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Update on my battery since replacement

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by scotman27, Sep 25, 2014.

  1. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    Well its been about 4 months since i replaced my battery with 2012 cells which averaged out to be 6350mah capacity through my tests, the car has been flawless and as for my old battery, 0 to 1000mah capacity is what was remaining except for the 3 bob sent me.

    now here is my me problem. today coming home, I noticed my scanguage was showing erratic SOC, I thought it was a recalibration but its not. i dont know what is going on. the battery is not hot, the fan does not come on and the car operates normally but it will charge it up to 60 SOC and then as i use it, the voltages will be fine then it shows 35 SOC. at one point the scanguage showed 0 SOC but the voltages were 16.1v. Blocks bounce around like normal and nothing looks out of the ordinary.

    what could be the issue?
    This is a 2012 battery less than 10k miles on it.
    thank you,
    Scott
     
  2. miscrms

    miscrms Plug Envious Member

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    Not an expert by any means, but I would maybe look for a connection problem in the monitor / controller wiring? 16.1V per block is still only ~225V for the pack, which shouldn't be high enough to trigger the SOC drift/recalibration. That takes 240+ as I recall. Seems funny that SOC is bouncing but the cell voltages are reporting normal...

    Hopefully someone with more experience will have some better ideas.

    Rob
     
  3. miscrms

    miscrms Plug Envious Member

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    One more thought, how's your 12V battery?
     
  4. LEVE

    LEVE Member

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    I'd not rule out the Battery Electronic Control Unit. You may be seeing another problem other than a battery module failure.
     
  5. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Two hypothesis:
    • A minor voltage imbalance triggered the mysterious 'balancing' charge cycle. I've never experienced this but the symptoms are consistent.
    • Possibly a 'loose' nut on the buss bars triggering 'abnormal' values.
    Sorry, I don't remember if you got the miniVCI or a Prius-aware scanner. If possible, read out the 19 module pair voltages and let's see if any of them are approaching 0.3V difference.

    The other alternative is a loose nut on one or more modules triggering the behavior.

    Regardless, it makes sense to schedule a pull-test-replace action over the next 3-day holiday. If a module is showing weak relative to the others, a small tickle charge to bring it up . . . note the number and run with it. If it is truly weak, it will come back.

    However, if you find a buss bar nut 'loose', tighten lightly (anyone have the torque value handy) . . . button up and enjoy the holidays.

    Bob Wilson
     
  6. LEVE

    LEVE Member

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    Torque value for the bus bar nuts are 48 inch/pounds.
     
  7. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    this morning I got the P 3006 3000 code.I don't understand what is going on. These tested out great. There is no heat nor is the fan running. I will start going and go for a block or more in ev then the block 6 voltage just drops. I let off, and go again. And all is fine then it does it again. Now it did it the beginning of my drive to my new job 40 mins away. But has not since. This is odd. And I Am going to be furiousif this battery is no good. It's a 2012 battery in an 01 prius for goodness sake.
     
  8. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    also this battery never gave me any indication that anything was wrong before this I have my scangauge set to monitor block high voltage, block low voltage, block number high, block number low. everything has been spot on until yesterday
     
  9. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Thanks for the update. I hope you get to the bottom of this.
     
  10. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    yeah you and me both because I do not have the money to end up replacing a whole battery again.
     
  11. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Please refresh my memory . . . where did this traction battery come from?

    Thanks,
    Bob Wilson
     
  12. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    Seller on ebay. year 2012, out of a fresh wreck prius v with only 10k miles on it.
     
  13. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    yep, sure enough, i found module 11 to be faulty. its the only one that drops, the rest are equal as can be. i tested it under load in the car with a voltmeter hooked to it. and the others surrounding it. it does not get hot or even warm the whole battery is barely even warm to the touch..
    it starts dropping right at the 7.80 mark. it immediately bounces back into voltage and holds for about 20 seconds then starts dropping again. maybe its a defective module from factory. the rest check out great.. i can drive the car fine in B so it wont shut off the engine. now I gotta find a known good module to replace it with
     
  14. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    after testing, they checked out almost like new. but i have read that there are defective modules from factory. maybe i got one of them lucky me. all i know is all the rest hold up really really good(almost equal to one another) via hooking a voltmeter to them and mashing the gas in reverse.
     
  15. scotman27

    scotman27 Active Member

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    i just ordered two more to replace just the one. ill have a spare then. anyone else have any known good ones. 3rd gen modules, lets go 5.8 ahr and above? at a decent price ?