Cells & Years

No every block should be the same. Block consists of two modules. So you can build your battery by combining two different kinds of modules as long as every block has one of each.

 

No. Simplest to explain way would be to have every other module from gen1 and every other module from gen2. But this is only useful if your gen1 still has half of the modules good. And of course you need to the balance the battery.

 

I think (perhaps someone will expand this) the main difference in the GenI and GenII modules is the case. Plastic vs. metal, the latter supposedly making for better heat dissipation than the former. They have close to the same physical dimensions. There is not much difference on the innards, with the same terminal characteristics.

 

Here are some photos of the Gen 1 and Gen 2 modules. The Gen 1 looks like plastic, with the Gen 2 clearly metal.

 

The Prius battery is monitored by the HV ECU. It does this by monitoring pairs of modules (12 cells). The voltage of each pair of modules must be within certain limits the same as the other pairs of modules both on and off load.
Because gen1 modules have a higher internal resistance than gen2 if you pair up some gen2 modules against paired gen1 modules under load the voltage of the gen1 pairs will sag more and trigger out of balance codes.
If you pair one gen1 with one gen2 module for every pair (called a block) in the battery the voltage drop will be the same for all the pairs (blocks) under load providing they are all good modules. For the gen1 this would require 19 gen1 and 19 gen2 modules.

John (Britprius)

 

I'm disappointed.
When I saw the title I thought this thread was going to be about hard time in prison.

 

There is precious little information on the gen 0 because as I understand it they were built for the Japanese market only. (I could be wrong). So those that did reach us are imports. You could be the person to educate us on this, and possibly have a go at fitting gen2/3 modules in the gen 0 case.

John (Britprius)

 

Both modules are plastic but the gen2 module have a thin metal plate on each side to improve conduction for cooling.

John (Britprius)

 

The gen 0 is going to be a classic car. If the old Fiat 500 can fetch £12,000 the first real production hybrid is going to be worth a lot more. Particularly as there were a lot less gen 0's built.

John (Britprius)

 

The metal on the sides is more like foil molded into the plastic. It is extremely thin. I'm pretty sure all it does is spread the heat around evenly to provide better cooling.

Avi

 

This is an interesting idea, however there is a practical problem: the gen2 modules are 10 mm longer at the top than the gen1 modules so that the bus-bars that connect the blocks together do not fit. This is why it has to be all gen1 or all gen2. Gen1 cells are hard to get these days.

 

There is a world wide user group for gen 0, which they call Mk1, which has a lot of useful information about this vehicle. A search for 'Mk1 Prius' should find it. According to Wikipedia there were about 35,000 of this model produced, all for the Japanese market only. 'Grey' imports account for the gen 0's presence in UK, Australia, NZ, Russia and other countries.

Some people on that group have tried installing gen2 or later modules in the gen 0 but there are many practical difficulties. The easiest solution is to get a new set of battery sticks (40 in a set) out of China, which is rather expensive but effective.

Regards,
Angus