Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

That session went really well. Started Friday morning and finished this morning when I got out to the garage at 7am.

Charge + balance - 16 hours - 240v
Discharge to 134v
2nd charge session - 24 hours - 242v
Discharge to 84v
3rd charge session - 24 hours - 243v
Skipping the 17v discharge and subsequent charge.

These are the best numbers I've seen since I started using the Prolong system. One note: the car was at 242 for only 2 hours on the second charge. It couldn't have been at 243 for more than an hour or two based on the numbers and charge times between voltages when I went to bed last night. Like most of you, I don't see the value of pushing the numbers and taxing the system more than necessary, especially since the battery is no longer showing the weaknesses it was when I started doing this a year and a half ago. I'll see what Torque Pro has to say in a couple of days about how well balanced it is.

Well, I'm off to the kitchen. Cooking a 2 pm early dinner for for 14 friends and family today. Ham, mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese green bean casserole, zucchini toss salad, homemade pumpkin applesauce bread. Our niece is bringing dessert so I'm not sure what that will be.

If I don't make it back online today, everyone have a great day!

 

Homemade pumpkin applesauce bread isn’t a dessert .

Sounds like the Prolong session was a success .

Enjoy the friends and holiday season .

 

Right on. The bread is good any time. It makes for an amazing French toast, too.

 

You’re making me hungry.

Sounds fantastic .

Off to lunch for some Filipino food

 

Hey guys, just curious for those using this long-term whether or not you felt the investment was worthwhile.

Has anybody had to replace a battery? I'm debating the expense for my 2006 with 173K. If I can keep the battery going another few years with something like this, I'm all for it… But I would be seriously frustrated if the battery failed after dropping nearly $500 for something like this. So far no warning lights or codes, so I'm thinking about getting one as preventative maintenance.

 

I installed the harness on our 2010 with now 193k miles 2 years ago when it had 149 k miles. At that time I bought it, it was just for our Prius, and being the DIY type, having the Prolong equipment in my tool arsenal was a good idea.

Since the install and purchase of the equipment, I have found 2 other members to share the costs with and loaned out the equipment to rebuild a battery .

So if (and this is a big if) our batteries failed, we’d have exactly the right equipment to DIY the pack and rebuild it.

So it depends on how you look at it or what your skill set is, but I’d say it’s worth it. You could also hit up @strawbrad who us in your geographic area and he may offer a service for reconditioning .

Good luck and happy holidays .

 

Another option is to save the money that you would have paid for a reconditioning system and instead put that money towards a NEW battery when your current one fails.

Dealer may sell one to you for just over $2100 if you install it yourself. You could call dealer parts department to find out cost.

 

Thanks, Ray.

The indictment I've been considering, and stuff like this certainly supports the argument for purchasing impact performance certainly seems compelling, I'm just wondering if that has any correlation with reduction of failures for not if nobody on this thread seem to failure after using the system, that will point would be a good investment.

And that was my prevailing logic before I read this thread. I've seen the ads, and while they looked good I was thinking they may or may not do anything material for me. I'm certain my pack has degradation, but at over 42 MPG over the 3000 miles I’ve had the car, I certainly have no complaints on how it runs. It's worth a new battery if that's what happens, of course I’d be a little frustrated having to layout that kind of money on a 12-year-old car. Much better to spend $600 to prevent a failure than three times that after a failure… But without any kind of idea whether or not the charger will prevent the failure, I’m struggling with whether or not it's a good investment

 

All I can say is that I’ve rebuilt 2 packs using the Prolong equipment and it is the best tool for this in terms of one spent on the task.

I’ve seen the battery rejuvenated to like new performance and I have a 2017 Lexus RX450h to compare battery performance to.

Remember if you have a pack failure, you can pick up a used module for $25-30 and rebuild the pack yourself with the prolong equipment you purchased. For an older Prius, this to me makes the most sense. If my pack failed tomorrow, I’m going to buy a used module and rebuild it with the Prolong equipment and not think twice about it. Then whenever I decide I’ve had enough fun with our 2010, I’ll not have a lot invested into keeping it running.

Personally I think the engine will give out before the battery does.

 

Thanks, Ray. I had written off rebuilding the battery after seeing so many go through repeated failures, but perhaps that would be different with the proper conditioning. I'm interested in seeing some more opinions of those that have used them for a long time before making a decision… Might be a nice after-Christmas present for myself.

 

Wouldn’t a $50 mileage matched module from Hybrid Automotive be a better rebuild option?

 

The intelligent Discharger has only been around for 2 years (I was one of the first to purchase one and I picked it up from @jeff652 ’s place).

Reconditioning batteries is not something new and has been around for a long time. Hybrid automotive has made it easy to do.

 

It might be, but @TMR-JWAP also sells them on the side too.

I consider all options but know how old the module will be based upon the stamp on the top of it.

Always good to know your options .

 

As I indicated earlier, I think the Prolong system has given me at least one extra year so far based on how erratic the SOC screen was when I started using it. I think the investment was worth it even if my battery quits in the next month or two for a couple of reasons.

First, battery technology keeps getting better and prices of decent replacements have come down substantially in the last year and a half; I anticipate that things will get better as rechargeable batteries and the knowledge associated with them continue to evolve.

Second, I think there will be an opportunity to recover some of that initial investment on the secondhand market when I no longer need the Prolong system. There will be a lot of used Prii owners/buyers who will be willing to pick up a used Prolong system for up to half the original price. You won't be "out" the full original price no matter how soon a failure develops.

There is a lot to be said for the "save for the eventually necessary" battery idea but buying the Prolong system doesn't keep you from doing that. It just slows you up by a couple of hundred dollars while maybe paying for itself in the meantime.

 

If you are replacing a module, then you definitely would be better off buying a charger/discharger system. You won't have a way to balance the pack orherwise.

By replacing a module you introduce more variability of modules. A charger/discharger can help mask that variability.

Using a charger/discharger as a preventative measure can make a difference.

 

That's pretty pathetic.. I hope it's a one time problem. These things are really expensive, and need to last.

 

They have their "pro" line for $2500. That may be for heavy users

 

It may be a one off thing as i've seen shops use these things a lot over a few years while charging people.

 

Anyone in the Milwaukee area that would like to share a system for a 2004-2009 Prius?

 

Currently doing discharge, once voltage dropped to 203V the amps on discharge started fluctuating all over the place from .888 to 1.51A is that normal or is there a problem with discarger unit?