Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

Normal

 

This is a followup report on my claim the battery is appearing stronger since I started using the Prolong system a year and a half ago. The last couple of weekends I've had to head over the Cajon Pass to my son's house, something I do once or twice a month. I'm happy to report that for the first time since purchasing the car in April of 2016 (these last two times, actually) the SOC screen did NOT drop into the purple range climbing the pass. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with what the Prolong system has done.

 

Doing my first reconditioning set, and it is below freezing outside, and around 27 degrees in my garage.
Charging to 245 v only took 3 hours, and I let it balance for 6 hours.
I expected the discharge to 134v to take about 5-6 hours. It ended up taking 12 hours. It started at 242v, and after 3 hours it was 199v .49a. It then declined about 6 volts per hour at a steady .49a. At 8 hours, it was at 168v and dropped to .27a. At 11 hours it was 143v .26a. I found it finished at 13 hours, and guessed it was finished around 12 hours. It rebounded to 161v where I started charge #2.

Is it normal to take so long to discharge?

BTW: I used my smoker thermometer to give me some warning when it is near completion. It has a wireless low temp warning feature. I set it a few degrees above ambient air temp, and put the probe in the exhaust air stream. However, I didn't hear it go off when I was asleep. Fortunately, the neighbor on that side of the house is hard of hearing, and wouldn't be bothered by the alarms beeping (prolong and thermometer). Too bad there isn't a switch to turn off the prolong alarm (you can't turn the alarm off once it starts the discharge process).

 

From what voltage did you start?

It does seem a bit longer than usual. On the positive side, longer to discharge and longer to charge is a good thing. When either goes quickly, then you should become concerned.

 

229v, and 2 hours later, it was up to 244v. 3 hours after that, it was 245v and held for 2.5 more hours.

Started Discharge 2 to 84v at 244v at 5:20 am, and it was done when I got home 15 hours later. In the meantime, it had rebounded to 179v. I'll let Charge 3 go for 12 hours past steady, up to 48 hours total.

 

That would be about 80% true SoC (8 bars on the MDF graphic) so that makes sense that the first charge was quick.

Are you not going to do the third discharge to 17 V? If you are, then I wouldn't go for 12 hours past on this go 'round. Just do the normal 4-6 hours. Do the longer soak on the final charge, although I don't really think there is much benefit charging for more than 4-6 hours past voltage stabilisation.

 

It is at 228v now (7am), and I estimate it will hit full charge around midnight. So, I probably will start the discharge tomorrow morning, so that will be about 6 hours of balancing.

When I do the final discharge, it will be during the work day, and I will miss the ending. If it bounces back to 1xx volts, is it beneficial/ok/harmful to immediately discharge again to 17v before starting the final 48 hour charge/balance?

 

It will bounce back and that's normal so no harm there. I would NOT pull it back down to 17V from that bounced voltage since the cells may not all be at the same level and there's really nothing to be gained in doing that anyway. Just go ahead and do the final charge.

 

I bought my daughter's 2007 Prius from her last August. MPG was around 45-50 during the summer/fall, and about 35-40 during the winter. I'm not sure about proper battery behavior, but I am hoping using a Prolong will help maintain the battery. Here are my results from the first Reconditioning:

200,000 miles on the car. Temperature was around freezing. Started Sunday, Feb 24 at 8:00 am, and finished on Saturday, Mar 2 at 9:20 pm, 6.5 days. with 18 hours of "dead" time (Discharge finished before I could switch it to Charge). I am guessing I could have saved 1.5 days if I could eliminate the dead time, and possible balancing after hitting 244v during Charge 1, 2 and 3.

Charge 1 + balance: 7.5 hours, 229v -> 244v in 2 hours, and then balanced for 5 hours to 245v.
Discharge 1 to 134v: 12 hours, bounced to 161v. It was 143v after 11 hours, found it done at 13 hours.
Charge 2: 25 hours, 161v -> 244v. Went from 241v->244v overnight during last 9 hours. Maybe balanced for 6 hours.
Discharge 2 to 84v: Bounced to 179v when I found it after 15 hours. Don't know how long it took, as I let it run all day while I was at work.
Charge 3: 34 hours, 180v -> 244v in 24 hrs, and then crept to 247v overnight.
Discharge 3 to 17v: 7 hours, bounced to 187v. Used my smoker wireless thermometer to estimate when it finished. Couldn't get back to it until 15 hours.
Charge 4: 48 hours, 187v -> 244v in 23 hours (maybe less since I couldn't check it). Crept up to 246v after another 14+ hours, and I stopped it at 48 hours.

Note: Between Charge 3 and Discharge 3, I moved the car from one side of the garage to the other. It took less than 15 seconds, and ICE did kick in. Not sure if it was because of the Climate settings (heat).

Car has been sitting overnight since the end of Charge 4. I'll start driving it today, and see if I notice anything.

 

Thanks for sharing and we look forward to your data.

I typically don’t move the car during the process but as long as you waited some time between the charge and movement (as well as didn’t put too much load on the battery), you should be fine. But don’t forget the battery is charged full when you do this and the cells can get warm which is a bad recipe .

Enjoy your drive and wait an hour at least before that drive to allow the battery to cool off.

 

Many have killed their HV battery that way, which is why they don't recommend it.

Upon starting, the ICE will always kick in at around 10 seconds or so. You can shut down and repeat before the engine kicks in.

 

I bought one of these chargers/dischargers but the charger doesn't display the amps it shows 0.00. Is there a way to reset the charger or something similar, I need to get the battery balanced this weekend.

 

Sounds like a bad connection on the installation. I'd recheck everything.

 

+1 to the above.

Ensure the harness is connected well to the charger or Discharger and the fuse is good.

Good luck with your work this weekend.

 

I mean, the installation it's pretty simple. I even disconnected everything and plugged back in.

Oddly enough, when the main safety orange plug is not connected, the charger shows -.000, once the safety plug is installed and pushed down, the amps are shown as .000

 

But is it pushed down and slid toward the pivot? It takes two motions to close the safeties. If you don't do that, not only can you not run the charger, you can't drive the car.

Here's how you disconnect it. Just do the opposite to put it back.

 

Been working on a voltage monitoring system for this. Very small and compact, and creates it's own web gui so you can monitor voltages over a long period of time.

I also created numerous options for different types of checks--by time, higher than/lower than voltages, and a automated module checking where it runs through steps for load testing each of the 28 modules, creating identically ranged graphs with a timer and step by step instructions so you know when to switch to the next module.

It's been a fun project that has really helped out by seeing the trends of all the different charging.

Edit: updated with a couple more pictures.. it makes load testing easy, and it really helps to watch during the balancing phase.

 

I'm a Priuschat newbie. I bought a used 2007 Prius base model with 81K miles in September 2018. It lived it's whole life (not in a garage) in Texas. Now, it's in the Chicago area.

Thank you to all that contribute to this site. I have learned a lot about this car from you!

I recently got Torque Pro to check on the health of the hybrid battery. At 12 years old, I suspected it was not going to last much longer, especially because of the Texas heat and it's infrequent use over the last few years.

Using Torque Pro, 15.5-16.5V is the typical range for all 14 blocks, with a difference between blocks of 0.1-0.2V. Resistance is usually 0.0230-0.0240 ohms, with a difference of 0.0010 ohms between blocks. The SoC is mostly in the 60-70% range. I see a lot of green and blue on the MFD. I only saw purple twice in 6 months, when the car was stopped for awhile with heat or AC on. From what I've read here, the battery seems healthy for it's age.

I have read a lot about the Prolong deluxe reconditioning kit and PC users experiences with it. I would like to buy one, but have a few questions. My goal is to maintain the relatively healthy battery and extend it's life for another 100K (~ 7 years).

Hybrid Automotive, the Prolong manufacturer, recommends "If the battery is degraded, charging alone will not yield optimal results. Performing a full battery reconditioning 2-3 times per year, as well as a charge & balance every 8-12 weeks (and/or anytime the car sits unused for more than five days) is recommended." But, I see some PC users (Raytheeagle) only discharging twice and some talking about straining or taxing the battery so they decrease the charge/balance and/or discharge time. Can using the Prolong system hurt the battery? Is it bad for the battery to do the 3rd discharge and 4th charge/balance? How do I determine if it's necessary? Are there a finite number of charges the battery can take, so I should only do them when absolutely necessary? How do I tell?

It seems like there is a fine line between the amount of charging and reconditioning that is good for the battery and bad. Obviously, I'd like to do what is best. I'm trying to understand what that is.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks again, everyone.

 

Excellent questions .

Some perspective:

• Our 2010 has 200k miles and had 149 k miles when I installed the Prolong harness several years ago
• The battery was showing signs of degradation so I bought the harness and equipment
• I watch the battery performance to gauge differences and when I see degradation, I top end balance or move the 2 cycle reconditioning up as needed
• I have a 2017 Lexus RX450h in our fleet, so I know what a newer battery performs like
• Having the Prolong equipment allows for maintaining the current battery, or if it fails, rebuilding it reliably

Think of the battery as having a finite lifecycle and can only tolerate so much stress before it says enough. Using equipment to maintain and extend this will permit it to stay useable longer, or rebuild the pack to a better state.

If you are mechanically inclined and can follow instructions, Prolong has made this process easy.

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

100k/7 years is a lofty goal for a battery that’s already 12 years old. I’m not going to say it’s not possible, but remember this. If you do buy the prolong system and your battery only lasts like 5 years you can sell the used system here when you get another battery, so you can recover 50+% of what you pay now.