Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

Gobs of people have used it with a refurbish job. In fact, to do a refurb without it is a waste of time and money, imho. And there are plenty of threads here on that subject. This one is about reconditioning, not refurbishing, as it says in the title. So don't feel too disappointed that it's not about that subject.

 

I’ve assisted twice with pack rebuilds using the Prolong equipment. It works.

You need to cycle the modules and what better way than as a group once they are all together .

Hope that helps .

 

I think you are thinking about the prolong system the incorrecty. The system is like a goalie. It’s there to stop the goal. Once you have a failure the goal is already scored.

 

I think you're missing an important point, Skibob. After one goal the game isn't over. There are more shots to block. After a module is replaced, the Prolong system can be used to effectively balance the "new" cell with the remaining, original cells. That balance can slow down the wearing out and failure of those older cells.

 

Sure there is someone!
I refurbished two packs with new modules and do regular reconditioning cycles with the pack in my Gen 2 Prius and the two spare packs.

 

I never thought of that. Thanks for the information

 

I can't find the original thread (there are so many), but here are my latest observations since my most recent (short) recondition about a month or so ago @ 140,000miles. SoC now spending more time in the high 60% and low 70% range, even climbing to 81% during a recent (local) 20-30 mile drive. Overall fuel consumption still around mid-40s. (…just sayin' )

 

Temperature MUST have a lot to do with the numbers. I started my full reconditioning process this morning. The temperature is in the low 70s outside and it must be in the 60s inside the garage. Plugged in at 8:00 am with a reading of 220v. It was at 240v by noon, a number I saw last December but haven't seen since. That's most likely because it was in the upper 80s/low 90s in March, June and September of this year.

The battery pack has performed with much more stability since I started using the Prolong system a year and a half ago. I'll be VERY interested to see how many extra years I get out of the battery pack since I'm convinced it was so unstable it would have thrown codes in 2017.

 

I'm pretty impatient person. So every time I have done a battery pack charge/balance I only charged it for about 14 hours. Big mistake. Recently based on what I have been reading I let the charger go for about 30 hours. That was 3 weeks ago. Wow what a difference.
My 11 year old battery is like brand new no more purple in drive through and very rarely I see purple now and if I do within one block I have 2-3 blue bars.
So between the one and only discharge I did about 18 months ago and this one recent long charge/balance it really woke my old battery back up. Very impressive.

 

The long soak does help tremendously but I'm leery about the value of doing it too often. The top end heat on the good cells can't be good for them and the ability of the Prolong system to bleed off that heat can't be too great seeing as how we both live in warmer climates. I'd save those long soaks for December sessions and maybe only the third and fourth charges after the two lower discharges.

 

Actually, I've read that it's important to do that long charge before discharging to get the top ends equal. If the top ends are still out of balance when you discharge, there's an increased chance of a low cell bottoming out.

 

I see the point but I would think the chances of that happening are pretty slim if you've followed the directions.. On my long soak sessions previously it took as long as 8+ hours for the last volt to squeeze in, well past the 4 or 6 hours the directions call for (my directions are out in the car; I'm not sure if it's 4 or 6 to switch to the discharger). If your numbers are still going up within that 4-6 hour threshhold, absolutely keep charging. I just don't see taking the extra hours waiting to see if another volt will get in there as making that big of a difference early in the process when the discharge isn't going all that low compared to the others.

 

I agree. What I wanted to communicate was just that it's not a good idea to shorten the charge below what the instructions say if you're going to do a discharge.

 

I think Jerry is spot on, totally agree.

Absolutely agree with this, too. To me the point is to stop once the voltage has not increased in 4-6 hours, it is not to chase as high a voltage as possible. Anything above 242 V makes me really uneasy bearing in mind 235 V is theoretical full.

Adding also a new thought from my observations, less (reconditioning) is more. Obviously it depends on battery condition, but after the first conditioning cycle, do not do another for at least 12 months, and even then, hold off for as long as the HV battery works "normally". If you do not disconnect the 12 V battery, do not be shocked if there appears to be no change from doing a reconditioning cycle. Improvement is seen from about 2 weeks, but It takes 2-3 months of progressive change as the system learns to work with the new capacity (if the conditioning works as it should). That is a very brief paragraph and acknowledge there is more to it, but hopefully some key highlights.

 

I just do the 2 cycle reconditioning every year (around Easter) and the top end balancing around Thanksgiving. I do the 4-6 hours at stable voltage and don’t worry about how high the voltage gets. The more you do, sometimes doesn’t mean it’s better.

I am the “follow the instructions” type .

 

You mean your wife trained you well?

 

I also work with things that if you don’t follow the procedures, bad things can happen.

I try to keep the bad things at bay.

 

Once you have experience you know what is critical and what isn't.

 

You just hope the experience doesn’t come at too high of a price .