Update Part 2: Prolong Hybrid Charger /Discharger deluxe

As every battery ages and behaves differently over time, it's not really possible to quantify a threshold that has a greater than value that is "good" and a less than value that is "bad". If the cells age very evenly a weak pack will still be accepted by a car, even if those same cells would immediately trigger a code if put into another vehicle. Ultimately the critical issue is voltage delta between cells. There are many factors that cause Vdelta problems (IR, capacity, climate, cooling, driving patterns, etc) but what the car looks at is Vdelta and so that what matters when watching a battery and trying to guestimate when it will fail.

 

Having owned my car 11 years bought new the thing I noticed the most in diminished battery capacity is it’s inability to go through a drive in fast food without the battery tanking to purple. If you can’t sit for 5 minutes
With the ac on without the battery tanking to one purple bar or worse no bars at all the battery is very tired.

Of course no matter how well it holds a charge based on age there’s the issue of corrosion that will eventually get you. Battery connections corrode. Lubrication will mitigate that but the factory didn’t use any.

Keep the battery cool as you can through out its life. Heat is it’s enemy. Use the cars ac always. Don’t drive around with the windows open. Protect the battery area with a cover so not exposed to direct sunlight. Close the hatch cover. I keep a sheet of insulation foil covered cut to fit the hatch cover on that fabric hatch cover and it keeps that back area very cool.

 

Here are the voltage deltas for my battery: 2012 TCH


vs those of my friends 2012 TCH who's thrown a P0A80

At what avg local delta would mine become a be a candidate for Prolong? Are we trying to keep them under 0.10? Again I know it's more fuzzy logic and feel and not absolute but we're trying to get an idea of a starting point.
Previously I was looking at the Max Bias since I've read that u don't want that to go over 1.2v

 

Thanks, Jeff. This is very useful. My 2007 Camry (bought used 6 years ago at 78k miles) performance and fuel economy have been excellent all along (even after I reset the PA080 code). So, unless I saw the elevated Vdelta for Block 9 in Hybrid Assistant, I wouldn't have known that the battery was weakening if it hadn't thrown the code. In contrast my 2010 Prius Vdelta is small and the V's are even and tight. But based on age at 122k miles, I will place it on a reconditioning schedule, perhaps tempered by monitoring of Vdelta. I would also be grateful if you could confirm my understanding based on what your sales rep told me in the below below post, so there was no miscommunication and also clear a doubt in the below:

#779

I am receiving my Prolong kit today. Will keep everyone posted.

 

IIRC, the Vdelta should be as small as possible, definitely under 0.20 for a normal/healthy battery from what I saw elsewhere; I would be grateful for corrections from others. I don't know about Max Bias.

 

Folks,

I would be grateful for a quick clarification. The harness installation instructions call for 8 ft-lb (i.e., 98 in-lb) torque to be used for the battery terminal nuts.

2006 - 2011 Toyota Camry Hybrid Plug-and-Play Car Harness Installation – Hybrid Automotive

Even the Prius harness instructions call for the same.

2010 - 2015 Toyota Prius (non plug-in) Plug-and-Play Car Harness Insta – Hybrid Automotive

But several places on PriusChat such as the below mention 48 in-lb (i.e., 4 ft-lb) torque as the factory spec torque:

#12

Which is correct? Or is it that the end terminals need double the torque?

Hoping to install the harness this evening.

TIA.

 

The 48 inch pounds torque is for the modules and the 8 foot pounds is for the terminals.

Good luck with the install and keep us posted .

 

This was an error on our site. Thanks for catching it. All values have been updated to 4-5 ft lbs.

 

Thanks for correcting it, @jeff652 One other question: On Toyota hybrids, during reconditioning, after each charge step, can I wait for an hour or so and discharge the battery initially by turning on the car and using the Car A/C and rear defogger until the charge comes down to 40% SOC (two bars), then turn off the car once the engine starts to charge the battery, to speed up the discharge process? After I turn off the car, I would proceed with further discharge using the Simple Bulb Discharger I have?

 

Yes if you need to shorten the time you can do this, but we prefer to go easy on the battery and let the prolong system do the work ;-)