Replace Hybrid Battery Questions

how many miles on her?

i would keep driving her until you get the warning lite again, should come back pretty quickly if the battery is going south.

 

thanks, these things are not written in stone. pay attention to your battery meter, it usually starts to fluctuate wildly as the battery fails.

have you checked your 12 volt health?not much out there in the way of ev conversion, even diy is big bucks.

 

yes, the 'going full green more often' may be a sign of a bad cell or more.

 

Why not get the mini VCI cable and techstream software (Amazon, eBay)? More useful than the generic OBD2 readers, as they miss a lot of codes. You can see the voltage for the module pairs. You can bleed your brakes. And many other useful functions the generic obd2 reader can't do.

The Link has all the information about set-up and hardware requirements for running Techstream; even contains a link for a 64bit OS set-up.
TundraTalk.net - Toyota Tundra Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Offical TechStream software thread( settings and such)

New 12V battery doesn't always mean it's good. Lots of posts about the importance of checking it from time to time w/ a DVM (Digital Volt Meter) and recharging w/ an appropriate charger.

Some EV conversions use the original HV battery, in addition to an additional battery, others simply replace the HV battery completely.

EDIT:
Gen2 (2004-2009) use the same HV battery. New will get you greater longevity than rebuilt. Assuming the HV pack on your car was original, look at how long it lasted.

Gen3 (2010-2015), modules can fit into a Gen 2 case; you would need to swap out all 28 modules. You don't want to mix some Gen3 modules into a Gen2 case. Go to the Prius Technical discussion for Gen2, lots of good info on rebuilding HV battery packs, swapping Gen3 modules into a Gen2 case.

 

Take advantage of this window in time to start shopping.
Search this forum for the threads that have discussed the pros and cons of different replacement choices.

All the best

 

^ I might offer $20 for every month it works

 

I would not pay more than $300-$400 for a junkyard battery. How many miles were on it? how long has it been sitting? If sitting more than 2 years it's probably garbage. You cannot easily mix modules from 2 batteries unless they have the same characteristics (capacity, internal resistance etc). Just measuring voltage doesn't tell you very much. If you mix dis-similar modules the car will code again.

This video will help with battery removal from the car

 

Why dont you try grid charging at 1C for 14hours ??

 

Two possibilities here: (1) It could be due to one bad cell, which can be replaced, or;

(2) It's just the first one to go, where most of the rest are close behind, in which case the whole battery should be replaced.

It's impossible to know which is the case without testing. Anyone who tells you to do one thing or the other, without actually knowing the condition of your cells, can't say for sure.

 

why would you be against him trying????????

 

Because trial-and-error usually ends up being the most expensive option.

 

I agree with Greg, that $400 gadget you are suggesting that might give him a few months of battery life is about 1/5th the cost of a new traction battery.

 

Anyone can wreck a used hybrid battery and pull out a few cells which will still take a charge. I'd only buy reconditioned cells (for what that's worth) from a reputable source (whatever that means) but I'd understand that it's probably just a stop-gap method.

 

I agree, it's impossible to say for sure if our hybrid battery cycling systems will help Mike or not. We can only base our comments on patterns reported to us by our customers and our own testing. 170k miles is high, but depending on climate and driving conditions/habits it may not be unreasonably high. Based on the fact that this is the first red triangle, and that it stayed off after a reset, the odds are that if he performed an aggressive deep cycling on the battery with our products, he will get several months of additional battery life at a minimum, and very possibly multiple years. Deferring battery replacement costs for that time period can be very attractive to some people. Others may just choose to spend the larger cost upfront for a full battery replacement and forgo the additional life that their current pack has left in it.

As an example, our 2005 Prius gave us one Triangle Light with VSC three weeks after we purchased it. This was before using our product. We reset it and kept driving the car. It was recalibrating (dropping to two red bars and force charging) almost daily and anytime the car was started on a hot day it was immediately at two red bars. After a several months of ownership we performed two deep cycles using our charger & discharger products. The pack regained 19% in usable capacity and has not had a single recalibration in over three months since:


This is still new and unknown to a lot of people on this forum, and I get that people will be skeptical. It takes time to accept new ideas. We have sold over 1,000 of these to the Honda community that has the same NiMh battery issues (acutally much worse). We have sold over a hundred for Prius owners in the few months since releasing them. Our Patent Pending systems are making a difference in the lives of Prius all over the world.

For every hundred chargers that we sell, two to five customers report the product made no difference for their packs. 95% odds are not good enough for some, but most people on a budget are willing to take the calculated risk. No, they won't help everyone, and there is a risk that one or two of the modules might have already failed beyond repair and need replacement, but for those that want to keep the car running with the smallest cash outlay possible, our products are regularly helping people in big ways.

Those that do try us, usually love us. For example, here is card we received from a customer just a few days ago: