I ended with the 17V discharge and final charge soak. We're all learning on this forum


I am highly satisfied with the Prolong system. I'm noticing improved acceleration, regenerative breaking, and indicated MPG this past week after the first Prolong round.

Pixel XL ?

 

After reading all 41 pages I was sort of disappointed. Only one person spoke about replacing a module and then using the Prolong System to balance his HV battery. I have been doing a lot of reading on Prius Chat the last month or so, and I must say the Prolong System sound easy enough I could use it. Is there anyone else out there who has essentially refurbished their pack and used the Prolong System vs. hobby chargers?