Anybody try the Venice Hybrid Tech grid charger for their Gen 1 Prius?

A couple of questions:

• Where are you located?
• Do you have a bench or place to work on the battery?
• What sort of power supplies and electronic instruments do you have?
• What sort of Prius-aware scanner do you have?
• Are you under a time constraint?

Bob Wilson

 

Does it have HV battery cooling circuits included? If not stay far away cooling the HV battery while grid charging is critical to prevent cell overheat vent/ballooning.

 

The slow controlled overcharge of the cells is what rebalances the battery pack. As the stronger cells reach full, they convert the charge energy to heat. The charger must continue to run in order to finish charging the weaker wells. A quality Grid Charger runs the HV battery fan and dissipates the heat. If the battery is not carefully 'overcharged' in this fashion, rebalancing will not occur.

If the heat is not evacuated, cell damage is very likely to occur. Even at only 350mA, the cooling fan operation is critical. We have tested cell charging w/o cooling fan and significant temperature increases and have seen 160-180 degrees F cell temperatures.

It's a matter of getting what you pay for: Hybrid Automotive chargers use positive lock CPC connectors, quality 500 volt DC high voltage wiring, PET sleeving, and self-cooling metal charger cases for maximum safety. We only use quality Mean Well internal power supplies which are hard screwed to the charger frame. We use brand new metal cases with built in self cooling capabilities. In addition to keeping your IMA battery cool, the grid charger self-cools to ensure maximum life span. The 04-09 Prius system will list for $399. The 1st Generation is going to be more due to more labor & parts required to complete the system, somewhere between $499-$549 initially, but we want to reduce that number as quickly as possible. Our ME is already working on a pre-fab enclosure that will significantly reduce production costs.

 

I've got a 2002 with the HV at 20% that's been sitting in my driveway since last spring. I'm watching this development with great interest as that battery is going to have to be charged up, if not replaced. I'm in NM where there is a shop in Santa Fe that can charge the battery for $300 bucks if I remove it from the car and haul it up there to them. So for $200-300 bucks more I get a tool I use as well as share with other Gen I owners. Now if Hybrid Automotive can figure out how to combine the Gen I and II in one unit, it will be a really great day, not just a great day!

 

Thanks for the kind words. The 99-03 Prius Grid Charger *is* compatible with the 04-09 Prius - but not the other way around. If you have both generation cars, or want to share with someone who does (we are happy to support this with extra car harnesses for whoever wants them) get the 1st generation unit as you will be able to use it on both cars.

 

Excellent!