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Help need with Prolong discharge process

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by JSB_99, Oct 2, 2017.

  1. JSB_99

    JSB_99 Member

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    HI every one I have a 2008 with 154K miles on what I believe to be the original traction battery that I purchased about a month and a half ago. I was noticing the battery seemed to charge and discharge fairly quick and the ICE seemed to run more than it should. Mileage was running around 37mpg but i've also been working with replacing worn tires and wheel bearings so that has been improving.

    I purchased the Prolong kit with the simple discharger and i'm a little confused on when to switch the bulbs. I ran a charge and balance cycle for about 36 hours this weekend while I was out of town since I had the time. When I first started the car this morning it showed 4 or 5 blue bars and quickly went to purple and eventually went back green after about 30 minutes and last I checked was about 5 or 6 blue bars and mileage went up to 45mpg on my drive to work this morning. Keep in mind the 12v was unhooked on Friday when I installed the charger harness so that may account for the mileage going up.

    This weekend i'm going to do the discharge cycles but the bulb process has me thrown. I know i've seen the process here before but now I can't find it. Im going to do another full charge and balance and then start the discharge with 2 x 200w bulbs until I get to 134V. Do I change to the 75W bulbs at 196v and then the 25W at 140v and then stop at 134v and then do a full charge again and then start the discharge process all over again in the same manner but go to 84V the second time? If this is wrong when do I stop the first cycle and when am I supposed to be changing the bulbs?
     
  2. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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  3. JSB_99

    JSB_99 Member

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    Thanks Progidyplace!
     
  4. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Yes. I checked the voltage readings every 15 minutes and recorded the values to compare to the chart on their website. This let me see the performance improvements through the process and was also a good reminder of when it was time to pay closer attention as change over points approached.

    You should let the battery rest after the reconditioning for at least an hour before driving. According to prolong, disconnecting the 12v before restarting the car will prompt the battery ECU to perform a recalibration.
     
  5. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    Be sure to let the battery rest. @jerrymildred got impatient one time and ended up having to replace the battery. :eek:
     
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  6. JSB_99

    JSB_99 Member

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    It sat about 10 hours yesterday before I moved it and will definitely make sure to let it rest atleast 30 minutes when doing the full cycles. Do you know roughly how long it takes to get 3 full charges and 2 discharge cycles done instead of the all three discharge cycles? I'm going to start late Thursday night and need to be able to drive the car early saturday morning but the problem is I won't be around the entire time to monitor the voltages.
     
  7. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    I did one cycle/day which roughly broke down into 18 hr charge, 4 hr discharge with a little breather in between each. I did the full 3 cycles over a 3 day holiday weekend.
     
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  8. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Here's the link to the discharge voltage table.
    Prolong Simple Discharger User Guide – Hybrid Automotive
    Just use the column for the 04-15 Prius. I copied it and printed it out so it's on paper in the drawer with the charger.
    Keep a close eye on the voltages because the lower it gets the faster it drops.

    As to killing my battery, I started it up and test drove it too quickly after a final charge and got a failure code on one cell. The device was fine; my patience was inadequate.
     
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  9. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Not my best day. :(
     
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  10. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Because the HA information tries to cover all things for all cars, I find it becomes confusing, so like @jerrymildred, I copied only the relevant info as it pertains to the Gen II Prius.

    In addition, I found it much less confusing when I separated (in my head) the discharge termination voltage from the light bulb wattage swap voltages and thought of them as two distinctly different things.

    So I came up with with:


    Discharge Termination Voltages:

    Code:
    First Discharge       134 V    (0.8 V per cell)
    Second Discharge       84 V    (0.5 V per cell)
    Third Discharge        17 V    (0.1 V per cell)
    

    Light Bulb Wattage Change points:

    Code:
    (Approx. Minimum Voltage)
    200 W Light Bulbs      196 V
     75 W Light Bulbs      140 V
     25 W Light Bulbs      Below 140 V
    
    So, first discharge: the aim is to stop at 134 V. Begin discharge with 200 W bulbs until 196 V, then change to 75 W bulbs. At 140 V change to 25 W bulls. Terminate when 134 V.

    Second discharge: the aim is to stop at 84 V. Begin discharge with 200 W bulbs until 196 V, then change to 75 W bulbs. At 140 V change to 25 W bulls. Terminate when 84 V.

    Third discharge: the aim is to stop at 17 V. Begin discharge with 200 W bulbs until 196 V, then change to 75 W bulbs. At 140 V change to 25 W bulls. Terminate when 17 V.

    You may want to do only two discharges this time around (due to your time constraint) and then run the car for a week. If you wish you can do a further round, this time doing the three cycles.

    I found I need 3 full days to do the 3 cycles so starting on Friday evening I would finish on Monday evening.


    I hope that helps a bit.
     
    #10 dolj, Oct 3, 2017
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2017
  11. JSB_99

    JSB_99 Member

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    Thanks everyone for the tips and info this is exactly what I was looking for. Looks like i'm going to have to reevaluate when i'm going to pull this off so i can be there to pay attention to the voltages.
     
  12. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    I've never thought to do this but to possibly speed up the two cycle reconditioning process, you could force charge* the car up to green bars before throwing it on the grid charger. This should shorten the first charge time appreciably.

    *Force charge: with A/C off, parking brake on, left foot firmly applied to brake pedal, place Prius in D (not P or N) and floor gas pedal till battery icon reaches green bars.
     
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    By force charging, you probably would shorten the charge time by 8 hours. I would only do this if you're really short on time
     
  14. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    Nice job! Thanks for posting, @dolj ! There are many threads addressing the Prolong/BulbDischarger confuserization, including a couple from me (see threads passim). (To the OP): my solution was to give up the gin for a couple of weeks, and investing in a NintelligentDischarger - that was a couple of years ago, and so far I'm pretty happy with the results! (yup, I realize there are nay-sayers in our midst (you all know who you are! …but to them I say "Go and boil your heads!" :eek: bloody unbelievers!) (check out my "fuelly" results, best journey recently hit 79MPG (AVG), overall ~44MPG, and SoC ~67% (best seen = 81%) (…but YMMV! ;) )
     
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  15. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Did this last weekend thinking I would need the vehicle before the next day (afternoon).

    Started a simple top balance at 10pm with the hv battery around 60% and forced it up to 80% in about 1 minute (should've tried this at the lowest RPM possible, as I might've heated the pack unnecessarily).

    Turned it off and without waiting turned on the charger, battery read 238v which I thought was high at 80% charge, then it went up to 239v nearly right away, it saw 242v while it cooked for about 8 hours, the last couple of hours slowly saw the voltage drop back down to 238v before I called it quits. Wasn't sure about leaving it on longer while the voltage kept dropping.

    Total charging time 10 hours, add another 2 hours to cool down before readying -then shifted into neutral and turned on the AC to bleed a little off the top.

    Next time I will do the slow and steady process like once before, as now I am worried about any potential damage to the battery by force charging.

    Wondering if my 238v at 80% could be related to what @dolj was seeing with blocks going over 17+ volts while force charging various used battery packs.
     
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  16. JSB_99

    JSB_99 Member

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    I seriously considered ordering the intelligent discharger today and even went and found fotomoto's for sale thread to see if he had one for sale. I'm going to stick it out with the bulbs for now and order one eventually if the process helps my battery. The force charging suggested should help my schedule. I'm going to start this Saturday evening and see how it works out.
     
  17. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Just make sure you are on top of the 'bulbs' while discharging, as going too low can take a decent battery and turn it into a fixer.
     
  18. JSB_99

    JSB_99 Member

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    So due to the way my schedule is i went ahead and purchased an intelligent discharger but something seems out of whack. I did the initial full charge upto 237V and then discharged down to 134V and did another full charge which topped out back at 237V. During the discharge down to 84V process the machine stopped at around 143V. I started it again and it stopped again around 130V so i stopped the process there and went on with another full charge. It's been charging for about 14 hours now and is at 233 the last time I checked.

    Anyone have any ideas what might be going on?
     
  19. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    @jeff652 is the most knowledgeable since he made the equipment.
     
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  20. jeff652

    jeff652 Senior Member

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    Were you watching the unit right when it shut off? We added a seven minute cooldown so the buzzer does not go off until seven minutes AFTER the discharge is complete. This is a lot of time for the voltage bounce back to occur. If your above voltage readings are when the buzzer sounded or after, then the readings would make sense as the voltage has already rebounded when the load was removed.

    I made a video to show this but haven't had a change to upload it yet as I've been swamped getting the ProlongPro Discharger done. We finally resolved the last remaining issue today (Yay!) so hopefully in a couple weeks I'll get the videos online.
     
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